Need help finding a new lifestyle that works! Advice needed!

queenreachingforhercrown

I am a 21 year old mother who works two jobs, has little time & is 205 pounds (The biggest I have ever been.) and I am struggling and so depressed with my weight, health, way I look, ect.
I've been trying to find a workout routine and meal plan to start my journey for a lifestyle change.
I am 205 and 6'6 1/2.
I do not have much time in the day & with my budget right now a gym membership is out of the question.
What are some good workout videos on youtube that I can do at home?
How long should I workout and how many times a week?
What are some slightly cheap, healthy meals & snacks I could make?
How do YOU meal plan?!
How many calories should I consume a day and how much water?

JeromeBarry1

6'6 1/2 at 205 is svelte. Maybe a typo?

The important thing about losing weight, and I'm going to pretend it's a typo, is that you consistently eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight. With 2 jobs, you're plenty busy so don't worry about finding time to exercise. I said that. Use your spare time to prep meals, sleep, change diapers, feed baby, make more babies, or whatever overworked younguns are doing these days.

Cheap food: Beans, Rice, chicken, 73/27 beef. Make snacks? google for that. The HelloHealthy feature of this site has several pages that might interest you. You have to find it from your home page then figure out how to search it.

memelizzy

I do Low Carb High Fat...it works very well for me...you can google it and find all the info you want and need. It may work for you too!

kommodevaran

(I too presuppose your height is a typo.)

You eat the number of calories MFP gave you at setup.

You don't have to exercise to lose weight. But it's good to move daily. You don't need any specific videos, or any specific number of workouts. Just move.

You don't have to drink any specific amount of water. Drink when you are thirsty. Water will not impact your weight loss.

You don't need any specific meal plans or meals or snacks. Anything you can eat for a meal, you can eat as a snack. You don't have to snack, or have any particular meal pattern. Just eat in a way that feels okay for you and makes it easy to stay within your calorie allowance.

I start my meal planning with what I want to eat and what I have on hand that needs to get eaten soon. I build it up to be balanced and varied - a protein source, fat and vegetables is the basis for all meals. Then I add on starches, dairy, 2-3 portions of fruit, maybe nuts. I base my shopping on simple, cheap, single food ingredients. This makes for cheap but tasty and balanced meals.

aeshippers

I make big pots of stew or curry with lots of cheap veggies and beans or lentils and then freeze individual portions to use during the week. I take most of them to work for lunch.

tinkerbellang83

The easiest way I found to meal plan is to print off a sheet (easily found in google) which has a weekly breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks grid and fill it in on midweek for the week after.

I start by jotting in any days I'm not at home for meals or have social events and then take any leftover batch-cooking in the freezer into account.

I choose meals I like for dinner, mostly tweaked recipes to make that are slightly lower calorie. You can find plenty of recipes online. I quite like using Slimming World recipes. You can also pick up recipe books second hand.

I write up my shopping lists for the week ahead based on my planner which is great for keeping my eating and budget on track.

I do meal prep on Sunday evenings but pick your most convenient time It takes around 2 hours for me to prep 4-5 work day lunches and 3-5 dinners. The rest I cook as required.

I wrote a post on my blog about meal planning, which you may find helpful http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/tinkerbellang83/view/beginners-guide-to-meal-planning-prep-916154

As for video workouts, I totally recommend the HASFIT channel on Youtube, great videos for beginners, plenty of them need no equipment and the website also has free exercise plans. As has been mentioned above already it's not necessary for weight loss but it can help by improving your health and boost your energy levels. Try doing a bit of walking each day and a 10 min video to start with.

Good luck on your journey.

paigele

Don't overthink this, or you will get discouraged, and don't let the media tell you what you should look like. Plan your healthy lifestyle based on achievable goals and you will get less frustrated.

My employer has a sign up in the restrooms next to the hand wash sink that says "every time you eat drink you are either fighting disease or feeding it." I think of food that way. Choose foods like you chose your man-lots to offer, well proportioned and high quality.

For me, food options boils down to considering what choices I am making at any given moment: If there is a 500 calorie snack cake tempting me at that time and I don't have calories to "budget" that indulgence, I look around for a minute to find something else that will satisfy my sweet craving and avoid the extra calories.

Also I find that drinking water (though it does send you to the restroom quite a bit until your body adjusts) helps curb cravings when you think you are hungry-sometimes simply air in your stomach can make you feel hungry. But if water doesn't make you feel better, you probably are. Does that make sense?