Hello, sorry if its long.

Jason07sac

Well am new am looking for advice and friends 32 male way over weight and i want to be around a long long time for my daughter.

A little about my self....... i'm a gold miner that sits at a computer screen all night crushing big rock into little rocks i work a rotating shift work so i go from nights to days every 5 days with 4 days off. So its hard to maintain a set eating schedule. I get about 5 hours asleep due to the fact that i work 15 hours aday with drive time to work.

My plan....
I am thinking of doing 2 slim fast aday with my meal being a healthy choice meal. I think this may not be the best way to go about it but i really have no clue what am doing. So any advice would be amazing.... thank you for taking the time to read this long post..

tinkerbellang83

Jason07sac wrote: »

Well am new am looking for advice and friends 32 male way over weight and i want to be around a long long time for my daughter.

A little about my self....... i'm a gold miner that sits at a computer screen all night crushing big rock into little rocks i work a rotating shift work so i go from nights to days every 5 days with 4 days off. So its hard to maintain a set eating schedule. I get about 5 hours asleep due to the fact that i work 15 hours aday with drive time to work.

My plan....
I am thinking of doing 2 slim fast aday with my meal being a healthy choice meal. I think this may not be the best way to go about it but i really have no clue what am doing. So any advice would be amazing.... thank you for taking the time to read this long post..

I would ditch the plan for slimfast, it's not necessary, not particularly filling for a lot of people and doesn't teach you portion control. So you end up losing a bit of water weight and then often go back to eating the same way as you did and regaining. (I've done it myself several times in the past, it's great for losing bloat quickly but rubbish for fat loss).

Personally I would recommend making some small changes a little at a time to your existing diet so you find reducing your calorie intake easier to stick to.

• Set your account up with your information set yourself to a reasonable rate of loss for the amount you have to lose (2lbs per week is not necessarily the best choice for everyone, sometimes slower is better).
• Get yourself a food scale to accurately report your food intake - logging all food and drinks.
• Record what you eat normally for 3-4 days, no changes, just to get an idea of what your calorie intake currently is.
• Once you have that info look at where you can shave a few calories off - might be by making portions a little smaller, might be switching something high calorie for a lower calorie version like creamer to low fat milk/ sugar to sweetener, bulking out meals with lower calorie, higher nutrient foods to make them more filling - like adding more veg to a plate rather than half a plate of fries.

Essentially you want to make changes that you can stick to for the rest of your life, so you can lose the weight and keep it off and set a good example for your daughter. Calories are what matters for weight loss, and once you've got used to your calorie deficit, you can focus on better nutrition (good for health, not necessary for weight loss).

Try prepping your meals for work in advance, you might also find it easier with the shift changes to change the diary meal names to time slots i.e. instead of breakfast 00:00 - 06:00 and so forth.

Susieq_1994

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

Jason07sac wrote: »

Well am new am looking for advice and friends 32 male way over weight and i want to be around a long long time for my daughter.

A little about my self....... i'm a gold miner that sits at a computer screen all night crushing big rock into little rocks i work a rotating shift work so i go from nights to days every 5 days with 4 days off. So its hard to maintain a set eating schedule. I get about 5 hours asleep due to the fact that i work 15 hours aday with drive time to work.

My plan....
I am thinking of doing 2 slim fast aday with my meal being a healthy choice meal. I think this may not be the best way to go about it but i really have no clue what am doing. So any advice would be amazing.... thank you for taking the time to read this long post..

I would ditch the plan for slimfast, it's not necessary, not particularly filling for a lot of people and doesn't teach you portion control. So you end up losing a bit of water weight and then often go back to eating the same way as you did and regaining. (I've done it myself several times in the past, it's great for losing bloat quickly but rubbish for fat loss).

Personally I would recommend making some small changes a little at a time to your existing diet so you find reducing your calorie intake easier to stick to.

• Set your account up with your information set yourself to a reasonable rate of loss for the amount you have to lose (2lbs per week is not necessarily the best choice for everyone, sometimes slower is better).
• Get yourself a food scale to accurately report your food intake - logging all food and drinks.
• Record what you eat normally for 3-4 days, no changes, just to get an idea of what your calorie intake currently is.
• Once you have that info look at where you can shave a few calories off - might be by making portions a little smaller, might be switching something high calorie for a lower calorie version like creamer to low fat milk/ sugar to sweetener, bulking out meals with lower calorie, higher nutrient foods to make them more filling - like adding more veg to a plate rather than half a plate of fries.

Essentially you want to make changes that you can stick to for the rest of your life, so you can lose the weight and keep it off and set a good example for your daughter. Calories are what matters for weight loss, and once you've got used to your calorie deficit, you can focus on better nutrition (good for health, not necessary for weight loss).

Try prepping your meals for work in advance, you might also find it easier with the shift changes to change the diary meal names to time slots i.e. instead of breakfast 00:00 - 06:00 and so forth.

^ All of this, plus give all of these "Getting Started" posts a good read: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

texasredreb

The above advice is spot on! I recommend following a few people with open diaries who are (or were) roughly in the same shape you are in. Read what they eat. Many add protein drinks and bars to their diet because they are trying to gain muscle mass, but they mostly eat regular foods.

To your health!

cheryldumais

I too would ditch the slimfast idea. The reason I say that is that it's full of sugar and not as filling as you might think. If you just learn to eat healthy food you will be more likely to be successful. I did all the crazy diets and the programs out there for years but didn't really lose the weight and keep it off until I changed my lifestyle. I decided what I could live with for life and that's how I eat now and will continue to eat for the rest of my life. Start making changes slowly and you are more likely to be successful. Good luck.

ceiswyn

Jason07sac wrote: »

Well am new am looking for advice and friends 32 male way over weight and i want to be around a long long time for my daughter.

A little about my self....... i'm a gold miner that sits at a computer screen all night crushing big rock into little rocks i work a rotating shift work so i go from nights to days every 5 days with 4 days off. So its hard to maintain a set eating schedule. I get about 5 hours asleep due to the fact that i work 15 hours aday with drive time to work.

My plan....
I am thinking of doing 2 slim fast aday with my meal being a healthy choice meal. I think this may not be the best way to go about it but i really have no clue what am doing. So any advice would be amazing.... thank you for taking the time to read this long post..

I recommend learning what you're doing

Read the stickied threads at the tops of the forums; they give good advice. You're currently 'way overweight' because you don't know which foods are high calorie and which are low, which foods you find most satisfying, and what sensible portion sizes of them look like. Drinking Slimfast shakes isn't going to teach you that, so when you stop you'll just revert to old habits and put all the weight back on again.

Log real food and learn how to eat it.

quiksylver296

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

csplatt

No no to slimfast! Can you learn how to count calories so you can have sandwiches or wraps for lunch, baked sweet potatoes with boiled green beans, chicken breasts and fish and beef! Liquid leaves your stomach so fast and you will be so hungry!

busyPK

Your work schedule is tough, but the good news is you have 4 days off between each "work week" where you can make some food and pre-portion it out for the 4 days you do work. Do you cook at all? If you don't enjoy it maybe use your crockpot to make some simple things like roast, chili or soups, chicken (salsa chicken, bbq chicken, etc), pulled pork, etc.. Add with it some roasted veggies and maybe rice and you're set. I don't see a problem with using frozen entrees, but at some point you may get sick of it.

Jason07sac

Thank you all for the information!

csplatt

On Sundays, I will boil green beans and bake sweet potatoes then put them in Tupperware for mon-wed lunches. Or make pulled pork and weigh it out in 4 oz servings and put in Tupperware. It’s fun to have a cooking day!