HELP getting started!!!

kwright9608

Hello! I am a 30 yr. old working mother of 2 young boys who are both going to be in school full time this year. This means I finally get some time to focus on myself a little more. I am ready to start going to the gym and trying to change my overall eating habits. I'm looking for any and all advice on how to transition the best possible way without failure, but most importantly for someone who can guide me in a good exercise routine. My goal is to lose weight, but to do it in a way that I can maybe tone at the same time to reduce the amount of extra skin after weight loss. I have NO clue what I need to be doing to accomplish this. More cardio? More strength training? How much, how often?? I'm 5'8 and 230 lbs. DESPERATE to get this weight off as quickly and safely as possible, but also to change my overall lifestyle. Thank you in advance!

knitgirltiah

I knew the only way I could lose the weight was to become a morning person. Not easy since I hate mornings. Set a bedtime and keep it, not negotiable. I wakeup early to go to the gym before anything else. A morning workout breeds so much more energy for your day. if you are tired, workout! Way more effective than s nap. Again, not optional. Think of it like your job, unless you are too sick to work, show up and do what you can, even if it's very little! I changed the guilty thoughts to positive ones like "earning" more calories rather than having to burn off my evil deeds. Lower standards and please try your hardest not to compare yourself to anyone else. The first month takes some figuring out with your diet and how to space out veggies, carbs, sugar and protein to avoid low blood sugar and hunger but be patient. You will figure it out and the weight falls off. I lost 27 lbs so far and gained s much muscle. Congrats on your new you!

ddky

Just don't get too extreme. Lower your calories, but not too low. Begin to exercise, but don't kill yourself with it. Leave yourself some wiggle room. That way if you plateau, you still have room to drop calories a little more or up the exercise. A wise turtle once said "slow and steady wins the race". Also, by losing it slower you are more likely to stay with it and you will have less sagging skin. Good luck to you.

kwright9608

Thank you ladies! Appreciate the advice :-)

notnikkisixx

Approach this whole thing as a "lifestyle change" instead of a diet and you cannot fail. Make choices that you are willing to live with for the rest of your life! Whatever you do don't torture yourself, count your calories faithfully and allow yourself the occasional indulgence.

I think the most important thing to remember is that the number on the scale is just a small part of the equation, so don't get too focused on it. Track your progress with measurements and pictures. Pictures are where I have noticed my losses the most!

Francl27

I started in January by changing one thing at a time. I changed my diet first. I had a bunch to lose so my goal wasn't really too bad, 1690 calories a day (with the 'lose 1 lb a week' setting). I didn't want to work out, my last attempts at working out were just making me hungry and I didn't want to fail from the start, so I figured I'd get used to eating healthier first... Stopped eating junk, allowed myself a protein shake a day (for the chocolate cravings), mostly ate a lot of healthy filling foods so I wouldn't be starving - lots of plain greek yogurt with fruit, low fat cheese, lean meats, veggies etc. Then after a month or two I started allowing myself some treats as long as I had leftover calories.

After 2 weeks of that, I started working out. I bought the Slim in 6 DVDs and did that every day. It was really hard at first but I mostly made it through the program, then I signed up for the gym and started classes (bodypump mostly), then it got nicer out and I started walking more.

My main advice is not to overdo it on the exercise, I've been more and more active but at first I was really doing 30 minutes a day if that. Don't burn yourself out. If you can, buy a heart rate monitor so you know how many calories you burn and can enter that accurately with MFP.

It's a long process, so don't try to speed it up too much by not eating much, you'll just make it harder to stick to it. I don't know how much you have to lose, I had 75ish lbs, I picked 'lose 1 lb a week'. Eat your allotted calories (buy a food scale and weigh everything!), make sure you eat some of your exercise calories back, don't feel bad if you have a treat here and there (try to make it fit in your calories), and it won't be too bad.

ETA: and yes, be aware that it's a lifetime process. It took me years to be ready for it... I know I'll be able to eat only 300 calories more or so when I'm at my goal weight.