Losing weight: I need a diet. And a routine. Please help!

bwogilvie

This is a really good place to start:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Thanks that was a good read!

If you enjoyed that, check out some of the other posts linked from this one:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

By the way, the word "diet" is confusing, because we use it to mean two things. One is "a temporarily restricted range and amount of foods" - like the Atkins Diet or the Grapefruit Diet. Another is "the range of foods one normally eats as a matter of course," like the various Mediterranean diets, the traditional Masai diet (almost entirely animal products), or a vegan diet.

What you ideally want is a healthy diet in the second sense: an eating lifestyle that is good for you and that you can maintain for your life. There are many ways to go about it, but for basic principles--including why you shouldn't worry too much about macros, micronutrients, health claims, etc.--I recommend starting with Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food.

m1ke1984

auddii,

That's a fair point and I have heard about that before. I haven't experienced muscle loss that I can notice, which I think might be for a couple of reasons: (1) I use the eliptical at a high enough resistance to feel the workout in my arms, and (2) I live on a farm and spend time working with animals, hauling bales of hay, slinging around feed bags, and playing with my 30lbs son and 9lbs daughter.

Haha, maybe I'm just not smart enough to focus on building muscle and losing weight at the same time, so I'll just focus on the one that is my goal right now. My thought is that I can worry about gaining muscle (or getting it back) when I'm lean as long as I am healthy in the meantime. That's just my approach, and it's simple enough that I can stick to it.