80 to lose

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vegwicked
vegwicked Posts: 7
in Introduce Yourself
New here :-) I'm 20 years old and have about 80 lbs to lose. In 2008 I lost about 30 lbs with Weight Watchers, which taught me a lot about food choices and was the first time I've ever really lost weight, but then I got tired of counting points and it was like attending the same meeting over and over again. This time I'm trying something I hope will be more sustainable and much more budget-friendly...just counting calories, making wise choices, and exercising more including strength training (which I really didn't do w/ WW- I just walked a lot).

I'm actually enjoying getting back into the groove of planning my food the day ahead and MAKING time for exercise. I am, however, having two struggles:

1) My family. I'm in the middle of an internship right now (which is wonderful but not profitable) and living with my parents and 3 younger sisters and they're all junk food fiends ranging from "obese" to "how-are-you-not-obese?" When I was on WW they started eating better after they saw my success, but I had to go first and it'll be weeks before I lose enough to be noticeable so I can get them on board. Any ideas?

2) I don't know what to eat! I've been in this "I'll start my diet tomorrow" phase for a couple of months, eating HORRIBLY, and I just can't think of any healthy meals. I'll be eating veggie burgers and brown rice forever if I don't get some new ideas. Thoughts? Especially for packed lunches? I eat mostly vegan (no meat at all, I hate eggs, and I love dairy but it doesn't love me back), which you'd think would make me skinny but you'd be surprised at how much junk food is vegan (Oreos, potato chips, puff pastry...).

I can't wait for the little ladybug on my ticker to start moving!

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  • TaraMaria
    TaraMaria Posts: 1,975
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    Hey there!

    My number one suggestion as far as the family goes is: Get them on MFP! That's what I did with my sisters! They love it! I'm the oldest of three girls and now we can calorie count and chit chat with the rest of them! Its nice because when we go out to eat I can be like...how many calories is a bread stick? And get the answer almost immediately! If you get them on board, maybe you could set a goal of some sort. MFP keeps track of how many days you are logged in. Since you might all have varying weights to loose perhaps have it where if you all log in for 30 days you all get a girls night out with a movie and a treat? Or something along those lines...lol! Make it fun! MFP is the bomb! I've lost 60 pounds on here, its completely doable. Its a lifestyle change, not a passing fad.

    Good luck hunny!
  • vegwicked
    vegwicked Posts: 7
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    My number one suggestion as far as the family goes is: Get them on MFP! That's what I did with my sisters! They love it! I'm the oldest of three girls and now we can calorie count and chit chat with the rest of them! Its nice because when we go out to eat I can be like...how many calories is a bread stick? And get the answer almost immediately! If you get them on board, maybe you could set a goal of some sort. MFP keeps track of how many days you are logged in. Since you might all have varying weights to loose perhaps have it where if you all log in for 30 days you all get a girls night out with a movie and a treat? Or something along those lines...lol! Make it fun! MFP is the bomb! I've lost 60 pounds on here, its completely doable. Its a lifestyle change, not a passing fad.

    You're a genius! I wouldn't have even thought of that.

    My next youngest sister is crazy skinny (in a totally unfair way, her food pyramid consists of different types of donuts), but MFP might get her eating healthier even though she doesn't need to lose weight. My youngest two sisters are too young for MFP, but also don't bring food into the house so it's not an issue.

    My mom expresses interest all the time in losing weight (or buying bigger pants) but doesn't have much to lose.

    It's my dad that I'm most worried about. He's very overweight and makes very poor food choices (like...cannot plan ahead or stop at one serving of anything) and he tends to either eat bricks of cheese or only carrots...no sense of moderation. Same with exercise with him- he'll go big one day and be sore for a week, or he'll "ease into exercise" with 10 minutes/day for a month, then 20, then 30...you don't stick with it when you don't see results, and you don't see results with 10 minutes! Coincidentally, he's also the least likely to use MFP but I invited him anyway because he's an adult and can make his own decisions :-)
  • brockly25
    brockly25 Posts: 150
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    welcome to the site :) i hope you have a good time here. need to make friends and open up on what you do and eat so people can help you and talk you threw the hard days :)

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