Huge weighloss journey ahead of me

EvelineUK

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a while now, trying to decide whether or not I'd start joining in on these message boards, but there have been a few topics that I wanted to reply to which I thought would be rude to without introducing myself. I even thought of changing my name as this feels rather 'naked', but then I figured.... I need to own this and be honest or it isn't going to work.

As the subject title says, i have a huge weightloss journey ahead of me. Well, I've made a start in the last 6 weeks already. I need to lose half of my current weight to get to BMI 25.... that's scary to even realise that I've let it get this far. But I'm 40 now and if I don't do something about it, I'll not make old bones. So here I am.....

I'm currently logging all my food and have been under my intake as suggested by MFP most days, I keep seeing my 'if every day was like this...' going down, which is really motivating. I work as a forum moderator and work from home, which means I sit on my sofa a LOT, and that of course doesn't help matters. My budget doesn't allow a fitness club membership sadly, so I'm making due with the recumbant bike we've got (30 min. at least 5x a week, I had no idea I could sweat this much!), resistance bands, Walk At Home videos on Youtube and going for walks.

I don't have scales at home, but measure myself once a week and it's nice to see the cm's going off. I do have regular doctor appointments for my high bloodpressure (yeah, I know....) so I'll pop on the scales there and see how I'm progressing. I think that at least for the time being that is healthier for me mentally than having the option of weighing myself at home, which I know can grow into some kind of unhealthy obsession. I do keep a weightloss/getting healthy journal, logging my exercise, my struggles and successes and of course my stats as well as sticking in a full body photo a week.

I'm hoping to learn a lot from being here and get motivation on those days when it's difficult to get on the bike and do the work.
I'm going for the MFP success story!

Right then, here goes... *post topic*

Mhgretsch

Welcome and good luck as you begin your journey I can say from experience that simply being mindful of what and how much you put in your mouth, and committing to being active at least half an hour a day, and tracking both things here on Mfp...these things can REALLY help you make lifestyle changes that will stick.

ccrdragon

congrats on taking the first steps!! there will be days that you fail and days that you make great progress - just understand that it is a journey and not a day-to-day thing - keep your eyes on the goal and you will get there!!

hearthwood

I couldn't agree more. Most people gain weight because they don't know what they're putting into their mouth nor have any idea how many calories their consuming or burning during the day. With MFP there's no excuse now.

I bought a Jawbone UP that I wear all of the time, that syncs with MFP, and it's great to have all the information of calories consumed versus calories burned so easily accessible.

MindfulLiving

good evening, I'm Pat AKA Mindful living, I've been here a while also and I have my ups and downs. Hoping to reduce a little at a time so I keep it off. We can always use a buddy so if you like you can add me to you friend list. I keep my food dairy open to my friends, suggest you do that to so we can comment on things like salt intake...that's my biggest problem keeping my sodium down. Welcome to MFP

EvelineUK

Thank you!

I've made a longggg list of reasons to want to lose weight and get healthier, with the obvious ones like not getting diabetes and lowering my blood pressure, but also silly things like 'not having to hold my phone so high when taking selfies so my triple chin doesn't show' and being able to paint my toe nails without having to hold my foot and bending the toes towards me (does that make sense?)... Tomorrow I'll write a list of mini-goals I want to start ticking off, as the end-goal is just too far out of reach for now..

Anyway, it's bedtime, so I'll be logging in again tomorrow.
'Night!