How to get started?!

SAMMIJAE

Ok I know that you have to excercise and eat right....all that jazz BUT how do i get started??

I have been trying to do my own thing for the past 5 weeks now I have been gaining and losing the same 3 pounds!

somebody help me out.........whats the first step?

Amarillo_NDN

Want to know the reall seceret? Just write every thing you eat and do in the log. Belive it or not, just doing that is the first step. From there you will see the little things you can do to change your life.

AggieCass09

I suggest looking at your normal routine of eating and working out and then take one food goal and one exercise goal to work on for the week. For example, if you are a soda drinker, really focus on cutting out all sodas and if you normally exercise 3 times a week get in another day of exercise some time this week. Breaking up your goals into small manageable ones to focus on each week helps to keep everything realistic and manageable so that you can actually see real lifestyle changes over time. I also like making big long term goals (like losing 30 lbs) and then breaking them up into little goals (this month I will lose 8 lbs by doing <insert action here>). I hope this helps! If you need a buddy support system just friend me!

My goal this week is to get 2 work outs in while I am traveling for work (as opposed to not working out while on business trips).

paul100

Start by simply logging *all* your food and exercise. Just seeing where your calories are coming from (and going too) helps you figure out what you need to change in order to lose weight.

SAMMIJAE

AWESOME!!!! Thank you guys so much! I started my log today.

I think i just answered my next question.....I was going to ask what if you dont know how much calories is in it?....I was just about to eat some little gummy type candies and i have no idea how many calories are in it BUT I just wont eat it!!!

lyvvie

No way am I an expert or anything but these are some basic things that helped me:

1. Keeping the food diary and trying to stay on target, I was sceptical at first but it really does help and soon you'll be able to tell roughly how many calories things have and be able to make better choices.

2. Not constantly weighing yourself - it's tempting, but if you can make it more about getting fit than losing weight it really helps. I'm trying to make it so I only weigh myself a couple of times a month.

3. Not pushing yourself too far too soon - you're probably quite motivated at the start and so you might think 'I'll do 45 mins cardio every day this week' but by the time you get to day 3 you're exhausted and depressed and you decide to give up. You have to set manageable short-term goals, I started off by just doing 20 minutes exercise five times a week, it was a low amount but I knew I could manage it and it gave me a good feeling at the end of the week knowing I'd done 1hr 40 mins more exercise than usual. Gradually I increased my time and I'm now up to 65 mins+ five times a week and I've lost a stone and gone down a dress size (and most importantly am much fitter).

4. Getting back on the horse and perseverance. Learning to put yesterday behind you (when you skipped your exercises and/or over-ate) and just continue as normal today. This is probably the most important thing and the hardest to learn.

Hope some of that helps!

SAMMIJAE

wow thank you Iyvvie!! 2 and 3 are definitely what i need to focus on and 4!!!! great list!

lyvvie

Yay! I gave good advice!

I forgot to add that its also really good to hang around here and read other peoples posts and see what they're doing and the setbacks/successes they've had. As you can see this is only my second post so I've been more of a lurker around here but just reading other peoples stories and being in a community that understands and is compassionate is a real help, especially if you don't have anyone in real life who is in the same situation as you.


Re: the question you didn't ask about the gummy candies, if it's not in the database and you don't have the package with the nutritional info, it could be on the company's website. If it's not you could just something similar that is in the database for a rough calculation. Sometimes I find that spending ages looking for what calories something has actually puts me off eating it!