In need of some advice.

newdaydawning79

Make it a priority...

"Instead of saying 'I don't have time' try saying 'it's not a priority' and see how that feels. Often, that's a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just don't want to. But other things are harder. Try it: "I'm not going to edit your resume sweetie, because it's not a priority" "I don't go to the doctor because my health is not a priority." If these phrases don't sit well, then that's the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don't like how we're spending an hour, we can choose differently"

I have never thought of it this way before and now I'm going to start. I'm not the OP but I'm saying a huge thank you for this! :flowerforyou:

Phrick

Make it a priority...

"Instead of saying 'I don't have time' try saying 'it's not a priority' and see how that feels. Often, that's a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just don't want to. But other things are harder. Try it: "I'm not going to edit your resume sweetie, because it's not a priority" "I don't go to the doctor because my health is not a priority." If these phrases don't sit well, then that's the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don't like how we're spending an hour, we can choose differently"

I love this so much that I put it on my Facebook page. It's a great reminder for every aspect of life, not only health or fitness - marriage, kids, school/study, on and on. I'm so glad you posted it, Tavistock Toad

tnjrichter

YOU GOT THIS!!! The want to change is the first step! Do not look at the BIG picture, rather break it down to small pictures and focus on one goal a day. You goal can be simple as 1 less soda a day, 10 wall push-up a day for a week, walk for 30 minutes a day for a week or better choices of what foods to eat.
When I started my journey I was 60 pounds heavier than I am now and I was waiting to die. Until I decided I was not going to be a victim anymore to the stresses and MANY reasons to my health problems including being obese. At first I could not walk across my house without being winded...I now walk jog up to 6 miles a day. Recently, I have had a few setbacks but they are not going to keep me down...I am a survivor and not going to accept defeat.

Support is a HUGE ingredient in a healthy lifestyle. Set up your support system...I have found a lot of support here at MFP and also in my surrounding community from my family and friends.

ew_david

Have realistic expectations. Understand that it's going to take time. Take it slow, start small. Log your food. Those who fail often try to change everything at once, become overwhelmed, and quit.

hbrittingham

How do you do this? How do I not fail this time?

log everything. log every day. The minute you stop logging is the minute you start to fail.

Being fit is ALL about making conscious decisions about what you eat.

If you don't log, your denial will take over and you WILL fail.

This is great advice!

Also, don't try to cut back too much to start. Set up your profile to lose 1/2-1 lb per week initially so it's not too much of a shock and so you aren't starving all the time. I would suggest pre-logging your food for the day at the beginning and then just looking at your diary and eating what you've already logged. Don't get too ambitious at the beginning or you may set yourself up to fail. A lot of people come here and start at 1000-1200 calories a day after eating 3000+ calories a day for years, then they are starving and end up binging before the first week is over. Moderation, not starvation.

Once you have the eating habits down, then add in some sort of exercise. What do you like to do? Walk? Ride a bike? Find something you enjoy so you are sure to stick to it.

You can do this!

wkwebby

In addition to logging the food, take a hard look at WHAT foods you have going into your body. The exercise is great, but starting out slowly with that until you get some muscles built will have very little impact on your results. The food is the easiest thing to change and see almost immediate results. Eat plenty of vitamin and nutrient dense foods and you'll find that you'll be fuller a lot faster and for longer.

If you have any additional health issues (pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.), you should enlist the help (or do additional research at the least) on what you should be further limiting or eliminating from your diet to be healthier.

For example, I'm pre-pre-diabetic so I'm trying to limit my carbs and sugars daily. Since I'm not in the pre-diabetic stage yet and starting early, I don't beat myself up too much if one day goes over my sugar/carb allotments. Now I'm going to start working on my sodium a little because I'm seeing the water retention fluctuation come into play a little on a day to day/week to week basis (like 3-6 lbs up or down).

Changing up what and how much you eat will result in a nice and steady weight loss while exercising will build the muscles underneath to show off when you've shed some of that unwanted weight and fat (it also allows you to eat more if you're a foodie like me). Good luck in this journey! :flowerforyou:

Aaagrant

Instead of telling yourself that eating is easy, tell yourself that losing weight is easy. I have had days in the past where I felt really frustrated but then I would take a deep breath and tell myself that losing weight is just numbers, that's it. Just make sure to keep logging all your food and exercise, and make sure you keep yourself in a caloric deficit, and, although it may be slower than you would like at times, you will see the pounds come off. Just keep at it, you can do this!

jrline

Drink lots of water and start by walking as far as you can in a half hour and improve from there. A body in motion tends to stay in motion a body at rest tends to stay at rest so get moving. Track what you are eating myfitnesspal is great for tracking.