New with 50lbs to lose!

DEgal99

Hi all! New here. A little about me! I'm 25, married for 2.5 years. Just graduated from nursing school and currently looking for a job (everywhere where I live wants at least a year of experience!). This was my second degree. My first degree was in anthropology, which is super interesting to me, but left me working in a bank on the phones. Which is not what I wanted from my life! I have two cats and two fish. Once I get a job, the husband and I have talked about expanding to include a dog.

So, I currently weigh 175-180lbs depending on the day. My weight had slowly creeping up for a couple of years, but it was when my doctor's scale said 181 that I really knew something had to change. I've been maintaining that weight for 8 months or so, which is better than going up, but not as good as going down. I joined the Y and love the classes, but I have a hard time motivating myself to go (even though I'm always glad I did!). I think because I'm unemployed it messes with my schedule and I can't seem to stay on task to get things accomplished. (Ahha! New goal: create a schedule!) My goal is to get down to 130lbs where I was my freshman year in college. It was probably the most comfortable I've been with myself, ever.

In addition to my lack of motivation to going to the gym, I eat horribly. I am a vegetarian (I can only imagine how much I would weigh if I added meat back to my diet). My husband is not. We're on a pretty tight budget because of the whole unemployed thing, so a lot of the healthier foods I would want to buy aren't possible right now. Or, at least I don't know how to get them cheap enough and make them not go bad before we eat them. At least I can get apples cheap from the Farmer's Market! Another goal of mine is to start making meals that include veggies. I love veggies, I'm just to lazy to make them most of the time.

So, that's me! I'm always looking for people to share this journey with. Particularly people who can motivate me!

Thanks for reading!

beckyinma

Welcome DE! You'll definitely find the motivation and support here! Start with your food diary. Record EVERYTHING, be honest with the diary, and with yourself. Give it just a couple days, of eating normally, and you'll see where you need to change. If you're going to eat spaghetti, get whole grain instead of regular. drink LOTS of water, anytime you're having a craving, drink a glass of water first then wait 10 minutes, distract yourself with music or a mini workout... anytime you're just STARVING before a meal, drink a glass of water, you'll fill up faster with less food...Joining MFP is the first step, you are motivated, now you just have to change your thinking, to I want to but I'm too lazy, to I want to and I WILL. Friend me if you want!

kimphillips36

Welcome to MFP!! All the advice Becky just gave you is excellent! I've been on my weight loss journey for one year now! Please feel free to add me as a friend for support too! Anyone who reads this post...please feel free to add me as a friend! I love the extra support and encouragement from this site!

LCardo24

Welcome to MFP! I too struggle with a lack of motivation and poor eating habits. The food diary REALLY does help as long as you keep at it and are honest about what you're actually eating. I have been on MFP for about 3 months, and while I'm losing SLOWLY, I'm glad I'm going down and not up Some weeks are better than others.

Good Luck, and feel free to friend me!

Tacosmamma

You took the first step by joining! Everyone is great here! I used another site before but this one is much better... Drink water and try to make healthy food choices.. Try to get your exercise in... lots of videos on demand for cable or maybe you and your husband can walk every night! The weather is getting so nice !

DEgal99

Thank you all for the welcome and advice! Haha, I feel so motivated already!

I definitely need to increase my intake of water. I've never really been a water drinker, even though I know how important it is to my health and helpful it is for weight loss.

Kaybird84

Wow, I'm in almost the exact same situation. I weighed 135lbs my freshman year of college and steadily went up since until one day not too long ago I realized I tipped the scale at 202lbs! That was my wake up call and I've been playing with weight loss since but just decided to get serious about it this week. My friend clued me in to this site and I joined Sunday. If you're looking for low cost healthy food, check out your local Aldi market. It's a discount grocery store and the fresh produce is usually pretty good. I'd love to swap tips & advice!