New to this-Looking for tips, new fun exercises, and welcomi

pankait88

Hi all!
My name is Kaitlin and I'm living in Philly, I am sick to death of feeling down on myself and decided to make a lifestyle change. I am welcoming any kind of advice on mentally sticking with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is ALWAYS my downfall, but not this time! I usually never post anything when I join these things, but I'm thinking getting totally involved this time will help!

P.s.- anyone got any cool workout ideas?? I love kickboxing, circuit training and the elliptical is my favorite machine ever!!

Hopefully I'll talk to you guys soon! thanks for the help/support!

dakoerber

Welcome!! This is a great site!!!

I love kickboxying myself - do at home workouts - my favorite is Turbojam/Turbofire. Soooo Fun!!

Glad you are here!!

Danahimself

Keep it simple

strohst

Welcome !! Good luck to you !!

realia

Hello, Kaitlin! Welcome

JoseMedina21

Welcome aboard and good luck on your journey!

pankait88

Sweet thanks!! I'm going to look that one up right now!

leslielt

maybe try getting people you know to sign on too. It does work

auntiebabs

My theory was small and consistent change.

Here's how I started:

1) tracking for a couple of weeks before I worried about losing.
(although seeing what I was eating I couldn't help but rein back a bit)

2) seeing where I could make small changes on things that weren't that important to me.
(Don't even think of taking chocolate out of my diet!!!)
--Reducing quantities where I won't notice it so much
--Swapping out things instead of eliminating them.

3) Look at my diary and started adding foods that had positive healthy effects specifically for the health issue in my family.
I found most of the things I "should" add were really yummy too! salmon, avocado, oatmeal, mango, red grapes....
(Sort of think of food as medicine to deal with family history of various health issue oatmeal is good for heart health, mango and red grapes lower cholesterol, tumeric and cinnamon good for arthritis)

4) every couple of weeks I see where I can make another couple of small changes.
If you completely revamp your diet, it's way easy to revert to old ways in times of stress.
If you make a series of small changes, food still offers you some sense of comfort.
sort of a comfort continuum, and after a while the first small changes will seem comforting in themselves.
You don't have to be perfect you just have to do better.

5) also rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

Once I found ways to lessen the stress, I found it way easier to focus on the process and let the results follow. (It's what worked for me some people nee the stress to get them motivated. Me I get scared and overwhelmed and don't see the big goal as acheivable. I only worry about it 1 lb at a time.)

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

I did have to take a break for a month due to a health scare, but otherwise I kept with the slow and steady approach. Took me 9 months (including the month off) At first I lost at the rate of about 3 lbs per month, but the closer you get to the goal the slower it goes. So be patient and hang in there.

also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week (1200 cal rock bottom, 1/2 lb/week as my target, maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.)

Good Luck

cheeksv

c25k running program is very popular and works in getting you running if you wanted to try it. I have yet to start doing anything other than that but I find some cool workouts in women health as well as on this site.

Foodwise

Try to stay away from things that do not do anything for your body sodas candy etc and replace them with fruits. Measure and weigh your food! get a food scale and brake out those measuring cups and spoons because they will help a lot. I also get a lot of ideas from a blog on tumblr called undressedskeleton as far as recipes and grocery lists she is good.
Think unprocessed and fresh are the best when it comes to the food you put in your body Also do your own research and ask experts even if that means going to your gym and talking to a nutritionist.
Good luck! and I will be rooting for you!