What were your baby steps?

mablesyrup

I posted earlier in the general board about direction etc... (i'm really struggling right now).

A few months ago I quit smoking. Cold Turkey. just stopped. Sure every so often I still crave them- (very rarely though).. but I was able to stop and not smoke again. But it's not easy with food- because you can't just cold turkey stop eating

Everyone says to do "baby steps". I'm trying to do baby steps. When I'm at school I walk up 5 flights of stairs to go between classes. Last year I took the elevator and sat inline embaressed because i assumed everyone walking past was laughing going, "hah the fat girl is going to take the elevator".. but now i take the stairs and by the time i'm 3 flights up i'm horribly out of breath and my legs feel like jell-o and by the time im at the 5th floor- i have to walk right into the bathroom so i can sit and catch my breath for 5 minutes before i walk into my class- because im breathing so heavily i feel like the entire 5th floor can hear me. and that's embaressing... even though i smile when i walk past the group of people waiting for the elevator as I'm walking to the stairwell.....

What are some other baby steps you integrated into your life to get you going when you were beginning your weight loss journey and making a LIFESTYLE change? What worked? What didn't work?

mamaturner

I can feel for you, I've been smoke free since July 1st, and its deffinitly not easy. Most of the time smoking is an oral fixation, the motion more than the actual cigarette, and in my case foods the same way. So when I quit smoking I replaced it with food, thats why I bounced back and gained wait back. It's when you go backwards from all your hard work that you realized what you did. Honestly, it's pretty much you take baby steps to get to the baby steps. I stated with getting rid of alcohol, I worked at a bar and was admittedly a very heavy drinker (we've all heard of a beer gut), then soda, and now fast food, although if I do go out to eat I'll go online first and find out the nutritional info first. And maybe just start slowly with the excercise, altough with how busy your life i, you maybe have to make time.

Daniel78

I started off gradually and slowly tweaked my diet and workout routine. It's still a work in progress but it's getting there! I cut out all canned soda and junk food from my diet. No more sweets, cookies, baked goods, pork, alcohol, or any other binge food I'd normally fall for. Sure I'll still have one of the above but it's in extreme moderation. My baby step was to stop stocking it in my cupboards and only consume the above if it were a reward for doing good. Now they're only consumed at a social event where I can't control the catering and consume in moderation. A cookie here, a soda at lunch there, a beer at a sporting event, etc etc.

Hopefully some day I'll have weaned myself off of these items completely. I know that I don't really need any of the above to survive so weeding them out indefinately is a realistic goal. I just need to continue striving to find the better alternative comfort food snacks to fill the voids. Some people can snack on fruit, good for them! I hate the pulpy taste of the highly sugary stuff. It's just not for me.

barbiecat

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
I knew I couldn't be a "clean eater" right away so I gradually added fruits and veggies and as I ate packaged and processed foods that I already had, I didn't buy any more to replace them.

:flowerforyou: I gave up coffee, pop, sugar, and artficial sweeteners gradually and didn't return to them.

:flowerforyou: I started taking 20 minute walks and gradually added more time.

:flowerforyou: Most important of all, I didn't compare myself to anyone who was a lot farther down the healthy eating road. I compared myself to me and how I was doing today compared to yesterday.

Georg

Wow. You're doing great with the stairs! I don't think I'd classify 5 flights as "baby steps!"
:flowerforyou:
We bought a stationery bike in January & I could only stand it for 5 minutes at a time without resting. :sad: So I would use it for 5 minutes, get off & walk around, then try again. After a week I could go for 15 minutes at a time, so I worked up to 2 15 minute intervals. Now I can go for longer than an hour. I just burned 750 calories in 35 minutes! I love the feeling when I'm finished.
:bigsmile:
Last summer I spent a month in a condo with 11 flights of stairs & I did them almost every day. My experience was the same as yours. The first 2 flights were fine, the next 2 painful, then by the 5th I was ready to collapse, heart pounding, breathing wildly like a crazy maniac but embarrassed to give up. So I'd push through & be drenched with sweat & puffing, but I did it! :bigsmile: My breathing would get back to normal in just a few minutes & I'm happy I could do it!
:flowerforyou:
Go for it!

toots99

Violet, I quit smoking 10 years ago and STILL get cravings! You just gotta grit your teeth and do something else to take your mind off of it!

And my baby steps started with cutting out regular soda. I drank so much! It wasn't uncommon for me to drink a 6 pack of Pepsi a day. I started slowly weaning myself off of it, mixing half diet and half regular...it was hard, but now I can't even drink regular soda, it's way too sweet for me!

You're heading in the right direction...small changes like taking the stairs will add up to big changes! :flowerforyou:

staceyw37

i do mini challenges. like one week it's drink more water. another it's to do x more minutes of exercise. another it's to eat one extra fruit or vege or i focus on changing my snack or breakfast.

these are small steps for me. manageable.
you've accomplished so much! :flowerforyou: just keep moving forward and you will reach your goal.

zebras

I got my Wii Fit about 16 months ago, When I started, I would have to sit down after doing a 3 minute step aerobic routine on a step less than two inches tall. Every time I went to use it I added a little more time to the routine. It tracks the time you are doing the workouts and keeps it on a daily chart, so you can refer to it. Graduated to other Wii workout programs then. So, a couple of months a go, I graduated to using the gym in my building and started building my time up similarly on the treadmill, and then the elliptical machine. Two days ago, I achieved my goal of 60 minutes at resistance 10 on the elliptical machine, and 60 minutes of treadmill generally at 3.1 mph varying the incline all the way up to 15%, and I am starting to add a little running at the end. So, today, I took one small step forward again, and started using the weight machine. So, as long as you vow to add the tiniest amount of improvement every time you go to work out, you will be surprised how fast things will turn around. 16 months might seem a long time, but its gone fast, and I am so pleased about how strong I have gotten.

thumper44

IMO - 5 flights is definately not baby steps, and that's an awesome job to keep doing it.
Most people after the first time they did it would say forget it, it's too hard, i'm too tired.

When I started this, at work I had to walk up 2 floors, and when I got to the top, I had to stop before I walked in the hallway, catch my breath and hope nobody saw me that I was out of breath from walking up 1 or 2 floors.

my baby steps.
- Quit drinking pop - replace with water and make sure I got 10-12 glasses of water.
- Almost quit alcohol - I've noticed weeks where I had few beer on the w/e - The scale didn't move.
- Make sure I eat 5-6 smaller meals.
- Going for a walk and increasing time/distance and speed. A 40 min walk turned into 80 min walk (2 laps) - and now has turned into 1 lap - 30 min 80% jog - 20% walk.
- I don't let a bad day or a bad week change my mindset - forget and carry forward.


I think this is very important what barbiecat said.

Most important of all, I didn't compare myself to anyone who was a lot farther down the healthy eating road. I compared myself to me and how I was doing today compared to yesterday.

jclguru

My baby steps was McDonalds in the morning.

I work the midnite shift. So when I left work in the morning, the first place I'd head for was
the drive thru for some breakfast. Usually two #3's.

I was there so often, I'd swear they had my food waiting for me.

I decided I had to cut that out. It's been May 10 since my last visit.

Losing weight was great, but there have been other advantages.

1. Less garbage :laugh:
2. More money left over
3. No more headaches.

Doug

stormieweather

Oh baby steps....that's the only way to do this!! But keep a list of what you're working on and never let the list sit stagnant. Always keep moving forward.

First I gave up my beloved SoBe Energy's. I quit drinking alcohol in 2003 and replaced the beer with these. But dang, they're 2.5 servings each bottle and I was drinking 2-3 a day. At 275 calories a bottle, 80 carbs and 78 sugars, they were killing me.

Then I switched to whole wheat bread/pasta and brown rice. Gave up potatoes. In fact, rarely eat any of these at all except on work out days.

Then I joined a gym. I could only lift the baby bells of 5 pounds and the first time I got on the elliptical, I got off 5 minutes later with my legs shaking and sweat pouring into my eyes. I gradually increased my weights and added 1 minute to my elliptical time every time I got on. Now I lift 20 pound dumbells as well as do slant situps, pull ups and push ups. I don't even start sweating until I've been on the elliptical for 10 minutes. Now I'm working on squats and lunges. I can do 7 lunges before I fail, but I want to be able to do 20 or 30 with heavier and heavier weights. So I'll keep pushing and pushing.

I was never able to tolerate food first thing in the morning and desparately wanted every second of sleep I could get before I had to get up. But, I started dragging myself out of bed 15 minutes early anyway and forcing myself to eat. Now, I'm used to getting up a little earlier and if I don't eat within 15 minutes, I feel terrible and my stomach is growling. I've just switched to steel cut oatmeal, to increase my nutrition in the am, as well.

I stopped buying a lot of processed foods and started buying organic, natural, and whole foods, as often as possible. I'm gradually making changes for my children too, as I want them to be healthy also. I do the majority of my shopping at the farmer's market and much less at the grocery store.

And I never stop learning. Growing. Increasing my knowledge. As I learn new things, we incorporate them and adjust. Never stay status quo...


added: I
I bought a scale and began weighing everything.

Recently I gave up my nightly Moose Tracks Ice Cream as it only came in 1/2 gallon sizes and I always ate too much. Now I eat Skinny Cow prepackaged if I want ice cream.

havingitall

I started by logging my food. Before I found MFP I wrote it all down in a journal.

I cut out caffeine... now I drink water, water with lemon or herbal teas. Sometimes I will have a glass of wine or a beer but that is few and far between compare dto the drink or two a night I was having.

I learned more about nutrition and portion control. I cleaned out the cupboards and fridge and got rid of the unhealthy stuff. I buy lots of veggies and fruit now. I go to a butcher for lean meats and buy very little processed food. I eat a lot of organic foods. All the grains I eat are whole grains

I increased my exercise. It used to be a walk around the block was huge to me. Now a 2 mile walk is just a start to what I am doing for the day. We will walk the dogs for 2 miles and then go to the gym or go with my power walking club. What ever I do, the walk is just a warm up now and not the main event in exercise. Working out is a priority in my day so I go to the gym early in the morning to make sure I get it donw. Any extra exercise is a bonus after that.

iojoi

i made them mistake of not takin baby steps and gave up smokin and went on a diet at the same time
needless to say i went stir crazy and almost gave myself a breakdown
..
so i went back to back steps and continued the non smokin and then introduced the dieting when i was over the worse of the ceasation of smoking and that seems to be working

i would also say to begin loggin food was another babystep as i became aware of my misttakes and bad habbits i got in preparation to begin to change that..

after a few weeks i then introduced my exercise but again more baby steps to start as i walked more and swam thenwas able to add my exercise bike and so i like this i gradually introduced all my other gymequipment

my most recent change has been to join in the meat free monday campaign and i think i may extend that to 2 or 3 days a week in time as i am loving some of the meatfree things i can buy and make ... and last but not least i switched to green tea this week