I don't have a clue as to how to lose weight!! Please Help!

illecl

It's all about the math, no matter what diet gurus on TV say. Use MFP's tools (calculators) to determine how many calories a day your body burns. Post every bite you take! MFP's diary will tell you how many calories you burn with exercise (although my heart rate monitor says it's a little overstated). I don't eat back most of my exercise calories like MFP tells you to do. Lots of people do. My doctor and dietician say to only eat them if I'm starving. Protein is important to keep you from getting too hungry.

For every 3500 calories you burn or don't eat, you'll lose a pound. You can learn by reading any good diet book. I love books by Biggest Loser trainers Bob Harper or Jillian Michaels. Dr. Pamela Peeke has some good books too. Lots of online sites.

It's not magic or voodoo. Eat less, move more. I lose better on lower-carb. But I'm older too. Give up sugar and white foods like potatoes and white flour except as treats. Regular soda will fatten you up like crazy.

You can do it!!!
Carol

maskins

Hi Lisa,

Add me to your friends list....maybe I can help to support you and vice versa. I have been losing and gaining wt. ever since my
twenties so I have a lot of experience(I am almost 60 now). Luckily I have never let myself get over 15 to 20 lbs overweight. Right now I am at 128 and would like to get to about 114-119.... cause I am short about 5 ft 2 or 3 inches. My suggestion (once
you get to your goal wt) is to put a big stop sign on your brain when you see the scale going up! Hope that helps you - it works for me cause I have always thought fat looks so disgusting on people. And now we know all the detrimental effects like 100's of diseases it causes!
You have to right idea about dropping the soda - it is nothing but chemical laden sugar water and sugar is very bad for everyone's health!!! I can send you more info on that - I actually attended a lecture about it at the Nutritional Healing Center near where I live.

Good clean eating is what you need! Real foods -veggies, fruits (not too many cause of the sugar), proteins , whole grains
and lots of water. There is a way to put nutritional support into your water and I can suggest a product that I use - it tastes good
and makes the water more enjoyable. Let me know if you want that info. And make time each morning to use this site and figure out what you are going to eat each day. Stop buying junk foods and McD. -make foods at home only - it is better for everyone in your family. If you do go out chose simple foods like salads... skip the burgers and fries!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hothodgie

My first suggestion is always the same. Take a before picture and keep taking them every few weeks or once a month. If you don't see the scale moving, you will at least see the difference in the pictures. I cannot stress it enough. I have tried several times to lose weight and always ended up failing. This time I took photos to track and I am still just as motivated if not more than I was when I first started. You don't have to show the pictures to anyone if you don't want. But it will help keep you motivated to lose.

Second best advice, log EVERYTHING, even the bad days. I once had a bad day and knew it was a bad day. Then I logged it and saw I was twice my calorie for the day. It kept me in check for the next day. Also, remember, one day of bad eating is not the end of the world. Just keep logging so a bad day doesn't turn into a bad week!

Third, try what works for you. If what you are doing isn't working, do some research and try something else. Not everything works for everyone, but there is something out there for everyone. Stay away from fad diets. They only work as long as you are on them. I know, I've tried several of them. Once you eat normal, the weight comes right back on. I found the "in place of a roadmap" thread after having a 3 week plateau. It was the right thing for me and helped me tremendously. I highly recommend it, even if you just use it to figure out your numbers. It was a turning point for me and I couldn't be happier.

Last, just move more. Start out taking a 30 minute walk everyday. Its easy and its quick. Then work up from there. Try different exercises and figure out what you like. There are so many things out there that are fun. Not everyone likes the same thing so find what you like. If you get bored with it, try something different. I do all different sorts of exercising as I get bored easily. I do everything from swimming, walking, the gym for arc trainer and weight lifting, and even a few different exercise dvds.

I wish you joy and success in your journey. Feel free to add me if you would like!!

PetulantOne

Welcome!

Doing something outside of your comfort zone is hard at first, but you sound like you are ready to give it a proper go.

Now for the good news (promise not to tell anyone outside of MFP), it's not actually that difficult! :bigsmile:

The single most important thing you need to know is the ONLY proven method for losing weight is consuming (eating and drinking) less calories than you burn (through every day living and any exercise).

There are layers and layers of other information will help you lose fat and get healthier, but this is the single most important fact you need to remember - that is why tracking calories works!

My recommendation to begin with is to figure out a reasonable diet that you can stick to (no need to live on turkey breast and lettuce). and get involved in some regular exercise. The water aerobics is great because it is low impact, but anything like walking, swimming - whatever you are comfortable with is great!

You will have probably set your diary to a 2lb loss (everyone does to start ), so remember if you earn extra calories through exercise, you CAN and should eat those back.

Finally, please spend some time surfing the forums here. There is a lot of crap, but you will pick up some really useful information that will help you along the way.

All the best for the next phase, and feel free to hit me up if I can be of any more help!

:flowerforyou:

This!!!

sanvanhaaften

wow,what a bunch of great advice! its very interesting... im also new here and learning a lot from you guys. welcome back and remember that where is a will, there is always a way.

DebbieMc3

open your diary so that we can see what you are eating

log everything

eat a balance

get your body moving

and feel free to friend me. I personally do very low carb but have been at this weight loss thinhg my entire life.

ShreddedTweet

Yep, echoing what others have said take a 'Before' photo...Don't worry about how hideous you think it looks, you will never have to be this big again, you have started from today to build a better you. Now tips, get that water into you, don't lie to yourself - log your calories honestly and get moving *you don't have to run a marathon, you don't even have to run just do something*
You have the right attitude, you have got this!!! Best of luck!

ETA: Take measurements, sometimes you can be losing inches instead of pounds!