new to actually trying to lose weight and confused

Mrsbasford

I have always been disappointed in my weight, even when I was small. I broke both legs in 2008 in the military. It turned into 2 broken legs to nerve damage and in need of hip replacement. I'm a waitress 4days 25hrs a week. I have a family I clean up after and 18 animals. I'm very active especially because I have OCD. I'm not on any medications.
My dream goal is to go from 170-120 by July. However I'd be content with 130 maybe 140 by then.
How do I do this? Diets are so confusing to me. I can't afford a gym membership so whatever workouts I do must be doable at home.
Calories vs workouts. Good food vs bad food. Best workouts vs non effective workouts.
As for eating, I do not eat fish/seafood. Not a big red meat eater. Love pasta and potatoes, carbs but really try to avoid them. Ilove salads and chicken and turkey. I also love beans. I drink lemon water all day.
All advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

kpstacy

Good morning. I am a personal trainer who works with clients out of their home. My goal as a p.t. is to show people that you don't need fancy equipment to get into shape and be healthy. Set 30 minutes aside 4-5 days a week. (You may want to start with 2-3 to start off with) The best way I found if you don't have a lot of time is circuit training. Yes, this can be done at home. You want to start by doing 30 second intervals between strength training and cardio....
Example:
Minute 1-3 Warm up.... should rolls... abdominal twists.... walking in place (Get your body wamred up)
then
30 secs of squats
30 secs of jogging in place
30 secs of crunches
30 secs of high knee raises
30 secs of push ups
............
A circuit like this is a great way to get your cardio and strength training in. If you don't have dumbbells, use water bottles to add weights. You can find a lot of exercises on line that require no weights.

As for "diet".... that is a nasty four letter word. There is no magic diet. Think good clean food. Eat food that gives your body nutrients and make sure you eat enough. If you use MFP and set it up right, you should be good. Make small changes everyday and listen to your body. Feel free to look at my diary (it is far from perfect).

Finally, ask yourself why you want to loose the weight. You can do it! Feel free to message me anytime if you need anything! Good luck.

Mrsbasford

1st what is mfp and how do you use it correctly?
2nd so at home I need to "smoke" myself like when we got smoked in basic training? Instead of a few minutes everyday do it once a day for 30 minutes?

matthewcorb

You start by eating healthier foods. If you're confused, you can go the easier route and just follow a cookbook for your meal plans. That would take a huge load off you.

http://cooklikeacaveman.com/paleo-cookbook-review/

http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-food.html

Here are some samples.

As for the exercise, you can do so much at home alone. You can do situps and other workouts that don't require gym memberships. Also if you're up for it, you can try jogging or running outside maybe even biking.

FiftyandGettingBetter

Glad you made the decision. Sometimes that's the hardest part is that first step.

In this busy world you need to find time to listen to your body. How do you (your mind and body) feel after you eat a brownie, how do you feel after eating some grilled chicken with grilled veggies. How do you feel after taking a walk around the block as opposed to sitting on the couch?
Here are 6 actions you can take everyday and listening to your body will help you get there.
1. Breathe deep.
2. Drink Water
3. Eat Vegetables
4. Cut Back on Sugar
5. Stretch and Move
6. Laugh

This is condensed from an article that a friend of mine wrote. You can find more on this at
http://beawesomefitness.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/6-quick-and-easy-steps-to-feel-awesome/

Hope this helps.

Tereless

I am turning 50 this year and have tried many ways to loose weight ! Like you I have had a recent hip replacement. I thought that with the ability to get out and walk and exercise more comfortably and keeping calories around 1500 I would lose the weight but it did not work!!! What a bummer! Now I have already been modifying my calories and increased my exercise and did not lose more that 1 to 3 lbs only to gain it back again the next week for the last year. Very frustrating.
I recently went to the Dr. and did all the usual blood test and my cholesterol was high 257 and that my sugar was 96 not a diabetic but that is a little high since I was fasting. So she talked me into taking Metformin (a diabetes drug) because it looked to them like I had insulin resistance. I started a modified Mediterranean diet (mostly fish and chicken turkey with limited carbs 30 g a day all the low glycemic veggies I want ) and I started less than a week ago I have lost 6 lbs! I can feel the bloating letting go and feel great.
My suggestion is talk to your Doctor and see if you are insulin resistant or metabolic syndrome X and they can help you get on the right path.
I AM NOT A DOCTOR but I have tried every variation of diet out there over the years, WW, gluten free, calorie counting, Diet Center, fasting, protein shakes for every meal and so on, I feel they really put their finger on what is happening to my body.

My goal is to lose 75lbs before my birthday in October and to hike a 14,000ft mountain this summer!

Please make me a friend and we can help each other!

Icanhazsugarnow

The basic rule of weight loss is to burn 500 more calories than you consume. I usually eat what I want regardless of carbs, sugar, etc and I'm still losing weight. I have cut my calories down to 1,200 a day and I burn about 909 a day with Zumba Fitness 2.

Tereless

MFP = my fitness pal
Keep track of everything and then go back over the last week and see where you progressed or failed and make adjustments for the up coming week and Keep notes in the notes section so you can tract emotions, happenings in your day, and so on. Reflection and adjustment is great for getting perspective.

Sjenny5891

I have always been disappointed in my weight, even when I was small. I broke both legs in 2008 in the military. It turned into 2 broken legs to nerve damage and in need of hip replacement. I'm a waitress 4days 25hrs a week. I have a family I clean up after and 18 animals. I'm very active especially because I have OCD. I'm not on any medications.
My dream goal is to go from 170-120 by July. However I'd be content with 130 maybe 140 by then.
How do I do this? Diets are so confusing to me. I can't afford a gym membership so whatever workouts I do must be doable at home.
Calories vs workouts. Good food vs bad food. Best workouts vs non effective workouts.
As for eating, I do not eat fish/seafood. Not a big red meat eater. Love pasta and potatoes, carbs but really try to avoid them. Ilove salads and chicken and turkey. I also love beans. I drink lemon water all day.
All advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

I started out by just tracking everything for a week and then cutting back on one or two things a week to fit into my calorie goals.
I admit I don't make the time to exercise like I should. I keep saying I'm going to, but life has gotten in the way.

If you have a problem with over eating or snacking at nights-- I do-- I pre log what I want to eat and set it out. Then only get more if I work out.

mmddwechanged

I think why not make it your goal to maintain or lose every day for the next year? This way you will learn about your body and have a handle on things for the rest of your life!!! Start by figuring out what it would take to lose one pound a week and what it would take to maintain and work on that first.

Katetw

I have always been disappointed in my weight, even when I was small. I broke both legs in 2008 in the military. It turned into 2 broken legs to nerve damage and in need of hip replacement. I'm a waitress 4days 25hrs a week. I have a family I clean up after and 18 animals. I'm very active especially because I have OCD. I'm not on any medications.
My dream goal is to go from 170-120 by July. However I'd be content with 130 maybe 140 by then.
How do I do this? Diets are so confusing to me. I can't afford a gym membership so whatever workouts I do must be doable at home.
Calories vs workouts. Good food vs bad food. Best workouts vs non effective workouts.
As for eating, I do not eat fish/seafood. Not a big red meat eater. Love pasta and potatoes, carbs but really try to avoid them. Ilove salads and chicken and turkey. I also love beans. I drink lemon water all day.
All advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

lots of stuff to unpack in here!
1) Healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. Your goal is not sustainable--as in, yeah, you can starve yourself and lose the weight but as soon as you stop that behavior the weight will come back. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you need to lose at a slow, steady, sustainable rate by making changes that will be for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. Not while you're dieting and then it ends.

2) You're on this message board so I assume you are familiar with MFP's system. You can play around with your goals, putting in your current stats and how fast you want to lose weight (1 pound a week is a realistic, healthy goal) and it will tell you how many calories you get to eat a day.

3) Calories are calories. There aren't good foods and bad foods. However, you will find that one food item worth 500 cals leaves you hungry and another fills you up. Just start tracking and eat within your limits. You will adjust what you eat such that you can stay full and still be within limits.

4) Workouts are good to tone up, get healthy, but you won't lose much weight with them. Weight loss is done by limiting calories. 3500 calories=1 pound. So you want a deficit of at least 3500 cals a week. But again you don't have to do this math--mfp will do it for you.

5) nothing wrong with carbs but you will find they are incredibly high in calories. Once you start measuring you will see how little else you get to eat if you have a huge plate of pasta. I also love pasta and still eat it, but my portion sizes are much smaller now. That's what I am learning to do, to adapt to this new lifestyle.

I hope some of that helps! good luck!

Ginnie_Fizz

Bump for later

cindijelly

I eat what I want, but not ALL that I want. Recently, my daughter who is a tad jealous of my loss in weight tells me I do not eat healthy. She is correct, but instead of eating a pack of cookies I have one or two a day. I am good with this. I believe over time, the smart choices come. I used to exercise, and then I would in time automatically change my eating. This time it is the eating, and now I need to exercise.

cindijelly

great post. I tell folks the same, you can eat anyway you want to loose the weight, but if you cannot eat a certain way for life, the weight will come back.

cindijelly

good one, baby steps.

cindijelly

wow! good going

Mrsbasford

Thank you everyone for the advice. Please keep them coming. I'm going to use everyones advice to build my own plan. I did circuit training at home and very sore. I also plan to start eating clean with a lil reward once a week. If I can lose even a few lbs before vaca ill be happy and proud.