Where do I Start?

curlywurly1977

Well I woke up this morning and after a few weeks of reading on here the inspirational stories I decided that today is the day I start to sort myself out. I have logged so far today and it's going fine, no exercise yet but planning to do a long walk in the morning.

I need to lose 10 stoneish to get to a healthy weight. I suffer from PCOS which is treated with Metformin but I know that losing weight will help my hormones. I haven't set myself a target as such yet.

So is that all I need to do? log what I eat, log exercise and go from there? with regards to eating exercise calories I will aim to eat them if I need them - is that ok? Can you use more one day and then less the next or is it best to use them or lose them in the same day?

foodie99

I think it's best just to start logging so you see your patterns. Do you have a hard time eating under your calorie goal? Do you eat from boredom in front of the TV? Once you know your tendencies, then you can make the appropriate adjustments.

Exercise calories seems to be one of the biggest controversies here. I have my calories set following the TDEE method which already accounts for my exercise, so I don't eat back what I burned. If you are following the general method MFP set for you, then I think you should eat back most of your exercise calories. At the very least, you should eat enough in the day so that you are over your basic resting needs.

This site isn't set to carry over calories (burned or eaten) from one day to the next, but I do think you can account for a splurge day by eating less before or after.

Good luck!

Arkhos

First, congratulations on making a decision to better yourself!!! Logging EVERYTHING you eat is the first step! This is how you will learn. You will see what you eat, how you eat, and see how you can make changes. We easily fool ourselves when eating food, "it's only a little bit of ...", "this won't hurt my weight loss...". If you accurately log it, you will see the truth. Making little changes will help you to keep going for the long term. Do what exercising you can - walking will help you so much - just get moving. You don't need to run a marathon, just do something. And next week, do a little more, even if it's just a few minutes more. When you feel yourself becoming stronger, you will want to do more. You are going to feel so much better if you keep going!! Trust me!! I can't believe how much stronger I've gotten in 9 months! The time will pass anyway, so you may as well make the most of it. Weight loss is full of ups and downs, but all you have to do is keep going - don't stop. There's a reason why you want to start, you know how you feel now, and stopping will only bring you back here. Sometimes writing down when, what, why you are feeling hungry, or why you feel like eating something will also help you learn the reasons behind your weight gain. Understanding what got you to this point will help you keep from going back.

I've still got almost 200 lbs to lose, so I'm familiar with what it's like! Add friends on here, they will help encourage you along the way!

Arkhos

Also finding things that inspire you to keep going will help. You can make a vision board using either magazines, or pictures you find on the internet that show things you want, weight loss, arms, muscles, running, inspirational quotes etc.