New Here Help!!

Water!! Sometimes your body says it is "hungry" when really it is just thirsty. Keep a cup or bottle of water handy and when you feel hungry drink a cup and wait a little while. Most people do not drink enough water.

Good luck on reaching your goal! Keep up the good work!:drinker:

Hi Virginia,

It is always tough to change one's lifestyle. Ease into it if you must, but jumping in with both feet is better. Pay attention to what you eat...that is why the myfitnesspal.com daily journal is so useful. You can really focus on your real caloric intake and your exercise 'routine'.

Eat low calorie foods, especially for snacks every hour or two. Carrots, celery, radishes, apples, oranges, etc. Stock your refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets with low fat...low salt, no added sugar foods. Besides other health issues remember a gram of fat is 9 calories while a carbohydrate or protein gram is only 4 calories.

Begin a realistic exercise regime that you can do at least four times per week and it is better to do more like six days per week, but build up to it. Take a month to get to the daily routine. Remember, you are changing your lifestyle for a lifetime...not just a well intentioned goal date in the near future.

Pay attention to your body after you eat. If you feel sluggish or really full you know you did not eat right. If you feel energetic and reasonably satiated you are doing right. At first after years of stuffing ourselves we tend to view not being stuffed as being hungry...view it as being a positive thing...this is when you are burning calories and it is ok not to be stuffed...in fact it is good.

But, having said that...if you get hungry eat. Just eat the right things. When veges or fruit won't do it for me I eat a Dannon Light & Fit six ounce yogurt. I have even been known to eat two! They are only 80 calories each.

If you take your ideal weight times nine that is how many calories you should get each day. You can add to those if you exercise. But, without considering exercise we generally will stabilize our weight at about nine times (for ladies) the weight.
So, a lady who weighs two hundred pounds and is generally a couch potato will probably average a caloric intake of about 1,800 calories per day. It is really that simple. So, again...take your ideal weight times nine and that is how many calories you need to get used to taking in per day.

Good luck to you! This is a great journey you are taking...it is a lifetime journey just for you.

John

Good Morning Virginia,
Welcome to MFP.
I totally agree with everyone here regarding the water! First I need to say that I am a diet coke junkie, live on it, drink nothing else except milk when I am not on any type of eating plan. Not unusual for me to drink 6-8 cans and one meal a day.
So with that being said, the first thing I noticed when I started drinking my water ( i do 10 glasses a day) was that my belly bump went down. Now by no means is that damn thing gone but the poochy is gone. All the carbonation, sodium and whatever else has lessened and it shows. I still have my DC but I am trying to limit that to 2-3 a day. Most days I'm good. But if your drinking all that water you tummy isn't hungry as often.

Use this site for everything its worth, the food diary is a must. This will keep you motivated and on track. BE HONEST the only one your hurting by "forgetting" to add something is yourself. No one else will know anyway, your body will and the scales will show you that. So log everything you put in your mouth, most eveything has calories so it will add up quick. You could literally "forget" a couple hundred calories a day. You wont get anywhere that way. :grumble:

The recipes on here are pretty tasty and there are so many suggestions you wont get bored, it just means you have to cook.
the meatloaf muffins are great and the chicken divan is oh so good! Diet soda cake, gingerbread muffins? Try some of them.

Look at the people here that have lost tremendous amounts of weight, they are a wealth of information and sooo very helpful, just ask them, they have already been where you are right now, They did it !

Make sure to track your exercise, I find I still do not enjoy my exercise (only here since jan 5) BUT if I think about it too much I talk myself outta it. SO, just put on the clothes and start, DONT THINK, just move. Thats just me, maybe that will help.

Being hungry, John said it best. Sometimes we eat out of habit more than true hunger. I know for me that if I can manage to eat some type of protein at EVERY meal I stay full soooo much longer. Carbsare my first love but I want to loose weight so protein has become my new best friend.

The veggie thing just doesnt work for me as a snack although I do enjoy the baby carrots,so I eat fiber one bars ,strawberry & almond are fantastic, love those ( 140 cals) low fat yougurt ( 80 cals)
string cheese ( 80 cals) apples, pears I need to chew I guess. Sometimes I just grab an ounce of turkey or a slice of red cal ww bread with 1-2 teaspoons of peanut butter, that holds me over till dinner if needed.
There are a ton of things out there and many of these suggestions I have gotten right here.

Start with the water and make sure you are getting all your calories in every day. Pay attentiion to sodium if you retain, it will kill your numbers on weigh in day :sad: Do the exercise as your body will tolerate, and it will respond. Dont get frustrated when the scale doesnt' move, keep to your plan and it will move, you can count on it.

When I dont want to exercise ( my nemisis) I ask myself "
What do you REALLY want?..........I want to get back into a size 10. Thats what I REALLY want. So I have to exercise.Period.

So what do YOU really want?
Good luck , you can do this.:flowerforyou: