newbie here, 5 days in...looking for any help I can get

Congrats on taking the first step! It is a learning experience in the beginning and all the way through. Find people that can and will help you and motivate you!

hey!

i've been finding that i'm quite hungry too on some days. some days i don't struggle at all and then on other days I do!

I find that exercise, particularly cardio like running actually supresses my appetite so that helps.

Also, veggies are excellent for eating a lot of food without a huge calorie intake, broccoli, beans, tomatoes etc.

anyway, that's a few pieces of my advice! good luck with your journey, the community aspect of it on these message boards is really helpful

Drinking water has helped surpress my appetite. I like having a low calorie breakfast (instant oatmeal) that seems to feel me up pretty well for the morning.

The biggest thing that has helped me though was to be extremely cautious about what I was eating at the beginning, including weighting out my food as I didn't realize that my old "1 serving" was more like 2-3 servings and being consistent with logging ALL my food. It helped me realize how much food I was actually intaking each day. I looked back the other day at a meal I would eat once every 2 weeks and realized that in one meal I was consuming over 2100 calories... and we wonder why there is an obesity problem in the US.

Good luck in your lifestyle change. It will be hard, but it will be worth it!!! Feel free to send me a message if you have questions and I will do the best to answer them, or friend request, always looking for more people that are excited to change their life!

Haha, hola! Thank you for taking this trip with us!

I actually joined this site ooooooh, like, ten minutes ago? Heehee ^^ But I was with WW for about 8 months. I learned a lot from there. If you want, I'll share some stuff I learned with you.

The idea isn't to get onto some crash diet where you drink nothing but lemonade and maple syrup for 10 days (yes, that diet DOES EXIST), drop 20 pounds worth of water weight, and then expect to have long-lasting results. Bad habits take a long time to develop, and so does the weight-gain (unless you have some sort of medical issue that is of course the exception). That means that good habits and weight-loss take just as long to reach, and maybe even longer. Here are some key things.

1. Don't look at this as a diet. Look at it as a desire to change your lifestyle for the better. You're doing this to be healthier, not for the tabloids.

2. Record EVERYTHING. If you have two fries from McD's, record them. A sip of soda, record it. This intense discipline to remain truthful to yourself and to your lifestyle change will help deter unhealthy snacking and mindless munching. It's not as easy to sneak that chocolate chip cookie when you know you have to report back to the mothership at the end of the day.

3. When you feel yourself craving fast food, that means you're DOING IT RIGHT. For most of us, fast food is so delicious it's addicting. When you start eating healthier and cutting down on the take out, you're robbing your body of that fatty sustenance that it's grown to like so much. That craving for a big fat double-double with a large soda on the side is your body's way of signalling you that it's being cleansed of the fast food toxins. While your body hates that this is happening while it's detoxing (and yes, that is the correct term for this kind of thing), it will thank you later when your blood pressure's down, your waistline is smaller, and you have that much more energy. RESIST THE CRAVINGS.

4. If you can't resist the cravings, fulfill those cravings in SMALL PORTIONS. Like, order from the kids' menu kinda portions.

5. Find healthy substitutes for the unhealthy foods you like. Do you dig apple turnovers? Why don't you get the yogurt version instead? Craving something sweet? Grab an apple and some peanut butter. Instead of butter, use butter-substitute (NOT MARGARINE). Instead of sour cream, use plain low-fat yogurt.

6. Drink a lot of fluids. Sometimes, your body interprets thirst as hunger. So drinking some water before a meal can considerably lessen your appetite. Hot drinks (like tea, coffee, or cider) or soups are also more filling than cold drinks or meals.

7. And last but not least, remember. It's not the big changes that end up making the difference. It's the many small changes that you make day to day that add up and make the difference. Just keep at it and you'll be just fine.

Haha, sorry, I guess I kind of ranted. Sorry to preach at you. >.> I hope this helps!

You can do it.... feel free to add me:)

Hi today is my first day feel free to add me would love to help you x