this may seem a little petty

I know what you mean, it can be hard to change eating habits that you have grown up with and had for a long time. I think that it's great your mom makes fresh tortillas 3 times a week, home made food is the best! Unfortunately simple carbs such as white bread, potatoes, tortillas etc. are often not very filling unless you eat a large portion, and it is very easy to overdo it with those types of foods. You can still eat the tasty tortillas, but maybe with just meat and veggies one day and then have a potato dish the next day. If you can't reduce or eliminate the bread with every meal yet, maybe start to choose whole grain breads/rolls that are higher in fiber and will therefore fill you up more quickly.

Also as another poster said, watching sodium is important, I think I lost about 4 lbs of just water weight alone when I cut sodium way down, and it can be hiding in so many foods! Is your mom supportive of you trying to get healthier and lose weight? It helps to have supportive people around, if she is willing to get on board maybe you can try out new recipes together :-)

I am the type of person that needs to work out AND watch what I eat to lose ANYTHING scale wise. That's just the way my body responds. I was in your shoes several months ago when I couldn't get the scale to move at all. However, I wanted to see results but wanted to stuff my face on the weekends with whatever my heart desired. Then I'd cry and ***** about it and give up and do it all over again. The bottom line is that you have to clean up your diet, when I mean diet, I don't mean give up everything you love, I mean, eat in moderation, LEARN that you can't eat out every night. I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to commit and clean up my eating. I've also been busting butt in the gym 5-6 days a week. Guess, what? I'm finally down 4lbs, yea, it's not what I thought either, I thought by now I'd be down 8! but guess what, the scale is moving in the right direction, I've also lost over 10 inches all over and its been a consistent working out AND clean eating for about a month.

So, glad you realize you're not 100% there yet but you're on your way. You have to be fed up with being fed up. Oh and guess what? Once you see that scale moving and you losing, it becomes ADDICTING then you go HAM the next week and the scale moves AGAIN!

Good luck!
Elce

I know how you feel. When I first started here at MFP, I had horrible eating habits, virtually no exercise (except walking my doggies). It took me quite a while to find what worked for me. Logging EVERYTHING and not lieing to myself was the first step. If I was going to eat crap, then I was going to log crap. Once I was able to take accountability for what I was eating, I started to make adjustments to my diet and tried to add more exercise in my daily activity.

After a couple of months of figuring out what changes I could make that I could and WOULD stick with the rest of my life, things started to happen; I started the drop the pounds, feel healthier and have much more energy.

Give yourself some time, TAKE A HARD LOOK at your lifestyle and start to make changes and move more. For me, if I would have looked at the BIG picture right away, I may not have made it this far.

Just please don't give up. Your health is worth the little bit of extra work that it will take to get there. After doing this for a little more than an year now, this isn't hard anymore, this is how I choose to live. I hope you can get here too!

This is great advice! I hope you really read it!

Change is so hard, and it's even harder when you feel overwhelmed by the big picture. Do what you can, as you are able to incorporate it into your life. Make each day an opportunity to do something healthy; add an apple for a snack, eat frozen grapes instead of ice cream, walk a little further or a little faster than you did the last time... each day make one choice that is healthier than what you chose yesterday.

You CAN do it!

Its hard to make changes...I understand. I've been doing this for just over two months and have lost 20 pounds (lots more to go). What worked for me is to focus on one food item and one fitness item. I was a terrible pop/soda drinker and while I definitely logged my food to watch the calorie intake, I didn't really change the foods I was eating at first. I just cut out my pop. I allowed myself one a week (much better than the 2-3 I drank each day). Fitness, I joined a gym and decided I was going to go 3 times a week.

Now I am working on other things. Trying to do better with salads and salad dressing. I've now added the 30 Day Shred to 5 times a week with 2 days off plus my gym.

Many of us have been here before. I've quit in the past because it was do or die. Well, I went from one extreme to the next too quickly and couldn't stick to it. This time around I realize I'm a work in progress. We all have set backs (for me this past weekend it was dinner and drinks :drinker: with my two sisters on a Friday night....it led into a hungover, not healthy Saturday) but the big thing is to get back on the horse....my Sunday was good :bigsmile:

Good luck!!

I will encourage you because I have been JUST LIKE YOU! Started at the gym on Feb 28th 2012 at 266 lbs. Faithfully went 5 days a week - 30 min cardio, 30 light weights. DID NOT BUDGE an ounce!

Gave up ( in my head) about 6 months later, while watching the scale climb to 269. People tried to console me: Dont worry, you are gaining muscle. I said: NO ONE wants 269 lbs of MUSCLE!

Anyway, started Weight Watchers and lost between 1/2 to 1 lb a week, got to 261. GREAT! Then my father became ill...up went the weight. I agree that at this point was not really trying. My HEART wasn't in it! But my body was doing the gym thing. Went back up to 269.

So I guess like you, I have only started to get really SERIOUS about this weight loss thing since February of this year once I "got over" the fact that my Father died. I looked at my food choices more clearly- my WW points and my Fitness Pal calorie intake, and found that despite the low calorie intake, and sticking to points, my CARBOHYDRATE intake on some days was VERY high.

I have cut carbs to 20-50 grams a day, increased green leafy vegetables, eat protein with every meal ( but in 4oz portion sizes) and have lost 6 lbs since January 25 which was my decision making day at WW.

I track every day on both sites, and ensure I am not overeating carbs- NO FRUIT FOR ME! That was my killer. WW allows unlimited fruit and vegetables, unfortunately you can over-do. So I am a Meat, Green Vegs and an occasional complex starch eater - nothing that is WHITE in color- bread, potatoes, sugar etc.

I believe that most people lose well on this or a variation of this low carb lifestyle. I suggest you try it for a while, and see if it works for you....you don't have to stay on it forever, but my personal experience is that CARBS are my enemy.

The last couple of days you've been doing pretty good in your calorie goals and stuff. So i'd say you are on the right track. I know when you think a year it's like O M G thats so far away, BUT that year will pass whether or not you are working on your goal, so how do you want to spend it? Also, with that said you'll be surprised how with even a little bit of effort you can make big changes in 1 month, 3 months and definitely 6 months....so stop looking at it like "it'll take me 1 year to reach my goal"

One bit of advice....dont drink your calories. One of those starbucks drinks cost you 400 calories. Not worth it when you are trying to eat a deficit. Have a chocolate milk at 150 calories or something.


PS. You have a very contagious smile. Just beautiful.

i never thought about the starches and carbs and just choosing ONE of each. My mom makes fresh tortillas 3x a week and she loves to cook potaties and those are just the meals i have always known to eat. so i usually duplicate them because they are familiar. and i always feel like i have to have lots of variety and color in my meals, like in fried potaties my mom will add carrots or tomatoes. so i do too, and then we ALWAYS ate bread with eveyr meal. so i've been trying to eat less during the day because i know i eat lots in the evening. i havent learned how to completely say no.

Fresh tortillas are awesome! However, in my mind at least, tortillas are a substitute for bread. Don't eat both at a meal. If you want to add variety and color do it with vegetables. Carrots and tomatoes are great. They are good for you, give lots of color and a low calorie. You can also add a salad to every meal for more variety, and use oil-based rather than creamy dressings.