wanting to lose 40lbs

Losing weight is about a lifestyle change and not about "dieting." You have to stick with it much longer than 2 weeks to see any results. The first 2 weeks is when many people's bodies are getting adjusted to a new eating and work out routine. You may lose little to no weight in the first 2 weeks. 40 lbs took time for you to gain and it's going to take time for you to lose. I've lost 21 lbs since committing to working out and eating right at the beginning of Jan. 40 lbs may take you several months to lose. MFP is a great tool to use to let you know how much of a calorie deficit to eat at. Are you exercising?

#1 is determination.. You gotta stick it out... 2 weeks will not get you anywhere..
#2 - read and research... Dont just take what MFP tells you and follow it... do you research on the forms and get a good idea about how to be successful
#3 - Don't starve yourself whatever you do, you need to eat enough to fuel your body, and move a bit more than you used to..
#4 Its a marathon, not a sprint,.,, dont expect fast huge results.... slow and steady wins the race and keeps the weight off..
#5... Dont fall for fad diets... Eat a balanced healthy diet..


good luck!!

The best thing you can do is read through the boards. My first stop was the Success Stories forum. It's great to see people doing this the right way. And they usually talk about how they started, what habits they adapted, etc.

I would then add on friends from there, or see people who I felt had the same goals as me. The more you surround yourself with good examples and people curious and looking for knowledge, the better this will be.

Get a food scale. That's my best advice.

Excellent advice!

You can do it! I'm 22 and recently hit my 40 lb weight loss mark. It took from January until the middle of April. I watch my calories and track everything on MyFitnessPal. I also take many walks and have a goal of 15,000 steps per day (around 7.5 miles). I track my steps and exercise with BodyMedia (www.bodymedia.com). I don't consider what I'm doing to be a diet. The main thing is to stay motivated and never give up. There will be days you go over your calories, don't exercise enough, etc... but don't let that stop you forever. Just get back at it the next day and keep working hard.

Nothing revolutionary... but these are things that work for me:

1. Don't deprive yourself. Try to enjoy the foods you like, but in smaller portions. I have a sweet almost every day, be it a cookie or a piece of chocolate. Depriving yourself just makes you want those forbidden foods more.

2. Think of the calories you have to eat as money in a bank account. You can eat anything you want, but if you have a big-*kitten* piece of cake now, that leaves less "money" left over for other filling foods later on. I try to eat foods that give me the biggest bang for my buck, that is, stuff that will fill me up without using up all my day's calories. It adds a nice logical aspect to it that makes me less likely to eat emotionally.

3. Don't starve yourself. I think that most instances of people failing at this diet thing is that they eat too little (like 1200 calories), are hungry and lose the will to continue. That's what I did, anyway, prior to this most recent fling with calorie-counting, which seems to have stuck. Eat less than you burn, yes, but keep your calorie intake at a reasonable deficit. Eat back your exercise calories so that you're at least netting above your BMR.

4. Move more. I think the major contributor to my weight-loss sticking this time has been my increased physical activity. First of all, when you move more, you get to eat more. Eating only 1200 calories a day is torture to me, but if I run for 5km in the morning, I can eat an extra 300 or so calories that day. Second, it gives you a goal to work towards besides just losing weight. When I started running, I could run a 5k in 50 minutes. Now I can run one in 35 minutes. So even if the scale doesn't move one day (or week, or month), I can at least be proud of my improvements in fitness.

You can do it! I'm 22 and recently hit my 40 lb weight loss mark. It took from January until the middle of April. I watch my calories and track everything on MyFitnessPal. I also take many walks and have a goal of 15,000 steps per day (around 7.5 miles). I track my steps and exercise with BodyMedia (www.bodymedia.com). I don't consider what I'm doing to be a diet. The main thing is to stay motivated and never give up. There will be days you go over your calories, don't exercise enough, etc... but don't let that stop you forever. Just get back at it the next day and keep working hard.

I just want to say that you are a true inspiration!! Thank you for sharing! :happy:

Eat healthy foods at a small caloric deficit, lift heavy weights 3x a week and get a little cardio 3x a week.

Read this:

http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

and this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

Good luck