how to get started?!

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Hi everyone! My name is Kayla, I am 23 years old.. I currently weigh 133.4 lbs. At 5" 0'.. my BMI is 26.1. My doctor recently told me my goal weight to be in the middle of the normal weight range should be right around 110 lbs. I don't have an exercise routine, honestly I've always avoided it.. LOL. But I think that I'm finally ready to get into shape. What is a good way to start out on a weight loss journey? What should I eat? What should I do? Totally lost over here. Also, I'm a huge soda drinker.. any tips on how to kick that habit? Thanks. :happy:

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  • TanithR
    TanithR Posts: 9
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    A good place to start is plan what you're eating and when, Jillian Michaels recommends 3 meals and one snack (post workout?) so I try to follow that
    Your diet should limit foods high in sugar, sodium and unhealthy fats (i.e processed food, fast food, sweets, cakes etc) and be based around wholegrain carbs, lean proteins and healthy fats (brown rice, whole oats, turkey, fish, avacado, nuts)
    Plan your meals and healthy snacks, shop ahead and throw away junk to avoid temptation!

    I also have a very sweet tooth, so maybe start replacing "fat" soda with the diet version (you get use to the taste!) and eventually towards just water, green tea etc. just find something else you like drinking like light ribena or cordial, anything.
    Drink lots and lots of water and if youre getting sugar cravings try frozen grapes, nectarines, or chewing gum.

    On the exercise front it competely depends on Where you are at now, but a good exercise programme makes you feel strong, flexible and gives you endurance.
    Theres plenty of simple routines out there but maybe start with 30mins weight training 30 mins cardio?
    If yiu cant manage that just walk 30 mins every day, anything is better then nothing!

    Edit: and eat lots and lots of vegetables
  • kay721
    kay721 Posts: 4
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    I also have a very sweet tooth, so maybe start replacing "fat" soda with the diet version (you get use to the taste!) and eventually towards just water, green tea etc. just find something else you like drinking like light ribena or cordial, anything.
    Drink lots and lots of water and if youre getting sugar cravings try frozen grapes, nectarines, or chewing gum.


    One of my big problems is that most of my daily calories goes into what I'm drinking instead of what I'm eating. Its always either regular coke, vitamin water, or ice coffee from our local coffee shop.
  • TanithR
    TanithR Posts: 9
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    I'm sure you probably know this but food just gives you so much more nutrition then drinks do
    Vitamin water has been shown to be fairly useless I think, some squash and water has the same taste and then just eat an apple and youll get more vitamins and fibre then the drink provides!

    Swap regular coke for diet or zero (although even thats not good cause of the aspartamate) And youll be saving a couple hundred kcalories a day so easily

    Im not a massive coffee fan so not an expert, but a plain old cup of tea or coffee with a bit of milk seems to have way less sugar and crap then the "iced" versions

    Good luck kicking the habit, it'll be worth it
    I've basically given up all sugar from eating a chocolate bar a day and I feel so differerent; I'm sleeping better and have more energy and dont have all the crashes and then cravings cycle. Now i can actually taste and appreciate that apples are supposed to be sweet, its so backwards that id forgotten that
  • peggymdellinger
    peggymdellinger Posts: 151 Member
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    I was pretty much addicted to sweet tea. I drank it every day. My hubby and I would go through nearly a gallon a day. I KNEW that if I could quit drinking tea that I could control the rest of my diet. I've been drinking nothing but water for the last 6 weeks. Every night I "indulge" and have a cup of hot tea with 1/2 packet of Stevia. Every once in a while I have coffee with flavored creamer (usually on the weekends). Thing is, so many people say "I want to lose weight, I want to get healthy" but then say something like, "but I'm addicted to soda, or I'm addicted to potato chips". You have to be willing to control certain things if you want to be healthy and soda intake, and caloric intake from liquids is one of those things. Indulge reasonably. Start by adding more water in place of soda or coffee, or if you're like me and you know you can't control the intake then try quitting them all together. I had a headache from quitting coffee for about 3 days. After that all was good. Good luck!