I don't know where to start. Any tips?

5 months to lose 22lbs? Roughly 1lb per week requires a deficit of 3500 calories per week. So, therefore, your starting point is to figure out how many calories your body burns in the average week and reduce the intake by 3500 calories, or 500 calories per day. Then you stick with only that 500 cal deficit...no starving yourself, binge eating, or trying to go faster. Eat all the foods in moderation.

Visit either scoobysworkshop.com or iifym.com to determine your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and subtract 500 cals to get a manual goal to eat. Its the calories you require to maintain your current weight. Your BMR is the number you need just to be in a coma so its recommended never to eat less than that number each day. That, my dear, is your starting point. The next step is to find a way to make it all enjoyable still.

Oh, and do yourself a favour and buy a food scale.

This is how I started:

At first I didn't start with the calorie counting (not until I came to MFP), but I cut down on my portions and cut out all the junk food and threw in lots of fruits and vegetables. I also started walking everyday as I was so out of shape. I lost half my weight with walking alone, so it's a great place to start. Also, I drank a lot of water.

As I progressed I kind of played around with my food and exercise plan until I found something that I liked and that worked for me.

I'll be honest, the first few weeks were the hardest but I stuck with it as I really needed to make this change for myself.

The motivation comes when you start seeing the number on the scale going down and the clothes you once found too tight become way too big on you.

You don't need to restrict certain foods to lose weight, you can still enjoy your favourite burger or cake, just make it fit into your day. That I believe is key because if you restrict yourself too much, you are bound to fail.

Just remember, it takes time. Slow and steady wins the race. It took me almost a year to drop 60 lbs.

Add me if you wish and good luck to you!

Hi, I'm pretty new, too

Here is one link I found helpful

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

You're my height and the weight I was when I realized I needed to make a change.

Take baby steps. Don't go all crazy and try to change everything about your life all at once because you will burn out and get frustrated and want to quit. Start out by simply logging everything you eat and drink, without exception. That includes gum and vitamins. Now, after a few days, take a hard look at your food diary and see where you can make a simple change or two. Drinking 20 oz. sugared sodas at 250 calories each? Cut one out and replace it with unsweetened iced tea with lemon or a glass of water. That afternoon candy bar? Replace it with an apple. You get the idea. Buy a scale for your kitchen and weigh your food whenever possible. I even weigh things like salad dressing and peanut butter by using the tare function on mine.

Once you've got that down look at other small changes you can make. Start parking your car at the back of the parking lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator, for your breaks at work go take a walk around the building. Importantly, make the changes something sustainable. If it's not something you can live with for the rest of your life, don't do it. You should be striving for a lifestyle change, not a diet to lose a set number of pounds that you'll just gain back if you go back to living like you were before. When you're ready to really amp up your exercise routine, join a gym or look into Couch to 5K. I also highly recommend starting a strength training program. While you're losing fat and water you're also losing lean muscle mass unless you're doing something to retain it; that something is weight lifting. You can do body weight exercises at home, buy weights to use at home or you can join a gym.

If the thought of figuring out your TDEE and BMR sounds overwhelming right now, rely on MFP to give you a calorie goal for the time being. Be reasonable. At your height and weight, and with your goal weight, you're going to be looking at a 1.0 or 0.5 pound per week loss. Once you start getting more comfortable and feel like you want to learn more, read the forums, do some web searches and get more educated.

i struggled quite a bit when i first started. getting into a healthier routine was definitely challenging- there is a reason i got chubby in the first place! just start out slow and not give up! i started with logging my food, and trying to make as much of my own food as possible instead of eating out! (especially at work- i work in a restaurant and am constantly being tempted by delicious, but not quite good for me foods.) packing my own lunches and making sure i have enough healthy snacks really curved the cravings. after i got into a routine of making lunches and dinners more at home, i started putting effort into exercise. i've always been a fairly active person but not scheduled. i started off picking one activity i would do at least 3 times a week- walking/running, biking, elliptical, so on and so forth. picking something you find fun makes it a lot easier to stick with!

the weight isn't going to come off over night, but if you focus on having a healthy lifestyle both with food and physical activity the rest just falls into place!

good luck

I really have no idea where to start

Definitely read sexypants.

thezombieswritepoetry wrote:

I'm 5'3 and 140 lbs.
I want to get to 118 before my next birthday, in mid-March.

Going by BMI, a healthy weight range is 105 - 135. http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
So 118 is not unhealthy or unreasonable, but it will be slow.
You want to lose 20 lb; 0.5 lb per week is a reasonable expectation. That would be 10 lb by March.
Exercise at least 30 minutes per day (more is better, to a point), and cut at least 500 cal per day from what you're eating now. Don't go under 1200 calories unless your doctor says it's OK. (That's total calories, not net. Ignore net, ignore exercise calories.)


Have about half your calories for breakfast, a medium lunch, & a small dinner. See the last half of this blog post for the studies supporting this approach for weight loss.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-10-some-studies-about-weight-loss-667818


Increase your percentage of calories from protein, decrease the percentage from carbs. Again, see the post for links to studies which support this approach.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-08-09-high-protein-diet-685553

Here's a table which explains the healthy ranges for macronutrients:
http://www.iom.edu/Global/News Announcements/~/media/C5CD2DD7840544979A549EC47E56A02B.ashx
page 1, carbs, 45 - 65% of calories (4 cal per gram)
page 2, fat, 20 - 35% of calories (9 cal per gram)
page 4, protein, 10 - 35% of calories (4 cal per gram)
So try 45 / 20 / 35.


And something that's a little unusual... sleep enough. Yes, links to studies again.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-08-27-sleep-weight-control-690492

also have tried on my own to lose weight before but given up after only a few days. How do you stay motivated?

Here's a blog post I did about motivation & encouragement.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-07-24-motivation-encouragement-680938

Theres certainly some "interesting" advice in here lol. Easiest way to do it with out a wall of text

Find your maintainence calories by eating a set amount for about a week
See if your weight changes. If you are eating at maintainence it should stay the same
-500 cals from maintainence. Enjoy losing an easy 1lb a week
This is a solid start

The most important thing is to calorie count everything and be consistent

Enjoy