Help and advice for getting started

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ADeveaux123
ADeveaux123 Posts: 10
in Introduce Yourself
Being fit and healthy is very important to me at this stage in my life, I've reached middle age and for health reasons really need to learn how to eat right and begin exercising again. I know what I need to do but don't know how to go about doing it. I'm always on the go, enjoy junk food with a passion and can't stay away from sweets. I sit most of the day at my computer and have a high stress life. I guess this probably sounds the norm for many of us. What I would really like is support, guidance and advice on how to get disciplined enough to make this work. I don't want to start off with the "I don't know" and "I can't" but I would like to know if I could get advice on "How to". It just seems that writing things down and keeping track is difficult especially when I'm on the go. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

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  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I'm 46. What worked for me was the "Sexypants" post pinned at the top of the Getting Started forum: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    The key is learning to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging works.
  • KimbaCan
    KimbaCan Posts: 14 Member
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    Yes. That sexypants post is full of good stuff. I spent a few evenings reading through the pinned posts in getting started and it is so worth the time.
    I ran my numbers through the Scooby calculator and a few other web sites just to get a range goal for daily calories, and incredibly grateful to a friend I met about then that helped explain some of the details.
    The main thing that has worked for me, I committed to log for 1 or 2 weeks. No changes, just log. 6 months now and I'm still logging and accidentally falling into better food and exercise habits.

    I'm going back to re-read those getting started posts now...
    Anyone who gets through a few feel free to friend request me.
  • ADeveaux123
    ADeveaux123 Posts: 10
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    Thanks for the advice, I'll look up the posts on that link about getting started and hopefully it will help me as well. I went ahead and started to log items yesterday even if it was my first day and I was just playing around. OMG, I was terrible. You just don't comprehend how much you can consume or how the littlest things can add up. I'm almost afraid to open my mouth today at all. Thanks again.
  • kristimason3
    kristimason3 Posts: 131 Member
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    You've taken the first step already!
  • ADeveaux123
    ADeveaux123 Posts: 10
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    Thanks, today was real rocky as well but I'm looking at it with the thought process that at least I'm making myself aware of my food consumption and my weak points. Hope to move forward from that.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    ADeveaux123 wrote: »
    Thanks, today was real rocky as well but I'm looking at it with the thought process that at least I'm making myself aware of my food consumption and my weak points. Hope to move forward from that.

    You don't have to be perfect to lose weight. You just have to make some better choices—and it sounds like you're doing just that. Yay, you!

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