Advice for beginning the weight loss process?

Read the Announcements at the top of the message board threads. There is great information in them for getting started.

Baby steps are key. Don't try to change your entire life overnight or you're bound to end up frustrated and overwhelmed and those lead to quitting. Get yourself into the mindset that you're making a lifestyle change and not something that you will eventually finish. Time-based goals for weight loss are bound to lead to "failure". Weight loss is not linear and you will lose pounds faster at the beginning than at the end.

Start out by simply logging everything you eat. Every single thing. Weigh solid foods and measure liquids that can't be weighed. Don't cheat yourself by underestimating calories eaten or overestimating calories burned in exercise. You're only cheating yourself. It's important to understand how much you were really eating before you started because it helps to establish the relationship between amounts of food and why you were gaining before. It also makes it easier to see where you can make simple changes that have a big impact.

Start strength training as soon as possible. In my opinion it's more important than doing cardio. It is easier to maintain the muscle you already have than to build new muscle. When we lose weight it is a combination of water, fat and muscle. Your body has built up muscles to move around your extra weight. If you can keep them as you lose weight you're going to look amazing when you've lost the fat that is covering them.

The measuring tape is a better tool than the bathroom scale for judging your progress. In addition to "Before" pictures, measure your chest, waist, hips, thighs and any other body part you want to track and start recording them in MFP now. When the scale isn't moving your body might still be shrinking especially if you're lifting weights.

don't be afraid of dietary fat and "carbs" but measure them carefully using trusty food scale.

log it all!

Make friends on here.

knburch20 wrote: »

I used to be in great shape and I fell off the wagon

Do what you did when you were in great shape.

The first and most important thing you need to do is revamp what you are putting into your body. You can kill yourself in the gym but if you eat junk and/or overeat, you wont see the results you're wanting. Really dig into how to fuel your body. Once you get that down, you'll be ready to dig into the iron.