How To Start From Scratch!

DISCLAIMER: Having been on MFP for a little while, I know there are so many "GURUS" on here that simply wouldn't take any other "advice", "helps" by any others but themselves. Having said that, this is my HUMBLE opinion, if you don't think it fits your needs please do what you please and lets save this for the ones that can use the help.

If you are just like me, I first started not knowing how and where to start with my weight management. This what causes the yo-yo dieting and just simply putting things off. If you are confuse as I was, to what to eat and what not to eat? what's the best way to do things and when will you see results. How fast can I get from now to my goal? There are so many questions lingering and you wouldn't have an answer for them all, and even if you see someone with similar goal, body type, height etc... the end results will still be different. But there are few things that I can share with you that works with me and worked to a lot of ones that have been here and showed success!

QUESTIONS TO FIRST ASK YOURSELF:

1. Am I ready to make this life changes?
IF YES > Then Proceed to #2
IF NO > wait and try to think it through that what you're about to do is a life change and NOT something that you have to do now and for a year then drop it so you can go back to do the same thing you were doing, the reason why you are here now. Only when you know how this will affect you , will you then realize that you are ready!

2. Why am I doing this? for Vanity? for yourself? health issues? jot down your reasons, post it in front of your mirror or refrigerator. It will keep you accountable and remind you why you started to do this to begin with.

3. Is today the day you start? Little advice: If you are traveling or going on vacation where you know you will not be able to be accountable to what you'll be eating and indulging then it's okay to postpone your goal 'till those are done. The reason for this is because if you start now brand new, it's so much easier to "fall off the wagon" rather than if you been doing this for a little longer. With that said, if you have plans to indulge sooner than a month from now, maybe best to wait 'till you are done with your plans and revisit your goals.

Here are MY TIPS:

1. Short Term Goal vs. Long Term Goal is a REALLY BIG difference! It's the same when you put money in your piggy bank to buy a new purse or new dress compare to putting money in your 401K and IRA for future retirement. This is similar to your weight loss, it's a life change, so if you have NEVER done it to begin with, setting a long term goal right away CAN result a failure. So, for an advise, set a SHORT TERM FOR NOW.

a. Just for TODAY - try to cut back what you eat by 5-15% off, if you used to eat 2 cups of rice, try to eat 1.75 cups, if you eat your whole plate, div up your plate so you can see how much 25% off it. If you aren't ready for that big of a jump then do it for 5% off first, dont have to count your calories yet! Just proportion your food. Eat what you normally eat, except a LITTLE Less and just for TODAY. After the day, ask yourself at the end, how did you do? how did it make you feel? are you still hungry? this will really help you connect your feelings to yourself and growling stomach. Maybe start a diary, if you are an IPHONE/PHONE logger then just write a NOTE... what you ate? why you want to clean your plate? Do this for a few days, reducing your intake by 5-10% daily. If you are ready, go ahead and use MFP to log things you are eating, you don't NEED to weigh your food yet, the point is, to GRADUALLY introduce your new proportion to yourself. If you cut yourself and dropped to 1200 calories or whatever MFP suggested right away you might find it difficult and you will end up having lots of "cheat" days and at the end just give up because you saw all the RED marks on your diary. Instead, do it one step at a time. Couple of spoons less is better than before! What about soda? do you drink alot of sugary drinks? or you can't be satisfied if you dont? maybe switch things? switch it to diet? or zero calories? maybe fruit juice? or drink just half for lunch and drink half water and do it till you get use to drinking just water. Do you like bread? (I DO!) find something a bit healthier and choose whole wheat, whole grain instead of white, pay attention to the macro from the label of the food and make your choices. Milk? try 2% milk instead of Whole, it's not much difference, but every small pcs of change will come to play and will make a change! Cheese? the same thing, try the 2%, it taste the same! Chips? Bake ones and Popcorns contains less fat/sodium. Don't go cold turkey - just replace one or two items that you usually take daily and it will eventually work on its own!

b. YOU DONT have to add Exercise to your regimen right away! You have to control your appetite and your food and when you feel accountable, then you can throw in your exercise. If you are moving, you are burning calories, that includes playing with your kids around the house, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, going up and down the steps, yard work, shoveling snow etc... if you can't exercise yet - do some house hold chores, as long as you are not sitting down all the time and moving some, you're making a difference.

c. What can you eat???? well, you can eat ANYTHING, there's NOTHING off limits. If you eat the same amount of food everyday, you are going to maintain the weight you have now. If you eat less then you will lose weight. You just have to eat LESS. How much less? well that's where MFP butts in. It has files and files of food in its database with all their macro nutrients (FAT, PROTEIN, CARBS, FIBER, SUGAR, SODIUM)

d. You're so bloated, your stomach looks so big. - Drink water, I know some people on here MFP just despise the advise of drinking water. They said that you should only drink water when you're thirsty. For some this is true, but water has sooo many good things in them and it's freeeee! Zero Calories too! Your skin will thank you and your liver too! (For those who disagree, thanks for your input) Please research on water intakes how it helps you. I made a long list of how good water is for you but I had so many hate messages and flags because of what I wrote... for me, it helped me with my bloating and because I used to consumed so much sodium, the water helped me rehydrate my body.

e. Be open mind with your results, you won't see result overnight or even for a week. Be reasonable with your expectations. If you get discourage if you don't see results on your scale, then don't get on scale until you REALLY made some adjustments to your eating habbits and your life overall.

2. Ready to log into MFP? LOG everything you eat, including the pc of gum if necessary, don't cheat and try to make your diary "look" good. Because you're only cheating YOURSELF, you are doing this for you and not for anyone else, so log away, the more datas you have, the better you can analyze what you should do to make adjustments.

3. Don't completely restrict yourself from all the good foods that you used to have! Make it FIT to your daily calories intake. By the time you are ready to start logging you should know that your daily goal will sometimes look so hard to do that there's just no way you can just eat this little... or this is the day your mom made your favorite pie! Eat the pie! log it! don't feel bad about it, did you go over your intake today? If yes then that's fine, don't punish yourself... if you are capable to work out, then maybe try to work out some of it off. If NOT, then tomorrow is another day. BUT don't make it a habbit, there's a thin line on tomorrow is another day to redo and doing and giving the same excuses daily.

4. If you start working out, you need to work on your endurance and cardio FIRST before really hitting those abs, legs and arms workout! Being new to exercise you need to start fresh I mean before using all your energy concentrating doing 100 crunches, or 50 push ups, use your energy for Cardio first. You won't see your stomach shrink right away and you'll be out of breath and will constantly be aggreviated because you dont see result. Your stomach is still covered with fat, you have to burn those fats before you see definitions. The best way to burn them fats is through cardio and introduce strenght training throughout. I started with 15 minutes exercise at home, then 25 minutes and then some more Aerobics. It took me 3 weeks before I have enough endurance to work out for an hour without passing out! My point is that you work out the same thing with your food proportion, little by little, even once a week, till your body gets use to it. Baby steps.

5. Read - Read - do your research these are all within your fingertips online. There are so many things out there that can help you and succeed, it's up to you if you want to use it or loose it.

This is your life! You are the only one responsible and accountable for it. Make it happen! I'm here to anyone that could use a helping hand. Again, I wanted to say that these what worked for me and have seen from numerous researches and reading blogs what had worked for many, and hopefully help some others one way or another. Thanks!