Motivation and Advice for a newbie

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pbabyy1
pbabyy1 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was always a small girl, who was active in sports and ate whatever I wanted up until puberty. I suffered from a medical condition, and with the meds I was on and stress from the world with being a teenager (over dramatic of course) I gained.... I just started getting serious about my health and want to feel good and healthy and look it too. I just started at the gym 3x a week for 45-60 minutes a session and making ahead as healthy meals as my poor college kid paychecks can afford. I am looking do advice on how to make a lifestyle change. Motivation to stick with it, cheap recipes that can be premade or eaten on the go. I am 5'6" and 170 lbs and ideally want to drop to 145 by december. Which in reality, I have a lot of muscle weight and prefer to drop inches over pounds. Tell about your journey... motivate me. I am not alone, but this struggle is one I haven't taken too seriously for the last 5 years and it's time.. I've always been in habit with little things like parking far away taking the stairs vrs elevator and stretching while in the shower. I need more though. How can I say no to a homemade snicker doodle when all day long I crave something sweet and apples are not cutting it. -_-

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  • lewissheldon125
    lewissheldon125 Posts: 11 Member
    edited July 2015
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    You sound like you are already in the right frame of mind which is a great start. My advice for making this a long term plan rather than a short burst which eventually burns out is to set goals, make them achievable and not so restrictive that you give up after a short period of time.

    Stick with the 3 gym sessions, don't be tempted to do more, so many people I see try to hammer the gym at the start and end up hitting a brick wall after a couple of weeks and give up.

    Try to stick to MFP calorie deficit BUT allow yourself a couple of evenings/meals off plan to keep life interesting.

    Its about balance for me, to keep it sustainable you need to actually live your life and enjoy it. If you are the person who can eat clean and gym 5 times a week then great but most of us need some down time/off plan time just to keep life interesting and not be totally consumed by the weightloss/body image drive 24/7.

    Jusy my take on how to keep a plan sustainable so you don't jack it all in within 3 months. Godd luck

    **Edit** Just doing the math and you want to lose 25lbs in roughly 16 weeks (by beginning of December) so you are looking at roughly 1.5lbs a week which is easily achievable with your current gym time, you just need to control your calorie intake and you WILL hit that target! You can do it!
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
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    In my opinion you have to get over your cravings for sweet foods. if you are not willing to let them go, then you will always want them instead of apples. When you recognise that sweet foods are ruling you (if they are), then you can let them go and learn to enjoy eating mainly healthy foods all the time.

    EAt a wide variety of fruit. Enjoy it in fruit salads as well as on its own.

    I quit sweets from beginning 2014 and only eat sweets now when offered to me and only one serve. It works for me. I eat much better.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    DON'T give up any food groups entirely. Make room in your calorie allowance for a treat every day or two.

    Depriving yourself leads to playing "catch-up" eventually. Don't go there.

    Eat everything in moderation, within your calorie limit.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Sounds like a good plan. The only element you might need to add is consistency. Good luck, and come back and update us.

    Oh, and make sure you're eating at a sensible deficit.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    pbabyy1 wrote: »
    I was always a small girl, who was active in sports and ate whatever I wanted up until puberty. I suffered from a medical condition, and with the meds I was on and stress from the world with being a teenager (over dramatic of course) I gained.... I just started getting serious about my health and want to feel good and healthy and look it too. I just started at the gym 3x a week for 45-60 minutes a session and making ahead as healthy meals as my poor college kid paychecks can afford. I am looking do advice on how to make a lifestyle change. Motivation to stick with it, cheap recipes that can be premade or eaten on the go. I am 5'6" and 170 lbs and ideally want to drop to 145 by december. Which in reality, I have a lot of muscle weight and prefer to drop inches over pounds. Tell about your journey... motivate me. I am not alone, but this struggle is one I haven't taken too seriously for the last 5 years and it's time.. I've always been in habit with little things like parking far away taking the stairs vrs elevator and stretching while in the shower. I need more though. How can I say no to a homemade snicker doodle when all day long I crave something sweet and apples are not cutting it. -_-

    I have no idea what a snicker doodle is ...but how many calories in it ..and how would you work it into your calorie allowance?

  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    pbabyy1 wrote: »
    I was always a small girl, who was active in sports and ate whatever I wanted up until puberty. I suffered from a medical condition, and with the meds I was on and stress from the world with being a teenager (over dramatic of course) I gained.... I just started getting serious about my health and want to feel good and healthy and look it too. I just started at the gym 3x a week for 45-60 minutes a session and making ahead as healthy meals as my poor college kid paychecks can afford. I am looking do advice on how to make a lifestyle change. Motivation to stick with it, cheap recipes that can be premade or eaten on the go. I am 5'6" and 170 lbs and ideally want to drop to 145 by december. Which in reality, I have a lot of muscle weight and prefer to drop inches over pounds. Tell about your journey... motivate me. I am not alone, but this struggle is one I haven't taken too seriously for the last 5 years and it's time.. I've always been in habit with little things like parking far away taking the stairs vrs elevator and stretching while in the shower. I need more though. How can I say no to a homemade snicker doodle when all day long I crave something sweet and apples are not cutting it. -_-

    I have no idea what a snicker doodle is ...but how many calories in it ..and how would you work it into your calorie allowance?

    If made perfectly snicker doodles are my all time tied favorite cookies.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Aha 240 calories so kind of like a jam doughnut ?

    At 5'6 and 170lbs what calorie allowance have you got? Can you eat half a snickerdoodle and save the other half for the next day?
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Who can say no to snickerdoodles?!

    Well, I can, but it isn't easy. :) You just say no. Sometimes you may have to scream "NO COOKIES!" in your head while you politely say, "No, thank you," but it gets easier as time goes on. If you really want one, you know you can have one. It's just a choice about what you want and then doing what you've chosen to do. :)

    Motivation is something you have or you don't. It can't be bought. We can't give it to you. Even you can't give it to you. It's there or it isn't...and it sounds like you have it.

    Good luck!
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Snickerdoodles in my world are more like a cross between butterscotch and sugar cookies. Maybe with some cinnamon dusted on it. One cookie is less than 200 calories (unless they're BIG cookies), so if one stops at just one, one can fit a snickerdoodle a day into a daily deficit.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited July 2015
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Aha 240 calories so kind of like a jam doughnut ?

    At 5'6 and 170lbs what calorie allowance have you got? Can you eat half a snickerdoodle and save the other half for the next day?
    It's a cookie. They're very easy to make. The Martha Stewart "Cookies" book has a decent kick-off Snickerdoodle recipe. Get yourself a Zeroll disher and make some Snickerdoodles.
  • amaried621
    amaried621 Posts: 260 Member
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    May I suggest checking into different ways to lose weight? For example, I am doing IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) so you still eat what you want but you are more focused on a proper balance of carbs/protein/fats. Rice and carbs are my weakness but instead of completely eliminating something from your diet you just learn proper portion control and balance of it in your diet. Personally I think that if you completely deprive yourself of something you are likely to binge later on. Obviously that isn't everyone but I know for my personality I would, so I make sure to not eliminate things from my diet. So if you want a snickerdoodle, have one! If you have any questions about it I'm happy to answer them! I've lost 6lbs in three weeks so it's working for me :)

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