Advice for big loss.

Meal prep + counting calories. While I don't have kids, I work two jobs and and have very little spare time leftover.

What works for me is preparing meals in advance, knowing the calorie content and all I have to do each day is pull my bags of food out of the freezer. It's like DIY jenny craig/lite N easy etc. except much, much cheaper. And since it's super easy to prepare after a long day at 2 jobs, it's easier to say no to the free food (pizza, chips etc.) on offer.

Tracking food gets quicker the more you do it.

Keep at it.

I know where you're coming from with the time issues. I have two children (7 years and 6 months), I work full time with around 4-5 hours of total commute time in a day. The older child is now in softball, so she has practices a few times a week.

I started my exercise slowly. I did body weight stuff (squats, pushups, etc) whenever i could fit them. Getting up to use the bathroom? Do a couple of squats. Things like that. I do a big chunk of my daily walks on Lunch. I do manage to find time to hit the gym 3/week for lifting, but its hard some weeks.

Clearly 2lbs a week is too much for u right now so u should switch it to one lb per week. U have to consciously realize that u CANNOt eat the amount you are used to and in order to lose weight u must eat less. Really there is nothing more to it except ur own commitment to you and ur health

When I first started, I didn't have time to prepare any meals at all much less figure out how to make "healthy" meals or freeze casseroles for the week. I ate fast food. I ate Lean Cuisines. I ate packaged protein bars. I did that for about 9 months and lost 45 lbs (1-1.5 lbs/wk) (you'd probably lose faster since you have more to go). I weighed just about everything on a cheap food scale I ordered from Amazon (about $10) and logged every single bite in My Fitness Pal.

We didn't become obese eating cereal and skim milk (at least I didn't). For me, it was too big of a leap to go from eating 3,500 - 4,000 calories a day of fast food / junk food to eating like a yogini on a green juice fast, plus I didn't have the time to learn how to do it. So I stuck with the foods I was already eating, just way, way less of them. Frozen meals, protein bars, drive through fast food - I just counted EVERY LAST CALORIE and made sure I was eating low enough to lose weight.

As for working out, I didn't exercise at all for the first four months, then started walking verrrrrrrry slowly for 30 minutes about 3x per week. Like I said, I lost 45 lbs that way and you're probably more active than I am because you have kids - I have a sedentary desk job.

Now that I'm further into the journey and more experienced, I've started eating much healthier, watching my carbs and fiber and eating lots of salads and other vegetables, but for the first 9 months I didn't worry about that at all.

If the main focus initially is getting your weight down, then JUST worry about calories - you don't need any extra time in your day to do that.

Oh, and tracking is everything. If you miss tracking a meal, go back and add it later. If you fall off the wagon for three days and don't track at all, WHO CARES? A year is 365 days - 3 days is less than 1% of that. Just immediately get back on, right now, today, with this thing you're eating right now. And the next time you fall off, just get back on again. That's how it works. That's how the weight comes off.

I also agree with people who said you might need to lose more slowly at first if you find yourself bingeing. Maybe do one week with MFP set to lose only 1 lb. Remember that ANYTHING you do that is less than what you used to do is an improvement. You're building better habits and you're losing, not gaining. If after that first week you feel confident that you can go lower, then set it to lose 1.5 lbs and see how the next week goes, and so on. It's a marathon, not a sprint (something I forget myself all the time).

Many of us on here understand the bingeing, it is why we are here... so log for 6 days and have a cheat day. I actually do not do a cheat day, I do a cheat meal. In time, I have found that I usually don't even really go over my calories. If you know that you can have the thing you want on Saturday, then maybe you will talk yourself out of it on Tuesday... Also, if you can find the time for exercise... think of it as a means for adding calories to your daily count!!!

Also, I cut up, weigh & bag my veggies when I first get home from the store so I can grab a bag of 100g of carrots (or whatever veg) as I run out the door and have lite Italian dressing at work for dipping. Super low cal and delicious:)

It's not just about counting calories. Depending on your body type (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph) you have to manage your macros. Assuming you're an endomorph you need to start with 50% protein, 30% fat and 20% carbs. Try to get most of the fat from nuts, fish, olive oil, eggs. Your carbs will come from salad, fruit (melon is best - lowest in calories and carbs).

You have one cheat day per week where you can do 50% protein, 20% fat and 30% carbs.

After 3 weeks shift to 50% protein, 35% fat, 15% carbs. Your cheat day will be the same ratio as your first 3 weeks 50,20,30

After 2 weeks shift to 50,40,10 and hold for 2 weeks. Cheat days 50,20,30

I guarantee you will lose more than 2lb per week... :-)

You must of course observe calories as well.

Good luck!

The people who lose weight and keep it off have said to people who ask 'How did you do it?' I never gave up! Now that doesn't mean there won't be slip ups or a binge. They started anew (at each meal or day) and didn't give up!! Please keep tracking calories, as it is the best way to be aware of what you are putting in your body. Don't get down if you go over one day. You won't get where you want to go without making a change towards the other direction.

puffbrat wrote: »

Try paying attention to which foods help keep you full versus which ones don't. I love cereal but have had to acknowledge that I can eat a lot of it and still feel hungry again a couple hours later. That really doesn't work for me when trying to lose or maintain my weight. So I switched to oatmeal and yogurt during the work week. It's the same number of calories or fewer than cereal, but keeps me full a lot longer.

2lb/week loss seems reasonable for the amount you have to lose. But if you are struggling with hunger or binges you may want to lower that to 1lb/week for a few weeks to adjust to a lower than usual calorie limit. As you get used to that number of calories, you can gradually change your goal back to 2lb/week.

As @CupcakesMom2 suggested, view the next few months as an experiment to see what works for you to help keep you on track and successful.

@8Serenity8 with the weight you need to lose, losing two pounds per week should be doable...if you focus on foods that satiate you. I like cereal, but it's easy to overeat because it does not fill me up.

Try to eat at least the default 20% protein MFP gives you and hit your Fiber goal (many of us switch out Sugar for Fiber.)

See also http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html

Here are my generic tips for cravings.

When I do the following, I don't have cravings:

1. Get sufficient sleep
2. Exercise regularly - when I get the happy hormones from exercise, I'm not prone to seeking them from food.
3. Get sufficient protein in relationship to carbs. I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs and upping protein worked for cravings for me.
4. Eat moderate amounts of fruit. This makes me less interested in higher calorie sweets.
5. Take a magnesium supplement. This can be especially helpful for women premenstrually.
6. Save foods like chocolate for after dinner, in small amounts