Its never the right time .........

Right there with you

This is my first time to be self motivated to lose weight and I've kept it going since January (which is more of a surprise for me!!)

I think there's a few things:

1. You really need to think about why you want this - not just a general - I want to lose weight or I want to be skinny.
2. It needs to be more about a healthy lifestyle rather than just lose weight, building healthy habits will keep the weight management in control even when you stop being really strict
3. Do whatever it takes, don't just focus on 'that's not sustainable', you can worry about sustaining after you've lost the weight
4. Don't set a target of time for weight goals, steps the weight goals but this is long term, it's not a quick fix

Then getting down to making it happen I've decided to do a few things so that it's not just about food. I've found before if it's just about food, I'll have some bad days and then it's all out the window. Or if I'm thinking about eating crap food I'll feel guilty, like as if I don't really want it. But making loads of different daily goals let's me feel good about the ones I am doing for example:
a. drink 1lt of water every day
b. I started with walk 5,000 steps daily
c. eat 3 veg with dinner daily
d. have a salad for lunch mon - fri
e. go for a stroll every day

I decided on specific daily targets for me, not just the recommendations by experts, I'll build up to that. I constantly then adjust my targets.

For the specific food side of things, I initially started by just eating healthy (and we all know what is and isn't!)
- I had breakfast, smaller amount than normal
- a mid-morning snack of yoghurt and a piece of fruit
- salad and soup/bread/wrap for lunch
- afternoon snacking of veg/fruit
- dinner - smaller amount than normal but most important I decided to eat atleast 3 types of veg with every dinner
- one more snack if I wanted but no eating after my daughter went to bed @ 7.30

I lost 10lbs in the month just with that!


Something I do is if I really really want something bad - I have it - I just don't go crazy on the quantity and don't let myself feel guilty over it. I read recently that Research has shown that telling yourself you can eat something later is far more effective than outright denying yourself a pleasure. To your brain, having it later is almost as good as having it now. The website is summertomato by Darya Rose. I only just found it on Wednesday but I thought the advice on it is good.

If not now, when?

I second what @ReaderGirl3 said. I was in the same boat as you. For years I was unhappy about my weight, but never really could get up the gumption to do anything about it. One day it just clicked for me. I entered my stats in mfp and started trying to stay at my calorie goal every day. I did start walking with my dog and we go almost everyday, but the main changes I have made was to the portion size of my food. I still eat all the same foods that I did before, just in smaller portions. I will often skip candy for something like Greek yogurt because of the protien, but I like the Chobani flips and they are basically candy with yogurt. If you try to drastically change what you eat you are more likely to give up on it and go back to your old eating habits. If you learn to eat the foods you like in moderate portions then you will have a better chance of sticking with it for life. There are lots of good habits you can find from people on the boards, but any changes you make have to be changes you are willing to do for the rest of your life. Lots of people on here meal prep. I think that is a great idea, except I hate to cook and I rarely know what I'm going to have for dinner until about an hour before I eat. We eat out a lot, even fast food. I have just learned how to work it into my calorie goals. Meal prep may be a good strategy for a lot of people, but it won't work for me in my lifestyle and that's ok. I don't cut out any specific groups of food. I don't think of foods as healthy or not healthy. I do look at protien content and I'm more likely to choose things that will keep me full, but if I really want something I will work it in. My advise is don't try to change everything at once. Put in your stats, set a reasonable goal (1 pound a week is plenty) and log everything you eat. Get a food scale and weigh so you know you are eating what you think you are. Find the things that work for you. You can do this. It won't happen over night, but it will happen. Good luck!

@ReaderGirl3 says you don't have to make drastic changes and I fully agree with that. In fact, if you jump in with both feet and do make drastic changes right off your chances for success will decrease dramatically. I always recommend steps.

1. log everything you eat/drink for 2 weeks or more without any changes to your diet or exercise

2. If you are not drinking water begin to increase your water consumption immediately. Begin with what you feel is a reasonable amount for you to consume in a day (for some people this will be 8 ounces, for others 4 etc)

3. choose one aspect to work on food-wise such as decrease portions OR decrease caloric intake by 100 or 200 or (a number of your choice) calories per day OR whatever goal feels like something you can/want to attain.

4. (You can do this at the same time as number 3) start exploring your options in the exercise world. Choose an activity that sounds fun and/or interesting but don't feel like you have to stick with it if it doesn't turn out to be what you thought it would. The important thing is not to punish yourself with exercise. Begin with one or two days a week.

5. As time goes on increase water consumption, work toward hitting your caloric intake goals and continue to exercise more until you are getting some sort of fitness training (cardio or strength) 5 days a week or more.

One important thing to remember is that it takes time and effort to be healthy; many people don't want to do the work to get there. As you make changes it does get easier, but don't expect it to just happen over night. I wish you well on this journey!