Woke up 41 and overweight!!

Here are my suggestions:

Start by logging what you eat right now for a couple of weeks. After that, look back through your log to see where you might eat smaller portions or make satisfying substitutions.

Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't put a time deadline on your weight loss. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you shouldn't plan to lose it that way either. Every pound you lose is a success no matter how long it takes to lose it.

With your current weight, it's best to aim for 0.5 pounds of weight loss per week. You might even lose more slowly than that. Smaller bodies don't have much wiggle room to create a large deficit.

Weight loss requires that you eat fewer calories than your body burns. You don't need to eat in a special way or special foods. The closer you can stay to your normal way of eating, the easier it will be to stick to a calorie deficit.

You can do it!

Never stop. If you have a bad day or a cheat meal, let it go, pick back up and move forward. That's the biggest secret. I always used to wait for Monday or the 1st of the month and then had another excuse when that day passed by. I've learned to shake it off and keep moving forward.

We all have a long term goal...breaking that down into shorter term goals helped me. Saying I wanted to lose 130lbs is overwhelming. Keeping that long term goal in mind, I first aimed to lose 5% of my bodyweight. I felt accomplished that much sooner. You don't have nearly that much to lose but that thought might still help you.

Focus on your health and how you feel more than the number on the scale. Running a 10k already puts you ahead of the game here. Maybe add a little weight training to help? As women age, we lose muscle mass which lowers our daily calorie requirements. Keep that muscle.

Logging your food is very important. It helps with portion control, helps you to see where your calories are coming from. Don't skip logging even if you know you had a bad day...I've found that I remembered those calories at a future date and changed my mind about having that particular meal.

I have no additional advice for food since I am not a vegetarian. I would just say watch your macros, its important to maintain your protein intake. Good luck! I know you can do this!!

texteach66 wrote: »

Make a promise to yourself to log, no matter what the calories. I find when I'm committed to logging it can stop what could become days of uncontrolled eating in its tracks. It's hardest on days when I'm having to estimate a lot due to a party or something like that. While I try to be as accurate as I can, it's more about logging on those days rather than giving myself the excuse to overeat because I don't know exact calories.

I second this. I've been to a couple 4th of July parties this week, with large amounts of food sitting out waiting to be eaten. It's so easy to just keep grabbing small amounts here and there- from the dessert table, a small glass of lemonade, a little macaroni salad... it's surprising how quickly these things can add up. I ate what I wanted, but trying to log (even though I didn't know the actual caloric values of anything) helped me to keep portions reasonable and not graze for the sake of grazing.

My advice is to be honest with yourself- especially when logging. It's REALLY super hard sometimes, but if you aren't being honest about what you're eating you're only doing yourself a disservice when you don't accurately measure things or tell yourself certain items don't count. It's not the end of the world if you go over- just pick yourself up and keep trying.

You can do it!!

My first piece of advice is buy a food scale. You would be surprised the difference between a cup and 250g.

Second, eat what you want. Don't let other people tell you "should you be eating that". You can eat anything you want as long as it fits into your macros, even sweets or junk from time to time. I found for me it kept me from splurging when it came time for those get-togethers.

I think the more you get used to weighing things out the easier it will become to notice what they correct size potion looks like x