I'm starting my journey tomorrow

Keep track of your weight AND measurements. Take a BEFORE picture (or a few). Try to weigh yourself only once a week or so. Drink lots of water. STAY POSITIVE. I've only lost 5 lbs but so far this has been very helpful. You can do it! Good luck. My goal is also 180(for now).

Don't try to change everything at once. Baby steps. Experiment to find a comfortable way of eating that you'd be willing to do for the rest of your life. Don't eat foods you don't like. I aim for about 80% of my calories from nutrient-dense foods and 20% from treats.

The closer you can stay to your normal way of eating, the easier it should be to sustain a deficit. Eat your regular way for a week or two and log that so that you have some data. You can then look back to see where you might eat smaller portions and/or make satisfying substitutions.

Yay! You've taken the first and most important step---deciding to make changes.

The one thing I wish I'd done when I started here 3 yrs ago was to take my body measurements before I began losing weight.

If you stick with the logging of food and exercises every day, by the end of the first month it will become so much easier and for myself-it was a habit. A good one!

To keep yourself motivated, read some of the success stories in the community boards. There's some pretty awesome people here.

So, congratulations on wanting to become healthier, and welcome to MFP!

Congrats on a positive step forward! My top 10 suggestions are: 1. DO NOT live and die by the scale. A better way is to find a shirt/pants that are tight tomorrow and each week put them on the same day each week to see your true progress. I think you will be much happier with those results vs. some number on a scale that quickly changes throughout the day. 2. Record everything you consume into MFP, don't forget the empty calories in liquids and dips/dressings. 3. Drink lots and lots of water. Look into how the Japanese use water consumption for weight control. It works in curbing hunger. 4. Use these message boards for support. 5. Hunger will make you want to quit. If you are hungry eat a small meal/snack but do not overly restrict yourself. 6. Do not get extreme with your calorie counts. For instance, if you do a test day or two and see your average consumption is 4600 calories a day don't try to drop to 1200 the first week. 7. Exercise is needed especially if you have any blood sugar issues. Blood sugar has a sneaky way of screwing with weight and when under control the weight can drop fast. I do HIIT 5 days a week and swim in fast moving water once a week but do what you like that you can stick to. The key is to confuse the heck out of your body so it constantly is challenged and doesn't hit a weight loss wall. Muscle weight is your friend. 8. Take the word diet and erase it from your vocabulary. That is temporary. What you are looking for is a lifestyle change. 9. Clean out your bad food at home and replace it with good choices. 10. Make sure you are getting the right nutrients.

Just keep going and prepare to be incorrect, adjust and move on! You got this

It is going to be a GREAT day! You've got this!!

Why tomorrow?

Anyway, don't pick a crazy goal. 1 lb a week is better than giving up because you're too deprived.

I was sent here by my dr. A wk ago. I have found right I don't eat much but what I eat is not good. This is going to be a challenge but I'm not going to give up, I'll just keep making changes. Today was the first day map had a positive comment to what I ate for breakfast. I was told drink 8 bottles of water a day, I have found that to be my struggle, I went from no pop to up to 50 Oz of water. I just feel so full of water and I hate water. I'm not giving up though and wish you luck stay strong don't give up. Hopefully in time we see each other post good changes in the future.

mcmasters06 wrote: »

I was sent here by my dr. A wk ago. I have found right I don't eat much but what I eat is not good. This is going to be a challenge but I'm not going to give up, I'll just keep making changes. Today was the first day map had a positive comment to what I ate for breakfast. I was told drink 8 bottles of water a day, I have found that to be my struggle, I went from no pop to up to 50 Oz of water. I just feel so full of water and I hate water. I'm not giving up though and wish you luck stay strong don't give up. Hopefully in time we see each other post good changes in the future.

Have you tried flavouring your water with fruit or drinking sparkling water? I used to be terrible for drinking mountains of diet coke years ago then switched to sparkling mineral water, still get the fizz but feel much more refreshed and my skin is fantastic since I upped the water intake. I now have no bother getting 2.5-3 litres in a day plus a can of diet coke for lunch.

Don't try to change everything at once!

If you are serious about making changes for life, focus on incremental change... Posters above have suggested tracking how you eat/drink now for a short period to get some data, and that is a good idea.

When you look at that data, you'll see areas you can change, like swapping out a high-calorie snack for a piece of fruit or some air-popped corn... or changing out the cream in your coffee for milk. If you can make a change and keep going with that until it's routine and normal for you, then add another one.

Someone above said don't eat food you don't like. My caveat to that is, keep trying different foods. Once you start making changes to your eating habits, your tastes may change and you might find that you actually like something you used to hate.

Be strong, and focus on the long term!

mcmasters06 wrote: »

Stupid question but I am new to all this healthier ways. Do I just cut up the fruit n put it in my water?

You can cut it up and throw it in there, or you could squeeze some juice out of the fruit or you can also get one of the infusion bottles (they're available pretty cheap from amazon) that have a little inner basket to stop you getting floaty bits of fruit in the water.

Some of my personal favourites are Lemon & Lime, Mint & Cucumber and Orange & Raspberry.

cschof18 wrote: »

I am starting my journey from 325 to 180 tomorrow. Any tips to keep me sane and motivated. Excited and terrified at the same time. Really don't want to fail again. Thanks everyone!

Why are you terrified? (Not being a pain, it's probably worth thinking through the associated emotions.)

I lost 95 lbs in 2014 (into 2015). My best advice:

It's a process, don't think of it as being on or off. You won't be perfect, no one is, and it's not realistic.

Have a plan.

If you don't stick to the plan one day, don't beat yourself up. Instead, think through what happened and make adjustments. It's an opportunity to learn, not a screw up.

With the plan, don't think you will do everything at once. Have realistic goals and stages. For me it was helpful to make goals for the week, month, 3 months, 6 months, and a year (but I'm a planning kind of person). I would have a focus for the week -- log consistently, maybe. Then look at the logs, see what you could improve on, and then make that a goal for the next week. When you get something down, stay consistent and move to something else.

Think through carefully how you gained weight -- it can help to log what you were eating or if it's something like bingeing or emotional eating, understand that. For me it was a combination of careless eating and emotional eating, and being too sedentary (after having been quite active in the past), but I had other strengths, like being pretty comfortable with cooking and planning meals. If the latter are new to you, start gradually and work up.

I approached getting active again gradually too, without being too hard on myself and burning out. I knew I had specific longterm goals (half marathon, century ride), but started just by walking everywhere I could and going to the gym 3x a week for 30 minutes. Then as I got used to it and was enjoying it, I did more, and added in goals to try new things and stuff like that.

If you have specific questions, ask them.

Focus on the things you can control. You can't control (week to week) the amount you lose. You can stick to calories and log well and get to the gym (or whatever you choose to do).

You can do this!

plumppork wrote: »

My advice would be; Start now cause tomorrow never comes.

START NOW.

This content has been removed.