Struggling to start on working to lose weight

Also, read the stickies! Counting calories depends on accurate logging, and it can take time to get a hang of. A food scale will be your friend here, either as you’re getting started or longer term. You don’t need to weigh everything (or log everything) forever, but getting an idea of how much you’re actually eating is key when you’re starting out. It’s not just those sodas, it’s everything!

Hi Mcwright, Like you I am a soda freak... I drink litres of the stuff. But I drink the diet version...
To be honest, that mountain Dew is gonna have to go!
I am sure that everyone here will have an opinion, but I am going to give you my 2 cents worth.

Dieting is not hard, there are loads of helpful products out there now (including MyFitnessPal)...

Here is something EASY you can do to get started.

For lunches and dinners, go to the supermarket, and look for the healthy option dinners. They generally dont cost all that much, and have a good range. Most of these are between 200 and 400 calories... So if you have these for lunch and dinner you will be at 450-800 calories... this should leave you about 700 calories to play with (depending on your profile etc).
This is not a long term solution, however you will get an immediate result.

For breakfast there are loads of options, you could have one of those shakes you bought, or some eggs on toast, or some wheatgrain kind of cereal... (Something that doesnt have sugar etc in it). I mix it up every day, but usually it involves eggs.

For snacks, I find that fruit works for me, bananas are quite filling, but I like an apple from time to time... these both cost you about 100 calories.. If you like eggs a boiled egg is also quite filling.

As you mentioned, Mountain Dew is gonna have to go.... You will have to find a suitable low calorie soft drink to replace it if it is your crutch... I swapped from Sugar coke to diet coke and have never looked back.. it took a few weeks, but now I prefer it to normal coke.. (Actually I drink pepsi max now...).

The previous poster made a great point too... Log all your calorie intake... you will immediately notice where all your calories are going and you can then replace those things with things you like...

The fact that you mentioned pounds makes me think you are in the states, over here in Australia we can get a free consultation with a dietician, perhaps you have an option like that through some sort of channel... they are professionals in creating meal plans that will work for you.

Hope that helps.

Eelkov wrote: »

It looks like he has disabled his account, tried to message him to befriend me and it says unknown user.

Occasionally there's a glitch where brand new users won't show up for a bit

I'd say first: switch to Diet Dew. Or Diet anything, for soda. Many will say avoid soda totally, but if you're not ONLY drinking soda: do what works for you. But those 2-3 regular sodas have lots of sugar, and thus lots of calories.

Beyond that it is not so much about what you eat but how much. Certainly avoid things you are allergic or just don't like. Though I do encourage anyone who considers themself to be a picky eater (not sure if that applies to you) to try new things from time to time, or try them in different ways. That has nothing to do with losing weight, but on missing out on things you might enjoy because you don't know better.

As for food choices... Look at what you're eating now and think about little things you can do to change the calorie content. What do you normally eat for a meal? Make small changes. Decrease the portion of higher calorie sides, and increase the portions of lower calorie sides like veggies. Eat food prepared in ways such that there is not a lot of calories added in the process. (Such as eating baked or grilled chicken instead of fried chicken.) Do you use/eat a lot of dairy, mayo or similar? Cut back portions, or switch to lighter alternatives. I typically have mustard on sandwiches now, but there is also light mayo for lesser calories. Save high calorie meals for having on occasion rather than often. I could have an Arby's Beef & Cheddar sandwich & order of Mozzarella sticks - but maybe once a month at most because its a calorie bomb.

Literally everything you've been eating, just within your calorie goal. Boom! Weight loss.

JMcGee2018 wrote: »

My suggestion if you're really afraid to leave that comfort zone is a 3 week introductory process.

Week 1: Limit yourself to only 2 regular Mountain Dews a day. If you need a third, make it a diet. Also, spend this week eating whatever you want, but track it all in My Fitness Pal. All of it. Even if it adds up to you eating 10,000 calories a day (which I'm sure it won't unless you are rapidly gaining weight). CICO won't work without data and careful tracking.

Week 2: Look back on your data from last week. What was your highest calorie food or meal? If you're regularly consuming 1,500 calories of pizza, work on limiting yourself to 500 (a slice or two, depending on the pizza, rather than the whole thing). If your highest calorie meal is dinner because you always have a high-calorie protein (like a large portion of red meat), try swapping it out with chicken breast, or even just a smaller serving of the red meat. Don't worry about your overall daily calories yet, just focus on reducing the calories from either specific foods or meals.

Week 3: Now's the week to try meeting your calorie goals. Watch out for the calorie traps that you defined last week. Don't try to change your diet too much yet, because depriving yourself of your favorite foods can lead to a binge. Right now, just work on portion control. However, if you think you can do without that regular Mountain Dew (either by swapping it for diet or leaving it out all together, that would be great for reducing your calorie intake).

Starting out this way will obviously lead to slower results right away, but will hopefully make it easier to stick with the lifestyle change overall. It's no use losing 10 pounds that first week if you quit midway through week 2 and gain it all back. As you get more comfortable, you can incorporate more healthy meals and healthy swaps into your diet until that is your new comfort zone.

and all of THAT is probably one of the best freaking posts ive ever seen on here.

Similar to at @JMcGee2018, I'm a big fan of "start where you are". When I started I focused on logging only without any changes for 2 weeks. It was surprising. Everyone is different but, for example, I found that I was massively under calories for a day or several and then binging. As mentioned above you'll also notice what food/drinks are the worst and best.

After two weeks, I recommend doing 1-2 weeks at maintenance. Then start cutting bad stuff/adding better stuff.

I'm also a fan of one change at a time. For me, before MFP I wanted to ditch sodas. I went from regular to diet and then from diet to Hansen's. Then I gave em up. It probably took 6 months total.

More examples:
I spent a month focused on just water intake.
I spent another two months eliminating white flour products.
I spent three months learning how to meal plan and cook my lunches.
I spent 30 days learning how to add protein (still room to grow in this area, for me)

The idea is to build the habits on-top of habits. Keep the good habit(s) you already built and then add another good one.

That said, my way is slowwww. I'm focused on changing my habits (that built up over 30 years).