I need to break it down to smaller goals

ohbother1971 wrote: »

First goals are:
Don’t eat past 7
Drink at least 80 oz of water
Stop drinking juice and soda. Don’t need it.
Track food don’t worry about calories, just track
Workout 3x a week
Sleep -this one is a hard one- 6-8 hrs a night. (I’m lucky if I get 4)

Depending on how big a change this is, those could be big done all at once.

What I did when I started was set weekly goals and focus on just one or two things.

For example, I think my first week I was supposed to start logging food, cook my breakfasts and dinners, no snacking between meals, plus walk everywhere I possibly could. Since I already cooked a decent amount, that wasn't a huge change for me (it was mostly the not snacking and walking when I might have driven or cabbed, plus logging), and were some things easy to focus on.

When that was set (after a couple of weeks), I decided I'd workout at least 30 minutes 3 days per week (it was a cold winter and I mostly like outdoor exercise, so I decided to make going back to the gym or pool as easy on myself as possible). I also in later weeks focused on making and bringing my lunch rather than buying it, and increasing my exercise amounts.

Right now I'm doing the same thing, with some different goals (getting back to my daily meditation, for example).

Because I'm a major planner and motivated that way, I also had monthly and 3-month goals, up to running a half marathon and doing a local bike ride, but I think having the specific weekly goals and checking in daily in my journal with progress and struggles really helped.

I was always a 4-5 hour sleep person too (still am too often), and although I did not do it as one of my initial goals (I've worked on it off and on since), I would recommend focusing on the sleep like some others have suggested. Being tired is one of the things that makes not snacking/not overeating and getting in the workouts toughest.

I feel like the list is a bit much all at once. From my personal experience, focusing on 1-3 things at one time, getting that down and then moving to a new goal(s) has a higher success rate. But if you feel this is something you can tackle, they hey - more power to you! I wish you the best of luck, and I really hope you are able to meet your goals.

When i was starting, i did ONE goal at a time.

log my food. all of it. good and bad. weighed on a scale. Dont worry about calories.

got into that habit.

then, added exercise. started by simple walks. one walk, at least 10 minutes. increased from there.

give it time, and adding on reasonable goals, and ,mastering those before adding more, equaled 100 pounds lost (and going).

its not a race.

MarilynTC wrote: »

I agree with the others who said to make the first goal to log everything. I have always been good for a week or so, then have a high calorie day and tell myself I blew it, and from then on my logging gets lazy. I decided to just keep logging no matter if I go way over one day. Who knows except for me, and it isn't a failure.

Exactly the right attitude! I also find it helpful to try to understand what happened if I go way over on a day -- logging helps me with mindfulness.

Good job on stopping the soda and juice. Those are big. Also good job on getting more sleep. I have to say I've not had cats that wake me up. I do feed them right before I go to bed, so maybe that's it (?)

I agree with everyone else that logging food is the #1 most important thing I did (and still do.) It takes me about a minute per meal and it has changed everything about my food, exercise and nutrition.

ohbother1971 wrote: »

It didn’t take. Well sort off. The no soda and juice took. I maybe have one glass of OJ or cranberry once a week.
The reason I wanted to stop eating past 7 was because I don’t sleep and I was thinking it’s related. But I find that as long as I stop eating 2-3 hours before I try to sleep it helps a lot. I am able to sleep better as long as my kids or cats do t wake me up I’m getting about 6-7 hrs sleep a night. Not bad. The others goals didn’t stick. I picked 3x a week because I was already working out 2. I picked 80oz of water because with juice and soda I was drinking about 80 oz of liquid and just wanted to change it to water. I fine that I average about 60 oz of water a day. The tracking didn’t stick at all and I’m here to try that one again. Thank you everyone who responded

Having a cut off for eating at night helped my sleep. I try to finish eating by 7pm. I have gone from waking up every few hours to sleeping most nights through the night. Don't have a clue if it is scientific or not but it is working for me. I am not telling anyone else to try it or that they too should not eat after 7pm. Eat at the times that work for you.

On your tracking...maybe to get started if you just kept a log and not worry too much about the calories that would help you get started. Once you have gotten into the habit then you can work on getting your calorie counts correct. I don't know how much weight you have to lose but sometimes just being aware of what and how often you eat will encourage eating less. No people...I am not encouraging not to count calories/weighing/measuring. I just know from experience that sometimes some people are just not in the right frame of mind to tackle that. I am one of those people currently...in the past I have weighed and measured. OP I do calculate my recipe calories...divide that into servings that fit my goals and divide that in to servings.
It is not 100% accurate but with the amount of weight that I have lose it has worked so far. I am well aware that at some point what I am doing might not work and I will adjust then.

IMO I think in the end you have to find ways that work for you. Some of them might not work but you can always change and do things differently.