Want to lose weight but struggle badly any tips?

lola3332 wrote: »

Hi everyone I'm new to my fitness pal! Through childhood right through to me being 24 I have comfort ate due to my dad leaving when I was young right through to stresses in adulthood all my life I have never took care of myself and ate junk food, eating out etc. I finally plucked up the courage recently to see how much I weigh and instantly broke down in tears at how much I weigh (nearly 19 stone) I'm only 5ft 2 but with how I eat it's absolutely no surprise. It recently dawned on me that I didn't even remember the last time I had a piece of fruit maybe years or anything really particularly healthy and nutritious. Today I started eating healthier and included fruit and veg in my diet and stuck to around 1,500 calories. I don't really know where to start with dieting and would appreciate any tips and inspiration! Does calorie counting work to lose weight? Do I have to count fat content, carbs etc? I'm really not certain. Anybody who gets back to me I would greatly appreciate it 😌 have wonderful day to anyone who reads this !

You can just start out counting calories, it's perfectly v fine to start there 🙂 that's how I started, nearly 75lbs heavier than I am now. I didn't start looking at macros (fat, protein and carb amounts) until a few months after I started losing weight.

You don't need to watch your macros to lose weight. But it can be helpful to find ways of eating that keep you less hungry, or to ensure to don't lose too much muscle mass while losing weight. Pertain is, for me, the most important one since it will help maintain muscle mass and helps a lot of people feel satiated (but satiation is highly individual, it pays to experiment if you feel very hungry).

1500 items sounds quite low, did you choose a fast rate of loss? Generally speaking, I would recommend trying to make weight loss as painless as possible, for example:
- faster weight loss isn't necessarily better, losing fat and then giving up because you're hungry, or losing slowly but feeling satiated and not needing tons of willpower to keep going
- don't give up your favorite foods and foods you're used to, certainly not overnight. When you overhaul your diet overnight, it requires a lot of willpower. Willpower is a limited resource, so best to not need too much of it and rely more on creating new habits gradually.
- even 'junk food' and restaurant food can fit into a balanced diet (if you can manage to moderate your intake) - you just need to moderate the amount to fit into your calorie goal and perhaps make slightly different choices.
- perhaps focus less on what you can NOT have (and ss I said, no food needs to be forbidden unless you can't moderate it) and focus more on adding healthier foods into your diet gradually such as fruit and vegetables
- if you decide to exercise, start gradually and choose something you like to do or at least don't actively dislike. No one keeps up exercise they don't enjoy.

Wishing you success!