No More Muffin Top

welcome to the site. i found that with careful meal planning, i've lost a lot of weight. pl say that this is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise, and its true.

do your best to measure out and weigh every morsal of food that crosses your lips. i like to measure my food out waaaay before i eat it. i back my lunch and snacks for the day the night before, and plan out breakfast and dinner too. usually i fill out my meal diary for the next day the night before. it helps me stay disciplined and in control. i also usually put a little more then i might eat, because it alway feels good to take something off the list.

start exercising. i don't know what you current activity level is, but start doing something!! walk for 30 minutes, or bike. cycling has become my favorite exercise. i hated running, but i needed a good cardio work out so i dusted off my old mountain bike. i never really biked a lot but i looooved it. started doing 10, 12, 20 miles at a time. i started building up my cardio strength. one day it was raining and i just went "f&*k it" and decided to go for a run, just to see how it feels. i ran just shy of 2 miles. now i try and do one run a week, and even do a bike/run work out, one right after the other. it feels great.

i signed up for a 5k in november and a triathlon this coming june. basically i've set a fire under my *kitten*. these races cost money, and i'm not going to throw it away. i'm planning on doing a sprint triathlon. its 0.5mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run. it is completely doable by anyone. look at trifind.com to find a triathlon near you, and beginnertriathlete.com to get a free work out plan. also check out "your first triathlon" by joe friel. its a good book about swimming, running, and cycling, and nutrition too. even if you don't want to do a triathlon, read it to get some info on the most popular cardio exercises out there.

good luck and enjoy!!