Hello everyone :)

Welcome!

Your have joined a great community! 20 pounds shouldnt be too hard to lose. What are you aims? Tone up? etc.

The best way to control your eating to start of with is to map out your diary with foods that you know will fill you up and last the night before, set it all out and dont allow yourself to go over. This is how I do it at the moment just so I can meet my protein/fat/carb intakes correctly. Nutrition and hydration is paramount to losing weight. No more high sugar foods, junk foods. Try and eat a clean diet and cook as much fresh stuff as you possibly can.

Also it helps to add like minded people and people who can read your diary and help to try and get your diet on track

Hey! Welcome!

One great way to realize why weight seems to pile on is just understanding the food that you eat. This site is great for calorie counting. I use this site to give myself insight. I'm not extremely picky or strict, but I am aware that somedays I'm out of control!

So, educate yourself and realize that any meal will not be your last meal, no need to rush through it or eat an entire buffet. Savor it!

Hope I helped, good luck!

Hey welcome!!! I joined this site in like October I think, through a friend. At that time I decided I needed to loose some weight. Before I joined this I had already started loosing a little weight and I had dropped about 5 pounds or so. So far I have lost almost 20 pounds far, and right now im aiming for about 5 more. I've been about 20 pounds over weight as well, and it wasnt too difficult to loose. So I know you will be able to do it, if you put your mind to it. I realized I was just really eating so unhealthy. I was pretty active in the gym when I wanted to be, so that wasnt the big issue with me. I just really had to cut out the fast food and all the extra sugar that I was intaking. Once I did that the weight was just dropping right off. Once I get to my weight I know it will be much easier to maintain. I strength train at the gym now and do cardio, and it seems to be doing the trick! I have a lot of help from a personal trainer, with free advice, so I know thats also a big help. Feel free to add me if you like!!!!!

I feel your pain, I am much more than 20 lbs overweight (more like 65) and I unfortunately LOVE food, especially since I quit drinking and smoking! Now I would eat 24/7 if I wasn't worried about being too big to move! lol So I started this site and I record every single little thing I eat and my daily goal is to finish @ my calorie or below EVERY day! That sometimes requires LOTS of exercise in order to burn my overages but I am hoping and praying that's atleast a good start! I have noticed that by forcing myself to record EVERYTHING both good & bad that I'm hesitant and less likely to divulge in the bad or OVEReat, so ONE day at a time I guess.... Good luck to you!!!

Welcome to MFP!

Sounds like you are on the right track to get to your desired weight.

Exercise and controlling calorie intake is the key.

At 1 - 2 lbs per week you will be at your weight by the time the snow melts!

Good luck and have fun!

Hey everyone,
I'm new here. I've read about this app/site a lot of times and thought I'd join.
I'm 24, and all my life I've been at least 10 pounds overweight. Last week, I weighed myself and I'm about 20 pounds overweight (

I was really discouraged, since I've always had body/self esteem issues, but I went and joined a gym, and have started going a few times a week. I'm actually enjoying a few classes. My main problem is food. I love eating and just end up eating mindlessly, which sucks. However, I'm trying to control that too. Any tips? advice?

I hope I can meet people here with similar goals, and get to now all of you better
Have a great day!

This is exactly how I would sound if I were to introduce myself!!!!!

That said - tips that are helping me:
1) I try to differentiate between hunger and craving.
2) Drink lots of water
3) Avoid heavy meals in the might

Adde me if you like!

Today's the first day! I'm excited and really hope this works!

I love food and enjoy eating as well. While exercising is a good start, for me they key is tracking what and how much food I am eating. If I am not tracking what I eat in my diary it is too easy for me to over eat, particularly the mindless snacking.

Do it religiously, don't cheat. Track everything that goes into your mouth...if you do, you will get a much better idea of how and where to make changes.