New member, and have no idea where to start!!!

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HeidiLynnM
HeidiLynnM Posts: 34
in Introduce Yourself
Hi, my name is heidi. I am currently 158 lbs, and my goal for now is 130 lbs. How do I eat? What do I eat? I have no idea where to start. I have a treadmill, elliptical, and weight machine............and I am asking for advice!!! Any help would be AWSOME! :)

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  • 1ofthegang
    1ofthegang Posts: 76 Member
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    Welcome! I know it can seem overwhelming but it is totally doable. First, start logging what you eat and I mean EVERYTHING! Once you know how many calories you are consuming, you can start to cut them down, probably drastically. Second, get on that treadmill, elliptical or weight machine, better yet do them all! Once you start eating better and working out your motivation will sky rocket! I will send you a friend request and hopefully we can help motivate each other. Good luck!
  • Rickyahh
    Rickyahh Posts: 2 Member
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    Make sure to add lifts! The more muscle you have, the more calories you can burn by just sitting and doing nothing! True story.. And this app actually helps make dieting easier! It shows you how many calories and etc, you have left. And also helps show you the nutrition facts for almost everything :] and about weight lost goals, slowly but surely. Don't let anything/anyone discourage you! And you will succeed
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Hi, my name is heidi. I am currently 158 lbs, and my goal for now is 130 lbs. How do I eat? What do I eat? I have no idea where to start. I have a treadmill, elliptical, and weight machine............and I am asking for advice!!! Any help would be AWSOME! :)
    Set your goals for 1 lb weight loss per week.
    NO MORE!

    And eat lean meats, low fat dairy, nuts, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies.
    Do both cardio and resistance exercise.
    AND EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES~!

    That's it.

    It's actually quite simple.
    The easy part is the what to do; the hard part is the doing.

    Good Luck!
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
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    My advice is to start slow and steady so you don't get burned out. Set small goals to start with (so you don't get completely overwhelmed).

    Add some MFP pals for support.

    Eat healthier than you do now, and slowly change from processed foods to whole home-cooked foods.

    Find some exercises you like and will stick to. Cardio is awesome and strength training is pretty critical if you want to be healthy and toned.

    The important thing is to not only listen to everything other people say and figure out what works for you (minus unhealthy fad diets - those are pretty much always bad news).

    Oh, and check out these links to get started: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
  • Kaylee_law_123
    Kaylee_law_123 Posts: 450 Member
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    Hey I'm a week in and loving it! The first thing I did was get onto the Food Database and look up all my regular foods to see what I should and shouldn't be eatting, to give me an idea of what I should be cutting back on.

    If you want you can add me as a friend and look at my diary, which shows you the foods I eat to stay under my calorie limit :-)
  • Crystal_Pistol
    Crystal_Pistol Posts: 750 Member
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    Eat ANYTHING, but do it in moderation. Get moving and eat back your exercise calories so you properly fuel your body. I suggest cardio and strength- great that you have both readily available.

    Sounds easy, and it is. The difficult part is STICKING TO IT!!

    Good luck.
  • tialynn1
    tialynn1 Posts: 886 Member
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    I agree with the other 2 people. I am fairly new on here. I have started with the exercises. I am trying to cut out soda. I like the logging everything I eat and exercising. Even if the numbers are off, at least I have a good idea what I am doing and what to work on. After I eliminate soda, then I want to cut down on sugars and fats.
    Everyone on this site seems to be so supportive and helpful.
  • lonniemoreno
    lonniemoreno Posts: 1
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    Buy The Abs Diet Eat Right Every Time Guide . This book has helped me drop 60 lbs in the past. (male 270 down to 210.) This book has great ideals to follow for life. Plus the smoothies are great! You can even get it used on Amazon for like $2. It teaches you about the 12 power foods to always eat for weight loss. Also, keep tracking everything on My Fitness Pal. This will keep you on track with your alotted calories for the day. Having the app on my phone is also a great help so I always stay on track of my calories.


    Plus ditto to what everyone else said. Good luck!

    #1, believe in yourself.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
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    Read it, save it, read again and again.

    http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php#section1
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    start with your mindset. you may not realize how important your mindset is until later on, but I promise you that its more important than the physical stuff (eating/exercise)...that stuff you can learn...and you definitely CAN do the physical stuff once and for as long as you convince yourself that you can. do the activity in my will power blog. it will help TONS...I promise. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/H_Factor/view/recipe-for-a-will-power-pill-for-help-with-the-mental-part-of-the-journey-155978

    as for the physical part of this journey, its all about creating a caloric deficit and you can do that in a lot of different ways. I started my journey last January with a lot of processed foods. Over time, I transitioned to more natural foods and over the last many months, I eat mostly natural foods (produce, lean meats, healthy fats that I buy at the grocery store and either eat raw or cook). You can check out my profile for my basic guidelines...as well as blogs on things I like to cook. KNOW that there is no one correct way to create a caloric deficit so long as you are tracking and coming close to the MFP calorie goal each day (or, on average for a week...some folks like to zig zag their calories). YOU need to find a menu that works for you. There are too many options to begin guessing at your food likes and dislikes, cooking ability, etc. You are welcome to check out my diary and see what I do. it works for me. there are many things that work for other folks as well.

    Good luck to you.
  • grapenutSF
    grapenutSF Posts: 648 Member
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    Welcome!

    1. Log whatever you eat. All of it. This in itself is doing a lot. Make it a solid habit.
    2. Try out different approaches to eating to see what works for you. I find eating mostly clean (eg, unprocessed food) works best for me.
    3. Experiment with different forms of exercise and find something you genuinely enjoy. This way you'll stick with it. Many of us here like lifting heavy for lots of reasons (read New Rules of Lifting for Women). I also adore my salsa fitness class and would go even if it burned 0 calories.
    4. Poke around for inspiration. Nerdfitness.com gives me a lot of that. This person's story in particular: http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
    5. Eat your exercise calories. Your body needs appropriate fuel.

    Good luck!
  • MsRoxyPepper
    MsRoxyPepper Posts: 109 Member
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    i started by just tracking, increasing water intack and walking. just get started. =)
  • JBorg039
    JBorg039 Posts: 24
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    I found hard in the start aswell but you'll get used to it. I found that calorie counting really works, I just went on to http://www.fatcuda.com - calculated the amount of calories for weight loss & I followed it by the book. Up till now I have lost around 47lbs.
  • BrookeOscarson
    BrookeOscarson Posts: 4
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    Im new to this too and to working out on my own. My first suggest if possible is talk to your doctor and make sure your good to go. Cause you never know when your overweight. Then I suggest start small and build up. I am very impatient and I want to be healthier yesterday so I have to remind myself that its going to take time. Im also not one to make drastic changes so I have to change my habbits day by day. Thats all the advice I have for now. Looking for new friends and suggestions too so add me if you want to.

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