Where do i begin??

Hi, and I agree with BigJimmy, with that limited diet you're setting yourself up for failure. For me, I started literally on 12/26/11, I first started with a good trip to the store to stock up with yoplait lite yogurts, nuts, fruits, string cheese, lunch meats, good healthy breads, oatmeal, and lots of chicken and pork. The one MAIN thing I have done is completely quit all chips and crackers, pretty much all processed foods. I am now eating 6 small meals a day, so doing that I am just getting a little hungry about every 2.5 to 3 hours, and have a large powerade bottle I fill twice a day with water, plus water with dinner. Before my start date I ABSOLUTELY NEVER EXERCISED! I hated it, then I believed my scale and changed my attitude. For me, because we have a lot of workout stuff in our garage, I started using the treadmill for 40 minutes a day at 3.5 speed with a 5 incline. I also walked home from work, the long way which was about 2 miles, at a very fast pace, like on the treadmill. That really worked for me to begin, I did lose weight right off and that in turn motivated me to do more things like Elliptical, our Total Gym, and we have Comcast for tv, they have an awesome fitness channel with hundreds to choose from, I use that A LOT. You can check out my food diary and see the meals I usually have and the types of foods I am now choosing. I hope this helps, it's great you're here!!

I'd say start with little changes you know you can stick with. Add in walking for a half hour ever other day and keep at it. After a couple weeks add another day or two, etc.

With food, instead of making a radical change, make changes for the better. Upgrade the food you eat. Add in more fruits and vegetable to whatever you eat now. Likely you'll feel fuller and eat less of the other stuff.

Just random ideas. The key is to make it a habit and something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life, because that is what it takes.

Make smaller changes and master them before moving on to the next one. When you change everything at once it is really easy to get burned out.

Maybe try a month of eating 7 servings of veggies and fruits a day. Then replace your grains wit whole grains. Make small exercise changes too. Add a post dinner or lunch walk daily. Then go to the gym or do more intense exercise once a week. Keep upping the exercise, and shifting your diet and you'll be on the path to your lifestyle change.

I know it is really tempting to say "I want to hurry up an lose all of the weight NOW!" But people who are successful take it slow and make changes they'll be able to maintain forever.

I really think the only thing to add to what everybody else stated is to be careful that you don't fall for the idea that you have to eat under 1000 calories a day to lose weight. I know others here said "stay in your calories" here but it's important to know WHY they say that. You have to eat to lose weight. Maintain the calorie deficit the site sets for you. That means if you work out or increase your activity level, you have to eat back at least some of the calories you worked off. If you don't, you create too big of a calorie deficit. This is important because you don't want to depress your metabolism - you want to rev it up!

Read lots - I'm fairly new to the site also, and I'm learning a LOT from the good people here. The point is - people are having success by applying these concepts. They work!

Friend me if you like! :-D

Hey everyone im nina , decided its never too late for a change and im ready to lose all this weight my goal is to lose 160 pounds i just dont know where to begin i have started a diet low carb no sodium or sugar just fruits veggies and fish i need some advice on what types of exercises to do since im just beginning please help and if your a good motivator add me thank you!

What I did though was just started logging what I ate for the 1st week. I had no idea how many calories I was consuming. Then, I started replacing things... Added oatmeal in the morning... stopped eating donuts, candy and other sweets... then stopped eating fried food. I lost weight just from that.

I have always exercised, but I was able to kick it up 10 notches after a few weeks because I felt so much better after eliminating those things from my diet.

Then, I'd search the community forums for better "cleaner" ways to eat, and items to keep me motivated.

You can do this - set yourself up to succeed!! Good Luck!

Walking is the best way to start exercising. It's something you already know how to do and it's free. It's a total body work out for beginners. Good luck with your journey. You can do it.

I totally agree... It's the best exercise. Highly underestimated. Great place to start.

My Dr. Suggested one hour a day at the fastest pace I could manage on a hard, flat surface. Great advice.

If you think you can eat only fruit, veggies, and fish for the rest of your life then by all means keep at it. But if not, don't even start out that way. Once you get tired of it and start eating back a variety of foods you'll gain weight back. Be realistic, this is a lifestyle change not a quick fad diet. Everything in moderation is key. I had cookies last night. Why? Because being skinny is not worth it if I cannot ever have the things I love. I had those cookies, enjoyed them and still had 200 some calories left over and I lost 2 pounds this week.

Eat what you want, but more on the healthy side and keep the bad stuff in moderation. As far as working out, what do you enjoy? Anything you do to get moving and get your heart rate up is good. I love to bike, walk and play tennis so I do it. I hate spending hours at the gym and I especially hate the elliptical, so I don't do it.

I started my weight loss journey on February 29, 2012. I joined the gym and was going to ride a stationary bike for one hour just to get started. I was only able to ride for 30 minutes. The next day at 6 minutes I thought I was dying but I rode for thirty minutes. The next week I rode the bike for one hour. My son came in during spring break and changed my workout for the next week to 20 minutes stationary bike, walk 30 minutes on the indoor track, row for 5 minutes and do the eliptical (which I despise). The max I have made it on the eliptical is 6 minutes. Just be patient because yesterday I did my very first Zumba class and I was able to stay moving for one hour ( no I could not keep up with the trainer but I jogged in place if I could not perform a dance move) Good luck on your journey.

Zumba is great for beginners