Almost 40 and never exercised or eaten healthy-need some tip

That's great that you have lost 14 pounds already! I say that it's ok to exercise everyday IF some days you do less than more. Maybe you could workout hard 3-4 days a week and then do low impact cardio or walk the other days. They do say that you should have a day of rest though so that your muscles can recover. I am trying to exercise 5-6 days a week BUT I have been doing Leslie Sansone's walking dvds and let me tell you...... she really has good workouts. You can make it low impact OR high impact by jogging instead of walking. I understand the pregnant look thing cause I look soooo pregnant and I'm not! I have this belly on me that I really want to go down! And like you said, I'm out of shape too! Hope all goes well with your exercise and eatting better! Now, there is one thing that I heard AND have read a lot of articles on and that's green tea. They say that green tea speeds the metabolism a bit and that it's a good idea to drink a cup about 30 mins before exercising. Not to mention, that it also has many health benefits that have been proven!

Everyone has their own opinions on how much to eat, when to exercise, how to exercise, etc. My advice is to not get overwhelmed by all the numbers and just use your common sense. If you have the energy to workout everyday and aren't getting hurt, do it! If you prefer to workout less often, that's fine too! Make sensible choices that are easy to keep up long term, listen to your body and use your common sense!

I've often seen criticism on the "eat when your hungry" mentality. People often say "listening to my body is what got me here in the first place," but honestly, is that really true? I don't know about you, but when I was gaining weight from fast food and inactivity, I knew the cause and I'm sensible enough to work on that while still listening to my own body!

There's so much one size fits all advice that gets thrown around on the message boards, and while it might be really helpful for some, it's important to realize that you have to find what works for you. Some advocate eating 6 meals a day, some say it doesn't matter, some say to quit eating at a certain time, cut out dairy, cut out meat, etc. This is why I say just figure out what works for you. Everyone thinks they have the answers, but only you know what you will actually be able to stick to! Good luck :flowerforyou:

I am no expert but from everything I have read I think you need to eat fruits, veggies, and proteins more than anything. The general consensus also seems to be to eat clean- meaning as little processed and prepackaged stuff as possible and no junk food. Track your sugar and carbs on here and try to keep them within your goal (unless the sugar comes from fruit- that seems to be okay).

Most people say to eat often like 5 or 6 times a day so you never get hungry. Some seem to prefer to eat much less. I would say do what works for you as far as how often you eat.

It is still a big struggle for me so this is all what i have read more than by experience lol.

Congratulations on your decision to make a positive change and for DOING IT!!!
I suggest that you continue to read and view the opinions on here and do your research elsewhere too so that you are informed and can make educated decisions about how you choose to make changes to your lifestyle and how you want the rest of your life to look. It seems to me to be good advice to say make changes that YOU enjoy and YOU can live with. Be kind to yourself and be patient. Moving in the right direction> toward your personal goals= success.

You can lose one pound a week by cutting 300-350 calories a day and getting 30 min of exercise (just going out a taking a walk counts!). For exercise also work on finding something you love, try running/walking, yoga, zumba, workout DVDs, what ever sounds interesting! Another good idea is to focus on a goal, like training for a 5k or a hike. For food since you love food that will actually make it easier, think of eating healthy as an opportunity to get to try new things! Go to the bookstore/online/library and find not just new diet books, but clean eating and organic books and try to test out at least two new recipes a week (just watch portion control)

Here is what has worked the best for me:
1. I plan to get up every morning at 5:15 to do my "sweating to the oldies" tape....if I decide the night before that I really did need extra rest, I reset my alarm for one hour later, sleep in, and do my workout tape either at lunch time or after work. I NEVER EVER EVER hit the snooze alarm or turn it off and sleep in............I would consider that cheating, and that's how I got in this "mess"! I plan to take time off from my exercising, I don't ever just give in and not do it.....being persistent about this has turned my exercising in to a habit and makes it MUCH easier to do---because I know that sleeping in (unplanned) just IS NOT an option.
2. I plan my meals out either the night before or the morning of.....this includes 3 meals, at least 2 snacks. I may decide at the last minute to eat my dinner for lunch or my lunch at snack and my snack at lunch....but I "shop" my food for the day and pick from that.
3. I do my very very VERY best to not eat anything from a box or package. I try to eat several servings of fruit and vegetables every day. The one problem with this is that sometimes it is hard to get all the calories in because "un-packaged" food has so many less calories (AND ESPECIALLY----WAY LESS SODIUM). VERY LITTLE FASTFOOD.....just isn't worth giving up that many calories....or for the amount of sodium that it "costs"!
4. I log every bite of food....good, bad or ugly......if I am going to eat something that I clearly know I shouldn't, I go look it up and log it....sometimes that very thing is all it takes to keep me from eating it....but if I decide to eat it, I don't hide and eat it, I sit and enjoy it.
5. I drink about 10 glasses of water every day. I make sure that I do. It is intentional.
6. Most importantly, I don't undereat or over-exercise. I started doing 2 hours of exercise a day, I didn't raise my calories eaten, and my weight loss slowed down. As soon as I went back to 1 hour of workout a day, it picked back up. Can't starve the body, it only works for a week or two and then it takes forever to get it back to burning the way it should.

I think most importantly, I have now turned this in to how I live....I exercise, I eat fruits and vegetables, I am informed about the calorie and nutrition information of what I eat....I am careful with sodium. This isn't my diet....I just eat this way now....and how do I know that? My kids asked me if I had gone off my diet? Why? They didn't see me moaning or groaning or starving, and they are just used to me exercising.....they eat what I make, they are getting used to everything too....I lose about 1 pound every week and some weeks it is 2 pounds.
Hope this helps you.

**I do light exercise on one weekend day (usually something with the family) and on one day of the weekend I don't do any "intentional" exercise but it is funny--lots of time it just happens anyway!

Thanks so much for the replies! I guess one thing that I am terribly confused about is... the BMR 9 i think that is the term) MFP says i should eat 1200/day.. and I know that in order to loose weight, you have to eat less than you can burn. So what should by daily weight goals be... the 1200, or under that to loose weight?

1200 is the lowest mfp will ever recommend you eat and that INCLUDES a deficit large enough to lose weight. It depends on your size and height, but generally you can lose weight with a smaller deficit (which means eating more than 1200 calories). MFP sets your goals based on the amount that you chose to lose each week. They recommend 1lb a week.