How did you do it? Im new at the weight loss journey

Last Feb. I was in the same place you are now, ( i lost my breath by just bending over to tie my shoes) and the answer to your question is simple, eat less and move more!! Get your diet right and do whatever you can as far as the moving part, even if its just walking a couple blocks etc. The important thing is that you start!! Go at your own pace, and in a couple months you will be shocked at how much more you can do physically than you could today. Just start today!!

^^^Yes. Eat healthier, do more.

Whatever exercise you do decide you can mange (walking, swimming, cycling, etc.), I highly recommend writing down a schedule on a calendar in a very visible place in your home (eg. bathroom mirror or refrigerator). This allows you to plan ahead and makes your exercise a part of your day. I have mine taped on my basement door and check it every night to see what I have scheduled for the next day.

Here's and example:

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat

walk 15 min 30 crunches walk 25 min Jillian Michaels cycle 20 min Rest zumba
15 push ups 30 Day Shred


You don't have to do a lot, just a little each day. You'll find your endurance and strengh increase over time and you'll need to adjust your schedule and maybe add some new activities.

Good luck!

crap...formatting doesn't save, but you get the idea right?

I don't know about eating less as much as you need to eat healthier with lower calories. When I am losing the most I am constantly eating. But what I am eating is healthier: Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish.

I haven't lost a lot, but here is what keeps me going. I have a goal in the back of my mind that I will eventually reach. But in the front of my mind I have a goal I can meet today (exercise goal, food goal). If I blow it one day, I can restart the next.

Eat better, eat less and move more. When I first started out, walking at more than 3.0 on the treadmill was tough. But, you push yourself and you keep going. Eventually, you'll get better and better at it. I started reading the labels on food and learning about true serving sizes. I drank more water and cut out pop.

I didn't look at my long term goal - I focused on the short term - lose 10lbs, then lose 10 more, etc. Instead of saying "Oh, well.. I want to lose 50lbs or whatever". Smaller goals seem attainable.

You might want to try the Leslie Sansone walking videos. You don't have to purchase them, just go to You Tube and there's some there. a good place to start, right in your living room at your own pace!!

When I started I had 82 lbs to lose. I have now lost 21lbs. I'm only 1/4 way into my goal. Don't look at the huge goal you set in front of yourself, or you will get very discouraged. Start accomplishing smaller goals along the way. Like reaching that first 5 lbs, or 10 lbs. It helps to keep you focused! Without getting too discouraged.

I also encourage you to keep track of everything you eat. Before I started I never really realized how fast calories add up. Now I am more conscience of what I eat.

In my workout room I have a dry eraser board hanging, and I keep track of my exercise for the day like that. Then at the end of the day I log it in here.

I wish you luck on this journey for your health!!!

I think there may be some groups on here full of people who have lost or want to loss that kind of weight. Their experience may valuable. I say first step is to get clearance from the doctor. Then pick things that are fun for you and you will stick with. Some of the other posters had great ideas about walking and swimming and various DVD's Best of luck to you!!

For all of the many that have lost weight, that had a lot to lose, how did you get there? I mean like what kind of exercise did you do?

I've been very consistently doing strength training 3x/week and cardio (usually intervals) 2-3x a week. Last summer I got carried away by nice weather and was pretty much doing cardio 4x/week.

My exercise is just walking, my Tony Little Gazelle, and Zumba class. Portion control and just eating healthier. Yes I still have "junk" food sometimes, but I always count it in my diary.

I have a lot of weight to lose as well. I have been sticking to my diet for almost 5 weeks now, and have not cheated once during this time. I have been faithfully logging all of the food I put in my mouth each day, and staying within my daily calorie goal. This site, and the success stories here have been my inspiration. My knees are bad, and I have been dreading starting to exercise, but in the past week or so, I have noticed that I have more energy, and that my knees seem to be slightly better, so I am going to begin to exercise, taking walks. I am beginning to notice that clothes are looser. I survived my first holiday meal sticking to the healthier foods and avoiding the dessert and au gratin potatoes. I don't feel deprived, I am doing this for "me".
My epiphany came during the first week of beginning this program. I was thinking about quitting, and asked myself, "are you really hungry?" the answer was "no".
The shame and guilt of being so over weight, is over whelming for me.The long road you and I and others have to take, can be made a little easier thanks to the success stories and struggles of others on this site.
I wish you the best of luck on your journey. Persevere. Next year at this time, we may be telling our success stories.

As you can see I haven't lost a whole lot (although I've gone from a size 22 to a size 16!) - I have some physical limitations and can't exercise regularly BUT that being said, I think the people that are very successful in the LONG RUN are the people who start out slow, make changes they can live with and don't beat themselves up for everything (coming from someone in the past who has used drastic diets to lose weight and re-gained it!!!). If you find you have trouble with where to start, pick 1 thing to work on first, stick with it a week and add something else. Maybe eating a veggie with every meal, switching soda for water, or taking time everyday for a bit of exercise, etc. For me I've been logging consistently since Dec 12th. My main goal is to eat healthier (losing weight should be a by-product of that....I hope! lol). I've dramatically increased my veggies and legumes and drastically reduced the amount of meat and processed foods.
I think for most people, if they go all out, in 2 weeks they're bound to be frustrated and give up or even worse, lose all the weight and a year later have re-gained it all because they can't maintain that level of discipline forever. I don't freak out if I go over my calories or eat a "bad" food. I haven't eliminated anything just shifted the balance of my diet. So for me mac & cheese is no longer a once or twice a week meal, it's once every 4-6 weeks. I KNOW I am unable to control myself - I can't eat one serving, so that day I allow myself the whole box. Yup, I said it, but it's once in a great blue moon (and if I don't allow myself this once in a while, I won't stick with this in the long run!). I log it, and I get on with the rest of my meals. I don't try to "make up" for that meal by starving myself the next day, I just continue on my plan.
When I am able to exercise, I just go out for a 10-20 minute walk, do a short exercise video or use my Wii games to get me moving. Of course exercise doesn't have to be torture! Gardening is exercise if that's what you like to do....just find a few things you like doing and you're more likely to stick to them :-) Of course, if you're able, some resistance/weight training should be incorportated - the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn. Start with soup cans if that's all you can manage!!
I haven't set a goal date for myself - it's not going to be easy for me especially without much exercise (and I love to eat!!) so I'm keeping my goals realistic. Do I wish the weight was all off by tomorrow? Sure but it's not realistic, so if it takes me a year or 2 or more to lose it, it's ok. I know 10 years from now, it will still be off because I've made the changes I need to make and that I can live with.
Good luck! You can do it :-)

Weight loss is calories in/calories out, that simple. Its a given that you will be eating healthy food but you can put weight on by eating too much of this too! You effectively need to create a calorie deficit significant enough to allow your body to use its fat reserves for energy. Coupled this with regular (daily) exercise and you shouldnt have any problem coming in at a few hundred calories per day below your TDEE. There are a plethora of resources on the net about this stuff. Education, food & exercise. In that order saw me lose over 80lbs. Anyone can do it.