Aa
just starting out?
Anyone else just starting out? I am trying to lose about 20-25 after the birth of my 4th child three months ago. The weight is not coming off easily for me, as it has in the past. = (
I am trying not to do anything radical (as i know i can't stick with it), but rather trying to take "baby steps" toward my goal of eating healthier.
I am:
-drinking water instead of soda or tea
-having fruit and cottage cheese or oatmeal and apples for breakfast, versus McD's bagel/egg/cheese or waffles.
-Progresso soup for lunch (the Weight Watchers kind, zero points)
Sweets are my weakness, and i still have the occasional (ok, daily) cookie, or ice cream, or snack cake, etc.
Any other suggestions from those of you who are trying to lose weight? How did you start out?
Oh, btw, exercising is very unlikely to happen, as my scehdule is jam-packed and i can't afford to get up earlier and lose anymore sleep. So i am counting on eating healthier to do the trick. ; )
I am trying not to do anything radical (as i know i can't stick with it), but rather trying to take "baby steps" toward my goal of eating healthier.
I am:
-drinking water instead of soda or tea
-having fruit and cottage cheese or oatmeal and apples for breakfast, versus McD's bagel/egg/cheese or waffles.
-Progresso soup for lunch (the Weight Watchers kind, zero points)
Sweets are my weakness, and i still have the occasional (ok, daily) cookie, or ice cream, or snack cake, etc.
Any other suggestions from those of you who are trying to lose weight? How did you start out?
Oh, btw, exercising is very unlikely to happen, as my scehdule is jam-packed and i can't afford to get up earlier and lose anymore sleep. So i am counting on eating healthier to do the trick. ; )
COMMUNITY LEADER
Congratulations on your baby.
It sounds like you are on the right track with your idea of taking baby steps and making changes that you can stick with. You want this to be a life style change that you will be able to live with from now on.
You are also doing good to drink water rather than sodas (even diet sodas). As for tea -- well, tea does have some specific health benefits, so you wouldn't necessarily have to stop drinking that, so long as you drink it unsweetened or sweeten it with stevia or agave nectar or some kind of natural sweetener.
Fruit and cottage cheese or oatmeal, etc are good for breakfast -- yes, definitely leave out that McD's bagel/egg.............that's most likely an entire day's calories in just one meal. You should try to get a good amount of protein for breakfast as that will stick with you longer, so you get hungry quite so quickly. On the weekend, I usually hard boil several eggs, then in the morning before work, I can have an egg or two with a piece of fruit and maybe a small glass of milk -- that will keep me going for quite a few hours because both the eggs and milk are loaded with protein, plus they both have vitamin b12, which gives energy. An apple around mid morning satisfies whatever craving for sweets I might get, plus it's filling so keeps me going till lunch time; or sometimes, I'll have a small pack of peanuts -- more protein.
I try to make lunch my largest meal of the day, then maybe a salad, soup or something else light for dinner.
In order to lose weight you will have to create a "calorie deficit" -- first by calculating the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight. Then you should figure that losing 1-2 pounds/week is safe. One pound - 3500 calories, so you will have to either eat less or exercise off 500 calories/day (500 calories X 7 = 3500 calories or 1 pound)........In order to make sure that you lose fat and not muscle mass, it's important that you get exercise. Usually, it's easiest to eat 250 calories less/day and use up 250 more calories/day.
If you don't have time for "formal exercise" - such as a 30 minute workout, you can try parking further from your destination and walking; add in extra little moves while doing your housework; get in some stretching/bending, etc while waiting for dinner to cook - there are a lot of little ways you can add exercise. Since you have 4 children, why not try to get them to exercise with you and make it sort of a game or "play time" with mommy?
Now for the sweet tooth -- I, personally, can NOT totally deprive myself of things I like (my weakness is potato chips, but I also like chocolate and tootsie rolls) -- but I *CAN* limit the amount(s) I eat. When buying a single serving bag of chips, I try to eat only 1/2 of it and save the other 1/2 for the next day. It depends on YOU -- some people can just cut down on the amount they eat and some people have to cut it out completely. You are the only who knows what will work for you.
You said you have a "daily" cookie, ice cream or snack cake -- can you just eat 1/2 as much each day? Or maybe have the treat every other day to start with, then gradually extend the time to a treat every 3 days, then maybe once/week, etc. I am at the point where I have a serving of chips maybe once every couple weeks or so, sometimes longer -- I often end up throwing the bag away because they get stale. It's no longer so hard for me to walk by a bowl of candy and not take any.
I'd also like to suggest that you start the food diary here on med help. That's where you enter everything you eat during the day, so you can tell pretty much at a glance, just how many calories you are consuming daily. It will also keep track of the nutrient value of the foods you eat, so you can see if you are getting the right combination. Often once we start using the food diary, we realize that we are actually eating much more than we suspected; but sometimes it works the other way -- *I* found out that on many days, I had actually cut my calories TOO MUCH, so my body was going into "starvation mode" in order to hang onto the fat.
For me, it's pretty much balancing on a pretty thin line because I have thyroid disease, which slows my metabolism greatly. If you think there's any chance you might have medical issues preventing you from losing, you might want to talk to your doctor and get some simple blood tests done.
Hopefully, this will get you started and I hope to see you as a regular participant in our forum.
It sounds like you are on the right track with your idea of taking baby steps and making changes that you can stick with. You want this to be a life style change that you will be able to live with from now on.
You are also doing good to drink water rather than sodas (even diet sodas). As for tea -- well, tea does have some specific health benefits, so you wouldn't necessarily have to stop drinking that, so long as you drink it unsweetened or sweeten it with stevia or agave nectar or some kind of natural sweetener.
Fruit and cottage cheese or oatmeal, etc are good for breakfast -- yes, definitely leave out that McD's bagel/egg.............that's most likely an entire day's calories in just one meal. You should try to get a good amount of protein for breakfast as that will stick with you longer, so you get hungry quite so quickly. On the weekend, I usually hard boil several eggs, then in the morning before work, I can have an egg or two with a piece of fruit and maybe a small glass of milk -- that will keep me going for quite a few hours because both the eggs and milk are loaded with protein, plus they both have vitamin b12, which gives energy. An apple around mid morning satisfies whatever craving for sweets I might get, plus it's filling so keeps me going till lunch time; or sometimes, I'll have a small pack of peanuts -- more protein.
I try to make lunch my largest meal of the day, then maybe a salad, soup or something else light for dinner.
In order to lose weight you will have to create a "calorie deficit" -- first by calculating the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight. Then you should figure that losing 1-2 pounds/week is safe. One pound - 3500 calories, so you will have to either eat less or exercise off 500 calories/day (500 calories X 7 = 3500 calories or 1 pound)........In order to make sure that you lose fat and not muscle mass, it's important that you get exercise. Usually, it's easiest to eat 250 calories less/day and use up 250 more calories/day.
If you don't have time for "formal exercise" - such as a 30 minute workout, you can try parking further from your destination and walking; add in extra little moves while doing your housework; get in some stretching/bending, etc while waiting for dinner to cook - there are a lot of little ways you can add exercise. Since you have 4 children, why not try to get them to exercise with you and make it sort of a game or "play time" with mommy?
Now for the sweet tooth -- I, personally, can NOT totally deprive myself of things I like (my weakness is potato chips, but I also like chocolate and tootsie rolls) -- but I *CAN* limit the amount(s) I eat. When buying a single serving bag of chips, I try to eat only 1/2 of it and save the other 1/2 for the next day. It depends on YOU -- some people can just cut down on the amount they eat and some people have to cut it out completely. You are the only who knows what will work for you.
You said you have a "daily" cookie, ice cream or snack cake -- can you just eat 1/2 as much each day? Or maybe have the treat every other day to start with, then gradually extend the time to a treat every 3 days, then maybe once/week, etc. I am at the point where I have a serving of chips maybe once every couple weeks or so, sometimes longer -- I often end up throwing the bag away because they get stale. It's no longer so hard for me to walk by a bowl of candy and not take any.
I'd also like to suggest that you start the food diary here on med help. That's where you enter everything you eat during the day, so you can tell pretty much at a glance, just how many calories you are consuming daily. It will also keep track of the nutrient value of the foods you eat, so you can see if you are getting the right combination. Often once we start using the food diary, we realize that we are actually eating much more than we suspected; but sometimes it works the other way -- *I* found out that on many days, I had actually cut my calories TOO MUCH, so my body was going into "starvation mode" in order to hang onto the fat.
For me, it's pretty much balancing on a pretty thin line because I have thyroid disease, which slows my metabolism greatly. If you think there's any chance you might have medical issues preventing you from losing, you might want to talk to your doctor and get some simple blood tests done.
Hopefully, this will get you started and I hope to see you as a regular participant in our forum.
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