Hopefully my last time starting ...

[littlebear]

Hey Everyone!

My name is Lauren and I'm from a small town in Canada. I have been "trying" to lose weight since I was 17 years old and instead I've just been putting it on and putting it on. I have a hard time using the word trying because I don't think I have ever been that dedicated. Sure I hate being overweight, I cried myself to sleep more times than I can shake a stick at and I've been ubber depressed for a long time but I was always looking for a quick fix and not putting much effort into it. Until last February when 3 people in 1 week asked me, "how far along are you?" and I wasn't pregnant. I reached a breaking point and snapped. I did lose about 40 lbs in 1 1/2 months because stopped eating, making myself sick when I did eat and exercising way too much. I was so depressed all the time, lying to my husband and family and just felt like a fraud to everyone around me who was commenting on my weightloss. Then, by the grace of God I got pregnant and was forced to stop my vicious cycle. Now that my body has completely recovered from giving birth my DR gave me the go ahead to start exercising and losing weight!

This time, I want to do it right. I want to take the PROPER amount of time to lose the weight and not stop eating. So, I googled 'weightloss forums' and up popped this place! I really hope to find inspiration, support and a safe place to come by joining this group and in turn I hope I can help some of you as well.

I'm 5'2 and 187lbs and my goal is to be healthy and around 125lbs in roughly 30 weeks. I plan to do this by eating 1,500 calories a day (I hate counting calories though so basically it's not eating any processed foods, no sugar/pop/snackie type things, eating only whole grains and LOTS of leafy greens, veggies and fruits) and exercising 5x a week with cardio and pilates. My ULITMATE goal and seriously my DREAM is to be able to run. I want to run


Thanks for reading

 

[Doomedtotheday]

Hey Everyone!

My name is Lauren and I'm from a small town in Canada. I have been "trying" to lose weight since I was 17 years old and instead I've just been putting it on and putting it on. I have a hard time using the word trying because I don't think I have ever been that dedicated. Sure I hate being overweight, I cried myself to sleep more times than I can shake a stick at and I've been ubber depressed for a long time but I was always looking for a quick fix and not putting much effort into it. Until last February when 3 people in 1 week asked me, "how far along are you?" and I wasn't pregnant. I reached a breaking point and snapped. I did lose about 40 lbs in 1 1/2 months because stopped eating, making myself sick when I did eat and exercising way too much. I was so depressed all the time, lying to my husband and family and just felt like a fraud to everyone around me who was commenting on my weightloss. Then, by the grace of God I got pregnant and was forced to stop my vicious cycle. Now that my body has completely recovered from giving birth my DR gave me the go ahead to start exercising and losing weight!

This time, I want to do it right. I want to take the PROPER amount of time to lose the weight and not stop eating. So, I googled 'weightloss forums' and up popped this place! I really hope to find inspiration, support and a safe place to come by joining this group and in turn I hope I can help some of you as well.

I'm 5'2 and 187lbs and my goal is to be healthy and around 125lbs in roughly 30 weeks. I plan to do this by eating 1,500 calories a day (I hate counting calories though so basically it's not eating any processed foods, no sugar/pop/snackie type things, eating only whole grains and LOTS of leafy greens, veggies and fruits) and exercising 5x a week with cardio and pilates. My ULITMATE goal and seriously my DREAM is to be able to run. I want to run


Thanks for reading

Hello. Well you've come to the right place for support here. I've looked through a lot of threads/posts and atleast 99% of them have been positive. It's good that you're starting this journey and resolved to do it the right way. Starving yourself slows your metabolism and makes it much easier to gain the weight back. People who want to lose weight obviously want to lose it for good. Going down healthily and gradually is the way to go. 62 pounds in 30 weeks is a very doable goal with a little hard work. Are you going to schedule your meals? Allow for snacks? Spread your meals out over the course of the day? I decided to lose weight in high school. I had this image of a skinnier me running through my block and beyond, lol. Managed to lose 70 some pounds and I fulfilled the dream. It's worth the effort. Good luck .

 

[core_elements]

Hi Lauren,

You sound very committed and very determined to reach your goals. I always tell my clients that attitude is 50% of results! This is all a journey and sometimes the journey is the most important lesson for us. I'm glad you've made it through your difficult journey to arrive on a new path.

I personally feel that 1500 calories is too low for you. But how much you eat really depends on the place you're coming from. Ideally you should be eating closer to 1800 calories on the days that you are exercising, and a little less on the days that you are not exercising.

Your body is smart and while you expend energy it's trying to figure out how to conserve it. The body starts to learn ways of cutting back on energy expenditure and this is where people stall or plateau. The biggest problem comes with those who ate too little too soon .. because you can't dip much lower than 1500 calories and continue to work out without doing some damage to both your metabolism and lean mass. So with that all said, you are better to start at a higher number and then work down from there.

Without worrying about calories too much right now, I'd suggest you focus on small goals and as those become consistent and easy for you, start to compound those into bigger goals.

The main elements of good nutrition are:

1. Eat 5-6 small meals per day, spaced out every 3 hours.

2. Consume protein, carbohydrates and good healthy fats at each and every meal (ie - having an apple is not sufficient, having an apple with a handful of almonds - good stuff).

3. Eat close to the source - scrap the cereal for old fashioned oatmeal, eat fruit instead of fruit juice, have trail mix instead of granola bars. Eliminate or limit your consumption of frozen fruits and veggies - buy in season and fresh.

4. Drink 2 liters of water daily.

5. Protein - most people don't consume nearly enough. Staples in your nutrition plan should be chicken, turkey, fish, cottage cheese and eggs/egg whites.

Most important is having measurable goals in place. And then making an action plan that you will commit to each and every day - much like what I wrote out above. Do it for exercise as well. And make yourself accountable. Get started on a diary/journal and be committed to write in it everyday - it only takes 5-10 minutes.

Exercise is just as important as a good nutrition plan. Do you have a gym membership? You should be doing resistance training 3 times per week and cardio 2- 3 times per week.