starting and frustrated

A

afct0405

New member
I am new to this site and I am really motivated reading everyone's stories of success and journey. I am 24 and weigh 217 pounds. I weighed around 235 at the beginning of the last year and got really into working out and lost about 20 by the spring. Over the summer I didn't work out because I was doing summer camp and simply didn't have the energy after working with 5 & 6 year olds all day. I have looked into doing the Couch to 5K program and I am currently about to finish week 1, it's hard but I am able to complete it. My struggles come with the whole eating aspect... It is so hard and so frustrating to me. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to cutting back and finding foods that are filling and still ok to eat. It is so empowering to see all of you that have lost so much weight and totally changed your lifestyles...



Essentially I want to know... How do you all do it?
 
Find a food that's good for you that you like :p


or


Eat less of the bad stuff and accomplish that by eating the good stuff.



That's what it comes down to, really.


If you feel you have to eat something bad for you (I love cookies), eat a lot of good stuff (Mm broccoli) so you can't eat as many "cookies" lol.


Um, I fell in love with Salad when I started to lose weight originally. I literally liked salad more than any other food at one point in time, lol, which it used to make me want to gag before that... Water had that effect on me when I was like 16, but luckily I had already been drinking purely water when i started losing weight like 8 years later (I love water now and can't stand pop/soda anymore).


I don't know how tall you are, but you weigh only slightly more than I weigh. If you're around 6'1, you have extra weight but not that much. If you're shorter, obviously you have further to go, but it might be easier for you to lose weight through exercise and basic cutting back.



Anyways, I'd suggest you get to liking chicken and a green (MM BROCCOLI). Eventually you won't want the bad stuff anymore.


You could tell us what you like to eat and what your day is like in terms of general activity (there is no need to lie -- do you try and find the closet parking spot? Do you take the elevator? Do you try to make as few trips as possible?). There are little things you can do to get some 'free' exercise that will help you have to worry even less about what you're eating ;)
 
Thanks for the advice! I am 5'7 and my weight is fairly distributed which doesn't make me look too, too heavy... but I tired of always feeling sluggish. I downloaded the app Fitness Pal Plus which has been helping me the last few days... Once I see how many calories some things are I get sick thinking about putting it in my body! It is a real eye opener, that's for sure!
 
Just don't forget you need calories to function still : )


But yeah, it's scary when you realize how easy it is to have too many calories. Although for a while I found it too hard to get enough (which is nearly as bad...).
 
I've achieved my weight loss purely though strict calorie control, I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain an active lifestyle and lose much from exercise, so I just calculate my daily calorie needs based on my vitals (height, weight etc) and then shoot for lower than that.


I skip breakfast because I don't like eating in the morning nor am I even hungry so that saves me some, eat a light lunch of salad and fruit which is often only about 300 cals which keeps me going for the day, that leaves me about 1000-1200 or so cals for dinner where I can have something good to eat. Doing this allows me to have a good meal every day which isn't completely crap, so I can have steak/chips or a rack of ribs or a whole pizza or fish and chips or something like that.


Honestly I don't eat "healthy" and I don't think you need to to lose weight, most of the calorie deficit is from reduction of amount eaten per day, that's tough to deal with initially because hunger is a massive pain but that fades away after about a month or so, I am almost never hungry now on 1400-1500 calories per day. The rest comes from being smart with your calories, find foods that are low in calories, you'll find there are some really easy changes you can make to cut cals without having to eat bland/boring food, I changed to thin based pizzas they are way less cals, Pepsi Max is a life saver that's literally 7 calories for a 2L bottle, I've found great food at my local supermarket that just happens to be low calorie, some of it is diet food, some of it just happens to be low cal, bacon is like 60 cals for 1 grilled piece, you can find quite low calorie bread rolls at about 150 cals each, so you can have a bacon roll for about 270 cals!


Honestly purely for weight loss calories are all that matter, it doesn't really matter when/where/how you get them do whatever works best for you, just keep the incoming less than outgoing, if you can eat healthy and exercise on top of that even better they will get you healthier and keep you in shape but purely for weight loss it's just a simple case of calories in vs calories out.
 
Originally Posted by kiramon


Find a food that's good for you that you like :p



or



Eat less of the bad stuff and accomplish that by eating the good stuff.





That's what it comes down to, really.



If you feel you have to eat something bad for you (I love cookies), eat a lot of good stuff (Mm broccoli) so you can't eat as many "cookies" lol.



Um, I fell in love with Salad when I started to lose weight originally. I literally liked salad more than any other food at one point in time
Click to expand...

Kiramon, Your post made me
smile.gif



I think that you put it really plain and simple, and I totally agree with filling yourself up on "good stuff" (mmm broccoli) I love broccoli also and salad, I have salad near enough everyday haha.


I like the idea of fill up on healthy food and leave only a small place for cookies, great way to put it and overall great post.


-Minimee
 
Originally Posted by afct0405


I am new to this site and I am really motivated reading everyone's stories of success and journey. I am 24 and weigh 217 pounds. I weighed around 235 at the beginning of the last year and got really into working out and lost about 20 by the spring. Over the summer I didn't work out because I was doing summer camp and simply didn't have the energy after working with 5 & 6 year olds all day. I have looked into doing the Couch to 5K program and I am currently about to finish week 1, it's hard but I am able to complete it. My struggles come with the whole eating aspect... It is so hard and so frustrating to me. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to cutting back and finding foods that are filling and still ok to eat. It is so empowering to see all of you that have lost so much weight and totally changed your lifestyles...





Essentially I want to know... How do you all do it?
Click to expand...


Good luck with your weight loss and healthy lifestyle change.


Kiramon is right, look at the foods you like and we can help you find a healthy alternative, or you can check online for substitute foods, there are a lot of them, but if you don't mind giving us an idea of what it is that you like to eat, we can try and help you :biggrin:


(I am still smiling at Kiramon's post... little things amuse me sometimes haha)


-Minimee
 
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