Wanting to become something different.

[Secretsof2113]

I guess stepping on the scale really made it kick in for me tonight. Seeing the 290 staring back at me. I always told myself if I got that close to 300 pounds, I needed a drastic change. And the time has come. I can't let the crap habits that I've gotten into cause me any more issues. I'm a college graduate and work full time, but my work hours vary a whole lot. I'm always on my feet and walking around. I actually keep a pedometer on me every day just to see how many steps I take on an average day at work. The small store I work in tends to bring in around 3000 steps a day.

I know where many of my problems lie. I live in a small house with my packrat mother, meaning there is no room in the kitchen to cook anything unless it's quick, so we opt to eat out much of the time. When my boyfriend is over, it's the same thing with the two of us. With my mom, it's usually fast food, and with the boy, it's usually a nicer sit down place. I try and control a lot of what I eat at these places, but a lot of it for me is portion. And also eating out of boredom. I notice I do that a lot as well, and I know I shouldn't be.

I've been trained to scarf down food in a short period of time. 20 minute high school lunches, 30 minute breaks between college classes, that sort of thing. So naturally, that habit has not ended for me.

I have come here to start tracking my daily activities. If I can take 10 minutes each day to record what I did and did not do correctly, I'll be able to keep tabs on my habits, and hopefully break the bad ones and keep up the good ones.

My goal is to get to a solid 200. I'm big boned, so I know I can't get much lighter than that. I'm also not going to set a time goal because I don't want to try and rush things. I'd like to say a year realistically, but it may be a little shorter, or longer than that. I certainly know my health will improve vastly if I start this.

So here's to keeping track of my journey to a new me.

 

[AlexPlatups]

Secretsof2113, Welcome, you have made the right decision to start this
diary, and to track your progress on a regular basis. The best strategy
for you might be to write for at least a month exactly what you eat and
drink during the day, and when you see it on paper to make small adjustments.

Start slowly by taking small, simple steps, and then as your momentum builds
you can move to the next level.

There are a few simple steps that you can take in the beginning:

1) walk in the morning or in the evening, as your cardio exercise, you can
start with 10 minutes per session, every day of the week, and then slowly
build your way up

2) take all the food that you are eating on a daily basis, and create four
average sized meals that you eat every 4 hours, and make sure that you
eat breakfast as soon as you possible can after waking up, and never
skip it

3) drink more water, the amount can be increased slowly, starting with
3-4 glasses per day, and then as you get used, then you can drink more

4) take some time and study the basics and fundamentals of proper nutrition
and exercise, this will be important so that you can create an effective
plan or strategy that you will use to reach your major health goal

5) read some of the diaries in this forum and observe what is working for
people and what isn't working, this will also help you to become aware
of what you can implement in your weight loss program

...well that would be a good start, and good luck to you, look forward to
seeing your progress and wish you the best, Later!