I'm having trouble..

Hi,

Are you finding time for exercise in your plan? If you can make a routine to stick to it may become habit. I don't think you need to jump in full force, maybe starting out slow and working your way up.

when the weather gets warmer i plan to go for walks and jog
as for now i try to work out at home
its just tough to stick to and then i end up nowhere

Do you have a friend who would be willing to stick to a Sat. morning walk and then coffee?

yes

Try to surround yourself with people who support your weight loss goals and are not trying to sabotage them. I'm not saying that you need to have people nag you, but if they understand what you're trying to do, they'll suggest going some place other than the fast food joint for lunch, or they'll be up for going for walking or will praise you when you do well and help you when you're feeling low.

Have good foods on hand that can be grabbed quickly. Nonfat yogurt, apples, premade salad in a sack, cut up celery sticks, etc. That way you'll grab those instead of chips.

Buy good foods, or go with the person who does the shopping and make healthier selections with them. Skinless chicken breast, brown rice, dried beans, fresh vegetables, tofu, skim milk, plus the stuff I mentioned before, are all good choices. Grab some fresh herbs, too, in order to jazz up salads and meats with a lot of flavor and zero fat.

Avoid too much prepackaged stuff. It often has a lot of sodium and the portion sizes tend to be smaller. Some things have to be packaged, such as margarine, so make better choices. Take a pad and paper with you to the grocery store and record what are the best choices. If they aren't perishable, or can be frozen, stock up when there are sales or you have coupons. You can also check the nutritional content of a lot of foods online. Here's a website I rely on a lot for that kind of info: http://www.calorie-count.com/

Once you know what's good (and is available at your local grocery), make a shopping list -- just type it neatly on your PC -- and make several copies of it. This is now your shopping list. All you need to do every week is cross out anything you don't want, so make sure your baseline shopping list is huge. You won't buy chicken and turkey the same week (well, not usually), but both should be listed and then you alternate or however you want to do it in connection to your budget and tastes.

Don't go more than four hours without eating. Keep your tank between 1/4 and 3/4 full. And if you're going to a party or somewhere else where the choices are not necessarily going to be so great, eat something good and filling beforehand, and you won't be so tempted. Tell yourself you'll have a taste -- that's fine -- but not the whole plate.

If you're going out to eat, even better. Here's a website with information on restaurants and the nutritional content of their foods: http://www.dietfacts.com/ For restaurants not listed there, go to the restaurant's own website and look at their menu. Good choices, like grilled chicken, thin crust pizza with vegetables, vegetable soup (not cream-based), salads, etc. should be easy to spot. The restaurant may or may not list nutritional information, or you may need to estimate, using the two websites I've listed. And when you get there, ask the manager if nutritional information is available. They may have a pamphlet they can give you. Or they may say, "Hey, that's a great idea." And if enough people approach the manager with that same great idea, eventually they will make that information available, whether on paper or online.

And finally, hang in there. The weight didn't come on in one day and it's not going to leave in one day, either. You can do it!

Hello willing2try.
I read your post, and a few things popped into my mind.
Your overweight, but, not nearly as bad as you might think. Take one day at a time, one meal at a time. An accomplishment is eating just three slices of pizza instead of four or five. Make small strides, and you'll feel good about yourself. Going to bed a bit hungry and agitated, is worth waking up to the person inside who is taking control of their life. If you drink soda pop, I know people who claim they lost four or five pounds, right off the bat, by cutting that out of their diet. Good luck.

thanks these are really good tips to start off on.

Willing--

Welcome to A2K.

Learn to police yourself.

Suppose it is Prime Viewing Time and your favorite show is coming on.

Old Approach: You head out to the kitchen and grab a bag of potato chips.

New Approach: You stand up, touch your toes ten times and head out to the kitchen.

Perhaps you can settle for some veggie nibbles instead of the chips?

No?

Okay, all is not lost.

Open the bag of chips and count out ten in a dish. Put the bag of chips away--the higher the shelf, the better.

Go back to the television set and put the dish of chips on the other side of the room.

When you want a chip, cross the room, take one, carry it back to your chair and eat it slowly, slowly, slowly. Taste every delicious bit of salt and fat.

Put yourself in charge of your eating.

interesting suggestion
im not very fond of chips.
its usually chocolate for me

The reason why I asked if you had a firend that you could meet on weekends is because this is working for me. We have been meeting almost every weekend for a year. Somedays we have a light breakfast after and sometimes just a coffee.

We started out slow and walked 3 miles. Then we started picking up the pace. Then we would throw in a short jog until we worked out way up to a 3 mile jog. We are always there for each other for support. We motivate each other.

This has been working for me. I think exercise combined with healthy eating habits will keep the weight lower.

Willing--

You can practice the same self-restraint with chocolate.

Control your portion.

Control the speed at which you eat your portion.

Taste every bite--don't gobble mindlessly.

...and don't forget to touch your toes, first.

Like anything the key to change is moderation. Don't consider this a "diet". Diets are temporary so therefore their effects are temporary. Consider this a permanent lifestyle change.

Do little things at a time. Noddy is right, control your portions. A good tip is NEVER GO BACK FOR SECONDS. We often eat so fast our bodies can't tell we're full until we're already scarfing down our second plate.

Allow yourself to eat the wrong things but with small portions and on a limited basis. If you enjoy soda...only drink one can a day. That way you will retrain yourself to "save" it until you really want it. Going cold turkey works with comfort food just about as well as with smokers...only but a select few actually stay off it.

A really good trick is to eat a diet high in fiber and protein. Both tend to fill you up faster and take longer to digest so you are less likely to be hungry again soon. Fiber is great for the digestive system (keeps you regular , and protein is good for rebuilding muscle after working out. Just be careful you're eating protein lower in fat. (Skinless chicken/turkey is practically the perfect protein food)

Just be careful about "dieting" often they can do more harm than good.

What's worked for me is to find something that I really want to buy or have been saving for and make my purchase contingent on my goal of choice.

For example, I really want to buy a mid-80's Porsche 911. I've had the money in savings for about 11 months, but I will not buy the car until I go 3 years w/o drinking alcohol. It's been almost a year now w/o 1 drink. Everytime I think about having a beer I think about giving up my Porsche and it's just not worth it.

You could do the same thing with food. Hold off on buying that new computer until you drop 30lbs (or whatever weight you like). Stay away from that new ipod until you drop 10lbs, etc.