It's time... Advice?

[pipermae]

I've been talking about it for a while. I even tried to start coming to the W.I.S.H board more often a year or so ago. Then I stepped on the scale yesterday and my heart sank. I'm 22 years old, 5'10"ish and as of last night I weigh 192 lbs. I know I did this to myself, and I just want to fix it the healthiest way possible. I work between 30-70 hours a week depending on the schedule (I work at a theatre and there's always a performance or rehearsal or party scheduled so my hours fluctuate a lot) and I'm a full time business student (currently on summer break).

I recently got a new bike and I'm going to try to get back into doing that. I'm also considering getting a gym membership to the gym down the street. It's only $15 a month with no contracts so that would work for me.

Also with my crazy schedule I need to figure out some tasty meals I can make in advance for lunches. There are days that I'll be at work from 8 am - midnight so we typically run out to McDonald's or another fast food place for all meals. I plan on checking out the recipe board, but are there any websites or blogs you guys read or follow that could possibly help?

Am I on the right track? Is there any advice you can give me? I've pulled up a bunch of threads in different tabs and plan on reading through them. I'm sorry if you get this a lot, but I'm feeling really alone about this and I need somewhere to turn.

 

[mishoe01]

pipermae - first of all - you are DEFINATELY NOT ALONE!! I just came back to the WISH forums now that I've reached the 100lbs overweight mark. I know I need to do something now or I'm SOL

I don't know of any websites or blogs that you can look at (sorry) but hopefully someone else will be able to point you in the right direction there. Only thing that comes to my feeble mind is the book "Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Survival Guide". Is there a library near by that you could get this at? Check it out in case it might help?

Good luck!

 

[FireDancer]

The most important step is wanting to take one and following through, so you are off to the right start.

First, you are 22 and have plenty of time to turn your health around. I decided to get into shape when I turned 26 and it is the best decision I ever made. When you start out it seems like you have so far to go but that isn't the way to look at it. Instead of looking at it from this point forward put yourself a year down the road. Regardless of what you do now in one year 365 days will have passed. You can be 365 days into your new lifestyle or 365 more into your current one. No matter what that time will pass at the same speed but looking back I think you'll be glad you made the decision you did.

I think joining a gym is a great idea. A lot of people discount strength training when it comes to weight loss and concentrate only on cardio. Both are important but strength training has some advantages over cardio in weight loss. For every pound of fat you replace with a pound of muscle you body burns more calories just maintaining itself, not movement necessary. You also continue to burn calories for hours after you are done with strength training while with cardio you stop much more quickly.

As for the meals, it is hard with a difficult schedule but isn't impossible if you plan ahead. I will make a large salad, a dish of quinoa and black beans, or something else that fits that mold and have enough to eat for the entire week. I am a believer in multiple small meals spread throughout the day so bring you lunch (or dinner), a piece of fruit, some yogurt, a cliff or kashi bar or things like that so you can grab a good snack every couple of hours instead of running to the vending machine.

Something else very important that is often overlooked is what you drink. I drink either water or black coffee throughout the day now but I used to drink pop (or soda for you non-Ohioans) and coffee with cream and tons of sugar. The empty calories from that stuff adds up quickly and serves very little actual nutritional need.

You'll get a lot of good advice here and good luck. Remember it isn't a diet, it is a change in lifestyle and food is fuel, not a friend or something to make you feel all warm and cuddly on a cold night. Mindset is important if you are going to succeed.

 

[Daisybelle]

Congratulations on deciding to get healthy! Realizing that changes need to be made is a good first step. Your plan to start moving more and exercising is also important. It seems that when we are taking care of our bodies in that way, we want to fuel it with foods to help it perform better. And better to take care of this now at 22 then say..oh..42.

I think everyone is different in how they go about changing their lifestyle (not dieting! That implies a temporary change that leads to a vicious loop, in my own experience). I like writing down what I eat, recording calories so that I have a better picture of what works for me for feeling better and losing weight. I know it's not for everyone but it has been a significant part of my success this time around.

I also encourage setting fitness goals to work towards. I have signed up for a few 5ks in my area for the summer and a 12k in the fall. That is a big motivator to me to help me not only keep moving but to keep building up my strength and endurance. I have a LONG way to go to get me to where I need to be weight wise, but I am already reaping benefits from my changes. I have so much more energy and perk!

There are a lot of smart people that are on the WISH boards so I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice. There are some excellent blogs out there of women who are on weight loss journeys that are very motivating. I'd be happy to PM some links to you if you're interested.

Much success to you!

 

[Zoesmama03]

Stock up on healthy snacks at work and eat small meals often instead of running to McDonalds. Take the lunch break to walk instead or head down to that gym if you can eat 3-4 small snack meals in the day.

192 on a 5'10" frame is not too bad and in a workable range. I think that working long hours like that I'm sure your metabolism isn't sinking from lack of movement but maybe the long hours without food could lower it some.

Do it now while you are young. I lost weight much easier at that age and before having a child. Now even with a lot of work it can be tough. I'm only 30 and I feel young still but its just such a new battle and the same old things don't seem to work so easy.

 

[flipflopmom]

Congrats on your decision. I decided Jan.18 of this year that I was done, once and for all, with being over weight. Started the Couch to 5K program Feb. 8, and 2 weeks later joined in the Biggest Loser challenge here on WISH. With their advice, I also joined sparkpeople. I am proud to say I've lost 56 pounds this year, and I am only 14 pounds from my goal!!!

I highly recommend sparkpeople! There is a wealth of knowledge there. Once I set up my account, which is free, I log on daily, enter every bite of food I've had for the day. This is HUGE in my weight loss. It gave me a target amount of calories for the day, it calculates my totals for the day, and breaks it into carbs, fats, proteins, etc. I also track my exercise and weight there. It is very helpful.

I also recommend joining in some kind of group. The Biggest Loser Challenge on here has made the difference, as I daily am accountable, share the ups and downs, and get motivated. It is a little intimidating to jump in, but the more I post, share, and interact, the more successful I am!

Best of luck to you!

 

[TxRabbit]

Taking care of your food will be very important. Especially with such long hours. You eat each day, so the best thing you can do is get into a routine with your food. This will be the backbone of support for all your other healthy, losing weight strategies.

Make breakfast routine. If you can pick one meal a day to make the same each work day, it's breakfast. Other meals can get boring if you eat the same thing each day, but breakfast seems to be the exception. This can differ, depending on if you have time to eat at home or not. Sometimes it can be easier to break this up into two smaller meals.

You might try having a smoothie before leaving for work. I would research recipes to get the % that you want. Great things about smoothies is that they will generally use frozen fruit, which you can stock up on and not worry about spoiling. I would seriously add some GOOD fat to your smoothie. It will help it be more filling. I'm thinking a tablespoon of Flax Seed Oil or Olive Oil (I know. It sounds weird, but it makes it creamy and the fat will make it satisfying and will help you get your Omega-3s in, which are very helpful for fat loss).

For a second breakfast, like a midmorning snack, you might have hard boiled eggs and some fruit.

Pack Food
My husband packed a lot of food to take with him for his work day when he was commuting 120+ miles a day. We got him a very simple styled soft-sided 12 can cooler. I took the cooler with me shopping to get containers that fit in the cooler in the best way. I found that the rectangular Pyrex dishes worked really well for a hot lunch (heating and eating from the mircowave). You can find a variety of other plastic containers for cold foods and salads. We also used those microwavable bags for hot veggie sides.

If you can find a way to create a sort of standard for your lunch food, then packing lunch will be much easier. Here's what I did for my DH.

The morning snack:
hardboiled eggs and fruit (used two smaller square plastic containers). Usually this fruit would be a cut up kind of fruit, like berries, pineapple, melon, etc.

Lunch:
Main dish (usually the Pyrex): leftovers from dinner OR something that I had premade to be used exclusively for lunch. Examples: rice and crockpot chicken; rice and black bean chili; rice and grilled chicken; rice and chicken stirfry (you get the idea).

Side dish: depending on the meal, there could be a bag of microwave veggies. This would go well with grilled chicken or crockpot chicken. Makes a kind of rice bowl with the veggies. OR could be a green salad. OR could be another type of salad (black bean, black eyed pea, grain based, etc etc). I had a large rectangular container for green salads, and I found a packable liquid container to use for packing dressing.

Afternoon snacks:

Veggie container: ALWAYS took cut up veggies for snacking. Make your own mix, but I found that celery would save cut up well in the fridge. I could cut the whole bunch when I first bought it and that made packing lunches easier. DH would usually take celery, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, grape tomatoes. Sometimes, he would odd things that were cheap, like zuchini.

Nuts container: MEASURE these, but these are a great snack. The fat keeps you going, is healthy fat and is satisfying.

Fruit: One of the easiest things in the world to pack. Pick something that makes you chew a lot like an apple.

I've tried to indicate this, but one of the best things you can do for making packing your food to go easier on yourself is to make yourself a lunch kit. Don't use the containers for anything but lunch. Packing leftovers makes lunch easier. Packing it the nightbefore makes mornings easier.

Preplan Dinners

If you follow this strategy, then planning your dinners becomes ultra important because they really become the basis for your lunch. And let me tell you, it is a whole lot easier to pack leftovers for lunch than to spend the time to make something like a sandwich.

If you work long hours, then a crockpot could be your best friend. Also, learn to cook A LOT when you do cook. Like a PP said, make a salad that will save for the week (I love bean based salads for this) and use that for lunches.

Buy family packs of chicken and cook it all. Then you have cooked chicken to use. With the cooked chicken, for a week's worth of lunches you could,

1: Have the rice and chicken and a bag of veggies for lunch.
2: Pack tortillas and other fajita/taco toppings in one side dish container. Pack the chicken in the main dish (heating up container) and make tacos for lunch. If you can, have a bean salad side dish and have that in one of the half sized (smaller rectangular containers).
3 & 4: Make a chicken salad. Use the chicken salad for a green salad topper one day. Use it for a sandwich another day. Also have that side salad with each.
5: Pack a bun and other fast food like grilled sandwich toppings to make your own grilled chicken sandwich. Have that side salad here too.

I know this is a long post. I hope it helps though. The whole lunch thing was really a struggle to figure out. This is how I dealt with it. I hope it helps you to hear how I did it, even for inspiration to adapt to your own needs.

You're not alone.