BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Weight Loss Who wants to lose weight?

All I have is a motivational goal day to shed some pounds. My sisters wedding in August this year. So I have been walking to work biking often and doing the elliptical machine, I also have been cutting down portions and watching what I eat. So does anybody have a faster method for the lifestyle change to work on weight-loss?

Doing aerobic exercise is a great way to increase metabolism and burn more calories. I have several weight loss pages on my website about increasing metabolism the natural way, how to eat a healthy diet to lose weight permanently.

Hope that helps.

Joan

Doing cardio 3x per week for 30 mins each and eating a balanced diet will get you to your goal for sure. You really only want to lose a max of 2 lbs per week. If you find that you are overeating or are too hungry, especially after working out, check the link in my signature.

Also, weigh yourself in the morning when you wake up. Put that number on a post-it. Place these where you will see them several times per day. Just a small tip that might help you to keep it in your mind throughout your day.

How much weight are you planning to lose?

I want to lose weight. I want to have more energy. I want to feel good, feel comfortable and look good. I want to feel healthier all around.

My problem has been, as I said before, exercising alone. I don't like to go out alone, so if I don't have a buddy to come along, I wont do it. I want that to change, because I DONT have a buddy to come along, so I HAVE to do it alone. I can't get myself out of my house alone! WHY NOT?! I dont get it.

My other problem is that I eat poorly. I love fruits and veggies, but I have a REAL hard time not eating greasy food, and sweets. Everytime we go grocery shopping, I purposely buy lots of fruits and veggies, and I'll eat them the next day, but after that I seem to forget they are there and they go bad and then I eat the bad food. If I like fruits and veggies etc, why is it so hard to eat them? I just crave the bad food so often that I go for it instead of good refreshing food. Here's a question, can you be addicted to food without knowing it?

Every week I make the same plan to exercise and eat healthy, but it never happens. And now Im extremely frustrated with myself. But, I want to keep trying... I recently quit smoking which I thought was impossible too. 17 days today! yay me! So Im hoping that accomplishment will inspire me to make some more healthy changes.

I would be happy to lose 20-25 lbs in total.

Maybe you should make a pact with yourself to eat those healthy fruits and veggies for 2 weeks and don't eat the greasy, fatty foods. Just promise yourself you will try it for that amount of time so as not to "scare" yourself by thinking you'll never eat it again.

I gave up fried foods years ago and believe me, if I try to eat any now, my entire system protests! It actually makes me sick to eat or even think about it.

The reason you crave bad food is that it is addictive. Once you get all that toxic garbage out of your system, you'll quit craving it. It's just like quitting smoking. Once the toxins are out of your body, you won't physically crave a cigarette anymore. The mental addiction is harder to break. I quit smoking 20 years ago but sometimes still get the mental craving. Then I remember the bad lungs and the awful smell of cigarettes clinging to me and the craving goes away!

Take lots of vitamins too. That helps your body get back to normal and helps reduce cravings of all kinds.

Thanks joanj I think that could work... to make small goals like eating healthy one week at a time!

Small changes are always better! If you try to redo your entire way of living overnight, you will lose heart for it quickly and probably end up failing.

I think the important thing is to make small changes and then congratulate yourself for every success you have. Everybody likes a piece of fudge or a bowl of ice cream once in a while so don't beat yourself up if you cave in and enjoy yourself once in a while. The idea is to make progress over time. It's a path, not a destination that you'll arrive at where life is perfect.

As you start to feel better and have more energy, you'll want to make even more changes!

Small changes are definitely the way to go- otherwise you'll get completely overwhelmed and want to give up. I think the 3 most important things are:
1. Don't buy the bad food. Personally, I don't have the self control to choose the veggies over the desserts, frozen pizzas, etc- so I'm better off eating before I go shopping so I'm not hungry, and not buying any of it.
2. Write down everything. It's amazing what I've realized by writing down the food and calories I've been ingesting- things like drinking one vitamin water, which I assumed was ok, and then realizing how much I could eat for all those calories I just drank in sugar! I'd suggest it to anyone- buy a notebook and start writing- it's a real eye opener.
3. Work out in the morning- before doing anything- start small, like a 20 minute walk, and go from there. (This I'm working on, but when I get into the habit, it makes SUCH a difference!)

WOW! Before I even read your post today about writing everything down and working out in the morning, I actually went out today while I was on my lunch at work and bought a new organizer book so I can start keeping track of my food and water intake! And I also was thinking about working out again 3 times a week in the morning before work. Hubby and I tried that for a few months a couple years ago, and it was great We just fell out of the habit..

You definitely have to get into the habit of exercising. I take my 3 dogs for a walk every morning. First I take one and then the other two together so it takes me nearly an hour. They won't let me skip it tho! It's a good motivator for me.

Also, I have a little CD player I take along. I record audio books to listen to and many of my favorites are by Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra. There are lots of good weight loss books out tho you could get on audio. It really helps pass the time faster and I don't have time to read all the books I'd like in print version.