THISTIMES4REAL1

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2012 WILL be my year!

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Well, 2011 was not my best year. My Dad was diagnosed with Cancer in July, I struggled in Nursing school because of all the stress and managed to gain about 30 pounds in the last few months, also because of stress. I always fall to food when my life gets out of control as a comfort measure. Even when I was in shape, I did this. A goal of mine is to work on this in the year to come.

In the last few months, I have turned to everything to lose weight. I have tried diet pills, the gym even though I only stuck with it a few weeks, low carb diet, 17 day diet and most recently Body by Vi. I am looking for advice from all my spark friends. When you were first starting out, what worked for you? How many times did you work out a week and how was your eating? This will be my year, I just need some motivation. emoticon
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  • PATTYMCGRAW
    I do also hope that your father is better and that your stress level is down. Stress always messes up my metabolism. I believe if you find some stress busters and workout four times a week that you will see some results. Here's to a great year for you.
    3352 days ago
  • no profile photo CD10301227
    Hope your stress level is lower this year! I have had trouble with motivation this time around, but what helped me in the past was:

    1. Keeping my eye on my goals, short, mid, and long term goals. Whenever I thought I wanted that third (or fourth) piece of pizza, I reminded myself of my goals.

    2. Starting out my exercise program moderately, then increasing. The first time I did the Sparkpeople program, I saw all of those people racking up 2 and 3 hours of fitness minutes everyday and thought I needed to do that too. But by starting out small (15 minutes a day), I gradually built up and didn't get burnt out.

    3. FInally, realizing that each day is a new day. In the past when I made poor choices on a Monday, I would wait until the following Sunday to get back on track, thinking it was better just to start over with a new week. Now I realize that making poor choices one day does not affect the next day, so I could get right back on track on the next day (or even next meal in some cases).

    Good luck to you!
    3352 days ago
  • WINNIE1978
    When I first started out I was doing 60 minutes of cardio at the gym three days a week. It seemed to take a while before I really noticed I was losing anything. The scale was moving downward but I didn't LOOK any different to myself for a while.

    During that time I was measuring/weighing everything I ate so that I could accurately track it and I was eating 5-6 meals a day... breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. I completely quit eating out... it's all loaded with sodium and fat! I planned my meals for the entire week and cooked everything on Sundays. That way there was always a healthy, prepared meal waiting for me and I had NO excuse to call for delivery.

    After a few weeks of the 60 minutes of cardio, I dropped the cardio sessions down to 30 minutes 3 days a week and added 30 minutes of strength training on the same day. I kept a very regular gym schedule! Even when I didn't want to go I went. I told myself that I had to do at least 10 minutes and then I could leave... but I never left without doing the full session once I got started. Once I incorporated the strength training I really started to notice a difference in how I looked and how my clothes fit.

    50 pounds later and I'm still doing all of those things... I still plan all of my meals, still limit meals at restaurants, still go to the gym (or get some type of activity) 3 days a week, still measure/weigh all of my food. If you stick with it, it'll work!

    Good luck!
    3352 days ago
  • MNJONES2
    First of all let me say I am hoping your Dad is feeling better now. I know cancer can be so incredibly scary. I can also relate on the stress contributing to weight gain.

    What worked for me was 1. Nutrition tacker every day - once I saw what I was eating I couldnt believe what a glutton I was. 2. I joined a gym and started water aerobics twice a week.... from there I added a group active class twice a week..... then I added a yoga class twice a week. But I added slowly.

    Also I purged the cupboards in my house - I got rid of the cookie jar, the snacks, the goodies. ALL of it went out the door!! I now cut up veggies have them in snack bags so I can grab and go..... I eat much less processed food than I did before.

    I dont take any diet pills or anything like that. I make a menu plan for about 3-4 days at a time and that helps with shopping, using up my food with less waste.

    I hope you can find a useful idea in this long winded response. I am rooting for you and your dad!! Best wishes on your journey to good health!!
    3352 days ago

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    Disclaimer: Weight loss results will vary from person to person. No individual result should be seen as a typical result of following the SparkPeople program.
 

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