Well I'm tired of putting this crap off. Every day it's a new excuse with me, "I don't want to work out in front of Andrew", "A half an hour a day won't do anything", and so on... But I'm sick of it. I refuse to post my weight here, but I will say that after 30 pounds, I will be in the middle of a health BMI. 40 pounds would seriously be ideal. But I'm going to set my goals in 5 pound increments.

Any one want to join me in this. We can motivate each other, have a specific blog, website, or even here to talk about what we've been eating and how much we've been working out. We can share motivational photographs and articles. Allow ourselves treats after each ten pounds. Ya' know. Just share information. It'd be a lot easier if I had a buddy XD. Though if no one wants to thats cool too.

Alright. Time to get this thing goin'!

I need to lose weight too, but I'm sure it's for a completely different reason than you. I hope you're doing this to get healthy and not to look like all the anorexic bippitards out there.... Just remember, guys don't like to fuck a bag of bones. ;P

Anywho, good luck! If you need any emotional support, you know where to find me.

Oh, and if you have a google account...which I'm assuming you do because you have a blog, lol...on iGoogle, they have a calorie counter. It's pretty cool.

Suggestions:

1. Stop drinking soda and fru-fru coffee.
2. Stop eating stuff with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. Don't pay attention to commercials that say it's the same as sugar, because it's not. It may have the same caloric value as sugar, but the body doesn't recognise it, and therefore it goes straight to fat.
3. Use Splenda instead of sugar.
4. When you back a cake, substitute the water and oil for diet soda. It sounds weird, but it works! lol I made a cake once with diet cherry coke, and it was freakin delicious!
5. When you have a salad, don't get iceberg lettuce. The darker the green the more healthy it is.
6. Drink at least 2 litres of water a day. At first, you will have to pee constantly, but after a week or two, your body will start to absorb and retain it, which is good.
7. Take vitamins. I take prenatal vitamins everyday. I'm not pregnant, but they are good for your hair, nails, and skin. Just don't get the ones with DHA or whatever in it because that's only useful if you have a baby growing in you. I get the generic walmart brand ones, and they work perfectly fine.
8. Figure out what your BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate) is. Your BMR is how many calories your body needs to have to maintain your current weight. So, if you take in 500 calories less than that a day, than you should lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. You can do that by eating less calories and/or burning more.
9. Eat Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt. It has twice the protein and calcium, and half the sugar of regular yogurt.

Those are the only ones I can think of at the moment. I'll post more as I think of them. Hope these help!

I should be doing this myself...I even moved into a building with a gym...and I have yet to even use it lol.
Though with the limited income in my household atm...which is living off savings again until my husband finds another job, we kinda have to survive off less than healthy food options...it's sad that the crap foods are the cheaper options.

You have kinda......reminded me, that the more I make excuses the fatter I'm going to get really, so starting tomorrow I'm going to do that 30 mins a day workout I'm MEANT to be doing hehe, crappy food or not.

My goal was always to reach my ideal weight before I turn 29 and stay that way (I have 4 years and 5 months) which would be a weight loss of around 75 pounds or so. (thats A LOT I know hehe) Just because my mother always said weight was harder to loose after you hit 30, and I plan to start the baby factory at 30 so I would prefer to be my ideal weight before I start.

Goodluck to you though Evie!!! Perhaps your updates will further help me to really start getting onto my weight loss too :D I might even go and buy some scales to find out how much I REALLY weigh I'm kinda guessing based on what I was when I got to Canada and how tight some of my clothes are now lol.

Hmmm I've never been good at calory counting, but a BMR website said my BMR is 2033.7 guess I should find one of those weight watchers/jenny craig calory books somewhere hehe

Weight Watchers has a point system, which is nice. 1 point is 50 calories, and you're allowed a certain amount of points a day depending on your weight class. If you follow everything in the WW plan, it works really well! It's a very easy plan to follow, and doesn't cost near as much as some of those where you have to buy the meals!

Oh, and when you check your BMR, make sure they give you the values for the different amounts of exercise. Cause if you don't, it'll give you a lower value.

I won't lie, a big part of doing this is to actually wear a bikini in the summer (I've never worn one) but it's not just that. I have a very overweight family and it would suck to find out in the future that there is something wrong with me all because I ate too much junk and didn't exercise.

My boyfriend and myself sit around all day and do nothing, (neither of us are working other than my photography, but I'm not getting too many calls on that recently). So we pretty much sit around and play games all day and I want us to get in shape. I know if I do it, he will and in the end I'm hoping we can both lose the weight and quit smoking.

I don't like the way I feel when I wake up, my back hurting, my throat hurting, hell even my feet hurt when I stand on them for more than a couple hours and I'm tired of it.

I just want to look good, and feel good, and I don't want future weight problems to be an issue.

All I drink is water. A can of soda is a treat to me. I mean like a couple times a year kind of treat. We never eat out, white bread is a no no. All we buy is wheat. We have pretty much no junk food in the house. I don't think the eating right is really an issue with me because I've been doing a lot of research over the past year. It's the exercise. I just can't do it. I get extremely short of breath after about 7 minutes and I know part of that is from smoking.

I'm just going to do as much exercise as my body lets me at first and take it from there. I don't care how long this takes, I just want it to work!

Nothing wrong with wanting to wear a bikini! I could never find one with a large enough cup size lol...yeap big arse and big bewbs...if I could stop eating fast food and drinking cola and go for a run I'd prob have a great hourglass figure.

I know how you feel when it comes to smokes, this is my second serious attempt at quitting....quit for a year last time started again because of enviromental factors, mainly all my friends being smokers hehe. The difference in breathing after 6 months was so dramatic though, I was coughing less, my voice even changed slightly. Over time though if you stick with exercising in short bursts you'll be able to handle it for longer periods with or without quiting smoking.

I did weight watchers didn't work for me. So I went to Chapters and bought a book. The Flat Belly Diet. It's working. I'm five foot nothing. Weighed 180. Porker. Been getting off my ass and moving,along with the diet. Now I weigh 140. Still aways to go. I've ever told anyone how much I weighed..not even my husband. I don't want to wear a bikini but I was sick of shopping in the = sizes. So if I can do this and believe me I am a hater of exercise, I have faith that u can do it too. I mean to say + sizes earlier. lol. Good luck

Started my diet a couple of days ago, its called Sandra Cabot's diet, you have 2 drink shakes for breakfast and lunch but im finding it so easy, my mother in law started awhile ago (maybe 2 months) and she has lost about 15 kilos.

wish me luck : )

Evie, I just wanted you to know that you have my full support on this. All of the info in this thread (especially from Kash & PK) has been excellent. I took 2 nutrition courses in college and learned SO much, but you wouldn't know that to look at me now!

I have such a long way to go...getting into a bikini (for me) this summer is laughable. Won't happen. But I'm hoping for a nice swimsuit for next summer.

I have tried several diets over the years, but they just never work for me. We studied a lot about diets in those classes, and I knew back then that they would never really work. The times in my life that I've been able to take off weight AND maintain long-term have been times when I was eating well while NOT depriving myself of goodies (in moderation) and staying physically active. In college I had to walk all over campus everyday, and none of us had a car, so we'd have to walk to the grocery store (and carry home sacks of groceries in our hands), walk to the bank, walk to pay bills -- everything. Miles and miles and miles of walking everyday in the rain, ice/snow, 100 degree heat, everything. And on top of that, we used to work out 6 days a week every week!!! Treadmill, bikes, lifting weights, swimming, tennis -- you name it. And I looked my BEST ever and felt AWESOME. I miss that so much!!!

My activity level is pretty much the polar opposite of that now -- we spend waaaay too much time sitting around watching dumb shit on tv (or spending 20 minutes just trying to DECIDE what to watch), or me messing around on the computer or him on the Xbox. Our apartment complex has a decent gym, but we NEVER go down there. I would go swimming all the time here if I wasn't so ashamed to be seen in a swimsuit!

I know me and I know my body -- if I jump on some crash diet right now, I'll lose some weight, but in 6 or 8 months it'll be back times three. I just can't do a diet then stick with that same plan or something similar. It's best to do a slow, steady, realistic lifestyle change. We've made a decent start so far -- eating more veggies and real fruit, drinking more water, taking vitamins (the prenatal vitamin idea sounds awesome, Kash! Thanks!), trying not to eat too much too late, walking more, etc.

It's really ridiculous -- we don't have much, but we're fortunate enough to live in a nice apartment complex with a small gym, several walking trails, a good-sized pool -- many things to keep me active, and yet I still sit around on my ass waaaaaay too much. The first few steps are always the hardest, I know, but getting the motivation is excruciating...my eating habits are so bad. Even if I eat relatively healthy, I might not put a drop of food in my mouth until 3, 4 or even 5pm. That's just ASKING for it, and I'm working hard to stop that (though I admit, I've done that today -- it's near 3:30pm now and I haven't eaten yet o_O).

I'm like you Evie -- I hate the way I feel when I wake up, or when I have an issue getting up off the floor or a really low couch, or squeezing into a small restaurant booth...I only want to sit at tables now, and I've always LOVED booths. My feet hurt when I stand too long, and going up these 3 flights of apartment stairs everyday is getting sadder and sadder...ugh. And I've started purposely missing out on get-togethers with people because I feel so horrible in all my clothes.

Soooo I'll definitely support you on this, and I might ask for support too. I know it's easier to do these things with a partner...but any progress I make is going to be pretty slow. I have to say, though, it's feels good to see other people with similar issues all supporting each other. Here's to success in health, I guess!

Yeah, I haven't done anything since this post...

I was embarrassed to even respond to anything anyone has said on here because I went out of my way to post about it and then just dropped it like I never even planned it. But I need to admit that I haven't done a damn thing.

I read somewhere that it takes (I think) about two weeks to really kick a bad habit. And I consider my being lazy as a bad habit. The article I read said that those first two weeks are very very very hard, but after those are over, it becomes easier to maintain. If I could only force myself to work out 6 days a week for two weeks maybe it'll start to become a little easier to get off of my lazy ass. Two weeks is a very short period of time. But it seems like forever when I have to wake up everyday and work out.

I'll keep updating on what I'm doing, or in this case, what I'm not doing. Though I have to admit, reading everything all of you have posted just puts me back in that motivated mood.

Lets get healthy!

Thank you so much for sharing cel, your post alone motivates me 100 percent. I know exactly how hard it is to just get up and do it. I've known for a long time that soooo many people in the world have this exact issue. but reading it directly from someone else helps.

I can do this guys. And if any of you are trying too, I know you can as well.

Thank you for sharing that Evie. My recent past is littered with failed weight-loss attempt after failed weight-loss attempt. I get on track for a bit, then falter. It sucks SO much...

As far as the two weeks thing; I understand that's just a guide, not a set-in-stone commandment, and I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but don't feel the need to stick to that particular timeline TOO hard. It may be more, or even a little less.

And try not to feel embarrassed either! The road to getting healthy is a bumpy one, full of pitstops and sidetracks. We get on, we get off, but the goal is to get to a good pace and maintain.

*hugs* And now I'm off to finish this cookie!

I've taken a couple of health classes. So I hope that I can offer a little advice. Never use fad diets. Or any diet that cuts out a certain nutrient, even fats.

Also, if you pick a diet that does include all nutrients, make sure you like the food or you will quit.

If you are not in the best shape, start slowly. It's not a bad thing to start from the beginning. We all have to start from somewhere. If you do to much at once, you won't feel good which increases your chance of quitting. There are many different types of exercise, if you find something you really enjoy you will be more willing to do it. For me it's hiking. I can hike for hours and still feel great.

There are also little things you can do to lose more calories during the day. Examples include standing rather then sitting, you can tap your foot or do other little exercises while watching TV, dancing with your favorite songs, pr crunches on your bed. It may seem insignificant, but it adds up the more little stuff you do and will aid you in the long run.

I've let myself go recently, from stress mostly, and am working on getting back in shape.

Anyway, best of luck! ^^

evie i wanna do this with you. i really do. (here i am eating a cookie while i say this lol!)

Best of luck! I agree with what Spectacular said about starting slowly. If you're too hard on yourself then it'll just be more difficult.

I'm on a reverse diet of sorts - I'm trying to gain weight rather than lose it. It's not as easy as it sounds, unfortunately...

Everyone has already given the best advice to give so I am just going to say I wish you much luck in this endeavor.