How best to start my weight loss

[Kittyflower85]

Hi all. I am 26 and desperately need to lose weight. I don't have any health problems yet but I know that it is in my best interest to lose this weight before I go down that path. My problem isn't will power. I am successful in my job and in all other aspects of my life I succeed work wise/education wise I am able to stick with something. My problem is that I'm probably lazy. I work hard but it's just not an excuse. I am getting older and I'm single. I want to have a family and meet someone and get going with my life and I feel that this is holding me back. What I'm asking for I suppose is any tips or advice of how to get the wheel moving? I often start diets and then stop... I believe in healthy eating and not diets as such. I have to keep going this time. It's easy to see how I've put more and more weight on every year and I'm now size 24. I need to change my life. I accept it's my own fault - hand on heart I have been lazy, greedy and eating the wrong thing and too much of it. As I say any help will be fantastic. Thanks in advance.

[LakeOfDreams]

I find myfitnesspal keeps me motivated as you just log everything you eat. It's really simple as with the app you can just scan barcodes. In doing this I'm much more aware of what I'm eating and tend not to go over my calories although days I do I am honest and just write it off as a bad day.
I log my weight once a week and seeing the line heading down helps.
I also have one huge goal (healthy BMI of 25) then one medium goal (lose 13kgs) then little goals like lose 4kgs in a month.
I combine it with using run keeper and make sure that I get at least 1hr walking 5 days a week. I also do work out DVDs at home.
I've been doing it for 3 weeks and have lost 2.6kgs

[Tommy]

I would agree that you need to write everything down - that's the first step.
You might feel bad about what you're eating or you may just not want to be bothered to eat left over fish fingers from the children's plates if you know you have to write it down but it will help.

If you haven't exercised for a long time, just try walking to places.

[Kittyflower85]

Thank you both. I am going to start a food diary as of tomorrow. I have that app already I just haven't used it properly yet. I think if I am looking at everything I eat and try my best to be as active as I can , then that's starting positively. I haven't done hardcore exercise for a long time. I do walk a bit each day but not enough. Will start to build that up as well. Well done on your own progress and thanks for taking the time to reply.

[Ainat266]

I saw your initial question and straight away thought of what others have already said...

I'm 27 and have also noticed that I've been getting bigger and bigger over the past few years. Before that, I would yo-yo, which also isn't healthy. I'm now seriously trying to get myself fitter and healthier as it really hit me that if I didn't there is a very high possibility that I am going to have problems later on in life.

I've started using the My Fitness Pal app and website daily and track everything. This is allowing me to see what I've been eating. Some days I'd be really over my calorie allowance, others I was really under. I always knew what foods are good/bad, but logging everything and actually seeing the numbers on screen is giving me more motivation. For example, one day last month I was really under on my calorie count, but almost all the calories I had had were from sugary drinks. I was under, but in no way healthy. I had been so busy at work that day I hadn't really eaten, just drank coke to get through the day. Of course it's something I already know - a diet of coke is not the way forward. But like I say, seeing it on screen can be a big shock and kick you in to eating better. Now I'm beginning to ttc it's even more important I stay on track and am eating healthy stuff, and mfp really does help in that sense.

Walking - a great exercise if you've not really done much exercise in a while. That and swimming. I love going swimming. I control how hard I feel I can push myself each time I go, and even a slow gentle session involves pushing through the water. I've also started going to an aqua zumba class. I feel more confident doing things like that than going to the actual gym as you're mostly underwater so I feel like people aren't watching me.

Feel free to add me on MFP if you want. My user name there is the same as on here.

[bakingtins]

weeps that 26 is considered 'getting older'

If you want to increase your walking get a pedometer, basic ones are v cheap. Start by aiming for 10000 steps a day then once you are managing that increase your goal a little.
To some extent it doesn't matter what plan you choose to follow as long as it's sustainable long term. Often you get great results in week 1 then loss settles down to a pound or two, or you have a week where you maintain or gain slightly, and it's tempting to give up. SW, WW, 5:2, low carb will all work well for different people, but the boring truth is it will need to be a long term project. Set yourself some interim goals (10 % loss is a good one) with a reward when you get there.
I think group support really helps too, whether that's IRL or joining a thread on here.