Hello all!
I have joined the ranks as one of the millions of new members you seems to have. Here is a little bit about myself....

I am a stay at home mom monday thru friday. On the weekends, I work as a Surgical ICU nurse. I routinely take care of people after open heart surgery. This surgery is often due to the pt being over weight and having a poor diet, along with smoking and drinking. I have come to conclude that I REFUSE to join this patient population!! But at 245 lbs, I am going to join them if I don't do something now!

I turned 30 this year, and I refuse to live any longer as a heavy, tired person! I want to be able to play with my very active (healthy and skinny!!!) kids without getting tired and wanting to sit on my butt!!

This weight loss quest for me is not a new years resolution. I just happen to be finally ready at the new year time. Plus, treadmills are on sale this time of year for all of those with resolutions!!

I try very hard to eat healthy. I buy mostly whole grains. I have tried to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our house (except for the pop!!) and I make most of our food from scratch. I don't like to buy convenience foods unless I have too.

My weakness is dairy. I like to have a little coffee with my cream in the morning!! I love anything that is creamy and fattening!!

I also hate to sweat and exercise, but I realize that exercise is the key.

I just bought a treadmill yesterday (an Horizon Elite T4) and I am very excited. I should get it tonight!!

My main questions envolve how to start out on the treatmill. How do you start as a couch potato? I don't want to burn myself out in the begining. I know that I want to be able to do 45 mins 5-6 times a week. So do I start out just at a slow pace doing that? Or do I start out a shorter times and work up to that. I can easily walk for 45 mins at a slow pace. My treadmill has a chest strap that will adjust the treadmills pace to keep your heart rate at its target rate. Should I use that???

Here is my basic weightloss plan:
1) Keep a food diary- I think that if I see how much I am eating, I will naturally taper off my food intake.
2) Portion Control
3) Exercise

I figure I will do this untill I start to plateau and then I will start to really lower my calorie intake and exercise more.

Any suggestions will be gladely taken!!

Laura

hello and welcome to the weight loss battle that we are going to overcome! I also walk on the treadmill i do about 40 min at a fast speed level. I think that for your first week do 30 mins at about 2.5-3.0 speed to start off slow then next week kick it to longer and faster, so your body can get us to this and you wont kill yourself! Well good luck to you and keep us updated on your journey!

Welcome to the Forum Laura!
From one ex-Michigan girl to a current one it sure sounds like you got it all on track. I agree with Amber. Start out at a moderate pace as you don't want to over do it and then stall out all together.
Figure out how much calories you NEED to have everyday just to MAINTAIN the current weight that you are at. From there subtract about 500 calories and you should see the weight coming off.
Also start a diary and people here will find you and you will suddenly have that support system that you need to get you thru this journey!!
Good Luck
You are more than welcome to check out my diary. Bellaryna's Journey.

Oh wow do you ever sound like me last year! I got mine on a New years sale too!

My advice to get going is to just get on it. At least once a day, whether its 5 minutes or 45 minutes. Just get the habit going. After you train your mind to it, then you can work on getting a consistent exercising habit going.

Good luck & I'm glad you found this site!

Welcome to the forum!

Whenever I started out on new things (treadmill, elliptical, workout DVDs, etc.) I simply started slow...and evaluated my reactions and abilities as time went by.

Burning yourself out (or falling off the treadmill, or TurboJamming your hips off, etc.) is not a good option...but taking it slow really helps give you an understanding as to what you can achieve.

Remember, it's a long-term process! You can start out slow for a week or a month or what have you....eventually you'll realize you have the ability to ramp up your performance.

Enjoy your treadmill,

Barbara

BINGO !! That's the entire formula.

All I can add is: Add 5 minutes when you think you've had enough. Break your mind and the body will follow

Repeat daily.

Thanks for the advice. I got the treamill last night. But while putting it together, my husband dropped a screw inside of it. We are waiting for my dad to find his magnet on a stick (he is a carpenter and I guess drops screws into tiny spaces a lot!!). So hopefully today we will get it together.

Last night I was up until 4 am with my 1 1/2 year old daughter. I think she threw up about 20-30 times!! we have some horrible (but at least short) virus going around this house!! Yuck!!

Well, thanks for all of the help. I am sure I will have more questions later.

Laura

So sorry to hear that your daughter is sick. That always sucks. I hated it when my kids were little and that sick. Their just so miserable and they don't understand why.
To funny about losing the screw. LOL My hubby does stuff like that all the time. At least you have a magnet on a stick! Dh usually ends up tearing whatever apart even futher to get to the part he dropped!!!
Catch ya later!