Well, this is my second day in changing my life and I am already so confused. I used a couple of different calculators that I found in the forums and found out that I shouldn't consume more than 1400 calories a day. ((Hopefully I did that right)) I read a sticky thread and learned about the things that should be going into my body. ((Which I still don't understand completely.)) I joined Fitday to track my calories. I ransacked my house and through out any junk food that I had. ((Had to save a couple of things for my wonderful son or he would kill me.)) After tracking my calories yesterday, I discovered that I only had 1093. ((I think that's right)) My calorie intake has never been high. This morning I had a bowl of quaker oatmeal with 2 teaspoons of spenda. I had 2 cups of coffee with 4 teaspoons of splenda. That's it. I will be having a salad for lunch and salmon for dinner. If I am not reaching 1400 calories does that mean that regardless of what I am eating I still won't lose the weight?

I looked at a few more threads and found a site that maps out a week worth of what types of workouts beginners could use. ((Which I can't find at work now and I want to print it...grrr)) Ex: Monday-Cardio, stretching, Tuesday-strengh training, stretching., etc. Which by the way I don't know what constitutes as "strength training".

I am limited to my home. I can only exercise at home. The only good thing I have going for me there is I have a treadmill and a few workout dvd's. I enjoy yoga and running makes my shins hurt :-/

I am really uneducated about this whole thing and I clearly do not understand a lot of the terms. I just don't know where to go from here. I HAVE to lose 40 pounds. I sit on my butt at work all day. I don't know what to do from here. I don't even know if I am on the right track. I am just so confused. Any advice would be helpful.

I'm sure Steve or Mal will be by later to give you their advice...and I'd take it, they both have alot of knowledge on the subject.

Heres my question...if you struggle to consume 1400 cals, how can you be overweight? I mean, surely you know why your overweight....can you fill us in on that?? OR is it that you regularly eat too many cals, but when you'r trying to loose you can only have 1000??? Thats not a good idea, I'd make more of an effort to get closer to your calorie goal. BUT will it make it so that you can't loose weight?? No, not for a while probably; but eating too little often causes people to go off their diets (I know this personally).

So, like I said I'm sure you'll get a more educated reply than that, but for now, thats my 2 cents

Thanks for the reply newbride :-)

The only thing that I have cut out really is canned mountain dew. I was drinking about 4-5 of those a day. I am not an over eater and see this is the kicker...I don't eat chocolate, icecream, popcorn or anything like that. I don't enjoy it. The only thing that I really enjoy is chips and salsa. I get that maybe 4 times a month. So what I have done is cut out the mountain dew. I did have one yesterday, though. I don't eat in the mornings because I get in a rush to get my son to school and then get ready for work. I might eat lunch around 3 or so and even when I do that I try to walk over to subway and get something from there or sometimes I just don't get hungry until dinner time. I don't get it. I have noticed though that the more water I drink I am getting more of an appetite. ((sounds odd, huh?))

The only thing I can think of is the soda and the fact that I am mostly sedentry. ((I think I spelled that right...not sure))

I literally go to work from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm and sit in a chair all day. If a customer comes in I just get up to talk to them. When I get home I make dinner for my son, he takes a bath, I put him to bed. Then after that I mostly play computer games. ((I like to game))

That's my schedule. I normally get to bed around 12:00am and then I am up at 6:30am doing it all over again.

My son is 7. Before I had him I could eat anything I wanted and was good to go. I was at a great weight. Since I had him though, my weight is a yo yo. I know for a fact that the birth control I was on made me gain a few pounds but other than that I really don't know what's up.

What is your current weight/height/age - and what calculator did you use to come by the 1400 calories a day?

What goal are you looking to get to?

And the question that needs asking but people always get offended by... Are you absolutely sure you're writing down and being honest about everything you're eating... (I was one of those people who swore I ate healthy, I never ate chocolate, In ever drank sugared sodas, I never ate anything remotely unhealthy - but it was quantity and until I started weighing and measuring -- accurately - i've cooked since i was tall enough to reach the knobs ont he stove -I thought I knew what a cup was... WRONG!! )

What birth control are you currently on?

and you need to find time in your day to fit in a workout... Everyone is busy -but everyone also has 30 minutes that they can do something...

Thanks for the reply,Maleficent

I am 184lbs, 5'5", and I am 27..next month I will be 28. My goal is to weigh 145-150. ((I like a LITTLE meat on my bones)) i want to be able to run without feeling like I am going to fall out. My goal is to be healthy and to feel good about myself again.

I used one of the calculators I found in the forum. I just went to fitness.com and did there's and they are saying 1630. Maybe I did it wrong. However, it's still only 230 over.

I promise I won't get offended. I really do write down everything now. I haven't in the past. This is my second day on the new diet. I have tried in the past and never seem to lose. I was drinking a lot of soda. It was always soda and coffee. As far as food though, I really just didn't eat and other than the drinks I didn't really get cravings for food. ((love the chips though)) Like you I thought I knew what a cup was until this morning. I measured my oatmeal with a measuring cup and I was wrong too.

I was on depo-provera for a year and a half. I didn't go back for my new shot in March and discussed an alternative with my doctor which I will start Sunday.

You are also right about finding time to workout. I have the time but I haven't been distributing it properly. I mean it's nothing for me to put my son to bed and game for about 3 hours. I want to get caught up in a workout like that, ya know? One that is so much fun I don't realize time is passing. '

I haven't really been serious in the past about working out. I am now though. I really want to lose this weight. I know that in your thirties your metabolism slows down and I am not that far away. My whole family is big and I don't want to be that way. I really don't. My son needs a healthy and active mommy. Not a lazy big one. :-(

Any suggestions on how to jumpstart this weightloss?

I had my physical on Tuesday and my labwork came back. The doctor just called and said that I had too much bad cholesterol (sp) and not enough good. So now I have to go for another checkup for that in a year. :-/ She also said that I needed to focus on weight loss and exercise which is what I am trying to do. Last night I walked on the treadmill for 15 mins. To me it was hard..I don't walk anywhere for 15 mins. :-/

Did the doctor give you any kind of dietary advice on your cholesterol?

Are you keeping track of your nutrients in a ny sort of food database? - and how's your fiber intake? that does help with cholesterol...

The treadmill walking can be challenging becuase it can be sooo dull.. the the rewards of it will be great.. especially if you can lower your cholesterol without medication... Find ways to challenge yourelf on it - or keep yourself entertained... I've personally found that reading on it is counterproductive because I don't work as hard as I should be... but music is a good thing...

No she didn't. She had her assistant call. I told her that I didn't understand and that I was trying to lose weight and exercise. I told her about Fitday and how I had been tracking my calories. That confused me too because a lot of my calories were fat and carbs. I told her everything I ate yesterday. The only thing she told me to do was stay away from the bread. (( By the way, I didn't get that either because I even picked a "healty" bread?)) She told me to eat more fruits and veggies. That was basically it.

I think I am going to call her back and ask if she will refer me to a nutritionalist. (sp?)

Calories Eaten Today
grams cals %total
Total: 1357
Fat: 51 458 36%
Sat: 19 168 13%
Poly: 6 55 4%
Mono: 12 109 9%
Carbs: 144 494 39%
Fiber: 20 0 0%
Protein: 83 331 26%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

That was the percentages on my graph yesterday. I had oatmeal, a turkey sandwich, a bagel for a snack, a salad for dinner, and a cup of broccoli/corn. All of my bread was 100% wheat and I used no butter whatsoever. Had coffee in the morning. I bought Splenda that is half and half so I can lower my body's craving for it. and I used 2 tablespoons of that for my coffee. I thought all this was pretty healthy lol. So it through me off when I saw the pie chart. LOL

You know, after I read your post yesterday I thought about something. Up until 3 days ago I have had a lot of sugar in my diet.

What do you think is a good source of fiber?

I am going to keep going with my treadmill. I did read a little yesterday. The way I have it set up is so I can watch tv as well. I am trying not to kill myself because I am SO out of shape lol.

Oh yea...btw..Fitday is really nice, however, I have had to put in 3 foods already because I couldn't find them :-( I just hope I enter everything right.

thaat's pretty normal about having to enter foods into a nutrion database like that - unfortunately... there's so much custom stuff that's not entered... but it's good to keep track.

Sources of fiber are primarily vegetables, beans are really good sources of fiber, some breads (but do get into the habit of reading labels - a lot of mass produced whole grain breads have High fructose corn syrup as a main ingredient - that's something i've always felt should be avoided) Raspberries and strawberries also rank pretty high...

Fats aren't somethig that you should be scared of - or go crazy avoiding - your body does need fat to function - however cutting back on saturated fats will have a postive impact on yourcholesterol - agaiin -it's about reading the labels...

Thanks. I appreciate it. I will definately start reading the labels. You have been very helpful!

I'm a very competitive person - especially wiht myself.. one of my treadmill activities i'd do - was keep a record of the date, how much time i spent on the treadmill, how much distance i covered, average mph, and how i felt afterwards.. And kept this on a regular basis...

On those days whe you don't think you're gettin anywhere -it's interestig to note where youc ame from - and how much you've improved and how much faster ormore efficient your workouts get...

I have had that treadmill for so long. It was given to me. It's really hard on my shins for some reason. Last night my feet were hurting and I wouldn't stop until I hit the 15 mins and even then I didn't want to but my legs were numb by then! LOL

I have been thinking about keeping a fitness diary. Sometimes I worry that I am not doing the right exercises but I have researched about as much as I can.

Which by the way...what "group" does pilates fall under? Cardio, strength training, etc.

I think the hardest thing about exercise I know for me personally is that if I don't see results right away, I get discouraged. I really don't want that to happen to me again.

Pilates is more strenght training/body weight exercises - I beleive...

Cardio gets your heart rate up...

The wantting results right away -that's kind of why I suggest keeping a diary and if you keep progressing you might not see results on the scale immediately but improving your time or the mileage is absolutely a postive result....

You didn't get to where you are now overnight, right? None of us did. You won't be able to fix it overnight either. But you can fix it.

You're obviously dedicated enough to be seeking advice and asking questions. It's a learning process: learning about food, your body and how they work together. You will make mistakes. Maleficient and others offer great tips/advice but that doesn't mean that advice will work with you. Everybody (and every body) is different. Learn from your mistakes.

If a BMR calculator tells you that you need 1800 calories but you eat that and still gain weight, then lower it. These calculators are great guidelines to get you started but your body will tell you how things are really working out. Always does hehe...