Hello! I'm -bee- and I'm new to this forum (joined... oh... 5 minutes ago?). I thought I'd set up a diary straight away to give me a reason to keep coming back.

I'm 22 years old, I live in the UK and I am, unfortunately, obese. I weigh 158lbs at the moment (down from 165lbs earlier this month) and, at 5ft, my ideal weight is at around 98-105lbs. As I mentioned in my introduction thread, I've never dropped below 126lbs as an adult, and I'm quite excited about seeing my body minus all this excess fat.

I did lose just over a stone a couple of years ago but I went back to my chocolate-scoffing ways and put it all back on again.

My primary form of exercise is walking. I live in the countryside so I've got miles and miles and miles of footpaths and fields to explore. People have told me that I need to do more intense exercise but walking has always worked for me... it tones me up and it burns the fat.

I'm aiming to lose 2lbs a week. Slow and steady and all that...

Here I go.

First off, exercise I've recorded over the past week:

24/08/09
Didn't walk

25/08/09
Walked 180 minutes

26/08/09
Walked 60 minutes

27/08/09
Walked 50 minutes

28/08/09
Walked 150 minutes

29/09/09
Walked 60 minutes

Depending on the weather and the time I have to spare, I plan to walk either 60 minutes or 240 minutes tomorrow (yes, the big weekend walk!).

I didn't walk at all today. It started to rain. Still, 5/7 days isn't too bad.

Hi Bee!

I just joined too. Really the best form of exercise is one you keep wanting to do each day! I've known many people lose a lot of weight who were walkers. You have a great, positive attitude and I'm enjoying reading about your progress.

Hi, bee!

There's nothing wrong with walking as a form of exercise - as long as you are walking briskly, and not just ambling along. Walking has been demonstrated as being one of the more effective forms of exercise for long-term weight loss.
And MsBubbles is absolutely right - the best exercise is the one that you will actually do.

That being said, you may want to add some resistance (strength) training as well. As you lose fat, you also lose some muscle, and strength training will help you to avoid muscle loss.

You may also find, as I did, that after you start to get fitter, you want to do more intense forms of exercise. I still walk, but mainly I swim and lift weights now. But my first two months were almost solely walking.

The most important aspect of weight loss is diet. What sor tof plans to you have to alter your diet and eating patterns?