I am really excited to announce a new phase in my life beginning with the journey to getting more healthy and fit and to lose weight starting with: – 15-20 minutes on the treadmill for the first 2 weeks everyday – After 2 weeks 25 minutes for another 2 weeks everyday
then the 2nd month 30 minutes, then up to 45 minutes the 3rd month, then 1 hour after the 4th month, then I will exercise 5 days per week after the 3rd month. Just the beginning, I will need to exercise everyday and keep at it. I was thinking about it during the weekend, I said what am I doing to myself? What am I doing to my body? I need to get moving.
Then I will do some Yoga as my Body gets skinnier. Eventually I will join a Gym, but I already have a treadmill at home.
I want to improve my nutrition and food intake, and eat healthier to keep the weight off. I will have a light breakfast in the morning with oatmeal, boiled egg, a glass of water or 2, then small portions throughout the day with portioned rice and pastas with a limited amount, drinking about 1-2 liter’s of water a day, no sugar in coffee or tea, no chocolate, but dark chocolate, no refined sugars, candies, sweets, lots of veggies and fruit, more leafy greens, and foods with colour, more raw veggies… Hopefully by the summer time I will lose about 40-50 pounds.
How can I stop the cravings for eating a lot of Carbs and how do I prevent myself from eating sugary things? Its going to be a huge challenge, but I am up to changing my lifestyle, and the way I eat.
What websites should I visit that really help with Fitness and Eating well? There is a lot out there, but which ones are actually accurate and from the best sources?
What advice do you have for me? What do you think I should do in terms of portion control? what kind of things I should avoid, and all that other stuff? How can I maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle without overdoing it. I never want to over do it. I would appreciate it so much. Thank you!
Talin Orfali Ghazarian 
Nice start! Make sue you get enough calories in. Check out IIFYM.com for a excellent calculator. Don’t balk at the calculations – follow it for a few weeks and tweak it from there.
You’ve got this!
Sounds like you’ve got a great plan to get started. Congratulations! Here is what I’ve been advised when I want to kickstart my body into a healthy shape, and as much as it goes against my desire to “feel” active, it works every time to get my body feeling strong and give me motivation to do more. Work your muscles. Lift light weights (I use 3-12 pound free weights for my arms and work my legs with lunges, lifts, squats), high repetition, little or no rest in between sets. Do this for 20-30 minutes 3-5 times a week for a month. Then, add your cardio/treadmill to offset your lifting.
Try the Cooking Light (http://www.cookinglight.com/) website for recipes and tips to make the boring more exciting. For example: I was eating plain tunafish for lunch (no bread, no mayo). Then I read a tip to add a few spices (s&p, garlic powder, even nutmeg!) and pickle juice (or lemon or vinegar) and sometimes drop a bite on a healthy cracker. It made my tuna lunch more inviting. (Instead of a hard-boiled egg, try deviled eggs made with sour cream or vinegar.)
Best of luck to you!!
Try not to eat carbs and protein in the same meal, it has worked for me.
Suggest you try Spark People. Nutrition tracker – lots of information, exercise help. Really good advice. Trying it myself and I’ve seen the results with others. Much more support than other online groups. Wish you every success.
I think if you give up all sweets you will just miss them and overdo it whenever you do have sweets. So, I suggest you eat something sweet every day. If doesn’t have to be a lot, just don’t cut off all sweets, it’s only makes you want them more.
It’s nice if you have a friend to go on a program with at the same time. you can even have a little contest 🙂 Winner after six months get treated to a spa day by the loser. That way, you’re really both winners! 🙂 Share recipes….take walks together….encourage each other…etc. Look up websites that have lo-cal versions of your favorite dishes… then you won’t feel so deprived. Eat raw celery! I read once that it takes more calories to chew celery than there is in a celery stick, so you will be in the “negative calorie” range….lol…. Good luck!
Nice 🙂
What works for me is doing Zumba. You buy the DVDs and in the comfort of your own home just DANCE. It’s fun and you don’t realize you are exercising – the set runs about $100 on Amazon, but well worth the investment. Like someone else said, don’t quit cold turkey with the sweets. I say eat everything in moderation and you will be fine. Best of luck in your journey!
Good start Talin. I have a few suggestions: 1. Drink a small glass of warm water with lemon juice when you wake up in the morning. It is also an old Chinese tradition (I know many Asian people who do this from childhood). After fasting all night, your body is refreshed with the liquid and there is also a cleansing aspect to this. 2. Don’t wait until you lose weight to do stretching/yoga. I did acrobatics as a youngster and have maintained the stretching. The stretches do not have to be fancy moves–it helps to keep the muscles stretched in combination with working out and lifting weights. 3. To lose weight do not eat after 7 p.m. at night. If you are hungry, then drink some green tea or snack on popcorn.
Good start Talin. I have a few suggestions: 1. Drink a small glass of warm water with lemon juice each morning. Have this first thing before you eat breakfast. It is an old Chinese traditions (I know many Asian people who do this from childhood). It helps to replenish liquids after fasting all night and has a cleansing/detox component. 2. Do not eat anything after 7 p.m. If you feel hungry, especially at start of your diet/fitness change, have some green tea and/or hot air popped popcorn (plain of course). 3. Do stretching/yoga while you are working out and/or lifting weights. Do not wait until you lose weight. The stretching does not have to be fancy. Just make sure you stretch all body parts from neck, arms, torso, legs etc…. It is important to keep the muscles stretched as working out can shorten certain muscles. It also helps with relaxation. 4. Just eat smaller portions so as not to drastically change your diet. You will lose weight no matter what if your portions are smaller and more frequent. I use an easy trick…instead of full size dinner plates at home, eat from dessert size plates. 5. Never just eat carbohydrates and proteins separately. The best rule of thumb is have a palm size amount of protein, same amount of carbs and another portion of the same size of vegetables.(balanced and healthy diet). 6. Eat soup before your meal. This was our tradtion at home growing up. You feel full and eat less of the solid stuff later. 7. Eat like a king for breakfast, prince for lunch and pauper for dinner…
It’s not just cardio. Your body also needs to tone up by lifting weights. I would leave your cardio at the end of the workout. I would start with a cardio but not beyond something of the likes of 5-10 minutes to prepare my heart for the workout before I hit the weights. Look at what exercises men do and follow that but with less weight and, since you are a complete beginner, around 1-2 sets and 10-12 reps (not until failure). Then go back to the cardio.
Doing cardio only is not going to do it for you. Just an advice.
I used to do this for a living, and have also been working out for almost a decade.
Good luck!
I just finished doing Whole 30 and it was revolutionary in what it did to my eating habits. Look it up or read the recap of my journey. http://lifeofamissionary.com/2014/02/07/how-whole-30-saved-my-life/
I went from almost 200 lbs in Dec 2011 to 125 lbs in Apr 2013 by counting calories. I use the free MyFitnessPal app. I lost the bulk of the weight w/o exercising at all, but now I workout four times per week. When I was losing I ate 1200-1400 cals per day, and now in maintenance I eat around 2500. There are calorie calculators online to help you figure out healthy personal goals. Good luck!
Good luck ! Looking forward to follow your health and fitness journey.
Keep a food diary and when you are under your calories allow yourself an occasional treat. If you feel like you are being punished you will never stick to it. I would also strongly recommend adding variety to your workouts or you’ll get bored. And some strength training like yoga and weights will help increase your muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at rest. Joining a gym and going to some strength classes is a great way not be intimidated by all the machines and get the guidance of an instructor without the massive cost of personal training.
As you start to exercise a bit more don’t go into it always with a pre-set plan, but try to listen to your body and that way you can get the most out of it, while avoiding injury. Go there to embrace the time there and make it enjoyable by listening to some music for instance. Try a variety of exercises to keep it interesting also. These would be some of my suggestions as a regular exerciser at the gym.
One of my biggest reasons that I was successful, was actually Instagram. SO MANY fitness pages, it’s unreal! When I needed the extra push, I would look at Instagram, and I would get back on track going “right, that’s what I want to look like!” There’s also smoothie pages, and meal Plan pages….. Mankofit, Fitnesspageforall, are my favourites, but there’s so many more! I actually just wrote a blog on this this morning!! It’s called “Seriously, You Aren’t 21 Anymore” I wish you extreme luck in your journey!!!!
There are some very nice mobile apps that give a game feeling to the hall exercise part. They calculate your daily miles, give achievements and are really helpful in this hall journey.
Reblogged this on thatpinkblog and commented:
I have some great advice that’s awesome I will email you
So my advice to you be consistent with your training, try to be as active as you can in your day to day life and eat as healthily as you can as often as you can cope with. But life’s too short not to enjoy yourself, so as long as you’re not bingeing on food and drink, go out for dinner or drinks with your friends once or twice a week, have a little treat every day.
Always remember the equation:
Food intake + energy expended = net gain/loss
As long as you control either one factor, you should note the difference! All the best.
I am too trying to lose 22lbs which I had regained. Started with eating healthy and fighting hard against temptation.
Hey there- visiting your blog after a LONG time! I lost about 10 lbs so far (this year), but it took time/some discipline. I love carbs, lattes, & sugar! I’m lucky- I also like to cook & can make quick, easy meals (usually do this on SUN). It’s ALL about moderation, as my mom says (she loves the gym/has reached her goal weight). Can you go to the gym or workout at home w/ a gal pal? I like doing that sometimes; other times, I do Zumba, cycling classes, & some light weights. My issue is the upper body. Good luck on your journey & don’t be TOO hard on yourself if you’re NOT perfect all the time!