Getting Started

Daleana

New Member
Hi;
For a while I've tried to start a workout routine and a healthy eating habit, unfortunately I have not had any success. I'm only 5'2 at a weight of 150. I gained 40 lbs with my first and only pregnancy. A few months after the birth of my son I started to workout a little bit but I got discouraged when I was not seeing results as fast as I would've loved to, so I stopped working out.
I'm almost 40 years old, I just started doing basic steps and weights with Cathe's DVDs but I will greatly appreciate anybody's help/suggestions when it comes to the type of foods I should start eating to hopefully get fast results.
I thank you in advance for your time and help :D
 
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Forget fast results.

What helped me was getting a Go Wear Fit armband that tells you how many calories you are using. I may be busy but I'm not active. I only used about 1400 calories a day without a work out. An average person may burn 500 calories with a Cathe dvd I used 250 or about half. I now see what I am using and try to walk or move more to get more calories used.

Unfortunately you also have to count the calories you eat. The math is simple if you want to lose 1 pound per week you have to eat 500 calories less per day than you use. I would love to lose 2 or more pounds per week but I also don't want to eat less or exercise more than an hour a day.

I found the Mayo Clinic diet to be easy to follow. Get book from library. It has unlimited fruits and veg. that keep you full. Just watch out- corn and peas aren't listed as veg.

I have consistently lost when I ate 3500 calories in a week less than I used. Since I am in control I try to increase activity rather than getting calories eaten too low.

Most people over estimate how many calories they are using and underestimate how many calories they eat.

Good luck
 
Nutrition software

I highly suggest trying a month with Cathe's Nutrition site. Once you figure out your BMR and put in your goal weight loss, it helps you figure out how many calories you should be eating. Because you're middle-aged (GASP! don't worry... I'm 43), your metabolism is not as high as it used to be, so your caloric needs are a little less. The Nutrition software tracks your calories for you. You can also take a look through other users' meal plans to get ideas for what you should eat.

A good place to find healthy recipes is Allrecipes.com. They have a Healthy Recipes collection that is really very good. I try to find them with as many vegetables incorporated into them as I can.

The trick, I think, is to forget about how fast you'll get to your goal. Don't weigh yourself too often either. That will just frustrate you. I ignore my scale except on Saturday morning. And remember that a healthy weight loss is 1 - 2 lbs a week, depending. Because I'm only 5'0" tall, 1.5 is the most I should lose. That's a bummer in my mind, because I wanted to lose 12 pounds and wanted to do it in no more than 6 weeks. That's not being realistic if I want to be healthy. And I only burn about 330 calories in a Cathe workout. I add in a good walk with my dogs every morning, which gives me another 300 calories, so I'm doing OK.

Enjoy the feeling you get from being in shape, and from eating healthier foods. The weight will come off and you will tone yourself up nicely. You'll feel amazing and be glad that you gave it a chance. Oh... and get a pedometer. They're pretty cheap, but it's really nice to see how many calories you burn when you're just walking around. I burned 100 calories at the grocery store yesterday. That means I can have a glass of wine with my boyfriend tonight. :)
 
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