"Best suggestions would be:
- Lose the weight and exercise because you want to and only you will know that.
- Choose an easy goal like only losing 5 or 10 lbs at a time. Don't put pressure on yourself to succeed in a certain time frame or else...What's the else? Are you going to quit because you failed? Failures are a given. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and do it again and again and again until you get where you want to be. Remember you are losing for you and only you. So why add stress to the equation.
- Choose a variety of exercises you are interested in, because only one like just walking will rapidly get boring. Then choose how much time you plan to spend at it. Are you looking for exercise time or are you looking for maximum caloric expenditure? I found I was looking for caloric expenditure more than I was the time, because I am trying to lose weight rather than maintain.
- Start reading about nutrition and exercise and read as much as you can. Subscribe to magazines that interest you. Find videos that appeal to you in addition to having a club membership if that's your interest. I have both and use both.
- Learn to read nutrition labels on cans and boxes. Every calorie counts even that whole box of Tic Tacs you ate today. Moderate your diet. If your metabolism says you can eat 2000 calories than cut back some if you want to lose weight and eat as little fat as you can. Most people shoot initially for 40 grams of fat a day and then trim it down to 30 grams when they get used to their diet. If you are looking to control your cholesterol through diet and exercise and you can live on a low-fat diet than shoot for 10-20 grams of fat per day. It is hard, but it can be done. Invest in a book about fat-free cooking and learn the secrets. Eating your own food will cut your fat severely if you learn to cook fat free.
- Treat yourself occasionally to foods you like and do things that please you. If you feel like bingeing than be sure you wait ten minutes between bites when you sit down with that bag of chocolate. Chances are after the 2nd bite you won't feel like it anymore. And if you do, then don't beat yourself up and don't quit. If you quit, then you really have failed, but if you continue on like it was another day, then it is simply another day, so what?
- Keep a journal of your exercises and foods you ate. You don't have to write volumes. I write the exercise I did, how many reps if weight lifting, how many minutes of aerobics, and total calories consumed including fiber and fat calories. Track what you are interested in learning about yourself. If you feel better writing it all down then do it and if you don't just write what you do. But if you do keep a journal you will see a change because you will feel bad if you don't have something to enter into it everyday, which is why it keeps you going.
- JUST DO IT!!! "
