Hi, my name is Brenda. I am 42 years old. I am 5ft 3in tall and I weigh 203. I started my weight loss journey the first week of December at the weight of 220. I have been at a standstill for the last two weeks. My weight loss plan is keeping my daily calorie count between 1200 and 1300 and my total fat under 40 grams. I don't walk on a regular basis yet but I am going to start on Monday. I thought I would start a journal here so that I will have to be accountable for my actions. I think it will be good to put my thoughts and progress to paper (sort of) to be successful at my goal. My first goal is to weigh less than 200 pounds; it seems to be a really tough goal to reach. But I know I will be successful. My second goal weight is 180, then 160 and when I reach my final goal, I will weigh 140 or less. My neighbor is a nurse that works in a doctor’s office, and I am going to have her weigh me in once a week, I think if someone else is tracking my weight, I will be more likely to stick to my weight loss plan. She is a positive person, and that will help me too. My husband is a negative person most of the time and I don’t need negative feedback on this journey. I wish everyone success on their weight loss journey. I look forward to hearing from you all, and I believe we can help each other on our journeys.
Brenda

Hi Brenda and welcome to DT :wave:

We have a lot in comman with each other:

I am 40 ( almost 41 ) and am 5' 2" and as of this morning weigh 233 - with a goal weight of 150.
I am counting calories and eating low fat foods as well. I also use walking as my main exercise. see we do have a lot in comman :)

I live in Pa and this morning it was 4 degrees - that's cold! lol so I use Leslie Sansome walk away the pounds exercise tapes instead of walking outside. She has a 1, 2 and a 3 mile tape. I am just on the 1 mile so far - but it's a start. Only takes 22 minutes to do and I like that as well, as time always seems to be working against me.........sigh

My husband is not really negative, however he is also NOT at all helpful towards my loseing weight. Want's to eat out all the time, brings home chips and stuff - thinks that dieting is "stupid".....blah blah blah.
He is 6" and weighs 150 lbs so what the heck does he know? lol ;)

There is a section here for calorie counters such as you and me that is really really helpful. I also go to www.fitday.com - its free and you just log in your foods and it counts your fat grams, calories and everything for you - really GREAT place to keep track of your daily foods!

I work pretty long hours, but I will be sure to stop by your journal and see how you are doing at least once a week and help you any way I can.

TOGETHER we CAN do this!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

PS: I forgot to tell you - the best way to find support here at DT is to get to know some of the people. Join in some threads and visit journals and such and soon you will have some great support going here for you.

Jade

Jade's Journal (http://diettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=248635#post248635)

Hi Brenda,
Welcome to Diettalk. It is a wonderful place for support and to meet others that are going through similar things as you.
I count calories also. And walk on my treadmill every day.
I started at 262 in October and I am down to 214 now.
For my bday, which is tomorrow i'm giving myself the best present, I will be down 2 more lbs (god willing) and have reached a 50 lbs lost.
I know what you mean by negative husbands. I use to have one of those. He was a big guy and loved to cook and didn't like that I wouldn't eat his food. It is hard to lose weight like that. But im sure with help from your diettalk friends and some dedication you will get there.

Hope to see you around the threads, there are some very good ones there.
Also if you are counting calories and want to be accountable, there is a thread for that also.
Wishing you the best of luck

Maryse

Hi Jade and Maryse, it is nice to meet ladies that I have so much in common with. I already feel more motivated just hearing from you.
Maryse, I have to say that I am really impressed with your success so far!!!:bd I hope your birthday goes as you wish.
Jade, I am happy to hear from you, we really do have a lot in common.:cheer: I have to say that my husband does support me in what ever Iwant to do, he is just so negative about everything else and I feel down sometimes because of it.
I have a hard time thinking of what I want to say. Maybe I will get good practice here.
I have to really make myself drink water, I drink way too much soda, I drink Diet Dr Pepper. I have tried to quit but end up getting a migraine.
Can anyone suggest a low calorie low fat snack that is satisfying?
Well, I will be going for now. Great to hear from you all.
Brenda

:wave: Hi Brenda and welcome to Diettalk.
I am 5'4" and when I started my journey to a healthier me I weighed in at 200 pounds. I have lost 53 pounds and I am at goal now. It took me just under a year to achieve this. So I know it can be done for if I can do it everyone can do it:)
As for a low fat snack. I love dipping baby carrots in FF Italian Dressing. Or if I need that crunchy texture I pop a bag of popcorn. Plus drink lots and lots of water. You said you get headaches if you don't drink your diet pop. Well how about cutting back on it each week till your weaned off it. Just a suggestion.
Good luck on your new journey your doing great so far.:D

Judy2:dn

Hi Judy2, thanks for the encouragement. I am already cutting down on my diet dr pepper. I am going to journal my calories and total fat intake everyday except Sundays. Sundays are my free day. Even so, I havent done too bad. My body didnt care for the higher fat intake today and let me know about it.:o
Thanks everyone for the motivation, and I wish us all success.
Brenda

Hello Brenda,

I also have a free day which is usually saturday.
it helps get me through the long week.

im sorry to hear your hubby is negative but theres alot of support here and you are doing this for you so you can support yourself too.

my hubby is supportive to a degree but not really interested in the process of it so i came here and its been a lifesave and i made alot of friends and i dont feel alone with this.

if you need me give a yell.

have a good day and take care.

Hi, I started out badly, I had 2 biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I had a low-calorie frozen meal for lunch and a plain baked potato for dinner. I snacked on animal crackers between meals. I cut down from 6 cans of diet dr pepper to just 4 cans. I will slowly cut down on the soda until I am completely off of it. Well, that is all for now. I wish us all success in our goals.
Brenda

Hi there Brenda!:wave: Welcome to dt! I know you will find this very helpful! I wish you success on your journey and congratulate you on your 17 pound loss you've reached already. You are getting really close to your first goal woo hoo!:dn Good for you!

Well, I did good on keeping my calories down but not the total fat grams for Tuesday.
Calories 1210, Total Fat 60g.
I drank plenty of water and only had 4 diet dr peppers.
I couldnt find anything low calorie and low fat where my husband stopped for breakfast and lunch. I go into Dallas with my husband once a week and do title work. I didnt get up in time to fix something low calorie and low fat.
I will do better today.
I wish success to us all in our goals.
Brenda

Yesterday my fat grams is down from the day before from 60 to 41.8 which still isnt great. My calorie intake was 1512 which could be lower. I didnt have anything low-calorie in the house for breakfast or lunch and I wasnt feeling up to going to the store. I finally had to go get groceries yesterday afternoon because my husband was out of coffee and I didnt dare let him go through a morning without his coffee!8-| I bought me plenty of low-calorie foods for the week so that I dont cheat. It is difficult to figure out what I like. I hate wasting money on stuff that I buy and bring home and dont like the taste of. Money is so tight right now.
When I started this, I was wrong about the weight, my weight started out at 208 not 203. I weighed in Monday at the doctor's office where my neighbor works. She and I are going to be weight loss buddies, she needs to lose 17 pounds and I need to lose 48 pounds to start with. We talk about our progress anytime that we see each other through the week. I am glad that I have someone close to give and get support in this journey. As always I wish us all success in our goals.
Brenda