anyone with me?

Trying lose the weight I've gained over the past 2 yrs. I've lost weight before, 40 lbs, by going to Curves and walking. However, now I can't afford a gym membership and live too far from a Y, so I need to find frugal ways of doing it, mostly walking. I also cannot afford to buy special diet foods, although I allowed myself a case of slim fast because then I can have in the car when needed and not be tempted by fast food, or it's good on Sunday morning before church when I don't have time to eat, but don't want my stomach growling during service. I have a total of 50 lbs approximately to lose, and I'd like to do it before next winter.

I started on 1/29, although I started walking as much as possible the last week of December.

SW 204 1/29

CW 196.5 2/16

GW#1 165

GW#2 150. (where I was before)

Not a huge weight loss, I'm a little disappointed after enduring freezing temps with the dog! I need to find a way to rev my weight loss in the beginning w/o starving myself.

 I took control of my life and embarked on learning to cook and eat more healthy, develop good exercise habits, and lose weight on January 9th.  After someone recommended it, I joined SparkPeople.com and have found it really easy to follow their program. I do not eat according to their meal plan but have developed my own.  I've learned to make things like mashed potatoes with chicken broth instead of milk or cream and butter to make them fit into my plan.  I've learned a lot about portion control and am still learning to stay within the suggested calorie, fat, protein, and carb ranges for my goals.  The fat one really is hard for me and most days I fall under the range!  One night, I made a comfort meal, one that we've eaten many times.  The meal was pork chops, seasoned and dusted with flour then fried, gravy from the drippings, my lowfat mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and one egg muffins.  I was totally shocked when it came in at, are you ready for this?  1200 calories!  OUCH!

For exercise, I'm doing strength training using 5 lb and 10 lb dumbells.  Some exercises are done without weights until I build up to using them.  I also take walks when the weather isn't too bad and have been known to set a 30 minute timer inside and walk in laps from the bedroom through the kitchen, around the living room and back. I hate doing that but it's better than being inactive.

 With all that said, this plan is really working for me.  I've lost 15 lbs since January 9th.  I've lost at least 1.5 inches off my waist.  I need to do my measurements again this week but find it's more accurate when I can get Les to help.

Edited to add:  I love to cook and I love food.  For me, following a "special" diet plan or eating certain foods would not work.  I get bored with the same old thing and love to experiment.  That's what I love about SP, I choose what I eat.  I still have treats.  This lifestyle change will be easy to stick with because I do not limit myself.  I can not stand the thought of eating or drinking anything with artificial sweetners.  I still drink my sweet tea, just limit myself to 2 servings at dinner time instead of drinking it all day long.  I made brownies on Saturday night that had only 111 calories per serving.  They used normal ingredients I have in my kitchen and while they were a bit more cake-like than I prefer, they were not bad at all.

allie, your 1200 calorie dinner sounds like my 1200 calorie pizza night Saturday! I eben had a salad ahead of time so I wouldn't eat much pizza, but still the 2...ok almost 3 ...slices I had was an incredible amount of calories!

Mashed potatoes with broth...I'm intrigued! What's it like compared to the milk ones?

15 lbs is fantastic...that's what I was looking for my initial weight loss.

thanks LoG...I've heard about using less meat, but it kinda goes against the anti-carb diets right now. They say high protein, lo-carb is the way to lose weight.

My problems are emotional eating and cooking for a family of tall thin men.

I am in!  I have been on the diet, getting healthy for a while now.  I try to eat well, but when my DDs daddy brought me a tin of chocolate and a friend of mine took me to my favorite rest. on V-day, it kind of messed things up.

I will post more later and stay tuned to your thread.  I will post my plans and a menu or two! 

Awesome!

 For any who decide to join sparkpeople.com, please look me up!  I'm DeliaDawn on there. 

Cinnamon, in the lowfat potatoes, I just slice and boil russet potatoes with a couple of cloves of garlic until they are soft.  Then I drain really well, and add the chicken broth a little at the time while mashing by hand.  I also add salt, if needed, and fresh ground black pepper. My family loves them and requested that I never go back to making them the old way.

 BTW, my goal is to lose 50 lbs by June 13 at 1-2 lbs per week.  Sparkpeople will not allow you to set your goals higher than 1-2 lbs and your calories lower than 1200 because that's the base amount needed for a woman to maintain good health.

Thanks LoG!

can I use chicken bouillion instead of broth and it'll still turn out good?

Wow... I have quite a lot to say about this subject. Hence why I started a blog about it, so I won't go on and on here.

I've lost 50 pounds, and have 73 more to go before I get to my goal weight. Yes, I was really big to begin with. Now I'm a more normal size, but still not what I need to be. I've found that once I get to my goal I'll actually need plastic surgery to remove loose skin, so it's pretty severe. 

First off- you're right about avoiding expensive diet foods. Do not, do not, DO NOT buy them! And not just because they're unfrugal... if you look at the nutrition facts, most of them aren't really great for you. Next time you're in the grocery store, pick up a Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine meal and look at the sodium content. An average adult woman should be eating fewer than 2000-2300 milligrams of sodium per day, and most Lean Cuisines have almost half that. Some expensive sugar-free ice creams have more bad carbs per serving than the same amount of regular ice cream. High fiber granola bars are great, but watch the sugar content, because if you eat enough refined sugar it will undo all the good you're doing with the high fiber. Many of these things are just marketing gimmicks. I could sell you a sack of dirt with a "diet-friendly low-fat" label on it, but it's still just a sack of dirt. 

My point is, in this case the frugal option is also the healthier one- fresh produce and lean meats, and stay away from processed pre-prepared food. 

Also (and I've been meaning to do a blog post on this), the idea that carbohydrates are bad is a myth. Your body needs carbs for its basic cell functions, so cutting them too much will make you lose energy, and not eating enough vegetables and fruits can cause digestive problems. The important thing is to tell the difference between good and bad carbs. Good carbs are in fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Bad carbs are in processed food, white breads and pastas, sugar, candy, syrup, etc. Keep up with the good carbs, and stay away from the bad carbs, and you'll see a difference. 

The other super-important thing is to drink lots and lots of water. It makes you feel full, it helps your body flush out the dead fat cells after you've burned them off, it helps is digestion, and tons of other benefits. 64 ounces a day is what's recommended, but it won't hurt to drink more! Just try not to go over 100 ounces per day, because that's getting toward over-hydration. 

Stepping off my soap box now! This is a subject that really gets me going.