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First of all, breathe deep. It'll be ok!
I have three suggestions:
1) Do strength training, which you can do in bits and pieces and do at home. So many people obsess on cardio to lose weight but strength builds muscle, which burns more calories. But what I love most about it is that once you feel your muscles get harder, even if it's under fat, you feel good about yourself and want to keep going. It's a motivator!
2) If you are really having a hard time, why not just focus on eating healthier? I am giving up sugary snacks at work during the day.
3) Do you have a desk job? There was an article in the health section of the NY Times this week saying that if you sit for long periods al day, it is terrible for your waistline. I now get up and do a lap of the office every 15 min. I also use a shared printer and do not have one at my desk. And I try to walk to talk to colleagues instead of emailing them.
Good luck, you can do it!
You have a lot of time. Start charting your food and beverage intake and make sure that you are not eating more than 1,200 calories a day if you aren't exercising. At this rate, you will lose about 1 pound a week and will be lean and trim well before your big day.
And when you come home from an awful day and only want to drink wine and eat chips (insert your fav bad foods), just think to yourself, will this chip taste as good as being thin feels in my wedding dress on my wedding day?
One more comment - exercising will actually give you more energy as strange as that sounds. It will. If you start exercising regularly, you will probably come home feeling less tired!
Good luck! You can do it!
30 lbs in 7 months equals about 1 lb per week. Definitely doable. You need to adjust your diet/exercise to create a calorie deficit of about 500 cals a day. If you haven't been gaining weight you are likely eating at your resting metabolic rate (maybe around 1600-2000 cals a day depending on body). I suggest getting some light exercise (about 150 cals) so you don't have to physically eat 500 cals less every day. Give up processed foods for a while and try to eat as close to the ground (veggies, fruits etc) as possible.
Can you give me some insight into what your diet is now?
Stay positive.. eat healthy.. drink LOTS of water.. TRY and workout but dont stress about it.
LOL at Mrs. Loub. I want to be thin but right now I am drinking that glass of wine! (btw, I gained 15lbs on vacation and I am busting my butt to get it off now dammit)
I know how you feel, I feel exhausted after work too! BUT the hardest part about the gym is actually going, once I get there my exhaustion wears off and by the end of my workout I feel great. I notice that when I don't workout I feel more tired all day as well. I think if you can just get over that hump you can make time for 45 min - an hour after work. Also, have you thought about going before work?
Figure out how many calories you should eat a day to lose weight. This website helps you do that.
http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm
Then try to make them HEALTHY calories and you can track them using caloriecount.com
I'm 5'4" and I've lost 30 pounds (over a year cause I didn't stick with it) doing this. I also lift weights at night which I enjoy SO much more than cardio.
I joined this a while ago and am down about 21 pounds:
https://www.zonemanhattan.com/SampleMenus.aspx
It's a drag not being able to eat whatever I want, but it's super simple and it definitely works! I'm going to stay on it until I'm back to my wedding weight...
I'm a big fan of strength training in front of the TV! Buy some free weights, figure out a little routine, and you can workout while getting your TV fix :)
Good luck with the weight loss! You have so much time!
I count calories with livestrong.com... it doesnt work for everyone but it works for me. Of course I try to get in at least 4 days of cardio a week too.
If you really truly cannot motivate yourself to workout when you get home, then you need to work out when you wake up in the morning. Wake up early and get your exercise in then.
Also, recent studies suggest AT LEAST an hour per day of moderate to strenuous exercise in order to lose weight. A lot of people are discouraged because they do their 30 minutes per day and see no results. The answer is that 30 minutes only maintains weight, it doesn't help lose it.
Also, make sure you're getting the right amount of sleep. It's different for everyone, but if you're getting too little (or too much!) you wake up feeling tired. Try starting with 8 hours per day then cut back in 15 minute increments until you wake up feeling perky and refreshed. I need 7 hours of sleep when my days aren't hectic, and 6 hours of sleep when I have really busy days.
I'm doing the My Daily Plate at Livestrong.com too. It's free, easy to use (can find all different kinds of foods in their database) and I have it both on my computer and the app on my iphone so I have no excuse for not tracking my caloric intake each day.
Losing weight is 90% diet and only 10% exercise. If you can't find time to exercise, it's probably just easier to change your diet. Low carb, low fat diet is usually a safe bet. Get rid of soda (even diet) and alcohol and switch to water (flavored if you'd like). Lean meats like chicken, turkey, and fish are what you should be focusing on. Lots of veggies, even for snacks. Carrots and hummus and celery and peanut butter are good. Try to have protein with every meal. Cutting out as many carbs and processed foods will help shed the pounds as well. Exercise will help to burn calories, but if you don't have time to fit exercise into your schedule, then reducing calories or eating better calories will definitely help.
By getting up and walk in place during commercials and do bicep curls and overhead extensions with weights during your favorite show (which you can do without getting off the couch!) you'll find it's easier to fit in exercise than you think!
Plus, any calorie tracking device - Sparkpeople, weight watchers, livestrong, whatever, they will help you keep your calorie intake under control. You've got lots of time and you can do it!
I was on the medifast diet for a month (www.medifast1.com) and lost 25 lbs. It wasn't totally pleasant, but I was never hungry and it taught me new eating habits.
The only exercise I got was whenever I had to move around at work which wasn't a whole lot. I'm off the medifast now and exercising more/watching what I eat.
If you want to know about the foods *which are terrible and you should avoid* pm me.
Honestly, the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your eating habits. You need to eat fewer calories than you body uses and you lose weight. It really helps to planout your meals in advance.
I would agree with focusing on what you are putting in your body instead.. I am eating all lean meats, vegetables, and fruits. I do slip up basically once a day, but my theory is my bodys trying to get used to no dairy, processed foods, etc.. I've lost just about 10 lbs and haven't been doing too great at going to the gym.
Not to mention, when you are eating better you will have alot more energy and wont feel so exhausted at the end of the day and you probably will feel like going to the gym :)
I agree about working out in the morning. I know it sounds like a hassle to have to wake up early to workout but I was skipping my post-work workouts so I made the switch. I've found that the workout wakes me up and helps to energize me for the day and I've gotten it out of the way so I don't have to worry about it any more.
I agree with trying to adjust your diet. I had wanted to lose some weight for awhile but the only thing I was doing "right" was going to the gym. I saw a picture of myself at Christmas and had a huge reality check about what I was going to look like at our wedding if I didn't make the decision to get serious about watching what I was eating. I totally get your feeling of panic! I was so scared that I wouldn't really be able to make a change.
I joined online weight watchers on Jan. 1 (with exactly 8 months to the wedding) and so far I've lost 15 pounds. Honestly, changing my diet made such a huge difference in getting motivated to go to the gym that I started going to the gym more too. I don't think you have to do a formal plan but for me it really helps to keep me accountable. Also, once I started seeing a change on the scale (granted slowly, 1lb or so a week) I've been mutch more motivated to stick with it. I do think that one thing that made this so successful for me was it was different from the things I had tried before. It felt like a significant change and that made me take the new rules seriously and not cheat.
Good luck! You really can do it, just have some faith in yourself that you really can change.
1: Work out in the morning. I find that doing the P90x videos in the morning keeps me more motivated, and its nice to hear someone kinda coaching you through it. Yes, changing your diet helps, but exercise is important. It burns calories, tones muscles, and boosts your metabolism so you burn calories faster! :)
2: Eat healthier. Not necessarily less food, just lower calorie foods.
3: Don't deprive yourself. If you're really craving a chocolate bar, have a mini one but only the mini one.
4: If you think you want more wait a little while before you get more. And eat slower.
Also I just wanted to say I get how you feel! I wake up, get ready, go through about an hour or so of traffic, school for four hours, about 45 mins to eat lunch and get me and my fiance from school to work, work for four hours, another 45 mins to an hour of traffic... BLEH. Oftentimes I end up falling asleep in the evening, waking up at strange hours to do hw, and my schedule gets totally screwed up, esp w/ midterms! But you are not alone, even though it can easily feel that way!
There's no magic pill, and anything that works like that is just gonna make you gain it all right back and more. I started hitting the gym in Dec. and have already lost 13 lbs and I only go about 20 minutes a day - a total of about an hour and 40 minutes a week. Just make it a priority and find the time. You can do it!!
I haven't read the other comments as I'm on a short break, but this has worked for me...
1. Change up your diet. Eat more fiber, which will keep you fuller longer, and switch out regular white bread, pasta, and rice for the whole grain variety. Eat your veggies first. They will fill you up so you won't eat as much of a fattier part of a meal. My FI and I have pledged to start every meal with a salad.
2. If you can't go to the gym, figure out other ways to burn calories. Park in the back of a parking lot. Take the stairs. Walk on breaks at work. Another personal favorite of mine is doing mini-workouts during commercial breaks. Do some jumping jacks, pushups, sit ups, or whatever you can do in the space you have to work with.
3. Don't look at the scale every day. Try once a week, tops. Looking every day will likely just stress you out.
I hope this helped at least a little.
You can lose weight without exercise by watching what you eat. Realistically, we gain weight b/c of what we consume. Not because of what we physically do (or don't do). Go see a nutritionist. Changing your food will give you more energy and you'll be able to get motivated more.
It takes 3 weeks to build a habit...then it becomes second nature. THe first 3 weeks are a bear.
Ugh, I know exactly how you feel. It's so hard to motivate myself at the end of a long day but I've found a couple things have really helped get my ass in gear:
1) When I want to eat something bad, I mentally tell myself that looking good in my wedding dress will feel a thousand times better than that cookie will.
2) I keep a blank calendar taped to my bathroom mirror where I log my workouts. It doesn't have to be "going to the gym". It can be "30 minute walk" or "snowboarded for 2 hours". The point is, when I don't do ANYTHING, I see that blank space and it bothers me.
You might try reading Bethenny Frankel's book "Naturally Thin". She talks a lot about our relationships with food and about how we look at eating. By no means is it a "diet plan" but I found that it helps me think more about what I'm putting in my mouth.
Good luck! You have a good amount of time and you can do it! :)
Agreed on the eating! I've found that the best thing is not to focus on cutting things out of your diet, but to replace them with healthier things. Like, instead of "I'm not going to eat pizza," it's, "I'm excited to make homemade soup." Hope that makes sense... One awesome way is to go vegan. Here's a fantastic program with message boards, recipes, etc. The great thing about it is that the recipes are so healthy and low-fat, you can pretty much eat as much as you want (good for those of us who have portion control issues!).
Another site I like is Spark People to track nutrition and exercise.
And of course there's the 30 Day Shred, which I am BACK ON after many months of sloth-like behavior. So motivating!
Good luck. You can do it! And remember, if you mess up a day, or a week, or whatever, don't give up! Just get back in business and keep on going.
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I just can not find the time to excersice in my busy schedule, by the time i get home I am so exhausted and drained all I want to do is sit down and watch TV. I have about 30 lbs to loose before 10-10-10....any other ideas? magic pills? suggestions???? Anything????