Be gentle - I really want to change my lifestyle but don’t know how to start as it all seems so overwhelming. I have so many issues and hurdles to work through and could use some advice on how to start.
- I have been skinny and inactive my whole life. I’m in my late 30s and had live handles before Covid but now just have a gross belly and horrible posture
- I’ve never developed good eating habits. I eat junk, don’t have regular mealtimes and usually eat one big unhealthy meal as a binge a day

likeuplifting
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Honestly, you just need to get started. Try not to let your past lifestyle dictate the future you want. Fitness wise, I really like going on walks! I also use the app 7m. It’s just 7 minutes and you can pick the area of focus or do a whole body exercise. On days I don’t feel great, I just do 1. On days I am feeling good, I’ll repeat it or do a few of them to get a longer workout. I also have 2 hard rules - never miss a Monday and never take 2 days off in a row.
Food wise, also start small. Are there some fruit and veggies you like? I grew up in a household where we never ate healthy. When I got to college I wanted to lose weight, so I started with eating an apple before normal breakfast and lunch and a bowl of broccoli (just microwaved the frozen stuff) before dinner. It was an attempt to fill myself up before the unhealthy meal but eventually I found I was craving more fruits and veggies because I liked the way it made me feel

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There’s a lot to tackle here so I will just address one thing that has really helped me this year. I also do not like to cook and prefer something easy but wanted healthier food. I started ordering food from Daily Harvest. It comes frozen so you can eat it on your schedule. I like everything I have had. It’s filled with vegetables and healthy foods. I don’t know your definition of frugal, but per meal I don’t think it’s very expensive especially compared to delivery and especially considering the healthier foods. You basically add water and heat in the microwave for a few minutes! Easy and delicious. I eat these for lunch most days and have lost weight this summer.

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Add one behavior and delete one behavior every month. Don’t try to do everything all at once.

As an example, add a positive behavior like walking twice a week. Or maybe cooking at home several times a week.

Delete a negative behavior. Maybe it’s a food. Or drinking. Or staying up too late.

Pick one positive to add. Pick one negative to delete. Do it for a month. See how it goes. Repeat.

likesmart

I have a co-worker who has certain calls during which she can take walks. So at the beginning of the call she checks if she needs to be at her computer or if it's okay if she's walking to get outside before it's dark out!

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This group is amazing. Y’all are so supportive thank you.
I’m going to make a plan this weekend. The frozen food tips here are awesome

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I have learned a lot from my struggles with being overweight. Here are a few things to consider-
- Get started like right now. If we don’t have a full “healthy eating and exercising” plan or give to our cravings one day, We say to ourselves that we will restart next week or next day. These are just excuses. Do what you can with your next meal/ next hour. There is never a perfect plan or time to do this.
- it is a marathon and not a sprint. It is easy to get behind short term diet / crazy exercise routine but it never works in the long term. So identify your habit triggers, work on them, and be honest to yourself.

- I didn’t like going to gyms or could never keep an exercise schedule of any sort. I joined ClassPass. It gives me a class room setting which I enjoy a lot more and secondly, if I back out in the last 12 hours, I have to pay a cancellation fee (my frugal self hates that). So that keeps me committed. I do it as often as my schedule allows even if it means one class a week. That is >0.

- I started to keep a mindset that there is a fixed pot of money and time we have to spend on our health. We do that either by spending on healthy food, habits and exercise or later spend it on medicines and doctor visits. This helped me make better short term choices with my time and money.

-Lastly, there are only 2 states in your health journey- a downward spiral and an upward spiral. Downward spiral = bad eating, bad health, bad mood, bad sleep, low productivity, etc. they reinforce each other. Upward spiral is the opposite. The thing that attracts me to upward spiral is good sleep, better productivity, and good mood. So that pushes me to exercise and be healthy. Find what you like when you are practicing healthy habits and that should get you back to good habits. For me weight loss turned out to be a bad motivator. I never lost a ton of weight but I felt good by keeping healthier practices, so I keep doing it thinking weight loss is a byproduct.

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Your goals to complete by this time next week:
- Walk 100 minutes (in one go? 20 min a day? Your call)
- Drink 64oz water every day. Keep a log
- Select & sign up for a meal plan service (Daily Harvest, Sun Basket, Noom, Blue Apron, Sakara, your call)

These 👆 should realistically take less than 3 hrs to complete. The idea is to get the ball rolling without whiplash

Week 2?
- Walk 100 min
- Drink 64oz water daily
- Cook your meal service stuff
- Select and sign up for a fitness app, use it at least x2

Same deal, 👆& 👇 are less than 3hrs of effort in your week

Week 3?
- Walk 100 min
- 64oz 💦
- Small grocery shop for healthy snacks
- Cap your takeout to x2 wk

likehelpful

These all *seem* so achievable. Start where you are. It's okay to miss the mark for weeks at a time while you try.

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Agree with just getting started. In your case,I highly recommend working with a professional such as a registered dietician alongside a personal trainer. It may seem expensive up front, but think of it as a necessary investment for your health. Way cheaper to do that now than to get surgery or other major interventions down the line.

I was like you...sedentary for many years, loved junk food, didn't really cook after graduating. One time I almost passed out on a very easy jog (first time I had tried that since high school really). That was terrifying and a wake up call. What helped me was focusing on doing 1-2 things *consistently*. I gained more confidence after a few months, then gradually added more on.

The first thing was eating slightly healthier. Like I made myself ridiculously low goals like: no more soda and cook 1x a week. I also made a spreadsheet of healthy meals that take 5 or less minutes to cook (and I started really low - like avocado on toast with pre sliced chicken breast) and stocked my fridge full of ingredients so I didn't really have an excuse to not do it.

The other goal was starting with exercise 1x a week. I like the suggestion of walking above as it is really doable. For me I did Soul Cycle (pre Covid obviously). I liked that I could sit at the back of the room, the music could distract me, I could go at my own pace / resistance, and no one could see me because it was dark (had a fear of gyms so many months of membership fees went to waste). I figured it was less than an hour and I could make tine for that 1x a week. I felt really dumb for paying so much for a spin class/shoes/ water but you know what? I went every week. After 4 weeks, I started to notice a difference. After 3 months, people started commenting on how much weight I had lost. Hilariously, I was about the same weight, but even that little bit of exercise from a total sedentary lifestyle made me gain some muscle and look like I had dropped several sizes (like you, I am small, so a slight change in weight or muscle is very noticeable).

I tell this story just to let you know that no matter what you choose to start eating better and exercising more, it doesn't matter what it is as long as you get started and do it consistently. Pick whatever you think will make you realistically do it again in a few days/next week. The results will come and it will be so much easier to continue after that.

I am rooting for you. Good luck.

likeuplifting

Oh I should add I’m trying to figure out all the possibilities like working with a nutritionist through insurance, buying home workout equipment (hopefully not too expensive) and on.

What fitness hacks worked for you?

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I'll write a long response later tonight but for now - highly recommended that you work with a registered dietitian rather than a nutritionist. Feel free to so some quick googling as to why or ask me later.

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I had a lot of success with Noom. It seems like a lot of what you need is the psychological/behavioral change first and that’s what Noom focuses on. It helps address your overall relationship with food and exercise and teaches you ways to make long-lasting change. It’s article based so if reading and applying what you learned isn’t your thing, then it probably won’t be for you but it helped me a ton.

Other than that, I also recommend signing up for free virtual classes and subscriptions to try different workouts to see what you like. I’m a huge fan of Peloton but it’s costly and thy have shipping delay currently so it might be something to consider later on. Take things in strides. The kind of lifestyle changes you’re looking for takes time so be patient and don’t let setbacks (they’ll happen) take you off course.

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I didn’t have any success with Noom, and they were very annoying to me with their basic advice. But I had health conditions needing to be accommodated and they were pretty useless with that.

Some tactical things to get you started (and are budget friendly!)

1) develop a habit of regular meals by having very easy to assemble food: toast with smashed avocado for breakfast, or boiled eggs, portion control salad for lunch (just get salad mix so you don’t have to worry about washing etc), and a protein dinner (bulk make chicken on Sunday then microwave on the weeknights) serve with grains
2) try to get out for 10-15m walks throughout the day- take your calls on a walk, or just try to carve out some time between calls- this is possible if u prioritize, trust me! You’ll find time somewhere
3) this is hardest because you will need motivation to break the cycle: look up 15m workouts on YouTube. Start with body parts that you feel strongest so you get in the habit and don’t get deterred. For me that’s lower body.
4) like you said, be gentle with yourself. Some days are harder than others but with each day it gets easier (you’re retraining your body and cravings)
5) try to cut back on weed- limit yourself to once on the weekdays, and weekends only

Hope this helps!

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Read the book Atomic Habits! It breaks down how to start habits and then how to maintain them!

There’s a million and one ways (some listed here) to improve your health but none of them will really work if you don’t consciously make it a lifestyle change. You got this!

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One thing I haven’t seen recommend here that can help is if you have a workout buddy to keep you accountable. I find that even when I’m exhausted at night, if I just get started, then I get into it and do the whole workout. If you have a friend that helps you get to your mat and get started, you might find you’ll be good from there!

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- I always get food delivery because I’m a terrible cook and hate my own cooking, and who has time during consulting!
- I’m also frugal so I tend to count pennies when ordering in and the unhealthy stuff is the cheapest
- I am not a morning person but I am always EXHAUSTED by 8 pm which is when I usually finish work calls. Going to the gym at that time feels impossible, because I also have edits and emails to get to
- I try every now and then but cannot seem to find a way to create a routine with activity
- I indulge in too much (legal) weed which just reinforces this bad cycle of binge eating and being lazy.

I want to lose weight (10 lbs?) and also gain muscle. I know all the basic things I need to do. I’ve done all the googling!

But how in the world do you get started? There are a million reasons every day to not do something or follow routine. I know my mental hurdles like being frugal also get in the way.

I’d love to hear from some people who are not cross fitters and gym rats how to beat these demons.

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If you’re frugal, you may get the best result through hiring a health coach with 2m payment upfront. 2M is usually enough to change habits, and your frugality will make you follow coach recommendations otherwise money are wasted.

My friend in London just got her nutritionist diploma after 2 years of education, and she was also a head of production in fermentary.
She is only starting her practice, so her fees are not sky high. But with her knowledge of food, gut health and infectious positivity that won’t be for long. Her clients love her. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested.

https://instagram.com/olgabondenutrition?igshid=8taur1hl13l9

helpful

I hate cooking too! Look up meal delivery services like Eat Clean Bro. You just pop it in the microwave for a few minutes and it’s already portioned out.

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Join CrossFit.

funny

I wasn’t kidding. Find a small box. They will scale your workouts initially and you will see how your posture will improve. And your diet will improve ‘automatically’ as you start putting more thought into it.

Already some great advice here so I won’t repeat but one other thing that helped me is to get a Fitbit. It gives you good encouragement to know you’ve done a certain amount of steps or X minutes of fat burn/ cardio a day. It’s like an accountability buddy on my wrist. I got the charge 4 which is less than $100 and I’m very happy with it.

I had the exact same problem as you in terms of workouts and set a goal to do 15 mins of exercise a day. It’s really not much but it’s so little that you can’t make excuses and it helps you get into the habit!

Otherwise a few things that significantly helped me are below. These can be on the costlier side however you can find cheaper alternatives.
- started a healthy meal delivery service. It’s delicious and gets me excited about eating well and the price is worth the convenience for me.
- started a membership to Orange Theory to do outdoor classes. I’m not super motivated to workout on my own so I needed this however there are really cheap/free virtual fitness subscriptions or just simply walking is great too. And you can use a tracker to keep yourself accountable!

When spending money on these things, I frame it to myself as investing in my health and well being. I’m happy to do it and cut down on other things if needed.

Good luck! You can do this 😊

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@OP I would suggest looking into getting a subscription with the VShred Program. They have a huge online community of people who have gone they similar challenges like yours, as well as advice that if followed closely, drive strikingly good results. They address food, weight, and working out-related issues, as well as have robust content to help guide you through these challenges.

Happy to PM more about my experience with this.

Step 1, learn to cook 2-3 healthy meals you enjoy. After you get this down, you’ll feel better and be ready for step 2.

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