I'm hoping to lose weight, but I'm just starting looking into it. Does anybody have any helpful tips for me? I weigh 175 pounds, I'm 5'5", and I would like to get down to 130. I do not have a time limit, though faster would be better. Any tips will be greatly appreciated!

That's so great to hear! I'm happy something is working for you. I think it's those little things that happen that keep up going, because its not just a slight change in the number on the scale, but it's an actuall improvement that you can see and be proud of! Keep up the good work!

Nice job milaruth, and good luck on your journey, Freckles. I find writing down everything I eat really helps me control what I eat.

Make it your best year ever!

Starting to just eat healthy and excersize. I think that is the best way to go. Yes it seems simple but never having tried it before has made me lazy and fat.
I wish the high school days when I was thiner and did not even try. Now I have to work for it. BLA!
Wedding is November 7th and I would like to just feel healther. I will continue this fight with myself even after that special day. I can do this. WE CAN DO THIS

My shorts are comfortable NOT tight!!!!!!!!!!

Wooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo

Are any of you following any specific diet plans (i.e. South Beach, Abs Diet, Weight Watchers, etc)??

I'm looking to do something for a few weeks to try to kickstart my system a little bit but am overwhelmed by the options. My main thing is I don't want something where I'm starving, and that takes into account that I exercise pretty regularly (for instance when I did South Beach a few years ago it seemed like it didn't offer me enough protein to take into account that I was working out 4-5 times a week). Let me know what you've tried and what worked, didn't work, etc.

Thanks!!!

Spices like cumin seeds, curry powder, etc... Can sometimes be bought for cheaper prices at an asian market. If you have a good one near you, price shop for spices!!

Takes no time to make. You can sub regular flour with no issues! Add rice and some veg and you've got a great *and cheap* meal!

Channa Masala Recipe

anyone on here vegetarian and know any good, EASY, not-a-whole-lot-of-ingredients-that-I-have-to-buy-because-I'm-a-poor-college-student recipes? It's hard for me to make much more than pasta with marinara sauce, but that gets so boring...

Thanks!!!

Another good place for us to meet up and support eachother.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CalorieLookup/312399

Lately I have been having trouble sticking to what seems like a pretty simple plan to lose weight. I just tell myself I need to get in 60 minutes of exercise a day, which for me I either go running, or usually I do the biggest loser boot camp video. I keep finding some reason to not do it. Oh well, I guess I will jsut have to crack the whip. But this site seems pretty helpful. Is anyone elso out there just starting a diet and can't seem to get it going? IDK, it just seems like I'm being silly and need to get seriuos about my health. And BTW to anyone out there, remember, YOU ARENT TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU ARE TRYING TO BE HEALTHY, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY SAY THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOUR DOING TO HELP YOURSELF. :) GOODLUCK EVERYONE!

I am so not on track .. but today is Day 1 of the reset!

My best friend has committed to walking with me every day, my son has committed to being my 'external conscience' and remind me of my promise to hit the walking trail daily with the dog, and my husband - he says as long as I am happy HE is happy ... soooo I count that as ON BOARD!!

I'd love to talk with you - sometimes its easier to pour it all out to a stranger and give back really objective feedback -- I am on facebook or you can e-mail me.

Rest is a go! New (realistic) goals:

Lose 15 lbs by Sept 5 (my daughter's birthday)
Lose another 15 lbs by Thanksgiving.
Lose another 15 lbs by New Years

Thats 45 lbs in 5 1/2 months.

http://www.facebook.com/milaruthcharron

Is there any way to get a detail report for a day or a week of the foods that one has recorded in the food dairy? This is a great site and very helpful for those of us who are trying to track what we consume!

Hello milaruth: I hope you are on-track from you previously stated goals. Or if you are like me, you might need to hit 'reset' and get on track again. If you are on-track, GREAT, if not, you may want to join me and hit reset.

Hi,

Sorry the site was down for a bit yesterday. Of course, I am traveling for work. It seems that when I leave the country it makes the site go down. Anyway, being in Europe makes the timing a bit odd, as I may be asleep when folks in the US are trying to use the site. I'll check it more frequently.

Cheers, Rick

Hi DD....good luck with the 14 day yogurt challenge. Maybe make time to do some upper body work or stretching. I fall off the wagon a lot, but try again...at least I have lost a few instead of continuing to gain like I was doing before this site. My weight loss has been really slow, I guess I really need to figure out the emotional eating... hang in there.

Man has it been difficult for me to find motivation lately. I hurt my achilles tendon so I am not working out whhile I wait for it to heal... and my diet is not so good, to put it nicely. I was actively wondering about my lack of motiviation and trying to find a source of motivation.

Along comes a yogurt commercial talking about a 14-day challenge. We'll I going to try my own 14-day challenge. I need some "short-term" victory to get me back on track. Eat right, care for my achilles, and I guess eat yogurt each day?!? whatever can get me back and motivated to live a healthy lifestyle.

This site is great - I have struggled for so long with diet after diet. Most of them seemed so complicated especially with all the receipes and different foods to make. I am a woman who is always on the go and honestly do not have the time to cook as often as I would like to. This site has been wonderous for me because I can keep track of what I am eating while on the go. Thank you Calorie Lookup! :)

I just weighed myself today after about 1 1/2 weeks and I have already lost 9LBS I am so excited. I have tried many many times before and never lost it this quickly. By this time though I was usually not motivated anymore. I am finding that this site has given me so much motivation. I love it! Since starting my diet I haven't lost any motivation and it is so exciting to easily be able to see how many calories i am putting in my body and how many i am burning throughout the day..:) thanks so much!

Here is a recent post modified for you...

It goes from 1 heart to 5 hearts, then you start over with one heart in another color - so you will soon be one red heart after you get to five white hearts. You progress by using the site - Rick knows the details. I am at one gold. So far my progression has been, 1) pale/white, 2) red, 3) blue 4) gold.

is there anywhere on this site that explains what each heart means? and what the colors mean?

I believe the calorie burn for the yoga exercise on this site is much lower than what you probably burn in pilates. The yoga on this site is = walking 17 min miles, which is not agressive. You might try Aerobics (high impact), or heavy or moderate calisthenics to better reflect your pilates calorie burn.

I have been trained to use nose breathing only when doing (vinyasa) yoga - I don't think I could manage that when doing pilates.

I am very into Pilates and I try to do it every day. When I started this site i noticed that there is Yoga in the exercise choices but no Pilates. Is there a difference in the calorie burning? If so how much? I want to make sure that I am getting everything right with this diet. I really like this site, its very motivating.

Kim:

To add a food, click on the "Food" tab at the top. A new set of submenus appears underneath the tab in the blue line. You can click on "add a food" if you are adding something that is a pre-manufactured food that has a label (i.e. box food, restuarant foods that you get the info off of, etc). Click "Add a Recipe" if you are trying to get a calorie count of your favorite home-made dish.

FYI - Most tabs have these "sub-menus" which contain a ton of info. Very useful.

Finally - tags are a way to orgainze your favorite recipies; I haven't used them so I don't know that much about them - anyone else know about them?

I am new to this site and I see that people are able to add foods to the food tab with the calories how do you do that and what is a tagged food?

Thanks for your help :)
Kim

why do you not have jogging in the exercise tab that will cover the 12 minute mile pace to 15 minute mile pace?

Hey DD,

Glad that helps.

As a fellow Peanut Butter lover I can understand the PB&J desire, but that right there is a little "fat-bomb". When I'm in reducing mode I really work to avoid it. I let myself have more J without the PB. The sugar is easier to burn off.

Good Luck,

JAC

Thanks Jac. That gives me some things to try/think about. The turkey breast sandwiches would certainly have less fat than my natural PB&J, but I'll still keep PB&J in my diet, just not as often. I am not looking for a lot of protein, I just want my protein to come with less fat. I use a 3:1 carb:protein recovery drink. I do have a few packets of whey protein I can mix with a smoothie to see if I like that. Thanks for the info - I'll look at the 20-25% as a healthy range. I still need to change my habits to get <= 25%.

If you really want to reduce your fat intake try cutting all milk products as a starter and avoid sausage in general. Try sliced turkey breast for sandwiches and then fish or chicken breasts grilled (dry, don't add any oil, just be sure to only cook them long enough that they are still juicy) to up your protein intake.

Also watch out for the sneaky 'salad dressing factor.' where a 100 calorie salad can easily get 200 calories of fat dumped on it.

The idea to get your fat intake 'less than' you protein intake might be a bit of a redd herring because 20-25% is a really healthy fat intake and you can eat a lot of healthy lean meat and fish(more than you need in fact) and not get over 25% for pretein intake.

If you are doing some kind of intense body building or other athletic endeavor and really want that protein intake up you might try adding a protein powder to your diet, especially right after your work outs.

Anyway, those tricks all work for me.

JAC

Hello: In a previous post I worte that I try to get more calories from protein than fat. Well, it appears that I never succeed. I think I could succeed by getting lowfat cottage cheese and beans into my diet - maybe egg whites too. Even my turkey sausage has more cals from fat than protein. I just need to remember to eat the cottage cheese before it goes bad :-) I don't know if it is necessary more healty to get more calories from protein than fat - but I want to try it - at least it will expose me to some other healthy food alternatives.

Until I started counting calories, I didn't realize how much some foods have! I had to add a brownie sundae to my list today and well...wow. It's as many calories as a whole meal.

And those are calories I could have consumed as veggies, fruits, or anything really would have been better than a sundae. Using this site really makes you think differently about what you consume, and for me, that's a good thing!

Some times trying to lose weight, can be so darn aggrivating. I weighed myself today and I'm up again. I hope that its just some fluke, b/c i don't think i can work harder.

I too am new to the site. I really appreciate the combination of calorie counting and activity logging.It really meets our needs, helping us keep track of what we really eat (a long-standing problem for us), plus using the exercise log really encourages us to move more. My husband and I have used this site for about six weeks, he's lost 10+, I've lost 15. Thanks for all of you adding foods and sharing your thoughts on this board. We reallty appreciate it.

Thank you ddhawkins for clearing up the hearts mystery.

Hello Newbie: You gain hearts with site activity. Here is a recent post of mine explaining what I know...

"It goes from 1 heart to 5 hearts, then you start over with one heart in another color - so you will be one red heart soon. You progress by using the site - Rick knows the details. I am at blue. So far my progression has been, 1) pale/white, 2) red, 3) blue - so I think #4 will be gold (at least those are all the colors I recall)."

Hello milaruth: Your 15 pounds in 5 weeks (by Memorial Day) puts you at 3 pounds a week. How did you do your first week?

I've looked everywhere on the site to find an explanation about the hearts and color coding of the hearts next to my login name. Can someone point me to it, or explain it? I've been VERY impressed by this site and I've made a commitment to stick with it.

I just saw my fifth pale heart in the upper right hand corner - still a newbie, but have seen nothing but results! I just wanted to say a big thank you to all who maintain this website, and its members who consistently add new information and words of wisdom. I can only wish everyone else the same great luck I've had!

You know, anyone that has ever had a weight problem knows about falling of the wagon, and knows of the trials and disapointing failure of trying to get back into shape. When I was younger my parents used to allow me to eat 3 Sonic hambugers in one sitting, and now that i look back on it, I realize that they have a hand in my weight problem. Now don't get me wrong I know that my inability to push myself away from the table is my own fault, but as I look back I really wish that some one would have taught me how to eat properly and exersice regularly. I have been off the wagon for over 2 years and just now have decided to try and hop back on, but I tell you what the longer you are off the wagon the faster the darn thing seems to travel. So to all those out there that are trying to get back on the wagon I wish you the best of luck and will pray for your sucess!

I set my total weight loss goal ahead of time. I decided I was going to lose a certain amount in a certain amount of time. Why not? I did it two years ago and it just melted off. Guess what? 2 years made all the difference in the world. My body has changed and I'm a little older. I've struggled with diet and going to the gym since Christmas only to lose 17 lbs. Don't look at the big picture. It can be daunting and cause you to be discouraged. Concentrate on short term goals. One day at a time. When you reach a goal, set another one. The "rule of thumb" is that no more than 2 pounds per week is the healthiest amount to lose and you're more likely to keep it off. You might also want to consider other ways of measuring your success beside the scale; such as the fit of your clothes. Also focus on incorporating changes into you diet and routine that you can live with for life. Be good to yourself and Good luck to you.

Just found an interesting article on weight loss. It looks like you need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound. Unless I plan to eat nothing for 100 days, or exercise may hours a day, I don't think I can meet my 100 pounds in 100 days goal. I'm glad I found this article, I will be updating my weight loss goals soon.

3500 Calories to Lose Weight article

Good Luck Mr_Bomber_Man01

I am a little over 100 pounds over weight. My new goal, as of a few days ago, is to lose 1 pound each day for 100 days. I have all ready lost 5 pounds and should be able to reach my goal if I continue tracking and changing to meet my goals.

What a wonderful gift to give to your wife and unborn child! This website can be a real aid to weight lose and you have a wonderful motive. My husband uses this site and lost 80 pounds...he just had his yearly physical this morning and is in the best shape of his adult life. Focus on good food choices and increase your workout activities...you will need the endurance to keep up with that little one! Good luck!

I promised my wife to lose at least 50 lbs before our child is born in mid December. So please wish me luck

Milaruth -- GOOD LUCK!!!

OK - I fell off the proverbial wagon and am ashamed.

Here we go ... I am going to throw it out to the universe:

I WILL LOSE 15 LBS by Memorial Day Weekend.

I WILL LOSE ANOTHER 30 LBS by Labor Day.

I WILL LOSE ANOTHER 20 LBS by Thanksgiving

I WILL HAVE LOST A TOTAL OF 80 LBS BY MY BIRTHDAY IN MARCH 2011.

I won't be eating this, you can check the link and see why

http://www.kfc.com/nutrition/pdf/kfc_nutrition.pdf

While this first week seems a little intense with only 3 dinners throughout the whole week (with snacks of celery, lettuce, cucumbers and raw almonds) and then cleanse and protein supplements throughout; this will only work if I maintain it. This is only a kickstart to cleanse your body of the toxins that hold onto fat and it will permanently change your eating habits. Amazingly it has worked out well! I only have two more days left of the inital detox and I feel incredible! More energy (even while running), sleeping better, less stress (during a stressful time of buying a home) and I don't feel that I need to eat the "junk" food (although it's a bit tempting still). Sure, after I get finished with this first week I could got right back to my eating habits, but losing 10 lbs so far makes me want to keep up the good work. I'm a believer. When I started running to try and lose weight, it just wasn't coming off but with the introduction of this detox/cleanse diet I'm getting the boost I need! Along with regular chiropractic treatments I think I'm on my way to a long and healthy life! Check it out.

http://www.nulean.com