want to make my son proud while he is away at bootcamp

[beccajotaylor]

hey today is my first day. i am 42 years old, i weigh 240 pounds. my son just joined the marines and had to leave monday for bootcamp. i made a promise to him and to myself that i would get healthy while he was gone. i figured that if he can go through 13 weeks of training, i could take this time to work on me. i have to work really hard because my biggest problem is, im addicted to food. i want to go to parris island in june to see him graduate and when he sees me, i want him to say wow thats my mom. if anyone has any tips please clue me in. thanks rebecca

[almeeker]

I'm 42 and weighed about 5 pounds more than you when I started, so believe me when I say, "you can do this". The first thing I did was to study my habits for 3 days, and find out what my bad habits were. Basically I was eating breakfast like 3-4 times every morning, wasn't putting in enough hard work at the gym and most of my calories were coming from carbs. We're all different so you have to figure out what your own issues are. Then I did a combination of 2 fitness plans, one was called 5-10-15-20 (5 fruits & veggies daily, 10,000 steps on the pedometer, 15 min of strengthening exercises daily and 2,000 of the 10,000 steps have to be aerobic) and the other was based on a diet I did years ago at one of those "diet centers". The 2 together look something like this:

1 hour cardio 6 days/week
2 servings of grain based carbs (not to exceed 200 calories) daily
3 servings of fresh fruit daily
4-7 servings of lean low-fat protein daily
8 glasses of water daily
9 servings of veggies daily
10,000 steps on the pedometer

I'm currently doing some things that are different from this list, but the list above took the first 80 pounds off rather quickly.

[cjohnson728]

Hi Rebecca, almeeker gave you a good template for success; just wanted to add that it is easier if you make one change at a time and view it as something you will stick with as part of your life as opposed to a diet that you go off and on. Don't be afraid to revise your goals and change things up as you go along. Listen to your body and pay attention to what works and what doesn't. Also, use the forums when you're having bad days (or good ones); there is a lot of information here and everyone is willing to help, offer support, and answer questions.

You have a great mindset and I think it is commendable that you are taking advantage of this time to work on you. So often we give so much of ourselves to our kids (willingly) that we get lost in the process. It is a very powerful moment to realize that we're important, too, and you are taking nothing away from anyone by spending some of your energy on yourself. Be strong, girl!

[staceyalberta]

what a great motivation to get into better shape. i just wanted to say hi & i'm sure you'll do great. in womens support forum there is a weekly motivational thread that might interest you. come check us out.

[wildbeanerz]

I'm new here too and just wanted to welcome you! I think it is wonderful that your son joined the military and that you want to impress him. What better way than showing up looking your best! I think it will also make a nice distraction for you from thinking about him being away.

[Jacqueline003]

wow thats wonderful, i just joined 3 days ago, i need to lose 130 pounds, we can do this if we stick to the calories per day they gave us Good Luck