Just Starting
 

Does anyone have any really successful ways to kick off your diet and exercise regimen? Or just any successful advice period? I am afraid I am going to let myself get off track again.

A little background: I am moderately active. Work full time and I am a student. I am a vegetarian.

The best advice I can give you is to not kick start it, take it one baby step at a time, make each step a new healthy habit and change your lifestyle for the better.

Thank you
 

That is actually great advice, thank you.

That's the way I'm going -- baby steps. I just started this week and I plan to make one healthy change each week... easy ones to start. This week's goal is just to drink 8 glasses of water each day. I'm hoping if I make little changes over a long period of time, I will have a better chance of making my weight goal (and maintaining it).

I agree, "diet" is a four-letter word. Small, manageable, permanent lifestyle changes is what's worked for me, and I'm still a work in progress one year in. Currently I'm working on finding quick healthy recipes to replace cooking from a box and Subway runs on my work days when there's not a lot of time to get dinner on the table.

Agree.
 

I have the same problem; i am a full time student and work full time and it is easier, and cheaper, to pick up subway for my boyfriend and i on a tight budget and tight schedule.its a large part of my problem.

Great advice above. One of the best things I did was to stop drinking my calories. I would drink 3 or 4 Cokes a day. Just eliminating those and switching to water saved me over 400 calories daily. Now I don't miss them. I also restrict my simple carbohydrates like processed foods, white bread, sugar and juice.

Stir frying vegetables with a little soy sauce or salsa is a quick alternative to stopping for Subway. There is another active post about Healthy Lunches that has a great idea for a taco salad. Since you are vegetarian just add black beans instead of the meat for a quick and easy meal.

I'm the queen of budget meals and it does not get any cheaper than homemade, for the same price as a single foot long Subway sandwich you can make a dinner for 10. It's not gourmet, but then again neither is Subway, right? I do a lot of stocking up when things go on sale and we rarely let anything go to waste.

Fast is another problem, but for those nights when the kids are going in 10 different directions and in the midst of getting my children out the door, the parents I babysit for are arriving to pick up their kids, it's like being at a zoo where all the animals have been let loose. Yeah, on those nights the "crock pot" is often my safety net. Now my crock pot is big, like 4.5 quarts or something (but I'm cooking for a small pink army), but you can get these really nifty little ones now, 1 quart maybe, and I want to say they are very inexpensive like $12-15? My in-laws have one in their camper and they love it.

We also use leftovers frequently, in fact many of the recipes I use for cooking are prepared with leftovers in mind. My kids love a thermos full of hot leftovers for lunch, especially when it's cold out. I'm also a firm subscriber to the "30 minute meal". The funny part is that until Rachel Ray came on TV with her show, it never occurred to me that there was really any other kind of meal, my mother certainly never taught me to cook any meal that took longer than 30 minutes. Who knew? And I would argue that you can't go out, buy food and get it home in less time than it takes to prepare a 30 minute meal. Now get cooking.