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How to ease into a diet and fitness routine.
I walk about 2 miles every week day because of my commute to work... I get told to exercise but the 10 mile walk a week honestly exhausts most of my energy.
I've been trying to cut out sugar but have been having some trouble with that. I don't eat that much in carbs and lately have been eating red meat 3 or so times a week. I could probably eat more veggies and fruit than I do now. The thing is I've been buying them, but a lot of it ends up getting wasted. I don't use it quick enough and then it goes bad, or I cook so many vegetables that I don't want to finish it and the leftovers sit in the fridge for a week and then go bad.
Another thing is that I take a medication (Seroquel) which has a weight gain side effect. I gained about 30 pounds since taking it and that has been frustrating. I'm more or less over the comments about my weight, but I really don't want to have to go out and buy a new wardrobe. And I just want to feel healthier as well.
Re: How to ease into a diet and fitness routine.
I'm completely addicted to MyFitnessPal, which has helped me eat better and lose weight. I have been using it for a year and a half now and have lost 20lbs so far. They have a website and also have a phone app, if you have a smart phone. It is a calorie tracker, but it also will give you a summary of your daily nutritional breakdown, so you can see what levels you are at. It is time consuming, but if you have a smart phone, you can actually scan the barcodes and it will bring everything up. Plus, you can save meals, if you are eating the same thing all the time.
I also love Turbo Jam. Some of the workouts in the program are only 20 minutes, which may make it easier for you to fit in your day. You could also try the "10 Minute Trainer" videos.
Good luck!
I think you are doing a pretty decent job with trying to get into a new routine. Just remember that acquiring new habits (good and bad) take time and consistency, so the best is to stick by it.
As with the fruits and veggies, what I do is freeze them when I have too much. Mostly fruit goes bad really quickly, so I cut them up and freeze them and I can make myself a quick cool smoothie by just tossing milk yoghurt and frozen fruit into the blender and whip away. Or adding frozen pineapple chunks to organge juice, blenderize and you have a great juice for breakfast. Freezing your fruit is perhaps the best you can do when you have simply too much or when they are way too ripe already when you get them.
With veggies you can do the same. Either season them and freeze them away in bags or containers, so they are ready to simply cook them (I'm not a big fan of that option but there are some recipes that work quite nicely with potatoes and carrots). What I do is prepare a few dishes and if I get tired of them during the week I stick them in the freezer. I know that at some point I'll be too busy (or lazy) to cook and knowing I have something ready to nuke in the microwave for a few minutes stops me from using it as an excuse to eat out.
I can really be stupid about putting things in the freezer >.< I often forget to separate thing like fish and whatnot and then when I want to take something out it's all stuck together. I'll just need to remember not to do that.
I like the smoothie idea.
Oh my gosh Arcadia, I love my FitBit! I definitely recommend this or some other type of pedometer; it keeps me way more active during the day.
As far as better nutrition, I have been working on this/still am. I try to focus on one thing at a time until I have that down. For example, I used to hate eating bananas by themselves (weird, I know.) So, I started out adding a banana to my cereal in the morning. Then, I would 'graduate' to eating a half banana cut up in chunks. Now, I actually enjoy eating bananas just as they are. I've done the same thing with switching to skim milk (gradually from 2%, 1%, skim....adding it to my cereal and cooking with it at first, until finally I got okay with just drinking it.)
I am not a huge veggie fan so I try to hide them--I use the same tips that are given for tricking kids, lol.
My fitness pal is great. Weight watchers is too (you get more in person accountability but costs $). I've lost and regained enough over the last decade. I'm going slowly now and haven't regained in a couple years!
What has helped me some has been finding some specific (healthy) recipes and then buying ingredients just for those so I don't buy a bunch of stuff hoping I'll use it.
I'm no help with exercise, though! I totally hate it. Haha.
Good luck!