WorkedTooHard

My only advice is to watch out for those artsy ones that are only in jars or small spaces -- excess water = mildew!

Purely based on personal experience... I used to drink a lot of diet mountain dew...probably one of those liter bottles a day, on average. When I finally decided enough was enough and weened myself off of it, I felt a lot better, particularly in my mood. Getting off of it though felt like I was giving up smoking after 20 years. When I finally kicked the habit, the biggest change was that my everyday anxiety dropped significantly. I still drink coffee, but can easily get off caffeine and give myself a break now...not that addicted. Before with diet soda, I would be going crazy without it, so much that it was all I could think about -- far more addictive because of all the other crap in it. Now I'll drink Zevia when it's on sale at the store, but not really anything else. If I ever do start getting back into drinking too much 'regualar diet soda' (the stuff with the aspartame and etc.), it only takes a few days for all of the old symptoms (anxiety, extreme fatique, longer bouts of depression) to come back.

Using joints often and building up muscle and tendon strength will only make them stronger. So keep at it. It may be that you're just getting tendon or muscle soreness because you're starting up again. I had that at first when I started running. Two things I did: I bought really good running shoes. I have very flat feet, so it made all the difference. With that, I researched the stride most flat footed people have when running, and worked on correcting that too by starting slower and paying attention. Second, just working slowly and building up more gradually helped. If I started to get ankle pain, I took a few days off, and then started with walking again. My ankles and feet muscles didn't want to keep up with my cardio and leg endurance! Eventually though, they did catch up. Just take it slow, take breaks when needed, and know that consistency is important.

I also have a sweet tooth, but hardly a sugar addiction like I definitely used to have! For me a few things helped: Eating enough -- I was on the binge and then freakout and eat too little cycle. I'd make myself get too hungry by creating too big of a calorie deficit too fast. The hungrier I get, the more carbs I crave, and simple sugars. Intermittent Fasting -- IF helped with my carb and sugar cravings like crazy. First and foremost was to eat enough, but the second step was that I just ate it in a smaller time frame. For me, it was less about 'tricking myself into eating fewer calories' with IF, and more about control of blood sugar. It took a few weeks to get used too (I was super hungry the first few weeks with the same amount of calories), but then my body evened out, and now I eat only lunch and two dinners, all of which are moderately sized. It's not for everyone, but I would suggest anyone who has bad sugar cravings to read up on it and try it out for at least a few weeks. Eating more produce -- I diversified my produce intake and got a lot more vitamins and minerals. For me, this also included eating more nutrient-dense fruit. At first, a piece of fruit would not take away my sugar craving, but after my body got used to a new, healthier form of carbs, I started craving fruits or veggies when craving carbs, not pasta and peanut butter cups. Some people react adversely to too much fruit, again, everyones biology is different, and eating more fruit helped me. I eat 1-2 servings a day now (I never really like the texture of fruit, so getting used to it), compared to me having a piece maybe once a week before. Eating more protein -- Protein for me helps keep me fuller longer, but I still have intense sugar cravings so it wasn't a one-stop fix for me with getting in more protein. For me, sugar cravings were different from only hunger a lot of the time. It works for a lot of people though, and helped to fix part of the problem for me. I recognized emotional/habitual triggers -- After a meal, when I was upset, weekend 'I deserve this' time. I had a lot of purely habitual craving-inducers. Recognizing them one by one and dealing with them helped. Recognizing that fixing all of them at once wasn't do-able also helped. I would focus on one trigger, and cope, then move onto the next. Depression -- I love the book 'Potatoes not Prozac'. Its a great book on fighting depression and/or regulating mood with food, specifically for those who are sugar addicted. There's a strong correlation between sugar addiction and mood disorders. Even if only mild moodiness, its a great book to look into for anyone that has intense, sometimes non-stop sugar cravings. Hope this will help at least someone.

Find a few calculators online to get an idea of what you should be eating for your stats at a sedentary or lightly active level. If you're still walking around on crutches and going to work, doing housework, etc., then that is lightly active. If you're bedridden most of the time, that is sedentary. Focus on a lot of veggies and protein. Veggies are low in calories and nutrient dense, so you can eat a ton of them while consuming less energy overall, important since you're not burning it all off! Protein will help speed up your metabolism too, so you can eat a ton of protein in the form of veggies or lean meats. Just pay attention to what you eat more, and put your focus on getting more nutrition and volume for your calories. You can always work on your upper body too in terms of strength. Won't burn a ton of calories but it can help so you don't feel as though you have to start back up from scratch when you're healed from a fitness standpoint. Otherwise, weight gain will be super minimal over the course of only a month. If you focus on eating healthy it will for one help hinder excessive weight gain, but also help you heal faster.

For me, I think of it in minutes. According to my daily activity via a pedometer, I'm only getting about 2k-3k steps in at my desk job, or 20-30 minutes active time. For weight loss, I'm trying to get the standard 10k of activity/steps/movement in. Instead of making sure I'm walking 10k a day including my daily activities, I calculated that about 70min of additional light activity a day is needed for me to reach my total 10k 'steps'. So, if I go to a weight training class that's 40 minutes, I'll subtract that from the additional 70 minutes I need to do. (70 - 40 = 30 remaining minutes, so I'll walk an additional 30 minutes after the class) Just a little strategy I have going that helps me stay relatively consistent on days I work out in terms of effort. If I do something more vigorous like running for 10 minutes, I count that as 20 minutes of my total light activity. I base mostly everything else on what I feel my effort was -- eg. Zumba is 'light effort' for me, 40 min of Kickboxing is harder and I'm sure I burn twice as many kcals in the same amount of time, so I'm done for the day without additional walking after that.

If you're losing weight the healthy, slow way, you shouldn't have to worry about too much loose skin. Looking great, and keep up the good work! I agree with the others, if you're not already do some strength training that will really help with your overall body shape as you continue.

Just to share out...I also live in an apartment, in a place with cold winters, and on top of that have cats that will eat plants. I thought I could never grow my own stuff. While I still don't have a full garden, I did just think of a way to start growing smaller plants: old aquarium. I found a huge one on craigslist and paid $25 for it (retailed $80 for the size). I filled it halfway up with rocks/dirt and have just planted some basil and oregano. There's a breathable screen on the top -- blocking the cats and letting the plants breath. My green thumb is awful, so I hope to improve that and improve my indoor gardening adventures too. There's plenty of other options -- terrariums, dwarf trees/bushes, hanging/upside-down plants, etc.

I only add protein to my smoothies so my sugar doesn't spike as much. Otherwise, I'd much rather prefer getting my protein naturally. Without supplements, I get between 70-90 g daily, and without really trying in particular. I eat a lot of beans (including edemame), more veggies than fruits, and still eat some dairy/whole grains. Right now I'm using up some Hemp protein powder, but when I can afford it I love the Vega brand ...I even like the taste it gives my smoothies and plain alternative milk, so I go through it like crazy when I have it!

No matter what you're intentions truly are, most woman are going to assume you're hitting on them because it happens just too darn often. It seems like it should be quite obvious that it's not the place or time for that, but with so many guys not understanding that, it's easy to assume that's what a guy is doing. Something to keep in mind always is the perception/experiences of the other person. Obviously, I'm sure different experiences happen in a lot of scenarios.

The amount your exercise is up to you. 30 minutes a day is recommended to keep moderately healthy. Longer if you're trying to lose excess body fat. For a completely unfit person, if they start getting only 10 minutes a day in, that's wonderful. Other people train for marathons or fitness competitions or obstacle course races, and workout for hours most days of the week. As long as you're eating the correct amount to fuel your workouts and meet your goals, as well as not exert yourself for the fitness level you're at, you should be just fine. IMO, the more the better for most people. If a person has a desk job or is inactive in school, and works out lightly/walks for two hours a day afterwards, that's still less activity than our ancestors did, ya know? Yet, it would be stupid to start doing that straight away if you're a person who's never walked more than a mile in years. It's all about balance and improving where you're at now, and everybody is different. Just listen to your body because there is really no correct amount for any one person. BTW, I also feel for you with your parents. Mine were the same way. Not fit or healthy people (both overweight, diabetic, eating 99% processed foods, went to gym 3 times a year), and would say things like I was 'obsessed' or I didn't need to do what I was doing. I ate moderately healthy and went the the gym a few days a week. I was in no way eating too little or on any fad diet. My mom especially would't stop with the 'this can't be healthy' comments when I became vegetarian (for personal/moral reasons, not even a 'fad diet' then either). Some people will always feel threatened by change and even jealous that they are not as dedicated. Keep on keeping on, it seems like your health goals are quite reasonable!

Ditto on the going commando. Only my exercise pants. It just got to be too much of a hassle wearing undies, and distracting as well. As long as I keep my workout pants clean regularly, its never been an issue.

Best advice is practice and education! Read the posts on good form, and practice good form. The muscle memory will come. It's also a lot easier to balance and keep good form the stronger you get. I'd suggest starting to walk/run, walk at an incline on a treadmill, and do the weight machines with very light weights or weight classes at only body weights to get started. This will cure any muscle imbalances and get you started with a good strength base to hold and land on the moves correctly. More strength = more balance. Tack on the heavy weights later when you have some momentum. Keep track of where you're at and slowly build your way up. Always remember its a process to build up to -- I have trouble remembering that myself when I get out of shape. 'Like what?! I can't run 5 miles on my first try after two years of no running?! Ridiculous! I could right after college! Blasphemy!' Invest in some good workout clothes too! I'm frugal as hell, but I'll drop $100+ on good shoes (meant for flat feet so I don't get hurt and can go longer), $80 on some good Under Armor running pants (reflectors for evening running, compression where I need it to avoid injury, won't chafe and rip, temperature controlling for all weather), and $40 on a good sports bra (the large boob problem). The quality matters -- and using the right gear can help you from getting hurt and to go longer!

Thanks for all of the advice! I think I just need to find my new muse. I'm trying to make it to more classes, go right after work so it becomes routine, and have re-ignited my Fitocracy account so on those days I failed at getting to the Gym on time, I'm still doing bodyweight workouts. I think I just need to focus, as a lot of you put it. My epiphany this morning was that life is really easy right now, and that doesn't come often! I don't have a lot of committments. I'm going to use that time to get into the habits of getting active again. I need to accept that it will be hard, uncomfortable, and the vast majority of the time 'I won't feel like it.' Perhaps group fitness in itself was enjoyable and motivational just because it was habit, after all, and perhaps I can find a new habit. It really helped the most to hear I'm quite normal in that I don't have much motivation. Nobody does all the time, and that's something to consider, since people still get moving every day. I do remember I didn't feel like working out or getting active every day when I did workout regularly either.

A month is not a long time for weight loss, but it sure is a long time for effort! Great job thus far. Keep it up and consider it a lifestyle change, not a diet. Diets are temporary. If you can't pick up running yet, have you considered walking and especially walking at an incline so your heart rate can rise, but not to the level of running? You just need to keep reminding yourself that weight loss takes a long time. Keep doing what you're doing, and keep looking for mistakes in your deficit. Are you not tracking nibbles of food here and there? Are you drinking enough water? Have you used a Fitbit or activity monitor to see exactly how active or inactive you actually are? Are you too stressed for your body to lose the weight? Every single time I need to drop some fat again, the first month or two are a stand-still. I need to re-learn habits. I need to re-learn accuracy. I need to re-learn the motivation and drive to do it most days, and mostly I need to re-learn the mental health aspect of it all over again. It is more than likely not just one major thing, but a lot of habits that you can gradually improve. You've already tackled a lot of habits this first month, and done a lot more than what most people do. This next month, keep up with your goals, and add a few more health goals on top of them. Take a break when you need to but don't give up on your goals in the long-run. The changes will gradually and eventually add up. Take care of your health and the weight wil take care of itself. Forget about a goal weight by a goal time or losing X pounds a week. Just focus on healthy habits and eating the right amount of the right stuff.