my weight has been up and down my whole life. My high point was 248. I'm 35 now, an ex smoker as of 5 years ago, smoked for 16. I have lost excess of over 80 pounds twice now. Both times I lost weight I was an ex smoker, once before my big quit, and a few years ago after my big quit. I have gained weight both times after quitting.
I know it's hard with kids, but you should highly consider running, or some type of aerobic exercise, mixed with some slight resistance training. By running I mean get good shoes at a running store, like brooks, or another real running show brand. Not NIKE or Puma or New Balance, etc...
I highly recommend this little device. Not only is it fun, it provides aerobic exercise, and some resistance training.
http://www.amazon.com/Weider-WEBE15...42230&sr=8-1&keywords=weider+total+body+works
by exercise, I mean real exercise, not walking, at least not after a few weeks of it. You need your heart rate up, sweating, and to be pushing yourself. Bottom line is if you run and do slight resistance training, unless you eat like a total slob you will lose weight. Check out apps on your phone. COUCH_2_5K comes to mind, as well as a nutrition app for counting calories. Most good apps let you scan bar codes, and add real whole foods with little effort. ex: 1 banana = 70 calories. 1 egg mcmuffin = heart attack. It's a real eye opener when you think you are eating healthy, and realize you already consumed 1500 calories before breakfast.
I also highly recommend if you plan on getting in shape, which sounds like you may not want to exercise, to check out the Fit Bit. They do pretty much everything. It's basically a watch with GPS to track runs and such. I was lucky enough to be given a discount for one at my work because we have a program if we walk so many steps in a year, per day, we get a $500.00 bonus. I seriously love my Fit Bit.
Of course you don't need any of this crap, except some nice shoes if you do plan to exercise. There are always push ups, and other crossfit style exercises.
I would have to say I slightly disagree with solely counting calories, especially at our age. Now I'm not against it at all, it's a good practice. However, at our age other things need to be taken into account, for example cholesterol intake is incredibly important, as is fructose intake (the number one cause of cancer). Another reason is, a diet that restricts calories in order to lose weight is bad for many reasons. Here are a few...
1. Lowing you caloric intake can mess with your sugar levels, and get you into more trouble, and not to mention less energy to take care of those kids.
2. Restricting calories to lose weight = you will lose muscle mass. This is also bad of course. The first thing you shred in a low calorie diet is muscle. Muscle even though it has more mass, helps you lose weight because you burn more calories at rest.
Here i go again, getting into a long-winded post, but I do have a few more things to say.
What this all comes down to is sure you can lose weight solely dieting. Maybe you drink soda everyday, and that got you here, but no matter how you look at it, you will live a longer, healthier, happier life if you eat healthy and exercise a few times a week. You will probably also sleep better.
What eating habits really come down to is anthropology. There are many studies of our ancient ancestors that prove even though they died earlier, they were much healthier. For example, ebfore farming was invented, people had near perfect teeth (because lack of starch and sugar), were taller, and had more muscle.
Here's another word I hate "Paleo Diet". This is a diet people take to an extreme, but also meld to suit their needs. For example some paleo dieters think french fries are good.
I do very much agree though with a diet similar to our ancestors. Basically anything in a package these days is shit for your body. Pretty much anything invented after farming is also bad, for example milk, other dairy products, wheat products, etc... I really don't see how people can argue this, but I am sure someone will chime in. But basically, if we survived for thousands of years on nothing but fruits, vegetables, nuts, water, and the occasional game kill, how can that be bad for us? That is what our body was designed to intake for fuel, and over the course of the last thousand years we have not evolved enough to become accustomed to things like milk, bread, and mountain dew.
Here's my suggestion, try and eat real organic fruits, vegetables, nuts etc.. and mainly fish, and occasional meat like chicken or pork. Although amazing, meat is not suppose to be a staple of every meal. I like to try and go all day, or even a few days on nothing but fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and then eating a small meal with protein. You will go through a sort of withdraw at first, but it's really just your body healing and learning to do things again like regulate your sugar on it's own, and create carbs. You do have to eat a lot though. And I mean a lot. It's really easy when switching to not get enough nutrients until you learn what you are eating.
do some research on super foods. Avacados, brocholli, figs, etc.. Find real food that you love. My go to is avacados, and the occasional hard boiled egg for breakfast. Love those foods, find more, and create a nice portfolio of go-to foods that are healthy. I also like loose leaf tea, I get all mine from Numi tea online. It's one of 3 certified organic teas sold in the world, with scientific research to back it up.I brew it hot, and drink it hot, or ice it. I alsmost always add real, local honey, it makes it amazing. The honey with the large chunk of honeycomb in it is key.
I would also highly recommend staying away from charred, and burned foods. Burned carbon is another cause of cancer.
Now I know all this sounds horrible, but I bet if you change your diet, exercise, and follow this for a few months, you will never go back. Once you go to a real diet and you try and go back and do something like eat pizza, or drink milk, it totally fucks up your insides. You will realize how unhealthy you have been your whole life.
If you find a good grocery store, or local farmers market, you will be set. You can do this cheap. I really think you should give it a shot.
FYI Gandhi was a fruitatarian, and we all know he lived a very long time.
