Cant Lose Weight/What is the best way to lose weight?

Question
Hi,

I've been struggling with obesity for a very long time now. Just last year, I was 200 pounds at the height of 5'3. Desperate to lose the weight and become healthier, I tried using stuff like Calorie-Counters or MyPlate from Livestrong. For a while, I kept eating up to the calorie limit they suggested for me to eat. With this, and including light exercise, I was able to lose 10 pounds. However, I quickly gained them back around the beginning of 2014.

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Is it the calorie intake I've been eating, or my exercise, or what I eat? What's the best direction for me to lose weight? I have both asthma and heart murmur, and my cardiologist and physician always tell me to try and lose weight for my well-being, but I struggle so much. I tend to focus more on eating correctly than exercising. Being a college student, I also work and volunteer almost daily, so I have no time to commit to a long exercise routine.
Please let me know what's the best method for me to lose weight.

Thank you,
Hayley

Answer
Hi Hayley,

First of all, I apologize for how late this is getting back to you--your question apparently was lost in internet interspace for a while!

But, to your question.... if you were using one of the websites that was guiding you to take in a certain calorie level and you were able to include light exercise and lose 10 pounds, then it sounds like that was a great plan.
How did you quickly gain the weight back? I'm assuming you strayed from the plan.

Go back to what worked for you. Figure out what is going on during the "good" days that keeps you on task. Is it making exercise a priority? Doing it first thing in the morning? Distracting yourself when you get hungry, or rewarding yourself when you make the best choices?

I'm glad to hear that your desperate measure was eating healthy and exercising lightly; not resorting to some quick fix or diet pill!

Keep up the sensible eating and walking (or whatever works for you) 30 minutes a day or so.
Don't focus on how fast you're losing, but rather that you are learning new and healthy habits!
It's the balance of eating a bit less and moving a bit more that is working--there's no need to force yourself to run on a treadmill for an hour.
Here's a video that says it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F5Sly9JQao

Stay in touch and let me know how you're doing :)
Laurie

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