Hi M. -
I too have 50 pounds to lose! I am starting today. I was lucky that my grandparents gave my husband and I money to get a treadmill for Christmas, it is being delivered today. I am going to walk for 30 minutes every day while the kids are napping, to start out. If you already have a gym membership and can go , GO!!!! I am a SAHM, with no childcare, so I have to find ways to work out at home whne they are napping, or else take them out in the stroller - but it is too cold or that right now, thus the treadmill....we also have a bowflex we are going to start using....but treadmill is more important to me right now to get back in cardio shape, then I will add in the weight lifting/resistance.
I know exercise is my big hurdle, because I don't really have any major bad eating habits. Here are the things I believe I am actually doing right, some things you might want ot try if you aren't dong them....( kind of wish I had more bad habits to just cut out like soda or candy - might be easier) - I eat breakfast every day, usually oatmeal or cereal and skim milk, and a piece of fruit, apple banana or orange. I eat the same portion sizes as my kids who are 4 and 2, they are big eaters for their age, but they burn it all off between growing and running around like little maniacs! At lunch, I usually eat leftovers from the dinner before, protien, veggie and a fruit. Supper is a family meal at the table, usually pasta with meat sauce, or a meat main course and two or more veggies on the side. I try to get in lots of veggies and fruits, meat portions should be about the size of your palm, and the rest of the plate should be filled with veggies. I don't keep around traditional "desserts" - fruit is our usual dessert, and occassional treats, like once a week we have baked goods or something for dessert. We eat only whole grain breads and cereals and our pasta is usually whole grain or a lower carb style pasta too. I don't eat after dinner. I basically only drink water, maybe a soda once a week, if we are out to dinner.
Before my first pregnancy and again after my daughter was born, I did Follow the Micheal Thurmonds 6 week body makeover - an infomercial diet plan, that is customized to your metabolism/body type, by you taking a multiple choice quiz at the beginning and then it tells you which sets of pages to pick out of the whole kit to apply to you specifically. It worked great for me, I lost 14 pounds in the frist 2 weeks before pregnancy, and I lost 20 pounds total on it after baby - and I was only following the eating plan, not the exercise part!!! Basically, you eat all day, 6 mini-meals, protiens, carbs, lots of veggies, and some fruits, all whole foods, try to avoid processed anything. Drink lots of water, at least half of your body weight in ounces of water a day. I would like to do it again, but it i salot of cooking and alot of eating and with 2 toddlers, I can't keep up with it. The exercise plan is customized to your specific body issues too, he reccommends at least 60 minutes of walking each day of 5 days a week, and then I think it is 3 days a week of resistance/elastic band exercises.
I am reading a book right now by Candace Cameron Bure ( DJ from Full House), called "Reshaping it All" it is a Christian based weight loss motivational book and it is very good, in my opinion. It was $9 on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Reshaping-All-Motivation-Physical-S... . She lost 25 pounds and has kept it off for 15 years, even getting back to the idela weight for her after 3 pregnancies!! And she did it a normal way like we would, not the typical hollywood ways. She gives out the advice and plans and recipes and motivation she used; she doesn't count calories, but conciously eats less, but still loves good food, exercises and lost it little by little, not super fast - made it a whole famly lifestyle, too, so he kids won't have to deal with the same issues as they grow up.
Anyway, it takes determination, practice, not giving up, and making it part of your life - not a "diet" for such and such amount of days or weeks, till you lose it and then going right back to the old way - then you will gain it all back - you have to totally change the way you think about food and exercise for life! Hard but we can do it! Oh, for packing food, take a cooler and put in ready to eat foods, like apples,bananas, grapes, carrot sticks, celery, cucumbers, bell pepper slices....sandwiches in pitas, or tortilla roll ups....anything that is finger foods to eat on the job, but is still not "fast food".
Do it for your son and YOU!
jessie