I am 31 in November and decided that enough is enough and I want to change my lifestyle not just loose weight! I was my fittest at 22 but still not eating healthy.. I'm hoping there are more out there like me and we can support eachother. I've started taking vitamins and that's already made a difference... I am always tired.. have bowel problems but knowone knows what they are... they removed my gaul bladder of which they said I don't really need it! LIARS! & I still have the problem. Anyway I'm hoping to loose 30 lbs by Christmas! YUP... & completely change my eating habbits and quit smoking too! EAK that one scares me! Any words of wisdom for staying on track would be more then welcome!

My current weight & height stats are 5'7" tall and about 160lbs... my goal weight it 130lbs and 3 sizes (on the bottom) ...I'm a 10-12 right now.. & I want to be a 7-8 does this sound reasonable?

Sounds reasonable. My advice would be to start off with some small goals. Try to change the way you eat first without worrying about the weight. You'll probably lose a bit by just doing that. The easiest way for me to eat healthy is to cook at home a lot using fresh food. Avoid packaged anything, it's usually full of junk. Start reading EVERY food label. You'll be surprised what you are putting in your body.
Once you have established some good eating habits, start incorporating exercise into your everyday life. What is your activity level now? Do you live where you can walk or ride your bike to work? Can you walk to the grocery store? Take a long (2-3 miles) walk after dinner. keep it brisk though, you should be sweating and breathing faster when you are done.

Smoking.....that's going to be hard, of course. But you may be taking on too many things at one time. It was easier for me to quit smoking after I starting working out because I couldn't physically enjoy smoking or working out when I had a cig.

Good luck to you!

Working out helped my husband and I quit smoking too. The more I worked out, the less I wanted to smoke. It made no sense to light up after I walked out of the gym. Also, exercise helps reduce the weight gain that happens after quitting smoking.

i know you can do it!!!, but there is a thing smoke will make you lose weight but it not the healthy way son eat more vegetables and a lot of exercise that s all you need to loose 30 lb bye
good luck
;D

I think the key here is get yourself on the course of healthy first with a couple of little things, and let the domino effect take over. It sounds overly simplified but healthy really leads to more healthy and bad habits lead to more bad habits.

Exercising is definitley the first step, even something small. that will make you more proactive in trying to eat healthier.

As far as smoking, I know several people who have quit using smoke aids like the patch. The only way you can truly quit though is to find some leverage, some reason you absolutely have to stop.

Concentrate on 3 things first: Attitude, Nutrition and Exercise.
You need to WANT to do this, and you need a very strong reason why so that when your motivation falters, you can remind yourself. Cut out and make a collage of pictures that represent what you will look like, activities you will be doing etc.
Next, eat OFTEN. Eat proteins OFTEN. Eat at least 5 - 6 times per day. You will find protein not only in fish, chicken and meat (stay away from fatty meats), but also in soy, beans, vegies. Eat vegies and meat together. Cut out (avoid) starches like bread, rice, potatoes etc. you will get your complex carbs in your vegies like tomatoes, peppers etc. By eating proteins often you will stimulate your metabolism to start working, and therefore create a "furnace" in your body. Feed the furnace, the more you burn, the more you will burn. Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, early Supper.... don't go to sleep within 2,5 hours of eating.
Exercise: Start walking 3 times a week for 45minutes minimum. It's social, get friends to walk with you. If you can't, take a few flights of stairs and use them as your gym. Exercise and stretch in the shower. Be kind to your joints, when you carry weight, it can damage your joints (in the long term) to do anything that is harmful and high impact like jogging. Only start jogging once you've lost the first 5 - 8 kig's.
Your aim for healthy weightloss (and keeping it off) is (1) creating a Lifestyle... it took you 9 years to get where you are now, why would your body want to lose it fast? The measurement is 1kg per week for healthy loss. Don't hurry it, stick to the metabolism-furnace advice and cut out junk food & sugar & starch, and stop drinking fizzy cooldrinks / soda's, drink your 8 plus glasses of still water per day & you will be breat. Wee often, because it is the only way to pass the fat out of your body. You will detox the first 3 days... and possibly have a headache.... so take something for it to get you through and keep that goal-post in front of you. The smoking you should "ween" yourself off slowly too, so that you're not feeling "deprived" of too many things at once. Think thin, and you will become thin (meaning healthy for your height and body shape.)
Go for it!
Lisa