Want to lose 30 pounds but am stressed?

Question

I am a single mom with a 14 year old son and my finances need to improve.I cannot get a second job and properly take care of my son too.I own my own home but my credit is not very good and I want to lose weight before I go into the dating world.My house payments are up to date but I owe 4,000 for high interest credit cards and doctor bills.Losing weight is hard enough without having to worry about the stress of finances.I don not want loan companies to respond to this.Need some advice.

Answer 1

Your situation doesn't really sound all that bad for you to be that stressed out. There are a lot of people far worse off than you.
Get out of the house and go for a walk.

Answer 2

The stress is not good for you if you are trying to lose weight. Before you begin any exercise or weight lose regiment I would try to get rid of some stress in your life. Began to save as much money as you can from you paycheck and get those credit bills down. Ask your son to try and help you around the house, prepare dinner, etc to help ease your stress at home.

After your stress level drops I would start to workout more and try to lose some weight. The best way that I know how is to start cutting back on how much you eat for each meal and try and cut all junk food out of your diet. Do this in conjunction with running for 30 mins about 4 or 5 days a week or walking at a brisk pace for about an hour for 4 or 5 days a week. After a couple weeks you should see anywhere from 5-10 pounds drop off. Keep at it and 30 is easily attainable.

Answer 3

It sounds to me like you're mentally linking the two issues in a way that's preventing you from effectively tackling either one.

My suggestion is take both issues one at a time. I'd personally start with the fitness. Make some healthy changes to your diet and your lifestyle--buy whole wheat bread instead of white, make sure there's always fresh produce in the house (and eat it, don't just let it rot in the fridge), and park your car a little farther away from work/the store/whatever so you have to walk a little farther. It takes 5 extra minutes, but it's still exercise. Also try Lean Cuisines..they're relatively cheap, nutritionally balanced, controlled portions, and very tasty. (though if your son is like most 14 year olds I've met, he'll probably down 5 at a sitting, so might not hurt to have something a little more substantial on hand for him). Make these little changes and try to stick with them for two weeks. It takes time, but you'll feel better, and more importantly, you'll feel better about yourself. Check out the website sparkpeople.com..it's free and has a lot of positive, encouraging advice and information about taking better care of yourself.

As you start feeling better about yourself, you'll be better equipped to handle your financial issues. Truth be told, other than having a bit more debt than is necessarily good, it doesn't sound like you're that bad off. Are you meeting your financial obligations every month? Do you have enough to eat? To get you and your son around? Those are the most important things, and if they're taken care of, you're really doing ok in the grand scheme of things. It may not be where you WANT to be, but you're doing ok.

To get where you WANT to be, without knowing your specifics, I'd guess that you have a few courses of action. First, try to pay down your expenses yourself without a loan. Getting a loan to address debt just puts you in debt to a different person. You still have the debt, and you still have to pay it back. If the interest rate on the loan is so much lower than the interest on the credit, it might be worth a try, but for the most part, you're putting another ding on your credit report by just asking for more credit with the loan. Home equity loans are not as great an idea as the lenders would have you think, because every time you do that, you devalue your equity in your property.

If you can, set up a household budget that allows you to pay extra on your higher interest and higher balance accounts to bring them down quicker.

Leave your mortgage alone.

Cut back on expenses.

If you have defaulted accounts, close them and consult a non-profit, Better Business Bureau endorsed debt consolidation agency.

Close any credit accounts that you don't need or that have really high interest rates so you won't be tempted to keep using them and only keep one account for emergencies (and remember that pizza because you're too tired to cook is not an emergency).

The bottom line here is that YOU CAN DO THIS. Just take it one step at a time. If you try to change everything at once, the risk is exponentially greater that you'll throw too many balls in the air at the same time and drop them all. Make small changes that you can do. Once you've made those changes new habits, change a couple other things. YOU ARE IN CONTROL.

Make your life something that you're happy living before you try to convince someone else that they'd be happy living it with you.

Good luck, hon.

Answer 4

Start eating healthier,

prepare an exercise routine, and every morning wake up with determination that you will lose weight.

If you eat in your calorie limit,
drink 8 glasses of water per day
and work out 10-15 minutes a day

you will be guaranteed weight loss, the longer you do it the more you will lose.

dont take weight loss medications, do it the way that works and that wont harm you

Answer 5

Go on a fruit and salad diet. Also, use Hydro-cuts. you can get it in you local GNC, or store. It really works. I lost 20 lbs. in 1 and half weeks. Before you use it consult with your doctor.