Just getting started...

LoveMe4Me

LoveMe4Me

New member
Hello all! My name is Cristen and I am a 24 year old Florida native. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. Even as a little kid I was always on the high end of those growth charts at the doctor's office. Even though I've struggled with my weight for my whole life, I've always been relatively healthy. I played sports in high school (volleyball, weightlifting, and track & field) and would usually go for a run at night after whatever sports practice I'd just finished. That being said, I've still always struggled with my weight. I was always a little bit bigger than the average girl, but it didn't get really bad until mid-way through high school and continued through college. My sophomore year of high school I weighed 179 pounds. My junior year I was around 192 lbs and got up to around 215 lbs by my senior year. Side note: I remember these numbers because being part of the weight lifting team required us to weigh in before our meets so we'd lift in the appropriate weight class. My highest weight was 239 lbs, and that was somewhere around the beginning of July 2012. I've since lost about 12 lbs and am at 227 lbs as of this morning.


My major weight gain started during my sophomore year when I was struggling with pretty major depression. I was put on two medications that had weight gain as a side affect. Plus the depression alone caused me to give up on a lot of the things that were keeping me in decent shape. I ate absolute garbage for lunch and had a job at a fast food restaurant nearby which gave me easy access to cheap, unhealthy food.


I've started the weight loss journey several times but generally can't lose more than 10-15 lbs before I give it all up. I think I mostly struggle because despite seeing the numbers go down on the scale, my appearance never changes. My major issue is my tummy. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which causes male-pattern weight game among other things. Most women gain weight everywhere: thighs, stomach, chest, arms, and butt. Generally overweight men store the majority of their fat in the abdominal area, which is what I do. I can put on and comfortably button size 13 pants if I pull them up onto my hips, but require size 18 to pull pants up over my tummy. I basically look like an apple on a stick.


I'm trying to take my weight loss more seriously than I have before. At this point I've mostly just changed what I eat, when I eat, and how much I eat. I do still eat some crappy foods, but I've cut down on most of it. I'm hoping that by joining an online community like this that I can get constant motivation and support. I look forward to getting to know some of you and I hope that I can change my life one step at a time. Below are what I hope to be my "before pictures".
 
It can be possible to lose weight with PCOS but it does mean for most people with it that there is no 'wriggle' room. Your diet and exercise need to be spot on. That means a healthy diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and a solid exercise programme that is consistent and demanding. And you have to stick with it indefinitely. And, according to some people, they do all of that and they still don't lose the weight. However, until you try it you don't know if it won't work for you.
 
I think I'm probably one of the lucky ones that doesn't struggle with weight loss at the physiological level. The weight comes off more easily than I put it on. It's more of a psychological thing with me; I see the numbers go down on the scale but my body doesn't seem to change a whole lot. In the past I've made drastic changes that I can't stick to longer than a couple of months. It's the usual no junk food, less processed food, smaller portions, and a demanding work out regimen. I know some people can make those kinds of changes and stick with it until it's just their life style, but when I've gone that route I start feeling deprived and give up. This time I'm trying to make small changes little by little and so far it's working. Losing 12 pounds in a month and a half is relatively successful for me considering I've been able to keep some of my favorite foods in my diet and haven't started seriously working out yet.


I don't want to sound lazy or like I'm trying to take short cuts, I just know what hasn't worked in the past. I've started working out with some 8 lb dumbbells at home and I intend on starting a cardio regimen in the near future (as soon as I can buy the key card for my apartment complex's gym). I know once I start working out that I'll see results much faster than I've been seeing them in the past month and a half. When I start working out I naturally begin eating much healthier because I don't want to ruin the work out. As the title of this post suggests, I am just getting started. I'm just taking a different, more gradual approach to this start. I think I'll get where I want to if I can stick to this.
 
Some people are 'all or nothing' kind of folk but once that initial burn of enthusiasm wears off and reality sets in they quickly switch back to 'nothing'. Like you I think many of us have tried that and find in the long run it fails.


Personally I find 'boil the frog' approach - one change at a time, let each behavioural change entrench into your habits, then make the next change, give it time to entrench, etc - seems to work well. Step by step you can introduce new behaviours that become habits and, as we know, once something is a habit we do it automatically and it's no effort to do.


However, most people want quick wins - fast weight loss. The 'boil the frog' approach takes time because you are changing your habits slowly so your results are slower to achieve although likely to be lasting.


If you are someone who is willing to wait for the outcomes - be happy to be moving in the right direction rather than rushing to the end game then 'boil the frog' is the best way to manage yourself to achieve your longer term goals.


In short, if it works for you then that's all that matters.
 
I've basically set my short term goal as losing 10 lbs per month and get below 200 lbs by the end of the year. Thinking I have to lose 90 lbs seems like such an enormous goal that I start thinking "okay, one day of bad eating isn't going to really make that big of a difference", but trying to reach smaller, more frequent goals helps keep me on track. The past week of eating has been kind of terrible mostly due to the fact that I haven't had the money to go grocery shopping for fresh foods. I've been stuck with the frozen crap in my freezer that's been there forever.


I've started keeping track of the numbers on the scale as well as the circumference of my waist. Like I said in my previous posts, I see the numbers go down on the scale but never notice a change in my body or how clothes fit. I'm hoping that by keeping track of inches in addition to the weight that I'll "notice" a change in my body via the numbers instead of relying on how my clothes fit or what I look like in the mirror. I've also started taking weekly pictures (the above ones being the first ones) so hopefully I can compare pictures over time and see the difference. I'm also using a method of weight loss tracking that I saw on Pinterest. I have two glass jars, one labeled "Lost" and one labeled "To Go". In the "To Go" jar, I started with 180 marbles with each marble representing 0.5 lbs. Every week when I weigh myself I transfer the appropriate number of marbles into the "Lost" jar. It's kind of cool having the visual representation sitting on a shelf in my bedroom that I can look at every day.


Anyway, thanks for your support :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top