Lost 110 lbs... and stuck in old mindsets

A

Allyoop

New member
Hey all! I'm brand new to this site, and I was just looking for perhaps some words of wisdom.


My top weight was over 270 lbs about three years ago. (It could have been as much as 280; I really quit keeping track.) Now I weigh a little under 160 lbs. I'm close to six feet tall, so by most definitions I'm on the high end of a "normal" weight.


My problem? I still act like I'm nearing 300 lbs. I wear the EXACT same kinds of clothes, and even the same sizes. They hang, and I have to wear belts, but I refuse to wear anything remotely form-fitting. I hide in XL t-shirts and I won't don swimsuits or shorts. I can tell I'm much more fit than I used to be, but I can't stop feeling fat.


(This didn't even occur to me until I was going through a box of old clothes. On a whim, I shimmied on a pair of size 10 jeans and I had room to spare. All the pants I wear are sizes 18-20. Kind of a jaw drop moment.)


I'm 25 years old. I gained an enormous amount of weight around 17 (a hundred pounds in just two years), so I haven't spent my entire life being self-conscious. Lately I'm just ridiculous. I bet virtually no one in my life has much of an idea of how much weight I've lost. You can't really tell under big t-shirts and baggy pants, ya know?


I've stagnated a bit lately, but I'm not done trying to pull the rest of the weight off. I guess I expected that magically I'll start wearing clothes that fit once I hit a certain number. But... what is that number? I wanted to be 120 lbs like the girls I find so pretty, but it's starting to don on me I'm probably too tall for that. (And I like to eat, hehe.)


Grrr. What's my deal? Has anyone dealt with this before? At what point do you start to feel thin again?


Thanks all!

Lea
 
Hey


Congratulations...


I can't help with the first part of your problem i.e. hanging onto your old clothes. I've given all of mine away.


In terms of ideal proportions I follow the 'Adonis Effect' which basically goes into detail about ideal waist and shoulder proportions for men. I'm 5"10 and my ideal waist is 31.5". I'm about an inch away right now. There is an equivalent program for women called the Venus Index.


Let me know if this helps.


Mark
 
Congratulations would love to hear more about how you achieved your incredible weight loss J I think it’s just about taking that leap and getting past the mental barriers which are holding you back. Go to the store, grab a bunch of clothes that suit your new size and go to the changing room, try them on and see how it all looks. You don’t have to buy them, but at least you can start to overcome that mental image of yourself?
 
@Mark


Thanks. I've never heard of that, and it gave me some tangible numbers to look at. I've never seen inches catered to my height before. That's exciting! My hips are spot on and my waist is half an inch away... which I was astonished by.


@Caiman


That's a REALLY good idea. I wrote down in my calendar that within the next two weeks I have to go try some clothes on. Thanks!


I started to make progress as soon as I figured out rules I could hold onto. I liiiike food, so everytime I'd go on strict diets I'd crash 'n burn inside of a month. I also started to really get into exercise, which gave me a little more leeway on what I ate.


If you want, here are my rules: (Once I start a good streak on those, it's very hard to be willing to break it.)


Drink 12 glasses of water every day. When craving soda or fruit drinks, drink a glass of water FIRST. Then decide. (I realized a lot of the time I wanted soda -I loooove Mt. Dew!- I was actually just thirsty. I did the same with junk food. When craving sweets, eat an apple first. When craving salty, eat a scrambled egg first. I wasn't banning the naughty foods, and that worked for me. Some days the apple/egg/water wouldn't satisfy the craving, but LOTS of days it would.)


Count calories every day. There are lots of websites that make that really simple (I used myfitnesspal.com) and it forced me to reevaluate what I'd eaten at the end of every day. Some days I would just make horrible food decisions, and even on those "bad" days, I made myself write it down. So I started to really get a good grasp of what were tragic slips, and what were tiny slips.


Exercise in some form six days a week. I rotated between videos (Slim in 6 series, P90, P90X, 30 Day Shred, Tai Boi- did you know you can rent those from libraries for two weeks at a time??). Some of those have really short routines, which I was able to make fit on even my busiest days. On days where I had more time, I took the exercise more seriously. Once I got to a certain point, I really started to crave exercise. I was doing a video every day, I was biking almost every day (except in winter!), and I was overall a more active person. My body just wanted to move.


Those were the iron rules. I am able to maintain those (presumably) indefinitely. Some days I eat more than 1600 calories, but that doesn't break my rules, so I don't feel I've "failed." I can follow all of those even when I'm out of town or when life gets crazy.


I fiddled and fiddled until I found something I could always follow. It turns out amping up exercise and having loose food rules was the best thing for me. (I can't eat celery the rest of my life. I'd go crazy!) That method had somewhat slow progress, but exceptionally consistent.


Until I hit this point, heh! I'm kinda stuck now, so I think I'll have to figure out some stricter rules.


Wow, that was really wordy. Sorry! I hope I made some sense.


~Lea
 
Thanks for elaborating on your routine and wow, I admire your effort and commitment.


I really hope your trip to the store helps, best of luck.
 
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