New girl... could really use some encouragement!

[Skettihead03]

Hi to everyone! I'm brand new to the forum and am really needing some encouragement and motivation.

I'm 23 years old, I'm 5'6, 343 lbs, and have a 57" waist. The weight I knew it was approx. that much - the waist surprised me when I measured it tonight. It's of course a sad and disappointing surprise, but I am going to let it fuel me to do something, not just feel bad for myself.

I have been on and off, on again off again. I have been going through my old record I was keeping and I have 3 different accounts of starting my "diet", recording the weight each week, and having it just end after 3-5 weeks. I can't stick with anything it seems. When I work out I do work out hard... but I guess I burn out shortly after starting. What can I do to stick with the healthy eating and exercise? I know slow and steady wins the race, but I don't want to lose only 1-2 lbs a week! I read that there is no evidence behind the claim that you shouldn't lose more than that. I'm not expecting to lose 10 lbs a week but I think about 4 is reasonable. I want to lose 200 lbs, I'd like to be about 145. I would like to accomplish this in about 12-15 months if possible. If it takes longer that's fine, but that's my general goal.

Anyways I could just really use encouragement, tips, and any insight that can be offered. I plan to start again tomorrow and this time I don't want to ever look back. So please... all help is very appreciated.

 

[Omega]

Welcome to the forum.

About 1% is a healthy rate of weight loss with a bit of a boost in the first couple of weeks (mainly water weight) is realistic.

That would give you something like 3.5 pounds a week after an initial boost.

You see people in magazines talking about 1 to 2 pounds - because those same people get stuck in a rut of thinking that we all weigh between 100 and 200 pounds... This is of course not realistic...

I think that your weight loss plans are broadly attainable... You can certainly lose a lot of weight in 12-15 months - but you might not get to goal... I gained weight recently - but can tell you in my big project which started in 2007 I went from 294 pounds to 147 in about 13 months... It then took me the next year to get down to 126...

I think that the most important thing for you to do is to believe that it is possible... it is not too difficult... The weight took time to go on and will take time to come off... It will not happen overnight and will take work - but it is certainly there for you to do.

My best advice would be to become more active... I know that the idea of exercise sounds daunting - but actually nice (slow in skinny people's terms) walking is very good exercise... I started by going out for a walk and going out the next day and seeing if I could walk at least as far or hopefully a bit further... I didnt care about how long it took me... distance was the key... the thing was that my stamina got stronger and I naturally speeded up... I got a pedometer so that I could see how many steps I had done and how many steps I had done the previous day or week... I allowed it to challenge me...

If I had a good day - I felt good about myself and determined that I would do it again.

At the same time I decided to eat healthier... It wasnt any sort of calorie counting diet at that stage at all... It was an adoption of healthier habits... it was a case of not eating any chocolate bars or junk like that... it was things like deciding not to have any takeaway and to try to cook fairly healthy meals... then it was yoghurts and/or fruit rather than cream desserts...

If I managed that and had been out walking I allowed myself to feel incredibly proud of myself... I celebrated each day as a victory.

I gradually strung good days together and turned things up a notch - trying to walk a bit further or improve my food plan... I started weighing myself every day and keeping lists of my weight with the things that I had eaten... when I saw food that seemed to keep lining up with my weight going down I was tempted to have it more often... when I saw increases in my weight repeated I tended to look for things to axe... bit by bit I decided to adopt things that I knew were healthy but had not been inclined towards doing... eating grilled meat rather than pies, more veg etc...

Frankly I think that you would get there just fine if you did much the same...

Too many times I have cut my calories to a ridiculous level on day 1 (maybe 1000 or 1200 calories) and lost weight nicely in the first week, followed by an inability to keep it up and abandon the diet gloriously in about week 3 and gain every pound lost and then some more... I never cut my calories to anything approaching this level on the time that worked... Quite big people can actually lose weight on quite a lot of calories in comparison. There is certainly no reason why any of us should feel at all hungry when we are losing weight. With a big project including losing a lot of weight we need to be able to keep it up week in/week out, month it/month out, year in/year out... It needs to become a new lifestyle, a new way of life...

Anyway - enough of my ramblings...

I suggest that you read this thread... It might help you to settle in and make friends...
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/57955-My-advice-to-newcomers

I certainly wish you good luck with your project.

 

[Skettihead03]

Thank you Omega, all great tips. I started right away. I did throw away a lot of the junk in the house, but could not afford to throw away all more unhealthy choices. So I have been just watching the quantities until I go to the grocery store. I have also upped my water intake and cut out all other drinks.

Monday at 4 AM the scale read 343.2 and this morning at 9:30 AM the scale read 340.8. I can't turn back now. I understand these big fluctuations won't happen everyday but I can't believe just a little more water and a little less food made THIS much difference. So there's no reason why I shouldn't stick with it! Thanks again.

 

[Omega]

Well done!

Stick with it. Remember - if we keep trying we can all make our weight loss dreams come true. We just have to remember that these things never really happen overnight.

Remember to feel good about every day of victory. Forgive yourself if you are human and lapse... people never do well if they beat themselves up for being human... everyone here knows what it is like to lapse - so that is the last time to hide...