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portchop

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Hello, i am new to this site, and generally new to forums in general. A bit about myself to start i guess. I am a 5'10 22 year old male, a few months ago i weighed 320 lbs and had been hovering around the 300's since my late teens but i ballooned up to 320 when i quit smoking. Back in September i decided to stop eating red meat for health reasons, than i cut out a few more unhealthy foods, and before you know it i was eating much healthier. I then decided to create a whole meal plan for each day and watch my portion intake. At about the end of October, i decided to walk every other day on the treadmill (previous to that i lived a very immobile life, sat around on the couch, work involves a whole lot of sitting, drove everywhere). Well, i am happy to say that after weighing in this morning, i am down to 265 lbs which is approx. 55 lbs. Everyone at work keeps saying i have dropped weight, same with my parents, other family and friends, however, i really don't see it, i look the same to me, if it weren't for my clothes being way too big i would not believe that i lost any weight. My question to everyone who has lost significant quantities of weight is if it took a while for you to really notice the difference in your appearance? Also, i have noticed that the weight loss has slowed down considerably, at first the weight fell off so quickly i was sure the treadmill was messed so i actually bought a new one heheh. However, now i am still dropping weight but at a much slower pace, is that normal? Thank you in advance for any responses:eek:
 
Hello! The last time I started losing weight I never noticed everyone kept telling me I was. As to the weight going away slower I beleive that is normal.
 
For me it was the opposite. I kept waiting for people to notice.
Yes, it is normal to lose a lot of weight fast when you start your diet, then it slows down. Here is the way it went for me.
weightchart.jpg
 
Welcome

There is something very important in what you have written above in the original post. By the way, it takes guts to get on a forum and talk about this stuff. Congratulations on that.

Your observation that you do not see the change in yourself even though you have lost dozens of pounds of weight tells me that you visualize yourself has the same heavy person.

I believe that this is the most important aspect of losing weight and keeping it off. I had never been fat until recently and still do not see myself as fat. Yet, I have about 20 pounds to shed.

So my attitude is always about "how" to get back to my original weight, knowing that I will return to my old weight.

Somehow in your attitude, you need to identify the spark of belief in you, that you know you will be your ideal weight.

It's there, you just need to feel it.

I hope this helps

Frank
 
I understand what your trying to say dobner, however, i have been really overweight my whole life, this is probably the thinnest ive ever been (was a really overweight child).. that makes it very hard to vision myself as anything but a heavy person.. so far its just been 55 lbs i lost, but i am just hoping i notice a difference in myself when i hit the 70 or at least 80 lbs lost mark.
 
I think if you took some pictures of yourself it might help you realize the difference in your size. When I look in the mirror I think my size is fine; but in pictures I realize how much bigger I actually am! :rotflmao:
(My reasoning behind this is that I've just gotten bigger the last couple years, so maybe taking pictures would have the opposite effect on you, helping you realize how great you've been doing!)

Also, my mom lost about 70 pounds a couple years ago and still doesn't even see the difference in herself, except for having to get new clothes. She still thinks of herself as very overweight; and because of this thinking her weight has been going up a bit because she is simply unaware of her size, so you have to be careful of that!

Sounds like things have been going great for you though, and I wish you the best; keep up the great work! :)
 
Portchop,

It is easy for me to see the weight loss, when I start fitting easily into pants that were a stretch (literally). I can feel the looseness in the belt line when I sit down. I also can feel like I am sucking in my gut less when I walk. I can also feel less jiggle when I walk.

One question that I am interested in is, what was your motivation for dropping the weight?

Frank
 
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Thanks again for all the replies. And to answer your question, dobner, originally i was just trying to get a little healthier, maybe only lose 10-20 lbs, i was about 320 so i figured i should go down to 300 for now, but than as i started eating healthier, the weight came off ALOT easier than expected (i had never actually tried to diet before, always just accepted the fact that i was fat lol) so i kept at it.. and now ive lost more than double what i originally planned.

My new goal now, is to hopefully drop down to 200 lbs, which would be pretty epic for me.. because i dont remember weighing 200 lbs since i was maybe 16 or 17, and that was 5 or 6 years ago.. i am trying to aim for the end of the year, so that would mean losing another 65 or so lbs in the next 10 to 12 months.. Than i will see where i should go from there. I dont know what ideal weight is for a 23 year old male that is 5'10 which is what i will be next year(i assume 160-170 or so), but the way i see it is, since i was a child i was always obese, so if i can drop down to just being overweight(200 lbs,) than i'll feel like i have made true progress.

As it stands now, it's mostly the compliments of friends and family that give me most of the motivation to keep going. Also, this site has been very very useful so far, i only stumbled upon it last week, but already ive learned alot.
 
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portchop said:
Thanks again for all the replies. And to answer your question, dobner, originally i was just trying to get a little healthier, maybe only lose 10-20 lbs, i was about 320 so i figured i should go down to 300 for now, but than as i started eating healthier, the weight came off ALOT easier than expected (i had never actually tried to diet before, always just accepted the fact that i was fat lol) so i kept at it.. and now ive lost more than double what i originally planned.

My new goal now, is to hopefully drop down to 200 lbs, which would be pretty epic for me.. because i dont remember weighing 200 lbs since i was maybe 16 or 17, and that was 5 or 6 years ago.. i am trying to aim for the end of the year, so that would mean losing another 65 or so lbs in the next 10 to 12 months.. Than i will see where i should go from there. I dont know what ideal weight is for a 23 year old male that is 5'10 which is what i will be next year(i assume 160-170 or so), but the way i see it is, since i was a child i was always obese, so if i can drop down to just being overweight(200 lbs,) than i'll feel like i have made true progress.

As it stands now, it's mostly the compliments of friends and family that give me most of the motivation to keep going. Also, this site has been very very useful so far, i only stumbled upon it last week, but already ive learned alot.
Click to expand...

Wonderful effort so far. Reading through your journey so far, it sounds an awful lot like it mirrors my own. I too have always been overweight, through highschool and I peaked in college. As far as I can remember, I've been self concious about my image.

My highest was at 352, and this morning I was at around 290. Its been a decently long journey so far, but eventually im looking to get around 200 even, so I have a ways to go. For me, I get my motivation from new belt notches and a size down in clothes. Also, I FINALLY like to see myself in pictures again! Its a snowball effect. The more I lose, the more enthusiastic I get about pushing myself harder because its working


Welcome to the forum. Good luck on your journey!
 
Great portchop. As I now understand more clearly, this type of dramatic shift in weight that you aspire to will take some changes in lifestyle. Not a problem. I count calories everyday and plot my weight. These are the types of changes that we may need to institute for the rest of our lives. No different than brushing your teeth, changing the oil, putting the cat out. Just new habits. I will be listening in.
 
Yeah, i have been going pretty strong for about 4 months now dobner, and im starting to understand that alot of it is mentality, i am starting to actually enjoy eating healthier foods like fruits and veggies and fish instead of forcing myself to eat them. I havnt drank any soda in like 3 and a half months, not even diet and i cant really say it miss it at all anymore, did at first but not so much now. Just little changes in lifestyle i guess..

And Andy, 60 lbs lost is no joke, thats awesome man, your almost half way there. I'm curious on if u were excited to see the scale weigh u in at less than 300? Because, the day that the scale said 299 was a pretty exciting day for me, big motivation boost, dont know why but it was lol. Also, i get semi-excited every time i go down into another tenth like from 280 to 279, than semi-depressed if the next day it says 280 again. Just wondering if getting to the 200's was as big a deal for you as it was for me. Or, for that matter, if anyone else shares similar feelings.
 
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