Ugh!!! I have about 100 pounds to lose and it is overwhelming and disheartening. Especially when I look back and think of how these pounds continued to creep up over the years.....*sigh* but looking forward is the way to go and what I am striving for.
I am really looking for support and a friend on this journey. It seems that even though you would think friends, family, and even your significant others would be the ones to lean on, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the case!!!
I wish you all well in your journeys and look forward to getting to know you all!!
Hey runner, welcome to the boards! I have a lot to lose as well and I know it can be very daunting to think about it all at once. Therefore, I think mini-goals are incredibly important milestones that will keep you motivated throughout your journey.
On another note, back when I was searching online for weight loss support, I saw one blog name that I still think about regularly - it was something along the lines of "I will lose one pound. I will do it 100 times." The thought of just losing a pound isn't too hard. Then, it's not hard to lose one more pound.
Anyway, I guess the point of my post is not to focus too much on the big picture because it will make the smaller victories seem less powerful. Celebrate the small stuff and the big stuff will fall into place. Best of luck on your journey!
Runner, I felt the same way over a year ago when I made the decision to change my life. I could not even imagine coming this far.
The one thing that has worked for me was to set up mini-goals that were reasonable. When I hit those goals I rewarded myself (non-food). I also started with a diet I could live with and started out at eating 2,000 calories per day, and just took walks at lunch. As I began to lose weight I reevaluated my diet and exercise. I now eat 1,600 calories per day, but have increased my exercising to seven days a week for at least one hour per day. It has been real gradual, but this has worked for me. I needed to learn new habits and this takes time to do.
Take a good look at all of the threads and stay in touch. Talking honestly about issues that you are dealing with is helpful and there are a lot of wonderful people on this site that will give you some great advice. Remember you are not the only one going through this.
Hey runner, welcome! I just started posting on this part of the community but I've been around 3FC awhile, and it is possible to lose that 100 lbs! I've seen many people do it so far, and I'm about halfway to my goal myself (if I manage to control my weight gain through this pregnancy anyway and get back to where I was when I last left off once Baby is out of me.
I'm a runner too! How long have you been going? I started running around this time last year and was able to complete a half marathon by September... which is really sweet motivation for me to see my body be able to do that (I failed gym class in high school because I was too embarrassed to participate... couldn't even make it around the track once!)
It's really helped me to just look at losing a few pounds at a time... Getting down to the next 'decade' has always been my goal... with my background goal of being able to lose the 100+ pounds eventually... moving toward it.
The best thing I've done is set daily goals for how many calories I will consume and how many minutes I will exercise. I record these things in a journal. Even on days when there is no motivation, I hold myself to keeping within my calorie range and getting that exercise in (even if the exercise ends up being taking a leisurely walk down the road because I just can't force myself to do anything else).
There are lots of people on here and lots of support as well! My husband doesn't really support my weight loss (he likes me to be soft he says and doesn't want me to be able to outrun him (which I can... hehe... even while pregnant)), and we recently moved and I really have no friends or family in the area now. So the chicks here have been good support and motivation! We can be open about everything concerning weightloss and chances are if you come up with a brick wall or an issue, and post a question about it here, there is someone who has experienced the same thing and has some advice.
Just remember that nobody here (well most of us anyway... you might run across one or two along the way) are doctors or nutritionists... so do look into advice you read, and do your research, and keep track of your body. Most of us just learn through success and failure with what works for us.
Hi runner. I am also 5' 5 and would like to lose 45-50 pounds. My goal weight is similar to yours. Maybe we could team up and encourage each other along the way. My email is my screen name at yahoo.com. Maybe we could email each other with our weigh ins, struggles and triumphs and hopefully reach our goal weights together. Let me know what you think.
It is very daunting when you look at the big picture, so you need to break it up. For me, I broke it into 2-3 pound increments. I'm a daily weigher, and I weigh once in the morning right after waking, and once at night right before bed. I am always 2 pounds or so less in the morning than at night...so I worked on my "morning" weight first. If I was 231, and I wanted to be under 230, I worked on that for the morning weigh in. Once I was 229.8 in the morning, I worked on being under 230 at night. That would happen a pound or two later...then I worked on being under 225 in the morning...and then under 225 at night...and so on and so on. It really broke it up and kept me really motivated. I don't know if that sounds crazy to others but thought I'd put it out there, you never know if it might work for you to keep you excited and focused!! Although for some people weighing twice daily might drive you nuts, so if it does, just forget about what I said! Good luck, you'll do great - keep posting and keep reading!
Overwhelmed
