I am at the very beginning of my weight loss story....I lost 11 lbs in one week following Weight Watchers and am very happy with myself. I know that is a lot to loose in the first while. I am also looking at the number of pounds I need to loose and can not quite figure out how the heck I am going to keep going. I'm just wondering what kind of advice anyone has for people with 100+ to loose? I have an 8 year old and a five month old and I really want my babies to think..well honestly...that their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world. So I really need to figure this stuff out. And I find very random advice very helpful....so feel free to reply.
first off I would like to say you are a BEAUTIFUL woman without even seeing a picture. We are all beautiful in our own way. Here is a little about me....I want to loose 135 lbs to begin with but will probably end up losing more like 200lbs. My start weight was 388 and I put my goal at wanting to weigh 250, once I get there I will make a decision if I want to go smaller. I have lost 41 lbs in 2 months. I am on Ideal Protein not WW. I just keep telling myself that this is a lifestyle change for me and experiment with the food. I don't have to count points or anything like that so its a bit easier for me. You just have to take it one day at a time, I know I can do this and I want to be healthier so I know I will and WANT to stick to my diet. Whatever you do is don't ever get discouraged if you don't lose any weight at all one week, even though you have stuck to your program 100%. I would measure myself also to see if you are loosing inches, sometimes inches come off more than pounds. I measure my arms, breast, waist, hips and leg, I have lost a total of 49 inches so far. This is just my 2 cents, good luck in your journey!!
Welcome to the board! My advice is to just be patient and committed. No two weeks or months are the same. Some weeks you might lose 5 pounds, some weeks you might lose 1 pound, some weeks you might not lose anything. Focus on the goal and stick with it no matter how hard it may seem!
ditto everyone else. Find a plan/regimen that works for you and run with it (literally or figuratively the choice is yours) you CAN do this! you WILL do this! Personally I count cals and keep an eye on carbs. That is just me tho HAVE FUN WITH IT!!
I may end up losing 100 lbs, I'm not really sure at this point where I will end up as a final goal. But what I do know is that I can't think about it in terms of 100 lbs because that is just too overwhelming and unimaginable. So what I decided to do was worry about 10% at a time. I am less than 6 lbs away from losing the first 10%. And once I do that, then I'm going to just focus on the second 10%, and not worry about what comes after that. I would recommend something similar - it doesn't need to be 10%, just some challenging but achievable goal, and then once that is accomplished, you build on it to get to the next goal.
When I first started, looking at 100 pounds seemed impossible yet it was the reality of my situation. Now that I'm almost there it doesn't seem it was really that bad.
A few suggestions;
1. Set a realistic goal weight. My first goal weight which I'm coming up on is to cross the line from obese to overweight. Yours might be different.
2. Set small mini-goals...5 pounds, 10 pounds...and celebrate each time you achieve one.
4. Find a food plan you can stick with for life. If you get tired of WW then find another plan...consider having a back up plan. I follow South Beach Diet but on days I can't comply (for whatever reason) I calorie count.
5. Take measurements and don't beat yourself up when the scale doesn't move-it's a major trigger for relapse and weight gain.
5. Find a way to incorporate exercise into your everyday life. I started riding my bicycle around the block(it's all I could do). Now I can ride long distances.
6.*THE MOST IMPORTANT* in my book. Find a group here that you can relate to. There are age based, diet based, faith based....Make that group your home base and post every day, no if's and's or buts. This has been my #1 most successful technique for turning the mountain into the molehill.
~ By posting every morning I have the opportunity to start every day with like minded individuals.
~ By posting after a crappy day of eating I have motivation to get back on plan
~ When I post every day I can share my successes AND frustrations with others who care.
~When I get to the point that I want to throw in the towel I ask for support and they help me recommit.
My weightloss has slowed this past year as I try to learn to take care of myself while living day to day with lots of family stress. I am extremely proud that I didn't gain all my weight back and actually lost a few pounds. For that, I have 3FC to thank. Someone is always here to listen.
Welcome! You'll love it here; everyone is so friendly, supportive, and encouraging.
You've received good advice from the previous posters.
One of the things that helped me is to weigh every day and post daily on the monthly weigh-in thread. It helped me see the fluctuations of my weight loss during the different times of the month (especially around TOM and ovulation) and to not get discouraged when I was stuck at the same weight for 3 or 4 days- as long as I stuck to my plan, the weight came off.
I read Dr.Judith Beck's books and changed my entire relationship with food. Food was a comfort when I was depressed, upset, mad, stressed... Now I have a healthy relationship with food and I am consistently losing weight. You might want to check it out, along with the relevant threads here at 3FC.
I found it helpful to think, the time will pass anyway. May as well be thinner at the end of a year or two!
^^ This. This kind of thinking has been critical for me. One thing I notice as I get older is that time seems to go by faster and faster. I've been on my plan nearly two years now. That sounds like an eternity. If you'd said to me when I started "two years from now, you still won't have lost all the weight you want to lose" I'd have grumbled. But when I stop to think about how quickly two years go by these days - it really doesn't seem that long.
So think about it - think of something that happened a year ago. Can you believe that was a year ago? It seems like yesterday, doesn't it? A year from now, you'll feel the same way about today. So don't worry about how long it will take you to lose the weight - just remember that the time is going to pass, and it's going to pass quickly.
The other thing that helps me deal with how long the process takes is to focus in not just on one week or one day at a time, but one choice at a time. It's not a matter of watching what I eat for years and years and making painstakingly slow progress. It's not a matter of never eating such-and-such a treat again as long as I live. It's just a matter of the one choice that I have in front of me right now. For example, if I'm at work and someone offers me a donut, it's just choosing to say no to that donut - I can focus on that one instant, not worry about years and years of work.
What has worked for me is saying to myself that I will give 150% for 4 weeks. That's it! And if I want to give up, I will give up! I can promise you that after full devotion towards your goal, you won't give up! I also go by the mantra that time is ticking....I can either be healthy and thin at the end of 6 months, a year, or whenever.....or I can be exactly where I am now!
when i started, i had 135 pounds to lose. and it was (still is!) very daunting to see how much further i have to go to get where i want to be. so i don't look at the finish line, i look at the check points on the scale i have set out. every ten pounds. no longer obese. as well as NSVs i'm looking forward to. having collar bones again, fitting into my high school prom dress (not that i'd wear it out, but it's a goal!), that pair of jeans 4 sizes too small.
i celebrate every pound lost as a pound i'll never see again. (every time i go from like 262.3 down to 261.9 or something, i get all excited to see that next number down). when i get down on myself, i do silly things like weigh myself with a basket of laundry. or the vacuum. or an armload of groceries. and see that the number is *still* lower than where i started, even with all that stuff. i used to carry 'round ALL THAT STUFF! it's a crazy good motivator. and if you picture someone watching you looking so silly, you'll probably laugh.
good luck to you, and congrats on your jump start!
I didn't read the other posts so apologies if I'm repeating.
-break it into small chunks and make sure you celebrate your success (new nail polish, facials, a day with the girls, new clothes etc).
-tell people around you. we tend to start our weight reduction in secret but research has shown that telling people helps with both motivation and accountability. You don't have to tell everyone but a few close friends. And it also helps when you are out with friends if you can make them understand not to offer you your trigger foods. You might just find an exercise buddy
-track and plan. Plan your week, what you're going to eat and exercise and then track to see if you did it. Helps you see what is working and what doesnt
-don't do an exercise you hate, find something you love!
-visit 3FC for motivation and inspiration! I need a daily dose of motivation from other people and 3FC helps with that
Everyone here already covered a lot of great ideas! I'll just add one.
I just have one question: Are you gonna quit or commit?
That's what I ask myself when I'm faced with a difficult task or decision. Am I going to quit? Because quitting is such an ugly word. It means I didn't even -try-... I just... gave up! And giving up leads me back to my starting weight or worse. Or am I gonna commit? Am I going to persevere and wind up on the other side of this little frustration I'm currently faced with, and end up proud and healthier? Oh, that sounds so much better than quitting.
And so I give that question to you to use whenever you need to ask yourself.
1. Find something you can live with forever. You can tweak things as you go along to how it works best for you but for me it's been key to be able to just keep going, whether it's for weight loss or just for day to day maintenance of said weight loss...my food didn't change once I hit goal. This is just how it is, forever.
2. I second the daily weighing threads - HUGE for me. Putting my weight on there everyday really helped to keep me going.
Also I'm of the thought that the time is going to pass anyways...why not spend it getting healthier? Like you my kids were a huge motivator to get this under control, once and for all so I can be the active, healthy mom I want to be. Good luck and keep posting!!
Advice for newbies who need to lose 100+
My advice is to just be patient and committed. No two weeks or months are the same. Some weeks you might lose 5 pounds, some weeks you might lose 1 pound, some weeks you might not lose anything. Focus on the goal and stick with it no matter how hard it may seem! 
Mumof2D!
