I am new to the board and am glad to find such encouraging threads. I have realized that the extra 100 plus pounds I am carrying around is keeping me from living. I have started to notice that when things come up that may be fun to do, my first reaction is to think will my weight be ok. For example...fitting into booths when going out to eat, fitting comfortably into theater seats, going tubing with my family, fitting into theme park rides and the list goes on and on. I am ready to live!! I do believe carbs are my biggest enemy. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to start my adventure?? I know I need to change a lot, but most of all I want my body to be healthy and fit and up for any challenge.
Thanks in advance for your help and support!!

I am newish too - I was here back in September but soon gave up again and restarted this past Monday. But I am NOT new to trying to lose weight - haha!

A few tips - start small with your changes and gradually change things more as go. For example, if you think carbs are your major problem, start paying attention to how many carbs you eat in a day and what kind (whole grain or whole wheat are better than starchy or white ones) versus how many you should eat. Change that and once that change is made in your life, start a new one!

Keeping a food diary is really helpful to me to know exactly what I'm eating and keeping myself accountable to my calorie allotment.

Don't think you have to give up your favorite foods just because you want to lose weight. Limit the portion or cook it in a healthier way (steamed versus fried) or have it only once per week or once per month. Etc. Incorporate your favorites into your diet so you don't feel like you're sacrificing or guilty when you do indulge.

Those are my three major tips. Good luck!

All I can say is you are not alone. I think about the same things and want to live too. Really participate in life. I think that this is what we need to keep in mind when the challenges of weight loss appear.

I'm pretty new too-- just started trying to lose weight at the beginning of June. I find that the best thing for me has been to have tons of fresh fruit and veggies around, so when I feel like eating I have lots of quick healthy choices.

Try a combination of a carb counter diet like Atkins or Ideal Protein, and see if OA forums can help. You are on the right path.

I have been doing an avoid the carbs diet for about a week now and I've dropped about 3 pounds now. I'm eating about 75 grams of carbs a day and the rest of my calories come from lean protein and healthy fats like olive oil and canola. Less carbs in my system makes them easier to resist, I have not had a major carb craving and easily resisted pizza tonight.

You didn't post how tall you are, but your beginning and goal weights are pterry close to mine, so we're on a very similar path. I'll jump in here and agree with ghost about cutting carbs and reducing carb cravings. I could have lived on carbs 6 months ago. The best part of going to an Italian restaurant was the bread. The best thing about having a bowl of soup was eating half a loaf of crusty bread with it. I could eat pasta or pizza every night of the week. Or rice. Then I started this weight loss trip and realized after a bit of reading that the carbs had to be reduced. I'm not carb resistant. I'm not insulin resistant. No health problems to speak of.

I don't count calories strictly, or carbs, either, for that matter. I just don't eat very much pasta, rice, potatoes, or white bread. Whole wheat products are better, but they are still very carb heavy. I load up on vegetables and fruit. I have cut portions to about half. I exercise every day. (Almost.) The cravings for bread and pasta are gone. I can pass them up easily now. Sweet cravings diminish along with the carb cravings. For 1 month try eliminating bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. See what happens. Get your carbs from other sources (they're everywhere!) I bet you a dollar your cravings go away.

All this is difficult. We're going to struggle a lot until we change the way we think about food. Then when we get our heads on straight we'll still struggle, but maybe not as much.

Every single day I am astounded that I've managed to stay pretty much on plan for as long as I have. I joined a gym on January 13th and opened my big mouth that I planned to lose 100 pounds by Christmas. I've lost 72 so far. I'm nothing special - if I can do it, so can you. You have come to the right place for help. This place is full of people who are successful at this and who will pull you along with them.

In January, 11 months seemed like an impossible amount of time to "be on a diet." Now, 6 months of a changed life style seems like a very short time, seeing that this is how I hope to eat for the rest of my life.

This 100 pound forum is wonderful. Welcome. I wish you the best of luck.

Lin

I don't know if this will help, but this is the five-point approach I took to losing the weight:


Walk. Walk walk walk walk walk. And then go out and walk.

In the long run, doing strength training to build fat-burning muscle will help speed up the weight loss process. But the first few weeks of any new weight-loss pledge are key. Walking is the surest way to start losing pounds, especially if it isn't already a part of your daily routine, and seeing the scale go down in the beginning will give you the motivation you need to keep going during those periods when you hit a plateau (because you WILL hit one eventually - I'm at one right now, 30 pounds lost and holding). Walking is also great because it's so easy to do! You don't have to do it for a million hours a day - I do 30 minutes every morning. But releases endorphins (which make you happy), and that helps keep you in a positive mood about the whole process.

Drink loooooooooooooooooots of water. AT LEAST eight, eight-ounce glasses per day. More if you can stand it. Water is the main ingredient in the krebs-cycle, the chemical process that causes fat-burning in the body. The more water you drink, the more fuel there is for the krebs-cycle, the more fat you burn!

Track your food. The amount of crap I put into my body on a daily basis absolutely blew me away when I first started tracking. I had no idea just how much the little things (ketchup, mayo, soda) added up over the course of the day. Even if you don't intend to track calories, getting an honest and real picture of what you eat will really help you get an honest and real picture of how to change your habits. I track my calorie intake every day on MyPlate, a free calorie counter on livestrong.com.

Take a picture. I know the thought might mortify you (it certainly did for me), but take a 'before' picture. Pictures can be a shock to see, because the mental picture that we have in our head usually doesn't quite match up with the real thing when it comes to how much we weigh. Take the picture, and don't let it discourage you. Look at it and say, 'I know this is how the world sees me now. But I also know how I see myself. From this point forward, I'm going to make sure that I do whatever it takes to show the world the real me.' Keep taking photos every so often, so you can see your progress as others see it.

Keep in touch! This forum is a wonderful tool and should be an essential tool in your weight-loss kit. No matter what is going on in your life, what your friends and family think of you, or anything else, we are ALWAYS ready to give you a pat on the back or a kick in the butt. Stick with us, and we'll give you the motivation you need.


Making the commitment to lose is a huge first step, especially when the goal is as substantial as 100 pounds. I am SO PROUD OF YOU for being willing to make that commitment, as is everyone else on this forum. Good luck, and keep in touch!

great thread, wonderful support and advice.

Just wanted to add that there are lots of ways to lose weight. Whereas lots of ppl stay away from carbs, I have embraced low-cal & minimally processed foods (as well as going veg, but that's for more reasons than weight management). I eat tons of potatoes, for example. At about 110 calories per pound, they're filling and inexpensive. Same with fruit. Lots of sugar, yes. But low-cal, high fiber, lots of nutrients. I don't restrict them. But others find these foods trigger binges. I know I'm incapable of eating just a few nuts, for example. It's just an amazing journey of exploration and discovery, & finding the foods that make you feel strong & nourished. It's not about restrictions - it's about eating amazing things that aid your journey. At least that's what I try to remember when I turn down foods that I used to eat all the time. It's not that I even want the food necessarily. It's just that it's cheap and easy & let's me avoid the time & effort of eating better.

a lot of good advice! The only thing I can add is that what works for YOU works for you Not all plans are created equal and you have to decide how you want to live your life, what you're willing to do, etc. There are many schools of thought for sure, some people advocate simply NEVER eating XY&Z ever again; and others, like myself, advocate taking the mystery and power out of food. Learn WHY it affects you so much, what the hold over you is, and try to conquer it. I said so many times, I'm NEVER eating chocolate again!! and i'd stick to it faithfully, for months at a time in fact, but then i'd have a piece and i'd be back on the junk all over again. This time around, i KNOW what's in my head and my heart, I can deal with things better, I can have a handful of M&Ms and the bag doesn't rule my life. I refuse to give that much power to an inanimate object LOL

Just remember- we can all talk to we're blue in the face, agree & disagree, but in the end it's all YOU - you're going to do this! for yourself and your family yay! I hope you're doing lots of fun living NOW tho, life doesn't wait "til you're thin" you have to have fun and be in & of the world no matter what size

Track and plan. Plan what you're going to eat and track what you eat and if you stayed to plan.

Never give up, remember this is a life style change. So what if it takes years to lose the weight, it took years to put it on. And those years are going to pass, they can pass with you staying fat, or you reducing your weight, and one day reaching goal with a new mind set as well as a new body.

I agree that there are lots of different ways to lose weight and that counting calories and cutting carbs, including potatoes, is just one of them I mentioned cutting carbs as an option and how I no longer crave them because the OP said carbs were her downfall.

Sophronia - I assume you mean that there are about 110 calories in a serving of potatoes (based on a small potato) because I think it's about 400 calories per pound. A large baking potato - about 3/4 pounds - is about 300 calories. This is just the potato - not butter, salt, toppings, etc.

Lin

Hey Lin - Thanks for correcting me. I meant one serving.

The reason I posted what I did was that AnneMarie had said carbs were her downfall, as you mentioned. I just wanted to point out that carbs are not necessarily "evil," just as all fats or all sugars are not necessarily "evil." The rage today is low-carb, and sometimes I hear people anguish because they feel like they can't give up carbs, so they'll never lose weight. I just wanted to point out that if she enjoys carbs, she could find a way to eat them and still lose weight. You (and others) had already given great tips on how to cut back and the benefits she might gain from avoiding carbs. I celebrate everyone who has found success in a way that has enhanced their health, and especially those who have found things they particularly enjoy that will hopefully lead to a lifetime of maintenance.

AnneMarie - I hope you are finding something that works really well for you, that you can live with for the rest of your life. Personally, I've found success with a number of strategies, and my most successful weight loss journey (where I lost about 100 pounds) featured a switch from starch-based to relatively low-carb. The key is trying and finding what you love, and what will keep the scale needle moving the right way! Clearly, I'm still looking for the strategy (or strategies) that will work for me in a rest-of-my-life kind of way. For me, that likely includes potatoes (baked, very low-cal toppings).