Stuck with it for more than 4 weeks?
 

If you have stayed with your plan for more than 4 weeks, please share why you think you were able to do this and what you are doing (differently or in general) this time. I've followed these boards long enough to know that most people, including myself, quit after a few days or a few weeks. I'm sick of being fat and want to be free from this weight. Brief bio-I'm the mother of 6 and a professor. I've tried Lean For Life (lo-carb-probably my favorite) and weight watchers. I'm at 275 and should weight 240. I huff and puff walking across campus and I know my family would love for me to lose weight. I don't have the respect of my students anymore. I put on weight after my 3rd child and just kept going and sadly, I barely care about my health and looks. I do want to be healthy for my children who are still young and at home. I do want to get rid of this belly. I do want the thin me back. I do want to be free to laugh and dance in the sunshine again. I

First of all, WELCOME! We are glad to have you here. This is a wonderful group that is so helpful and supportive. I'm sure you'll find something that will work for you here.

Well I've been on my body cleansing program for over 12 weeks, and I've lost 47 lbs, and went from a size 22W to a regular 16 (soon to be 14 woo hoo). One thing that changed for me is I was very much ready to lose this weight. I was probably borderline diabetic before I got started. I was approaching my pregnancy weight all over again. I felt absolutely awful ... no energy for anything or anyone like my husband and kids, and I was depressed and moody.

It took me 6 months to get started with this program, but I'm very glad I did! It happens to be one of the easiest things I have done in regards to weight loss. I like that it's not actually a weight loss program, but for those who need to lose weight it works wonderfully! It's not your typical diet either ... it focuses on nutrition and full body cleansing which helps detox your body. Our body is the miracle in all this, we just help it do what it needs to do. The program promotes lean muscle and burns fat, so you lose weight safely and naturally.

I can't speak highly enough about this program because it has changed my life so much already, and I will keep going with this because I feel great using these products!

Anyway, I don't want to ramble here lol. If you have anymore questions about it, let me know, and I'd be happy to assist. There are some links for more info in my blog if you'd care to take a look.

I am calorie counting and exercising. The thing that I think has made me stick with it is that I am not giving myself the option to fail. Even if I have a bad day (or even bad WEEK), I still do my best to pick myself back up.

Welcome and best of luck to you!:hug:

Hi 2bfree!

Welcome! You have good goals, and already sound like you've made up your mind that this is IT...time to DO IT FOR YOU! Congrats! :cb:

I'm pretty much a free spirit, so I don't follow anybody's specific plan or any special program. What I HAVE done over the last nine months that I have been seriously working on losing weight is take the best and most sensible and doable ideas from all of the different plans and books that are out there and create my own plan.

I read A LOT and enjoy finding out the research behind claims, programs, DVDs etc. I wanted THIS TIME to be different. I wanted THIS TIME to be successful!

Here's what I came up with in a nutshell:

1) I focus on eating a high volume of veggies to keep me full, healthy, and REGULAR (lots of fiber!).

2) I drink water instead of diet pop.

3) I weigh myself every morning after voiding.

4) I keep a journal that focuses on all the successes that I have had each day

5) I exercise every morning for an hour, sometimes more. (I cross-train instead of doing just the same thing over and over) I pick things that are fun and those that I will actually DO. I went to the library and got TONS of different DVDs and picked the ones that I liked best. Right now my focus includes yoga, Turbo Jam, dance, weight training, walking, and jump roping. I exercise during commercials in the evening and even during regular programs.

6) If I really get a craving for some food, I eat it, BUT I incorporate that craving and the eating of the food into my daily calorie count. (For example, I really felt like eating some chocolate pudding this morning. I made some fat-free- sugar-free cooked Jello pudding and had it as my breakfast! It sure was yummy! My chocolate "thing" is satisfied now, and I can move on!)

7) I reward myself with things that I like that AREN'T food. (New jeans in a smaller size, DVDs or workout videos, costume jewelry, etc.)

8) I watch the fat content of foods and also limit carbs when I can.

9) I eat half of my dinner at restaurants and box up the rest to have for lunch the next day. I tell myself that I can have ALL of the food, but I can't have it all at one time. It works to make me not feel like I am giving up anything that I really want.

10) I limit fried foods and don't eat fast food anymore. I tell myself that it is more important for my body to get EXCELLENT FUEL in the form of nutritious, healthy foods.

That's pretty much my plan! Hope that it is helpful! Good luck!

Cheryl

I have stuck with it since February and I attribute that to the fact that, as Cassie said, I am not giving myself the option of failing or even "cheating" or taking breaks from it. I eat right and exercise on a regular basis and won't back down from that regardless of how I "feel."

Also to the fact that my plan is sensible and not a restrictive "diet." I eat a LOT of fresh fruits and veggies, very little processed foods, no junk foods, etc. It may sound restrictive but believe me there are a LOT of wonderful foods, and I am actually eating far more delicious meals than in the past! I cook large amounts and freeze individual portions especially of my meat and stuff. LOL in fact I just found top sirloin and chicken on sale and bought several family packs of both so sure have to get busy this weekend and cook stuff up! BUT I won't have to cook again for quite some time except maybe bake or GF some veggies and stuff. YUM! I don't in ANY way feel deprived but instead fortunate to have such wonderful food AND be getting healthy and losing weight!!!

I'm a calorie counter(and exerciser). I use Fitday. I've been doing it a little over a month, probably 6 weeks, and have lost 18 lbs. The reason i stick with it is because it works. :D lol I think this time there's something about it where i dont want to fail, and i wont. This isnt one of my half-hearted attempts where i give up after a few days and go back to being fat and lazy, finally something clicked with me and im gonna do it. I think with calorie counting, i like the freedom it allows me. You can mess up one day, but make up for it the next. You can incorporate any food you want, just in smaller portions(although its best to eat healthy foods, obviously). I don't feel deprived at all.

Welcome!

My change happened a little over 6 months ago. I think the key for me is that I don't see myself as following a plan or being on a diet: I adopted a new lifestyle that I've accepted as part of myself. I am now a person who eats a moderate, balanced diet and who exercises, both in structured and unstructured forms, almost every day. Basically, I'm just living the life of a "healthy person" and letting my weight take care of itself.

The trick, if there is any, to my way is that I've made sure that I am enjoying the new changes. The food that I am cooking tastes great and doesn't have any specific ingredient limitations and I only choose forms of exercise that I enjoy. I have specific expectations for my own behavior, but I don't beat myself up if I fall below those expectations every once in a while. Even healthy people who have never been overweight a day in their life don't eat right and exercise every day, just the vast majority of them.

Finally, I haven't given over my entire life to obsessing over my weight. I have a large life full of all kinds of interests and hobbies. My whole state of happiness isn't made or broken by the number on my scale each morning, so there is no reason to feel frustrated or like a failure when the number becomes stagnent for a week or 2. I know that the healthy changes I've made are good for me no matter what my weight does, so there is no reason to stop even if I never lose another pound.

Hi and welcome! I'm a professor too and started last summer, so I've been at this about a year. It was a great time for me to get started.
I've never been at it this long before -- as you say most of us quit after weeks/months.

I'll assume that you know WHAT to do, but are looking for insight about how to KEEP doing it.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think you have to make a commitment to this somehow. Commitment to me means I'm not "That Person" any more. You know, the one who feels she has no self control or willpower or what have you. I just feel I don't have any choice any more.

So, in order to be healthy and have the life I ultimately want, I have to do things differently. I have to think about what I ultimately want (health and a lower weight), rather t han what I want right now (that donut).

For me, this has involved a particular mental game that changes a negative into a positive. Rather than feeling that I am depriving myself of a donut, I see myself as making a healthy choice.

For me, nothing represents this "click" better than what I call my "Victory Basket" This is the basket of candy that sits on our secretary's desk. Prior to last year, I fished out multiple candies from it nearly every day. I haven't had one since I started all this.

At first, that darned basket just mocked me: "Look at what you CAN'T have" it seemed to say, in all its basketness...

But then I realized that I was the one with the power over the basket. And that I could get what I want if I didn't eat from it. I haven't had a single piece of candy from that basket in a year. Not that I haven't had any candy, or even any candy at the office. But I have decided that I want to be healthy more than I want to snack from the basket. Rather than allowing it to tempt and mock me, I view every day I don't eat from it as a victory from the Old Me. So, the Victory Basket is a symbol of my choices.

For me, being successful at this means many choices every single day that help lead to success. Sure, I also make some not-so-great choices. But I take accountability for those choices. I write down everything I eat (even the chocolate etc). When I do make choices I DON'T like, I reflect on WHY that happened and strategize over how not to let it happen again. It's amazing how many ways there are to let yourself off track, but you have to get yourself right back on again.

Okay, I'm starting to ramble, let's see what others say!

Thank you so much for your replies. You said what I was feeling in my heart. It does seem that eating healthy foods and not being extreme-having a can do attitude-and exercise that I enjoy is the key. I have found myself more and more leaning in the direction and staying with healthy eating bit by bit, yet while I added healthy food and exercise, I still ate loads of junk.

I have given much thought to having the right attitude today and will take for myself the comment that I am not the same person that I was. I don't have to treat food the way I did before. That was in the past, but now I can overcome the temptations.

I look forward to getting to know all of you. Thank you for the warm welcome.

2bfree -- I love reading posts like yours from new people that are very reflective. I really think that beating the "mental game" is such a big part of this and that being reflective is an important tool.

I look forward to hearing more from you!

Exactly! Same here. When I sit down to one of my meals I am more thinking, wow, I can't believe I would ever have traded THIS yummy stuff for junk food" etc. And instead of spending time in the stuffy old gym, I walk for miles and bust my butt doing water aerobics and other stuff that I enjoy.

I don't agree with your "calories in, calories out" theory -- I want to be healthy; not just thin, and I don't need junk food to do so... but hey, whatever works. :)

Great message. I appreciate your sharing it.

Hi, I've been doing this for 3 months now and have lost 26 pounds. Like many of the other ladies I am calorie counting and exercising, the flexibility it allows me is the only thing I knew I could do for the rest of my life.

I think that the biggest differences for me this time are 1) Im not starving myself, which is the only way I've lost weight in the past, and of course is not a way that anyone can live forever 2) I had to find what things I needed to do that would help me be successful, like some people have to weigh everyday to stay on track, I had to throw my scale away and only weigh once a week at work so that I would not get discouraged and use that as an excuse to go off plan. 3) I gave up most of my Diet Coke and switched to water. 4) I looked for the most support I could give myself, I keep a journal, I read success stories, I tell myself constantly that this is not a race, that anything down is better than anything up and to not worry about how long it takes to get to where I want to be as all along the way I am always going to feel better than I did when I started. 5) and I am working on exercising more, getting more endurance, and just feeling healthier and better about myself.

I'm on week 4 of Optifast.

Its hard. It sucks... There isn't a day that goes by that I do not want to eat a meal. But I don't.
Its hard.

I have alot of accountability measures in place. My husband reminds me that I, overall, I REALLY don't want to blow this (and I don't). I'm doing it with my dad (and he is paying for it), so I certainly am accountable to him in making this plan work for me. I see a counselor every week who makes sure I am staying on track and we talk about why I might want to quit, what the benefits are, how to change behaviors, emotional issues - everything that contributed to weight gain. I also have a few friends who know what I am doing and remind me what a great job I'm doing. Plus, coming and posting here about my successes and feelings keeps me accountable to YOU GUYS and to me.
When I hit my low points, I have all these other people around me to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Another thing that keeps me going: I'M NOT "TRYING" TO DO ANYTHING. I hate that...people say they are going to start to try again or whatever. Don't try anything! Just do it! Make the committment to do whatever it takes to improve yourself. When you say you are going to "try" you leave waaayyy to much wiggle room for failure, then failure becomes justifible. I made a commitment to myself that I was not going to weigh more than 350lbs, and I maintained that weight for 1 1/2 years (this was after gaining 100lbs in 2 years), now I am committed to being healthy and feeling good (physically and emotionally). Generally, goals need to be flexible and acheivable.

Also, knowing that what I'm doing WORKS. Guaranteed... Optifast works as long as you don't cheat! I follow almost to a tee (I have problems taking some of the vitamins somedays) and exercise as much as I can. It works, and I need something that shows results in order to keep going. Not to mention that 1 or 2lbs a week weight loss isn't going to help my health, the weight needs to come off now, not 2 years from now.

My advice to you: find a plan that works for you, do as much exercise as you can tolerate everyday, make flexible goals, make a commitment to yourself, set up a support system, and find a good counselor to help with the mental/emotional aspects of weight loss.

I have been able to stick with my "Plan" for 22 months now. Because it isn't a plan, it is a way of life. I have just slowly changed my eating habits and introduced exercise and *ta-da* I have been able to lose weight. And this plan works for me, because it is my plan made by me for me. I eat the foods I like to eat (bad ones in real moderation) but with an eye towards the calories and make sure I take in some good ol' fashioned exercise and viola! I have lost 107# already!!
And if you look on it as a "diet plan" then IMHO you might be setting yourself up for a disaster, because at the end of the diet what are you going to do? It might (ok, does!) sound cheesy, but it really has to be a lifestyle change if the weight loss is going to last a lifetime. :)

Amanda -- I wasn't sure what you were saying here. I agree with the 2nd part -- lose weight now not 2 years from now. But with a weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week, generally a healthy range, in those 2 years a person would have lost 100-200 pounds! So, I'd argue that it certainly can help one's health to lose 1-2 pounds a week over time.

I'm not trying to slam your choice to do Optifast, which in the short term generally does result in faster weight loss than more conventional approaches. But I don't think a 1-2 pound/week weight loss is anything to sneeze at either.