I have been looking at this site, and this forum, for some time now and have finally built enough courage to join. I have been overwieght for my entire adult life, and have creeped into the obese category one pound at a time. I own more diet books than are on the shelves at Amazon, and am an expert on how to lose wieght, and yet, I don't do it. I am successful in my career, have a wonderful marriage, great relationships with my children, supportive and loving friends, and this one HUGE thing hanging over my head, saying to the world that I am big phony, the self-confidence I walk around with, the self-love and acceptance I proclaim, is all fake. Why do I not demand control over this, the most important area, of my life? Diabetes runs rampant in my family, and I know it is just a matter of time if I don't do something serious NOW! I turn 40 in 6 months, and my goal is to be excersing regularly (like it is a habit in my life, not a chore to aviod) and to lose at least 20 pounds by then.
Hopefull -- WELCOME!
I really relate to your post. In July 2005 I weighed 295 pounds. I'm a smart confident woman. I knew WHAT to do, but not HOW do really do it.
For me, the catalyst was a number of things, including a bad fall, not fitting into 28/30 clothes, etc. But I was also 39.5 and one day this thought popped into my head "I want to be fitter at 50 than I am when I turn 40." I wondered if I should wait until I was 40 to start, but fortunately took the bull by the horns THEN.
I didn't realize it at the time, but that idea in my head about being 50 was a COMMITMENT to doing this for my life. It seems for me that motivation comes and goes, but I am doing better hanging on to a commitment and a promise to myself.
While my weight loss has stalled (not for any surprising reason, but because I am eating enough to maintain, not lose), my life is completely different than it was a year and a half ago. I pay attention to what I eat, focus on eating more healthy than I used to and exercise very regularly. I joined a gym and weight lift and do cardio. I started yoga. I work with a trainer.
For the first time in my life since I was a sophomore in college I am not obese. I can do so much more and feel like I have reclaimed my life.
I can't give you the catalyst or the "click" -- but I can say that I am doing something I was never able to do before, and I am not the only story like that here. This is an awesome site for information and inspiration. WELCOME!
Welcome to the forum Hope Full! You've come to a great place to get encouragement, advise and the occassional kick in the butt. You have set very realisitic goals for yourself which is a major accomplishment (it's too easy for us to set unrealistic goals and then give ourselves an automatic out when we can't stick with the diet and exercise schedule needed to meet those goals). Now all you have to do is to get with the exercise and tweek your daily food a bit and you are good to go!! I look forward to seeing more posts from you!!
I also very much relate to your post. I too always "knew" what to do to lose weight, but DIDN'T do it. I'm not sure what finally clicked for me. Actually it was a lot of little (not so little) things. You mentioned you're going to hit 40 soon, I just turned 43 and one of the things I had in my head was - you just don't see that many 50 year olds walking around as large as me. So I knew that I must, must do something about this before I hit 50. It's funny we all had age in there as a factor for losing our weight. And I am also a take charge kind of person, so for the life of me I can't figure out how I let myself get so out of control. My husband even said to me when I started this, "When you want to get something done, you get something done, so WHY NOT weightloss?" Yeah, why not weightloss?
Exercise has been tough for me. I have horrendous knees due to my obesity. But I do exercise everyday, I try to break it down into 3 sets of 20 mins. And I try to just move, not particularly exercise, but just move a lot more then I did in the past. And it does get easier. Seeing the pounds melt off and my clothing size plummet, I'm down over 5 sizes already has really propelled me to keep going. I started this new way of life September 4, 2006 and I am already sooo much happier, you have no idea. So though I am no where near goal I am already reaping the benefits of whatever weight I have lost. You don't need to get to goal to start seeing and enjoying the benefits. Keep that in mind. I wish you lots and lots of luck. And I look forward to getting to know you, so please do post often. And remember this is absolutely a do-able thing. You absolutely can do this.
You don't need to get to goal to start seeing and enjoying the benefits. Keep that in mind.
That is so true! It's easy to keep going when you find lots of scale and non-scale victories!
I think a lot of us know what to do to lose weight. One factor that kept me from doing it was that I thought I couldn't sustain it. Every other time I've lost weight, it's come back -- with friends! I gave up for a while figuring why try if MORE weight is the outcome?
I may never have tried if my weight had stayed constant, but it kept creeping up!
Here's the thing Wylllen - I've never lost any weight, not since I was a teenager. And then I was only about 125-130 lbs. My weight just kept on creeping up and up and up. For a while I just thought I'd always have to live morbidly obese. And then one day I just got sick and tired of being a fat person and boom, I said to myself, self I said "If you don't want to be fat, you DON"T have to be." I know it sounds simple, but after years of being so darn heavy it really was that simple. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to lose weight. It really is kinda simple. Move more, eat less. I think the key is to reprogram the brain. And it's doable. It's something that we have control over. It's within OUR power.
But I really truly believe the part about seeing and benefiting from results way prior to hitting goal is another key component to keeping at it. Especially when you are as heavy as I was (am). I always knew that I would see some results before hitting goal, but just didn't realize that they would be sooo drastic. And quite frankly so quick. If I had known that perhaps I would have tackled my obesity sooner.
Hi Hope Full. Welcome. I am also just beginning this weight loss journey and I am 42. I also have a lot of dieting "knowledge" but have had a serious issue with applying the knowledge to my life. But, I am determined to make some changes for my health and, honestly, the way I look. I've noticed lately that it is getting harder and harder to get stand up after sitting for a while and my knees are starting to hurt. I look forward to getting to know you and be a source of support to each other.
Welcome!!! You've come to the right place! I really identified with what you said about wearing this thing around you that says I'm not in control. I hate that too. It's so hard to try to portray this confident, strong, happy person to the world while at the same time conveying the opposite with the layer of fat. I hope you stick around and post often! Everyone is so helpful here.
You can do this! I know what you mean about knowing WHAT to do yet not doing it! Boy, do I know what you mean! For me I was in such denial I couldn't even get past THINKING that everything was just GREAT in my life despite clothes not fitting and ME not fitting in places either!
After losing those first 15 pounds there is such a light feeling! You will LOVE not carrying around the added weight. Don't think about all the pounds that you have to go. Work on five at a time. Then keep track by picking up a five pound bag of sugar and carrying it around for awhile. You will LOVE IT when you can put it DOWN!!!!
I too am new here. Like you I know how to lose weight. I have done it in the past but have let myself gain and gain recently and I hate myself for that. I'm trying to succeed at it again and I've come here in search of encouragement and I've found it. This is a great forum. Looking forward to getting smaller with you. We can all do this...
New Member
to the group! There is lots of support here!
hopefull!
