What kind of program are you doing to lose the weight? Remember it doesn't happen over night. I couldn't lose the weight by just eating right. I needed the accountability so I joined weight watchers about a month ago. I've lost almost seven pounds so far. I bet if you found the right program you could get down to your goal weight.
Get there one pound at a time. Looking at that goal might be a little overwhelming. You might want to make a mini-goal for yourself. Something realistic and doable, like reaching 180 or so first, then on to the next goal, et., until you're where you want to be. Losing weight and getting healthy can be difficult, but definitely not impossible. Good luck to you!!
Mini goals are definitely the key, and your first one is to get out of the 180s. That is my current goal. I am ready to see the 170s. It takes a lot of discipline. I recommend food journaling. Calories in and calories out is how you lose weight. Healthy whole natural not processed foods. Food is how you got overweight and food is definitely a key factor in how you are going to pull the weight off.
Find yourself emergency snacks, something you have with you at all times that won't let you fail and fold. Keep some beef jerky or almonds in your purse, those are some of my favorite snacks. Do the work, do the research. You will have to play with the numbers. You may be able to eat 1600 calories a day and lose weight successfully. My key number is around 1100 calories. Every body differs and you have to figure out what it takes for your body to perform and lose adequately.
One step at a time, one bite at a time! You might feel more motivated if you break your weight loss goals into 5 pound increments. Start working on losing 5 pounds and focus only on the 5 pounds, and reward yourself when you succeed!
I'm not a 20-something, but I can definitely relate to your feelings of being overwhelmed at the idea of losing a good amount of weight. As others have suggested, mini-goals are definitely a good way to go. I also started a spreadsheet so I could see a graph of my weight going down; sometimes it feels like we're not losing very much, but the graph doesn't lie!
The other thing I do when I feel that I can't do this, is I go to the goals section of the forum. I read success stories and look at their pictures. Those people are JUST LIKE US. They aren't super-special, and they don't have some crazy secret. They are just like you and I, and they did it. So can we. It's a matter of being patient and dedicated and finding what works for us, because we are unique individuals.
So don't be discouraged. Set a really small mini-goal; even 2 pounds is a good mini-goal. Losing 20 pounds seems hard, but losing 2 is do-able, right? So just lose 2, then 2 more, then 2 more....pretty soon it starts to add up!
So your assignment for today is to read in the Goals section for 15 minutes and look at the pictures. They can do it--so can we!
You CAN do it! Be patient with yourself. One thing that really helped me was realizing that there is no deadline. I would set goals with ridiculous time limits and then be so frustrated when I wouldn't make it. It might take time, but don't worry about it. You'll get there .
You can do it you just have to be patient thats the hardest part and believe me I know but I have finally lost the first 20 lbs on my way to my goal...and you can do it to! <3
I'd really advise you to join the 'get out of the 180's' thread, I was there myself not long ago, just a few weeks! Now I'm trying to get out of the 160's! It's a great motivator to move along with all those people.
And don't forget, you don't have to do this perfectly! It's ok to take a break and maintain for a while sometimes! It's ok to eat something you crave once in a while, it will not ruin your weight loss, the only thing you have to do is not give up in the long run!
Id have to ditto what everyone else is saying and also aggree with the op on timing. I use to really set time goals and it not really good for me. Just eat right and workout. Keep doing what is needed to lose weight and you will see results. Hang in there we all understand!
You have to take it one day at a time. When you start it seems like a daunting task,but slowing the weight will start coming off. Once you start losing weight everything will seem more doable. Find the motivation and go for it.
Go check out the 5 pound challenges. Sooooo much easier to think about just these five pounds. Things can get very overwhelming. It is great to have smaller chunks.
YOU CAN DO THIS
I've just come to realize that there is no deadline, so I'm not setting myself up with disappointed if say I haven't lost 40 pounds by Thanksgiving. I've also noticed that I get frustrated when I don't see a change on the scale, so the scale is now tucked away and I'm weighing in once per month instead of several times daily. Losing moe than 50 pounds is difficult, but several people on this site have acheived it or even much more so I know we can do it. Hang in there.
I second everyone that says don't worry about deadlines or doing things quickly. Just try to do things consistently.
When I get frustrated that I'm not losing as quickly as I'd like, or even at all, or feel like I have way too far to go, I just remind myself that I'm not going anywhere, and my fat isn't going anywhere, and my willpower isn't going anywhere, so it's just a matter of time before it comes off. The key is getting into a place that you can sustain, and just keeping at it.
I understand how OP feels. I'm sure we've all been there...
But I wish advice given was a bit more specific. I know it's hard to be because "everyone is different", but... I don't know. I've heard it a thousand times before. "Eat right", "calories in, calories out", "take it slow." But I wish it was all defined and laid out in front of you. "Eat this much of this, this, this, and this." and "Exercise this much a week and do these exercises."
But "everyone is different" and a clear-cut formula won't work for each individual. And it doesn't help that the scale doesn't give you a very consistent trend. Very frustrating.
From my own, personal experience... I went from 148(?)-140lbs rather quickly from walking on a mountain daily and, later, following the SBD.
My second attempt, I went from 163-148lbs by eating 1200 calories/day (eating anything I wanted within my budget) with no exercise. It took several months though.
My third attempt, I really started to smarten up and get the hang of it. I went from 157-146lbs. Finally my weight loss was turning into a science. I started with 1650 calories, expecting that to be my maintenance... and it turned out to be. I didn't lose any weight. So I went down to 1550 calories as I thought 1200 calories was too low for me. I was in a 700 calorie a week deficient by my calculations. And you know what? I ended up losing 0.2lbs a week just like I predicted. Eventually, I ended up moving down to 1400 calories and trying to burn off 100 calories a day through exercise... 0.7lbs a week... but even that felt too slow for me. Then... Eventually, I said 'screw it' because counting every stupid single little thing that went into my mouth was aggravating after several months. So I stopped counting, and probably started eating less than 1400 calories. I no longer exercised, but I was losing ~1.3lbs a week. Pretty good! Then..... I slowly stopped. (I was working at this for months, at a very slow pace, and so my net loss for all that time was pretty low...)
Now I'm trying again, starting at 150lbs, quitting counting calories and finally exercising. I think I did best when I wasn't so obsessive about it. That's... how I'm doing it. But I'd rather hear from someone who has actually made it to their goal
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How? [Warning: emo]
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