Hey newbie.....welcome....there you aren't a newbie any more!
I am an old-bie......nope that doesn't sound right....I have been on here a while. The best lesson I have learned....although I don't always follow it ...is that when you are having a bad day and have eaten your calorie allowance for the month at one sitting, please still come and post on here. We have all been wherever you are, good days, bad days and days when you are so desperate for ANYTHING to eat you are considering nibbling on dog food!!!
I plucked up the courage to see my GP about the horrendous knee pain which had been dominating my life and making life increasingly hard for a coupe of years. I had put it off because I couldn't face the "fat lecture". Well.....I wish I had done it before! We had a very equal discussion about pain killer and anti-inflammatories and she has prescribed me a combo of both and also a cream called Capsaicin which has been shown to be effective in managing pain. If I can move I can lose weight. I am happy to report at least a 50 percent reduction in my pain and I can now rise from sitting without pain. I hadn't realised how awful the pain had been. I feel like I have been let out of prison!!!
If you are in the same position.......please go and get whatever medication might help you.
Take care xxx

Thanks for the welcome y'all! Glad your knee is feeling better mountain walker! Living is pain is no fun indeed.

Theaimes WELCOME!! Sometimes you need to hang around at a few tables until you find the right group of people. And here at 300+ we have all experienced different weight-loss barriers to most. I was only just in the 300+ category at 323lbs just last January, but I stayed here because I had really bad pain from tendonitis in both of my elbows (it was from years of drumming), so like many people in here, we were dealing with the odd aches and pains that others may not of had. I am now 281.5 as of this morning, and this lot have been so supportive. So stick around, let us know more about you, and join in the challenge if you fancy a shot.

Phae :wave: hope all is well this week.

Mountain_Walker Im glad you went to see the doctor, maybe this will be the year for you :D

Me Im just popping in to say hiya :D the fast went well and Im just trying to stay consistent.

Hi everyone!

I'm an old timer AND a newbie at the same time!

Quick re-introduction: I lost 80 lbs on WW back in 2003. Gained it back. Added more. Lost the same 40-50 pounds probably 40 to 50 times since then - and every time they came back and brought friends. So in December I decided to have weight loss surgery (gastric sleeve) because now, I'm a couple of years away from 50 and I can't seem to get it under control. Went to see the surgeon - and per insurance I have a 6 month period to wait. So I saw the psych and last week I saw the endocrinologist who is attached to the bariatric program. It was a 2 hour appointment - zoinks! It was very informative BUT they told me that there was no way I could lose the weight without surgery.

I mean, that's what I thought too - that's why I was there - right?

Unfortunately telling me I can't do something doesn't bode well sometimes and that might have been the spark that I needed to re-light my fire. We shall see.

So while I'm continuing with the bariatric program of seeing their docs during this 6 months period (I have a nutritional meeting next week) I'm giving this one last shot to do it on my own.

While trying to figure out how I would eat after surgery, I wandered into a lot of low-carb/high fat diet info. It's probably the one thing I haven't tried - I've always had the mantra of "weight loss is simply calories in vs calories out". But as I've gotten older it's gotten WAY tougher to lose weight. I struggle now to lose a pound or two - realistically, it's probably due to age + a screwed up metabolism.

But what the ****. I'm going to try this LCHF diet for the next two weeks - my DH and I started Sunday. And I have to say, I'm FREAKING out that I'm eating steak and cheese and eggs ON A DIET. I mean, I put a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream in my coffee this morning. (WHAT???) But what do I have to lose? (Well, actually A LOT, but you guys know what I mean.)

I will ramble on forever if I don't quit soon so I'll just say ... Hi!

Hey Sick n Tired!! I currently am doing the LCHF diet as well, it works so well!! Previously I lost 80 lbs doing it in about 5 months, sadly when you go back to binge eating carbs you will gain it back. But I have started it again, it has to be one of the best diets I have found and it totally works for those of us with messed up metabolisms. Plus any diet that lets me eat bacon is pretty amazing. Beware of the keto flu though, it usually comes with day 3 and lasts a few days. Once you conquer that its pretty smooth sailing!

Hi theaimes and Sick n tired
nice to see you both here
Like scotsgal I was in the lower end of the 300 pounds to loose am now heading into the lower end of the 200's!
have tried posting in the 40 somethings forum but people seem to really disappear from there
have yet to find a thread/forum anywhere else that resonates with me which is why I keep coming back
my scales tell me I am less then 300 but I still have that mindset

when looking at stuff about Weight watchers and with LCHF it keeps coming up you need to stop thinking of them as diets and start thinking lifestyle change
these plans work to help you lose weight and keep it off it you can change your mindset...
I remember reading somewhere food got you into this and food will get you out of it!

I myself have been doing a you tube basic 30 days of yoga and have had my girls join me for it
if interested its 30 days of yoga by Adrienne



am back at work now so am not walking quite as far this week ... need to work out a balance for work dance andn walk..

went to the movies... ah 1 bag of lollies split up between four so not too much damamge this time.. in the past has been much worse
small victories right?

Woke up discouraged today, sometimes when I think about the journey ahead I just get tired. It is such a daunting thought, losing 200 plus lbs just seems so impossible.

Hope y'all don't mind me sharing my thoughts, just feeling blue this morning.

Don't give up, theaimes!

As impossible as it may seem, you can do this. Just like Phae said, break it up inter smaller increment goals. I started with 166 to lose, so I understand that daunting feeling all too well. To combat that, I have made a spreadsheet with goals every 5 lbs, the corresponding BMI listed, and the little (non food item) treat I'm going to give myself when I get to each. Usually it's something like a new coffee cup, or makeup. And man, is it satisfying every time I get to mark off a goal.

Another thing I do, I have two mason jars labeled pounds to lose and pounds lost. Every pound that gets lost is a marble that moves from the first jar to the second, which is also incredibly satisfying.

Hello Everyone! So the scale for just now seems to be moving down which is always a bonus. I have lost all of my xmas weight as then some. I would have to lose 8.5 lbs in a week if I were to get back on track :lol:, its a bit wild, but I will at least try my hardest to get a big chunk of it out of the way. I want to look great for a big reunion in London next weekend with the folks I used to work in the states with :D. The last time they would of saw me, I would of been 43 lbs heavier and at my highest weight :( so for me this is quite important.

Phae darn self sabotage...... My first 6 months were full of me just destroying my efforts to lose weight, it took me a while to break it down to one "cheat" meal per week. Tonight I had that cheat meal :(. I can go about 2 weeks before really craving one, now as soon as I eat it.... Im so mad that I gave in. Like tonight, I ate it.... then had to go for a 40 min walk. Once you can get it down to one meal.... then you might find it more manageable.

Sick_N_Tired Welcome, or Welcome back! I went through about 4 or 5 fazes of wanting to go for weight-loss surgery, because every effort I put in just wasn't enough, I was never losing any weight. Until, I came across someone describe the amazing feeling of losing about 160 lbs through sheer determination, low calories and lots of working out. I then came across a guy called Jamie Alderton, who spoke about how losing weight is 100% a mental workout. He described how millions of people are so overwhelmed with variations of "how to lose weight" that it is near impossible to separate the "fad" diets, to what will make you lose weight, and never gain it again. I decided that I had to see it as a project, because I knew nothing about nutrition, calories, or proper working out. Ive spent the year learning about food and working and tweaking a food plan that allowed me to lose nearly 45lbs. This year, I am taking on learning about what the heck I should do when I am at the gym :lol:. Next year, my final year, I have no idea what I will be learning, but I will be about 100lbs lighter :D. If you really feel the fire to do it without surgery, then your should be like "Game On!", but if you feel that you need the surgery, then by all means go for it! Either way, like you said, you will need to change your eating habits for life.

I believe in you :hug:

Karencat How is your Yoga getting on? Im not so graceful in the slightest to be a yoga person, got no patience :lol: Im a weight lifter at heart :lol:

Blicca I love the jar and marbles, I saw it on pinterest a little while ago and thought that It was great!

Hey everyone! Just popping in to say hi. Everything is going good here just trucking along. I finally feel like i'm back into my weight loss groove. The holidays were rough on my eating habits and I slacked off for a while but now i'm back on track and back to losing weight.

Blicca: I love your marble idea. My body hasn't changed much visually so maybe having somethign like that would help me see that it is a lot of progress.

theaimes: Hello :) My one tip is to not get discouraged. I'm on the same boat of having to lose a large chunk of myself and there are times that i look at how fast other people lost all of their weight. Or even friends who are teeny tiny and eat triple what I allow myself... it can get tough but just remember that you are doing this for you and you CAN do this.

Ruby - The visual of the jars has definitely kept me motivated at times. They were from centerpieces at my wedding, and it was looking at the pictures from my wedding that I realized that something really needed to change, because I hated how I looked in them. So it's kind of a motivation two-fer for me. :)

Things didn't go according to plan food-wise yesterday. Instead of the Thai food we were planning to go out for, the hubby and I stayed home, and I had a small box of a candy I've been craving for dinner. Stayed within my calorie goal for the day, though, and this morning had dropped down to 265.2! Just over 50 pounds gone, and this is the furthest I've ever made it as far as losing weight goes. I'm excited to keep going! :broc:

Did an extra workout today after having takeout last night and seeing the scale move up a bit this morning. So I have had a low calorie day as well as a high workout day.

Plodding along here :D

Good job Blicca!

Welcome to the new people who recently joined the group!

I Haven't gotten much time to write lately, but I still pop back in to read every couple of days. I've still been in a slump for the last couple of weeks... seems like I've been catching every bug that is going around and have an extreme lack of motivation. It doesn't help that my metabolism is so confusing. I will go for weeks, usually 5-6 maintaining or barely losing any weight (doing the exact same thing that I have been doing) and then I will finally start losing weight again. Now I am in one of the slow losing phases, so it makes motivation a little harder. I am eating the same and I was still walking the same amount, so I added some weight lifting... we'll see what happens. Maybe I just haven't figured out my body and what it needs yet.

I've been thinking about dropping down to the 1200 calories a day since I'm not working out. I know I'll start walking again when its warm again but I should be doing something now. Can't really do any of the exercise videos because i live in an upper apartment and I don't want my neighbors to think the roof is caving in. Not sure. I have to think about it some more.

I've starting the process of looking into houses to buy and the thought of all the hoop jumping and dealing with my dh is stressing me out. My husband tends to get ... over anxious? overly stressed? (its hard to explain he just freaks out about all the little things) and that raises the pressure of everything. I'm hoping everything goes relatively smoothly.