Well, I'm still very much in the middle of mine. However, when I first started I thought of it as a diet. I lost a lot, quite quickly, but because of an illness went 'off the diet'. So, of course, I gained some of it back (not all, thankfully, but enough that I'm still not at that low point yet - 30 lbs to go). This time I've found a way of eating that I enjoy, and exercises that I enjoy. I've made changes to how I live and I don't feel deprived in the least. It really seems to be more about changing how you live. I let go of the diet mentality, which seemed to do me more harm than good.
Not lost 100lb+ yet but its certainly my intention and I'm already a good way there. Its hard not be be impatient. I think its natural to want things to happen quickly. However for sustained weightloss, slow and steady wins the race. So for me the hardest part was just getting my head around how long it was really going to take for me to lose 120lb. I've lost two-thirds of that and its taken me nearly a year. I think the next 40lb will probably take me just as long.
Restructuring my schedule....it had to be adjusted to fit in cooking time and exercising time. Other than that - once I made the decision to do it, it wasn't that hard to do. You just GO.
The first 2 weeks are kind of difficult, I guess, while you and your body adjust. After that, you're good. Just get back on plan if you fall off and keep moving forward more often than you move backward, and eventually, you get where you want to go.
Hm. What was hardest? I don't really know. Now that it's all become part of my routine, I look back on it and wonder why I didn't start doing this earlier.
I've always liked to cook, so cooking for myself wasn't hard. I think probably the hardest thing for me was pushing myself to exercise regularly and to exercise HARD. I have done the whole gym thing before - go and put in 30 easy minutes on the treadmill or the elliptical and feel virtuous, but it wasn't really doing anything for me. When I started reading about how to work out and build muscle and get in shape - and when I hired a trainer for a couple of months to really PUSH me - that's when I started to see real results.
I had to learn to stop rewarding myself with food for doing so well. I kept thinking, I've lost 100 pounds, I can eat whatever I want. That is so not true. I gained back about 10 pounds almost as soon as I hit the 100lb mark. Now I understand the whole lifestyle concept and also have that disappointed feeling embedded in me memory to keep me strong.
Sticking to it, sometimes you lose a couple dress sizes then you get complacent and soon falling back into old habits. Feeling discouraged about plateaus got me down sometimes.
The first few weeks were difficult, just having to be mindful of what I was eating, getting past the cravings for sugar, having to plan ahead. My advice would be to have all trigger foods out of the house. Be sure you have healthy foods stocked. Have at least one quick healthy food planned out for those times you walk in the house famished.
I lost 70 lbs and have kept it off for over 3 years.
Before that, I was a failed dieter who lost/regained/lost/regained for nearly 20 years.
The absolute HARDEST thing was accepting, really, finally accepting that I couldn't diet for a short time and then eat normally. I had to really accept that I had to change my "normal" forever. That realization was a real lightbulb moment that affected everything I did. Instead of a short, restrictive diet that I hated and couldn't wait to be over, I made lifestyle changes that I could live with, even...like.
I really don't have to worry about falling off the wagon anymore, I *LIKE* my wagon. I like my life, I like how I eat, I look forward to meals, I'm not hungry all the time, I don't binge anymore or feel helpless and powerless, I don't feel sleepy or exhausted anymore. I love love love my size 6 body and all the joys that go along with it - shining good health, a closet full of adorable clothes, looking at myself in pictures and LIKING HOW I LOOK.
Good luck - my only advice would be to not wait until Sunday. The last time - my success, I decided to do it and started that very second. No sense wasting 2-3 days or even having big "goodbye" meals of all the food you don't think you'll be eating while you're dieting (which was a classic "me" idea that I might be erroneously projecting on you) - just...start.
Another thing - goal weights are great - mine was certainly flexible (started at 150, went to 135, back up to 140 and ended up at 130) but as a 130 lb, small-framed, slender 5'7" person, 114 is kinda small for 5'6".
I've not lost 100, but at 70 I am finding the weight is coming off slower and that is frustrating. I knew it would happen but I hate it. The other thing for me is getting use to the idea that I am smaller and when people comment on my weight or give me a complement they are being nice (self esteem makes me think other bad things!!!).
The hardest part for me was starting and then forming a devotion to the lifestyle change. I knew, from a past failed diet attempt, that eating healthy and exercising wasn't going to be temporary but permanent, something I had to do day in and day out for the rest of my life. After the first couple of weeks, the cravings ceased and I started seeing results, and those were great motivators to keep going. Complacency is hard as well, now that I'm much smaller and feel more normal, I've just sort of allowed myself to not lose the other 20 pounds I want to lose. I've been at this weight nearly 2 years now.
Not quite at a 100 yet, but for me the hardest thing has been how long it takes. I have been at it for 4 years (with a long layover in plateauville and a side stop through a Mexican bakery phase )
I see so many people who have lost their 100 pounds in a year or a little over, and I try really hard to remember that everyone is different.
That has been the hardest for me.
Yeah. I'm at .. um ... 16 months now and still hovering around 70 lbs lost. I reallyreallyreally want to lose that last 30-25, but I also know that I'm creating my own stall.
For those who've lost a lot of weight (100+), what was the hardest thing about it?
