Hello, Maintainers -- and kudos to you all for having achieved such success! I have a long road ahead of me, and am hoping to benefit from your learnings. Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom and the benefit of your experience! Here's my question for all of you:
In speaking of life and weight loss, what do you know now that you wish you'd known at the beginning of your weight loss journey?
That losing the weight, in and of itself, was not going to magically change my life. It would take a lot of headwork to get to a point of happiness, regardless of what I weigh. And I'm not sure that I'm 100% there yet, but weightloss without the headwork just doesn't work for the long haul.
Great topic, Sarah! I have to agree with Colleen that most of weight loss happens in our heads. Here's a few thoughts of mine:
Don’t focus on how long it will take for you to reach your goal. I used to take a calendar and try to calculate how fast I could lose my weight at say, 2# week. And that just set me up for frustration and a feeling of failure if I didn’t reach those goals. You body doesn’t go by a calendar. It’ll lose at its own pace. All you can control is the food and exercise — how many pounds per week that gets you is totally out of your control. It’s good to set goals, but try behavioral goals or fitness goals.
Don’t buy too many clothes as you’re losing and even after you reach your goal weight. Your body can change dramatically even if scale stays the same. I’ve been at a stable weight for almost two years and things are still shifting and changing (and getting smaller).
Don’t compromise on your goal. Don’t settle for “this is good enough” — go all the way. It’s really tempting to ease up once you hit regular sizes and you start feeling like "the average woman" when you go out. Keep in mind that 2/3 of us are overweight or obese!
Exercise is the key to losing and maintaining. Build muscle in order to keep your metabolism up as you lose fat and so that you look tight and toned when you reach your goal. Burn fat by doing cardio. One thing I’ve learned from reading all the maintainers’ stories is that we all exercised to lose weight and still do to maintain.
It’s unrealistic and counterproductive to expect perfection from yourself. When you slip up, just pick yourself up, try to figure out what went wrong, and move on. Don’t beat yourself up but more importantly, don’t use it as an excuse to quit your diet (“oh, I blew it; I might as well eat everything in the kitchen”). No do-overs, no re-starting tomorrow, or on Monday, or the first of the month.
Life after goal isn’t any different than life before goal. It’s a cliche but this has to be a lifestyle and not a diet. The diet isn’t going to end when you reach your goal. If you want to keep the weight off, you have to keep doing just what you did to lose the weight for the rest of your life. It’s easy to lose weight — we’ve all done it a dozen times before, right? The hard part is keeping it off in the long-term. So find something that fits your life and that you can be comfortable with forever.
1) The only way you won't achieve your goal is if you stop doing what you've been doing so far (Thanks Meg)
2) There is no limit to what a person can do with the help of friends, faith, and determination. There is nothing I can do without them.
3) There is no bad time to change the way you think about yourself.
4) You look thinner when you smile.
5) Cardio gets you high.
6) Changing how you look doesn't change who you are.
7) Some people will react poorly to your success. Don't worry about them.
8) You're gonna freeze all winter!
9) Smaller sizes are less expensive(for Guys anyway)
10) Unfortunately there is no 'easy way' that will magically change you from where you were to where you need to be. I waited for that taxi for 30 years and ended up walking.
Ditto for me too. Took the words out of my hands!! Cept for #8. We don't freeze down here in Arizona.
If I had only known how rewarding and fun and even --yes-- relatively easy this whole process could be, compared to staying fat that is, I never would have waited so long to get started. In some ways, life is simpler and a lot less stressful when you're slimmer and fitter.
Three years ago I was at 154 after starting at 176+. And a 'Poster Child' with my picture and bio and everything at the fitness center I had joined. I was wearing size 14 (not so tight) or 12 (a bit tight) pants. And my goal weight was 131.
Two years ago I was at 145. And I was wearing size 12 pants and they weren't too tight. And my goal weight was 124.
One year ago I was at 135. And I was in size 10 pants. Size 10 pants was my original goal. And my goal weight was 118.
Now I am 120 and wearing size 8 pants. And my goal weight is 109. But I'm not buying any more size 8 pants because now the size 6 pants are fitting.
My actual goal must be to exercise every single day that I possibly can, to eat balanced meals and to stay healthy. And run every chance I can get.
My REAL goal: Keep on Running and don't break anything when I fall down. And continue to buy all my clothes at the consignment shop.
- I should never had let my weight prevent me from being me (I used my weight as an excuse for a lot of things)
- you'll still have the many trials of life even thin
- it's easier to shop
(Jack it's MUCH cheaper to shop for regular women's clothes than plus size)
- people don't avoid sitting next to you on a busy bus
- the energy rush from being healthy and active is wonderful
- Be willing to adapt to what life throws at you. I can't do the high carb thing that got me thin in the first place... I am hypoglycemic now and at a higher risk for diabetes due to it (not to mention it's in the family).. So I am starting to adapt to a lower carb (not low carb) lifestyle.
-life isn't necessarily fair. Just because Jane can eat all she wants and not gain a pound doesn't mean that I can. We have to work with the cards we're handed.
- I was a pear while I was obese and I was a pear at a size 4/5 (darn thighs rubbing together).
- I really started dating after losing weight and that was an experience and a half (I now have an amazing BF, but for a while let's just say I learned a lot).
- excuses=weight gain
- I am cold even on a warm day
Mel: I find the fact that I am focusing on the process is really helping me shed my found pounds. I have weight related goals for the summer, BUT I will reward myself even if I don't make them, my main goal is just to focus on eating right and being active, as long as I do those, I get my reward (a pedicure).
I just want to thank each of you who responded for your generosity in sharing your wisdom and experience -- it means so much to me, and I can't help but feel that this thread is important for all of us here, no matter where we are in the process! There's such great stuff here!! For those of you who haven't responded.....share, share! Think of it as community service!
I visit this site quite often and I must say that I also appreciate the wonderful information that you all so willingly share. There is such great learning from you folks who have done so well and mastered a new lifestyle. I also want to offer my deep gratitude for your kindness. It means alot!
Things I Know Now........
Goals
