I am fortunate that I am able to eat a lot of wild food... salmon, halibut, moose and caribou are pretty regular staples. I also eat a lot of eggs, fruit and vegetables, never eat bread/grains or alcohol, and now only occasionally eat my favorite staple of black beans. I limit and count calories and carbs and it is pretty easy for me to stay under my calorie count for the day. My percentage of daily carbs never ceases to shock me. It's all the fruit & veggies I eat, but it still always surprises me.

I have successfully eliminated cheese, which was really tough for me. I struggle with coffee. I drank it with honey and 1/2 and 1/2 until a couple weeks ago and felt really triumphant when I survived the switch to whole milk. Then I figured out that whole milk has less fat but more carbs. Sigh.

Aside from the honey in my coffee, no sweets and no junk food or "snacks" of any sort. If it's in the house, I will eat it. If I MUST HAVE a snack I eat an apple or some baby carrots.

My biggest struggle is exercise. I am so down in the dumps about my weight that I don't want to be seen at the gym or whatnot. It is counter-intuitive, I know, but it is what it is. I keep thinking, "If I get down to XXX-lbs maybe I will want to go to the gym."

(((Hug)))
NorthernLight, I am so sorry you feel this way. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better!

It might help to analyse why you feel this way. What I mean is, when i start to feel like I shouldn't be seen in public (bear in mind I weigh more than you and am significantly shorter) I ask myself two things: 1) If I saw a person my size exercising, would I think ill of them? Of course not. 2) If other people looked down on another person my size exercising, who would I think is the contemptible person there?

In other words, 1) There's no reason to judge yourself more harshly than you would anyone else and 2) Anyone of sense will be on your side, and you needn't concern yourself with the opinions of idiots. They don't matter. You do. Also, walking is excellent exercise, so is dancing. Put on an album and boogie. It doesn't have to be at the gym. There are loads of other options. Good luck!

Thank you Magic, I really appreciate your words of encouragement.

Trust me, if anything I have probably over-analyzed this issue. I mentioned yesterday in a different thread that I have always felt that women of all sizes and shapes were sexy and beautiful, but it was easy for me to feel that way because I was always a stick figure. "Sexy and beautiful" apparently applies to everyone but me. This weight gain is something very recent and my family is very critical of me, of my weight gain, and of overweight people in general. Intellectually I know that I should just let this roll off my back but emotionally, it is much harder to do than to say.

To answer your question, if I saw (or, when I do see) overweight folks exercising I think to myself, "You go!! Get it! Woohoo!!" Further, if I ever heard someone disparaging an overweight person for running, riding a bike, exercising I would rip them a new one, and there would be surely "language" involved. It is easy for me to play cheerleader to others, to support and encourage others. I am a terrible cheerleader to myself. It was recently pointed out to me that I have a history of believing that I don't deserve to be treated well, so this behavior sort of follows.

I used to be a great dancer... used to Swing, Salsa and Flamenco like nobody's business. Yesterday I was looking online for PiYo videos but I recently had shoulder surgery so I'm not sure it's the best option quite yet, so I think I may take your advice and start with dancing. In my house. Haha

Thanks again. You are so sweet.

You're welcome. I mean it, too. You don't want to put yourself in a position in the future of thinking, yeah, I didn't live my life back then because I was afraid people would see me.

That's a really good point, and I had not thought about that. You're full of great insight... thanks again!!

Well, like a lot of us here, I've had 35-40 years to mull it over.

I watched my Mom waste her life, waiting to start living until she was thin. I can still hear her saying "If I could just get down to ____" and we kept looking at her thinking, jesus christ, you're not that fat! But for her, for some reason, life wasn't allowed to start until she was "thin," whatever that meant. I guess I learned something from her mistakes.

Magic, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Life has been busy, I own a dog grooming salon, and went to Walt Disney World for a week. For the trip everything was planned out, made breakfast shakes every morning, brought protein bars for mid snack, had a wrap, salad, or sandwich for lunch, and protein/salad/veggies for dinner. Only bad thing was sodium, I do not use salt, but when eating out, that is hard to avoid. It was easier than I expected, and we walked 10 - 12 miles per day, in the parks. To answer your question, I workout 6 days a week, alternating strength (full body) and cardio days. I work my abs all 6 days.

Sounds like you've got it covered, Transformer. I try to fit in exercising- even bought a yoga mat and dumbbells and try to work out in my studio after lunch. It works pretty well, but I am looking forward to spring so much. What kind of ab exercises are you doing? Six days a week! Is a 'recovery day' not fashionable any more? (These health and fitness theories change faster than I can keep up!)

Hi everyone! I'm doing a bit of calorie counting and low carb/protein. I'm trying to fit exercise in at least 2-3 times per week, which ofc I need to get better at!

I'm with ya, Ruby! I need to make exercise more of a routine. The lack of sidewalk around our place doesn't help. Now that the snow is pretty much gone, maybe I'll get to the trails again. Do you have some nice places to wander too?

We had a diabetes scare with my 12 year old daughter. Hubby is diabetic and I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with her. The pediatrician said to switch to low-carb to help her not develope diabetes and if she does, she is already eating right. So we are doing a low-carb, whole foods lifestyle. I love the gym. It is my "me time." I just don't have any of that time right now. I am giving myself permission to let other things slide to get that time back though. (for everyone's sake) So, I will be at the gym 4 days a week doing an hour of weights and 30 minutes of cardio. I will do 1 day of cardio at home as well.

Northern, I have seen really over weight women at my gym. I always want to go up and say "Good for you! Don't stop coming! You took the hardest step." Maybe take a friend so you don't feel so uncomfortable?

Transformer, yay for you! I wish I was dedicated enough to workout 6 days a week. I will get there. What kind of weights do you do?

Magic, I think the cardio days count as a recovery day.

^Niners, actually my girlfriend who, wait.... I have to take a sideline and explain... She is my best friend, but she is a very bad influence on me for my weight. Even before I started really trying to lose weight I've always eaten really well. Lots of fruits and veggies and lean protein, probably too much carbs, but things like beans, not so much bread. And obviously I was eating too large of portions. But I have never really eaten junk food. She is from Louisiana and eats lots of deep fried food, drinks a lot of beer. If it's not fried it's pot pies, bread and butter, or... just FATTENING! It has made it tough for me to spend time with her in the past few months.

Anyhow, she has had a gym membership for years but has never gone. She started going last week and invited me to come with her. If I can figure out how to make it work with our schedules, I'm going to go. Woo hoo!!

Oh, and I made it out of the 190s... 188, baby!!!

At the moment I'm following a diet that goes 3 weeks. Good progress so far.

HI - new to this forum - usually in the 300+ club - getting to first major goals of life ....

I'm following the Weight watchers Smart points program

it seems to be working for me - probably because I needed to track = learn portion size and think about what I eat and move more
yes I know you can use my fitness pal to do this but the Weight watchers system has made it easier - I do NOT buy any of there meals/attend meetings I am an online NZ/Australia member and have been finding the support between there blog and this one has been huge to helping

I tried using the my fitness pal program - didn't really work out that well - didn't stay focused ended up gaining weight in the last 2 years got sick of the negatives

I joined weight watchers in feb - at 330 pounds and now down to 303 still a very long way to go.... but its going to go ...

I am just counting calories and trying to work 4-5 times a week. That's what worked for me before, so I'm going to try it again!