i have been wanting to lose weight for almost 2 years now, and turns out i am 25-30 lbs heavier than when i started.

why do i crash diet? i've been on and off of weight watchers, eating healthier and using pills, and then i let it all go.

i let stress and work get the best of me and i can't take time to care about myself.

i wish i could see a therapist and make it all go away.

i'm seriously depressed about this vicious circle i should have never started. i never considered myself overweight until the Navy wouldn't let me enlist and that's when i began to lose control.

I think that until you learn to accept that crash diets don't work, that you won't lose 10 lbs a week, and that you are going to have to work harder than you have ever worked before, you won't lose the weight and keep it off.

I know how you feel, many of us do. I crash dieted, I used diet pills, I starved myself and binged. Not till I finally sat down and started making small changes that were permanent and coming to the realization that I had to cook meals at home and exercise did I finally start to lose the weight AND keep it off.

Start small, cut out soda, stop buying chips, one thing a week, then start cooking more (or more healthy if you already cook), and then from there start picking exercises you enjoy, even if it's a 30 minute walk a day. If you do this you will lose weight.

Now I find cooking healthy easy, and I find that I can get in at least 3 to 5 workouts a week. It's coming off slowly- but it IS coming off.

Good luck.

i don't mean to discourage you but it never ends.

by that, i mean that you need to commit to a lifestyle change for life and stick to it like bees on honey. you can choose what your changes will be, it's your own individual responsibility, but, unless that happens, you will not be settled to a "happy" weight.

i say that will the best intentions and not meaning to be harsh--just reality :/

grrrkgrrrl

thanks for the responses so far.

what i am struggling with right now is the fact that it will never end. i'm on Weight watchers for the 5th time but i haven't cared about it for almost 2 weeks now. i can't make it work for me because i dont want to count points and count calories for the rest of my life. but at the same time i dont see it as being possible just "eating healthy" and maintaining that. there is no light at the end of the tunnel there for me.

people on biggest loser don't do WW! and i know they are at a specific location but they can get a handle on their diet just by eating healthy. i wish i could do that.

why can't you see a therapist? it could really help, but going to a therapists will NOT make it all go away. They will help you as much as you can help yourself. I am very sorry you are so upset and depressed, that was the reason I really decided to lose weight. I realized that working out even a little made me feel better so I tried to work out as many days as I could then my emotions were up and then I was able to make the other changes to help me lose weight but not till after that. Perhaps you have tried to make so many changes too fast? Do one thing at a time like I did with working out.

Your first priority is to feel better so concentrate on that, weight loss will come, just concentrate more on feeling good than the weight right now. Remember you CAN do this and you will. There are two options, get worst or get better, there is no such thing as staying where you are at because whatever you do with your life is either moving you towards happiness and health or unhappiness and unhealthy.

Just think about where you want to be a year from now, or even a month from now, getting worst or getting better? And one thing you really need to remember is this is a process, everything will not change at one time, you will make mistakes, you will feel low still. If you remember that changing your life is a process it will be so much easier to keep going instead of getting upset if things are going as perfect as hoped.

I know you can do this! I really hope you start feeling better!!

Its a lifestyle change, you have to make a conscious effort to change your ways and then it will start to get easier.

Everyone wants a quick fix but unfortunately it didn't take weeks, or even months to put the weight on.

I have been on WW for almost 6 months and honestly once you get the hang of it you dont have to count everything out.. i haven't written anything down in months and im still going...its a slow and steady learning process...and sometimes you ahve to sacrifice a little time to get where you wanna be.

pinkalarmclock, thanks for your response. it's generating some thoughts in my mind.

i think i want to "quit" weight watchers and take this even a little slower than that. i do have a specific weight goal in mind that i have to reach by Sept/Oct in order to pass my fitness test the Navy requires.

i hate to bash WW again but the people on the forum are not too nice. i feel better about this already by being here!

They may not be doing the specific WW program, but you better believe they're counting calories eaten and calories expended in exercise. They may not talk about it much on the show, but they have very specific calorie limits for their food. They are not just "eating healthy," whatever that might mean to you or to them.

Yeah, the official WW forums are a little... snarky... 3FC is a way nicer community. You'll get everything you need here.

I agree with above posters - take it slow. Focus on one small healthy change at a time. Once you incorporate lots of healthy habits it all comes together to form your lifestyle. And like Phoenixsmommy said, the longer you're on the program the easier it gets. You memorize the values for your favorite common foods and things just kind of fall into place in your head. But you have to put in some hard work upfront to get there.

Good luck!

I also agree that the BL contestants absolutely positively track calories, and talk about how they plan to do so for the rest of their lives. They are wearing Bodybugg devices to track calorie output and count the calories in everything they eat. So even THEY are counting...not just "eating healthy".

The trick for me was making a plan that I could stick to. My calorie counting needs to be as easy/quick as possible. My diet needs to be varied enough that I enjoy it. My exercise has to be scheduled in so I make time. All of these things are habit now, because I stuck with them long enough to make them habits. Sure, there are rough days where I'm not "into" it, but I still do it because it's what is necessary to lose/maintain my weight, and so it's worth the effort to me.

Man, have I been there! My biggest piece of advice would be to learn as much as your possibly can! Learn about food, metabolism/hormones, exercise, the science of weight loss, etc etc and how all of these things work together. Knowledge is so empowering because once you have this information, you can really be in control of your own destiny. You don't have to rely on a program or magic pills or some kind of miracle cure. Be your own miracle cure.

I'm kind of a nerdish book-worm to begin with (and did I mention I'm a teacher ?) but when I first started, I checked out books from the library, signed up for e-news letters, talked to doctors and to people who are really living it, and once I started the more interested I became. I feel like this is an important piece of the puzzle to making a permanent, lifelong change (at least for me it was). You CAN lose weight, but it won't happen quickly and it most cases it won't happen easily, but if you arm yourself with this kind of information, I have found that there is really no going back.

Also, finding the ladies on this board has definitely been a HUGE source of support, motivation, guidance, etc. for me. They give wonderful advice and you're definitely in the right place

I am hardly a success story, but the comment "when will it end?" really resonates with me. I tried EVERYTHING- including WW multiple times- and nothing worked. Mostly it was because I hated following the programs.

This year I tried something different. I asked myself what I was willing to do. What were the small changes I could make that I didn't mind doing. That was easy and fun, and I saw a small improvement right away.

Then I started googling weight loss success stories- this is how I found 3FC. I wanted to learn how everyone who had hit their goal had done it. I started to see a lot of commonalities between the success stories... Mostly eat whole foods, eat less, excercise more! (Ugh- really, no easier solutions?)

Then I got a bodybugg. This was 2 weeks after I swore up and down I would NEVER count calories- I hated that idea!!! But for some reason the bodybugg really helps- I never knew how many calories I burned a day before, so how would I know if I was on track to losing weight? Now that I know, it all sort of clicks. I believe now that you really have to count calories in and out. It works. It sucks, until you see results- then you learn to love it because every day you can see that you are moving towards a goal.

Best of luck to you!!

PS I just wanted to add that I've never lost more than 2-3 lbs on a diet, except for when I did the evil Fen Phen in the 90's.

Anyway my point is that 11 lbs is a huge win for me- I'm doing it for real this time, with just better eating habits and excercise, and I feel like I could keep this up for the rest of my life

Best wishes and good luck!!

Then don't do WW. Find something else. I started calorie counting then changed to South Beach diet. I prefer to count carbs and for my health condition it works better for me than anything else.

And like the other's said- Biggest Loser contestants definitely count their calories. They are on a STRICT regimen and we don't see the time they are spending with their doctors and physical therapists and so on.

Ask yourself what you can do- write it all down- then start implementing them one by one.

the bodybugg sounds really neat! i am definitely going to check into that.

okay so, WW... i'm done with it. whatever. but i am intimidated by counting calories! the numbers are so much bigger than "points" and they dont take into consideration fat and fiber. but i guess i just figured it out, maybe track those too.