So, I have been pluggin along here, going pretty solid for just over a month (longest time in a long time, so I'm really proud of that) and I have seen some major changes. I fit into a pair of jeans that did not even button when I started, I really need to buy new work clothes. I have lost 20 pounds, that alone should make me happy. And sometimes it does. But for a couple days now I have been really down (ok, more like on and off for two weeks). I am feeling like I will never have a flat tummy, and how will I ever look good? I know that I'm not ugly, in fact I know that I'm a beautiful girl. Its just size, I can't see me ever being the size I want. I know this is illogical. I have to ability to lose well and I started with a decent shape, I know I have a good shape under all this extra fat, and I know my face will just look better and better.
Its just the difference between knowing.. and KNOWING. Believing.
I guess I am saying that I just don't believe I can.

Can anyone relate?

Sarah,
I really don't belong in the 20 somethings forum, because I am actually am 60 years young. Maybe, because of my age, I can give you a different perspective. I've been overweight for about 38 years. I never took the time to focus on losing weight and getting healthy when I was young. Over the years I have paid a high price for spending all those years fat when I could have had so much a better life experience being thinner. I wish I could take back all the years that I spent overweight, but I can't.

You, however, can set your sights on living the rest of your life as a fit and healthy adult. It will take you less than a year to completely change your life, if you keep up what you have been doing. And you have accomplished losing a lot of weight already. So I would say to please stay the course. Take this time to learn how to control your weight forever, then you can focus on building the life you want. The course is not too long; you can do it. And you will enjoy each pound lost along the way.
If I were you, I'd treat myself to something new to wear when you lose 20 pounds. It will help you to see that you are changing and looking and feeling better. I'll look for your posts. Good luck!

Yup, I can definitely relate! It's weird for me, because I've always gained more than I've ever lost...like, I've never lost more than 35 pounds, even when I was 13 and went down from 230-something to 210. So I've always been heavy. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to look like when I'm a "normal" size.

It can be hard to picture yourself at the size you want to be, but you just have to believe it IS going to happen. You're making choices to make it possible! You CAN and WILL do it, I am sure of it. Now, I need to just tell myself all this as well... :3

Carol,

Your message really hit home to me. This is what I continue to tell myself when I want to let the journey go for a couple days. I try to remind myself that when I am young is the time to gain control over my weight--and all the obsessiveness and bad habits I have will just get THAT much stronger if I don't address this now. Thank you for remind me!

Best of luck!

Carol - Thank your for your beautiful post. It is my long long term goal to live a healthy fit life, well into my senior years. And I don't think us 20 somethings mind anyone, whomever they may be, popping in to share wisdom, or support.

Thank you Tallie.

And the other thing that is so strange is how much the last 10/20 pounds will alter your body---yes, even more than losing the fifty before them.

I have lost 12 pounds since March (I have maybe another seven or so to go before I maintain), and those 12 pounds? I lost two pant sizes. No joke.


So your last twenty pounds may come straight from the tummy and when you reach your goal, you'll look as great as you've always imagined...