So here I am again after creeping the site for the last week. Do not be fooled, I am not new to the site , just didn't want to officially join again until I knew I was going to succeed. t However, that in itself isn't looking too promising. I always say, "I will officially start (drumroll please), next Monday. Does it happen? Well obviously not , considering it is now Wednesday.
I want to lose the weight! I feel like a 70 year old woman in a thirty something year olds body. I have a great gym membership that I would like to use tonight, but I feel so fat, that even that doesn't sound appealing. What an oxymoron, too fat for the gym. Story of my life. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse, who knows. I tell myself that before going on a workout regime I must start with better eating habits.
I also have this huge problem with the time it takes to see any improvements. I mean, I have three months to drop thirty pounds, which isn't unrealistic, but seems like eternity! That really keeps me back. I mean, a week into it without any visable results is a toatal buzzkill for me.
I also have very little support! My sister is a crazy when it comes to my weightloss acheivements. I have always been the petite cheerleader type until after my third child. Seventy pounds still up, and here I am. I drop ten or fifteen pounds, my mother won't say a word, for fear that Leah will get jealous and lose it. It would just be nice to hear some reinforcement, especially when it is visable to the outside world. At least I know I am on the right track and my work is truely paying off.
Well anyway, thanks for listening to my short rant, and if you would like to add anything, please do. I really need some support and advice/opinions!
No more next week, I am going to the gym tomorrow morning and the store tonight! Weightloss journey, here I come. But lets make it as short as possible!

Well think of it this way... the longer you put it off, the longer it'll be until you see any results at all!

You cannot focus on "get me there as fast as possible", because the moment things aren't moving as fast as you want them, you'll be right back where you are.

Get yourself into the mindset that this is your life, this is your new lifestyle. Strive to be HEALTHY, not to get skinny as quickly as possible.

I have been most successful when I reminded myself that I have my whole life to get this weight off. I haven't yoyo'd once since I figured that out. I've maintained a few times, sure... but never regained. Get in there, and get it!

Thanks Valrock! You look amazing! I know you are right, just one of those things that I have to put past me. Once I do start seeing the results, the time doesn't usually bother me. Just the time it takes to see results. I hope I can look as good in a bathing suit as you do. And for now that is good enough, I have to keep my eyes on the prize!

I think maybe you're feeling intimidated by how drastically you feel you're going to have to change. But why not start slow? Maybe start monitoring calories and try to make healthier choices. Skip potato chips for baby carrots with a low calorie ranch dressing. Go for a 20 minute walk. It can be really really hard to suddenly stop eating all the "bad things" or suddenly drop your calories really low because you'll crave the "bad things" and you'll feel like you're starving to suddenly start eating so little. So take it one step at a time and ease yourself into it.

I would also suggest trying to stop saying you'll start Monday. Even if you did start next Monday, between now and then you're likely to eat all the desserts and unhealthy food you can because you might have the mentality of "it all stops Monday so I'll enjoy it now!" Try starting tomorrow by taking a baby step.

One last tip that may or may not apply to you, if you drink soda just stop. I lost 5 pounds a few years back in just 2 weeks from simply not drinking soda! Basically anything not soda is OK to drink, but you want to stay away from any high calorie drinks...if you're drinking all your calories you're going to be way hungrier than you would if you had all your calories in solid foods.

I hope I said something useful! and good luck! we're all here for you!

If you want to see results, may I kindly point you to strength training or a workout like my fave, TTap, first? I just posted some new progress pictures and was bowled over by the compliments I received, and the biggest difference between the pictures wasn't ten pounds so much as about twenty two inches dropped from incorporating serious workouts into my day. They made me stronger and fitter, and you'd better believe that changed the fit of my clothes more than a month of calorie deficits.

Do try to get out of the fast-results mindset, or putting off a diet until monday, it's going to bite you in the butt of you're not careful. The sooner you start the sooner you can improve, right? But my .02, the most dramatic and quick results I have ever seen in my life were from adopting TTap. Any strength building/heavy lifting/bodyweight bearing exercise set will do it, if it is focused on intensity and not number of reps, but I think you'll get the most bang from your buck starting with that side of your health, instead of the weight. It will certainly alleviate that creaky, weak old woman feeling faster than anything

YES LIFT!!! I went from being so arthritic I could hardly walk... to freaking puma, hear me roar!!!

(Sorry, I'm hopped up today for some reason... Might have been the 2 hours I spent kicking my own arse in the gym this morning )

3 months is going to go by either way. At the end of that 3 months you will either have worked hard and lost weight and be at, or close to, your goal; or you will be where you are now or further away.

I'm your height and weigh much more than you (I bet I'll feel like a super model in the 170s! lol), don't allow yourself any excuses as far as "too fat to go to the gym". Who the heck cares what anyone else thinks, you are doing this for you. Don't let anything limit you!

It sucks that people in your life aren't more supportive! I'm sorry about that. It does make it much more difficult, but maybe turn it into motivation instead of discouragement.

I agree with the the advice about weight training!!!

Get yours girl!

Start right now. Like right now. No "tomorrow" just start with the next thing you eat.

Don't wait for the support of others. This is for YOU, not them. If I waited around for the support of others I would still be fat.

I also agree with ValRock, LIFT stuff! It makes you feel like a superhero!

Honestly for MONTHS and MONTHS I kept saying Monday, Monday - first w/ working out, then with quitting smoking. You have to be honest with yourself [which I wasn't], saying that is just an excuse to procrastinate. I too had to lose weight to fit into a bridesmaid dress and thanks to that mantra...I never did and ran out of time.

Like other posters say, start small...TODAY make one significant change, just one. Then just find a way to get active - walk to work instead of driving all the way...etc. etc.

It sucks not to have positive reinforcements I know - my fam is so quick to point out when I have to lose weight and not nearly as fast when I actually do with is really annoying - but you have to do it for yourself, not them otherwise that'll always be just another excuse.

Seriously, break it down, start with small goals & increase. Seeing a difference, however small, is like wildfire - it'll catch on and you're want to see more and more. GOOD LUCK!!!

You are taking it too seriously.You want to start and be perfect. Just start. Start today. Don't make it Monday because you will keep putting it off. Eat 1 healthy meal. Go for a walk. Do at least 1 healthy thing for yourself and this is your start. Do another. Keep upping it until you are doing it the way you want to. As others have said, the time is going to go by either way it's just how you choose to use that time.

Well said!! I think this is an excellent thing to keep in mind each time you decide you'll start tomorrow. One constant in life is that tomorrow will always become yesterday.

So start today. Now. Even if you start today, and don't do so well, you can still start over again now. And there will be another today, in case you didn't do so well yesterday.

Actually doing something is pretty amazing, though! You eat right for just a meal, and you get that little mini accomplishment, like "Wow! I did it!" So you do it again! Rarely do I look back and wish I ate that cake. Or you exercise and you get that good sore, and your body releases all of those good hormones and you just feel good. Even if you aren't seeing changes, you just feel better, and feel better about yourself. It really helps the soul, even if your physical body isn't fitting in to those goal jeans. KWIM?

I know what you mean by slow changes and not seeing results fast enough, though. I'm the same way. I floundered for years, and gained, based on the changes that I didn't see happening. I was killing myself going to the gym, working and going to school, only to drown my sorrows in a bag of powdered gem donuts. That's when I decided that the scale was very important to me. I was able to see small changes on the scale, even if I didn't see small changes in my appearance.

I also did a drastic diet that is not allowed to be mentioned on this forum that involves a very low calorie diet and hormones, which are offered my many med-spas these days. That really catapulted me forward, as I was able to see the results I needed to see, and fast.

I fell off the wagon recently. I'm finally back to where I was 2 months ago. I spend a few weeks planning to start tomorrow, or Monday. I don't know why I couldn't get my head back in the game. Finally, it was about starting again "today". Every day and for a whole week now I'm back on track just by taking it one day, one meal, and one temptation at a time.

Oh and BTW, my sister is my twin and swear she's the pretty one. She really is, I'm not just saying that. I have a secret satisfaction and I'm finding motivation in the fact that I'm losing weight and she's not. While I still think she's the pretty one, I think I look way better than her because I'm the thin twin! I know it's mean, but I'm using it. Can you use that mean motivation to help you? Don't you want to be the little petite sister again, and drive her crazy?

Ok, sounds to me like you need to work out your "PATIENCE ISSUES"

I've had that problem in the past as well - the "I wanna lose weight & I wanna lose it NOW!" attitude. All it did was add more stress to my situation which in turn usually made me give up after a short while, or I WOULD lose the weight, but then gain it back, plus more. Ack.

Try to focus on THE BIG PICTURE - not the hundred things you have/want to do to get there. Who cares if you don't lose 30 lb in 3 months? What if you only lose 20 lb in 3 months? -will someone come & slap you silly and take away your favorite teddy bear? Better to lose 20 lb in 6 months & keep it off than to lose 30 lb in 3 months, and then gain it all back.... plus some. It's taken me TWO YEARS to lose 39 lb. I still have a few more to lose to meet my goal. I ain't rush'n it. Know why? Because THIS TIME, I want this damn fat to STAY off - FOR GOOD!

So hey! - take your time, do it right! - learn from your mistakes & celebrate your successes!!