Hi everyone! I used to post here a long time ago. I still have a lot of weight to lose. But I did get down to 280 and gained back a good bit. I am actually finding it harder to pick myself up and start back at it again. Its been a year.
I just feel so defeated. And I find here I am again being a talker and not a just take action approach.
I feel like I don't even know how to get back on the wagon. I didn't really follow a plan before. And honestly that was the first time in a long time I actually lost weight. I went from 365 to 280! I felt so much better!
How do I get out of this rut? Any suggestions, advice and just sharing your experience helps!
First of all, welcome back! Stay positive- you may have gained some back but you aren't where you started so be happy about that. Keep coming back here daily - several times a day if possible. I have found this place to be chock full of inspiration, motivation and words of wisdom!!
You can do this! Just decide your plan of action, ie; calorie counting, ww, etc. Plan your work and work your plan!
Before I started this life-changing journey, I talked and thought about it a lot. Some thought I was all talk and no action, but once I began I realized that I needed to get it all out verbally and emotionally, a sort of clearing of the decks, if you will. You absolutely already know that you are going to begin soon, you wouldn't be posting this if you didn't see that on the horizon, no matter how many days/weeks/months it takes you to get there. So, just get there. You already know this is a process, and if it takes you a bit of sorting out before you begin, so be it.
A great way to jump start a program without diving in over your head is to take a walk. Nothing serious, nothing fancy. Just a walk around the block or at the park. I had planned to lose weight like this for years, and talked about it for two months before I felt ready. When I was ready, I began, and it has been smooth sailing (for the vast majority of the time) since then. I woke up one day and decided to take a walk around the block. You'll have that moment soon. Good luck!
My one suggestion would be that even though you haven't followed a plan in the past, that you begin food journaling. Not to count up calories or anything like that--just a daily list of what you eat and roughly how much. Just increasing your awareness this way may help.
You just have to take the plunge, dive in and do it.
Anticipation is always worse than the actual event. So all that pre thought really can mess with your mind. You have to get past that "look what I have to give up" stage and change your way of thinking. Don't dread this, but be EXCITED about it. Think of not what you are losing, but what you will be GAINING. HEalth, self confidence, self worth, self respect, stamina, energy, productivity, pride, good health, less worries, a simpler, easier life, more choices, never fearing restaurant seats, airplane seats, amusement park rides...the list is endless.
And than just take the plunge. Get going. Once you get started, you will see that it is not so bad. That scale will start dropping and that feels GOOD. And when a few weeks time passes and you are into a groove it just keeps getting better and better. Than more time passes, your clothing size starts to plummet, the compliments start coming in, you've discovered food that's healthy and enjoyable. Your cravings for the other foods dies down. It's a wonderful snow ball affect.
I agree that food journaling is a great place to begin. Write it down BEFORE you bite it. Each and every lick, taste, crumb, sip. Write. Write. Write. Don't stop. Set yourself up for success. Stock your home with healthy, healthy foods. GET RID OF THE JUNK. Plan, plan and than plan some more. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Know where each and every meal and snack is coming from. Much easier to stay on plan when you've got one.
Make yourself some rules, set some boundaries. Some definite no's.
You don't have to be fat if you don't want to be. This IS something you have the power over. Losing weight and lots of it is a doable thing - if you decide to. Decide to do this, commit to do this and be willing to do what's necessary to make it happen. And than stand back and amaze yourself. Transform your life. You will wonder why you waited so long and didn't do it earlier.
Make small changes bit by bit. This is a big change for the rest of your life but you don't have to do it all at once.
I started eliminating "the whites" two years ago and focusing on healthy whole foods. Not restricting them, and not worrying too much about lapses. It was just sort of just getting comfortable with new (and better) food. I lost some weight but didn't keep it off, mostly because I didn't give up junk food.
This year in February I gave up sugary junk food cold turkey. By the end of April I was ready to give up the rest of the junk food and really focus on healthy food choices and portion size with serious calorie counting.
Now I'm going gangbusters and really enjoying this new healthy lifestyle. But I know me and I'm not sure I could have just jumped in with both feet on day one and been as successful. I had to get used to a new good habit (I've been ramping up exercise kinda along the same timeline as modifying eating), make sure I could make it work, and then look for what I could add to it to make it better.
You already lost a pile of weight, you know how you do it. You probably know why it didn't stick. You haven't just been talking, you've been learning about the possibilities and about you. Now's the time to start putting all that knowledge into practice! You can do it!
I thought about it a lot before this last time. I started coming here a lot, looking at all of the pictures of the women (&men) that made their goal happen and I started thinking "Why not me?" I asked this a lot to my self & all I can tell you is that you need to just decide to do it. There is nothing anyone can say to make you decide....it's gotta come from inside you girlie.
As for me....I formed my plan of action. I had no clue how to eat healthy or where to start so I started with the core program with weight watchers, it gave me a food list that I could eat & I totally cleaned house. If it wasn't on that list, it got tossed lol Starting was one of the hardest things I had to do but I got through it & you can too
How to stop just talking about it?
