So for the past couple days ive been depressed. Thinking of ways that I can be skinny but get out of dieting (surgery, plastic surgery...etc) But i realized that none of the things I was thinking of are possible except eating better and excersizing. I always find it hard to excersize after work and school. But i cannot do it anymore. I see the way my fam looks at me. I am 40 pounds away from 300 pounds!!!!!!!!!!! Im 20 years old. Im totally disgusted. Im not sure why im just noticing my thighs and other fat areas but i am. Im so confused on what to eat that will help me lose the weight. I have an issue with carbs and fast food. As long as cookies and cakes and ice cream arent in my house im ok. Which they usually arent. But i eat fast food alot. and not grilled chicken usually double cheeseburgers. Im scared im going to develop diabetes or get really sick or very overweight that I cant lose it. I need to try now while I dont have kids.

I dont think exercise is the biggest component of weight loss, it definitely wasnt for me. If you can't fit everything in, work on what you CAN do. Don't obsess over every detail being perfect.

I know I'm a rebel, but just give up the fast food. It's a slippery slope, because it's so quick and easy. If you let yourself do it "some" times, it will be difficult to stay away from it enough as you will need to in order to effectively lose weight.

Im going to have to stop eating fast food and bread. I cant eat them without over eating.

i had a very similar experience right before i started my journey. first of all, you've decided to start changing, so thats great!! i have a lot of the same temptations as you also. if sweets are in my house for my boys, they are hidden by my husband (and not anywhere i might stumble across, lol). fast food is a tough one. when i first started dieting i would just replace grilled chicken for double cheeseburgers, and eventually the craving all but went away (lets be honest, grilled chicken isnt that addictive). i always wanted to be skinny right away too, to find an easy out. EVERYONE does! thats why there are so many fad diets and crazy ideas to lose weight.

the hard truth is that there is no easy out. even weight loss surgery takes a lot of dedication and commitment. the good news is that you CAN do it. its not going to be fast OR easy. you're going to get frustrated a lot, and you're going to want to give up. but when you dont give up, and the pounds start dropping, you'll feel great!! you just have to go one day at a time, and for me, one mini goal at a time. if i looked at the whole amount it looked overwhelming! 70 lb sounds like a TON. but 10.. i can do 10. then 10 more... you just have to think about it like that or else you'll most likely go nuts.

i have always heard that losing 10% of your weight gives you HUGE health benefits. so maybe make your first goal 26.5 lb?

What to eat:

Lean protein (chicken, fish, lean cuts of steak, lean cuts of pork, shrimp, beans, tofu, turkey, eggs)

Low fat dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt)

Fruits

Vegetables

Healthy carbohydrates (beans, corn, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas)

Read labels. Make a plan of what you are going to eat for a day in advance. Go to the grocery store, count up the calories, adjust as necessary. Do as much pre-work as possible, make things easy. Eat the food you plan. Repeat.

Food journal - every bite/lick/sip that goes in your mouth. Be honest (this is important). Write down what you ate, why you ate it. If you ate soemthing you didn't plan to eat, try to figure out why, try to figure better coping techniques for the next time. Forgive yourself, move on.

Get a tape measure. Get measurements. I didn't do this until 2-3 months into my journey and I sure wish I had my starting numbers for dramatic effect. Measure once a month. Record your progress.

Reward yourself for what you can do - try a new healthy recipe once a week, try a new fruit once a week, go to bed on time for a week, drink enough water, etc.

I had to give up (reduce or greatly eliminate): cold cereal, chips, rolls, pretzels, crackers, baked goods (especially stuff like muffins/scones).

A good example of a "trigger" food for me is a Wheat Thin. Seems pretty innocent right? I eat ONE wheat thin, I want another and another and another. It is SO HARD to stop eating Wheat Thins. It's nuts, they're good, but they are NOT THAT GOOD.

So, I don't eat Wheat Thins anymore. Do I miss them? Nah, not really. Do I miss that terrible out of control bingy feeling? NO.

I do eat treats, but they are controlled. Like....splitting a dessert in a restaurant is okay. Bringing a gallon of ice cream into the house is not.

I had that chance in my life to eat everything I wanted, whenever I wanted. It didn't make me happy.

Eating mindfully, being slim and healthy - that makes me happy.

this was also ESSENTIAL for me. about 2 months in i started gaining small amounts of weight each week and almost lost my mind. turned out it was that 2 crackers, or handful of popcorn, trying to "eyeball" two table spoons of food, or "tasting" the food i was cooking. those little things add up FAST. i was probably consuming an extra 300 calories a day with all my little "freebies". i use my-calorie-counter.com to track EVERYTHING that touches my lips.

being honest can be tough, especially on days you didnt do so well, but you NEED to be sure. hey, no one else is going to look at it! that way if you gained 0.5 lb this week you can look back and say, ah yes, the extra 500 cals i ate on wednesday, instead of just being totally frustrated!!

Breanna,

Do yourself a HUGE favor and set yourself WAY ahead of the game! How you ask?

Read Glory's "very long weight loss story" that is in her sig. line. It is absolutely the BIBLE as far as I am concerned and what I have experienced myself.

Make this THE priority for yourself. Let nothing or no one--and I truly mean NOTHING/NOONE come between you and your proper nutrition, sleep and exercise.

Come here often. There is not any of us here that don't understand. There is support but REAL answers here too.

I agree with Thighs Be Gone. Her and Glory both inspire and encourage me and many others here. Take their words as wisdom and soak it up

Well there you have it right there. You've figured out what many people have yet to do. You've discovered a main obstacle - and the solution.

I gave up lots of things in order to lose the weight (I hoped eventually down the road I could add them back in under certain, controlled circumstances). I overate them. I'd start eating them and had a hard time stopping. My solution - don't START. BEST THING I COULD HAVE EVER DONE!!!

Sure they taste good, but tasting good was no longer enough for me. I wanted more then just good taste. I wanted foods that yes, tasted good, but were also good for me. Foods that didn't leave me feeling like crap, wanting to shovel more of them in my mouth and leave me with excess pounds, which left me lethargic, depressed, unenergized, underutilized, wearing plus sizes and just overall miserable.

Luckily, after about 10 days or so, my desires and wants for them GREATLY diminished..

Besides, like Glory says (btw, listen to EVERYthing she says), those foods never, ever made me happy. Eating what I wanted, when I wanted did not provide happiness.

I agree with the journaling, the calorie counting, and the such. Make a game of it. Challenge yourself. Require more from yourself. Don't dread this lifestyle - embrace it. Get excited about it. Get into it, get a plan, get dedicated, get committed, get moving, get, get, get ..... and you will get rewarded with more energy, self esteem, self confidence, better health, better wardrobe, better - just about everything. In fact take a look at this thread for some inspiration and just what a healthy lifestyle provides:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/livi...like-thin.html

You still have to diet and exercise with surgery (its a tool, not a cure)... anyone that goes under the knife does not think its an easy way out.
.

I know for me I would need to give up fast food, All regular soda, and white bread. But am i setting myself up for failure cutting our all of that?

How would that be setting yourself up for failure?????

It's the EXACT opposite. You eliminate the foods that cause you issue, that you have problems with keeping under control. You make them definite NO's. No exceptions - then there is no way to overeat them... You've take the decision making process away. You no longer have to ponder them - should I?/shouldn't I? YOU DON'T LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN TO EAT THEM. Therefore you can't OVEReat them. And no, it's not deprivation to do without them. It's deprivation to eat them and remain fat.

Remember, you no longer settle for immediate gratification - you want long term health, long term SATISFACTION.

You can't have it both ways - have those foods in your life AND be that slim, healthy, fit person you so long to be.

And really, what are you giving up - sugar, sugar, sugar, fat, fat, fat, garbage, garbage, garbage. Start giving your body what it deserves, needs and requires - Wholesome, nutrient, vitamin, mineral rich foods...

Each person is different. This method worked for me and Robin and other people on the board. There are other people on the board who this would not work for. So, I can't answer the question for you.

If you keep trying to diet, struggling, giving up - why not try it?

I can only tell you my story, my experience. I have eaten when I wasn't hungry, eaten more than I wanted to, started to eat and not been able to stop my whole life. My "normal" diet looked like this (this is a pretty typical day from about 5 years ago):

B - huge cranberry walnut muffin, venti caramel latte with whipped cream

L - Calzone

S - yogurt pretzels (or M&Ms, I used to alternate)

S - chocolate croissant, venti caramel latte with whipped cream

D - taco bell - 4 crunchy tacos

S - big bowl of ice cream, chocolate sauce

Those were the foods I thought I liked, thought I needed to be happy. They did taste good. If you had told me I had to give them up, I would have said NO WAY, I don't want to live like that!

Until I actually did give them up and it was so freeing. Now that I'm in maintenance, I often have to make tough decisions about eating treats - can I fit it in? How many calories? I can't have this treat, becuase I already had that treat, etc etc.

When I was losing weight it was yes/no, black/white, eat/don't eat and it took a lot of the tough decisions out of the equation for me. I had the foods I did eat, and the foods I did not eat and that was that.

I will also tell you - that how I felt about myself, how I felt physically skyrocketed. I had been depressed, heavy, sluggish. When I started eating healthy foods, I felt good about myself for making good choices and I just flat out felt GOOD. Lots of energy, more smiling.

How I started eating good foods and avoiding bad foods was kind of an accident (was trying to eat super foods from the book Super Foods Rx). I don't know if I would have ever started a plan with the thought of the no's (no sugar, no fast food, no soda). I went into it with the plan: I will eat super foods! Very positive, eating so many super foods just eliminated eating bad foods and by the time I started thinking what was going on, I felt so good and my cravings were gone. I really did not plan to eliminate sugar/carby junk, it was a byproduct of what I was doing.

I never knew I was in food prison until I set myself free. All my life, I thought I had a problem with food, it turns out I only had a problem with SOME FOODS. Getting rid/greatly reducing foods like pretzels, crackers, cold cereal, white bread was wonderful for me.

Oh I hear ya on the fast food. I can't even walk past a joint without ordering something horribly bad for me. Thusly my ticker. I'm trying SUPER hard not to break my streak.