[Bombe]

I've lost 10 lbs. yay! great! woohoo! But the fact of the matter is I've always been able to drop 5 or 10 lbs. relatively easily, without really putting a whole ton of effort in. But I've never really gotten past that (except 4 years ago when I lost 60 lbs...) I always end up back where I started 5 or 10 lbs. heavier.

I think it's because I'm too lenient and too accepting. I'm not one to be hard on myself which can be a good thing; if I "slip" I don't beat myself up and throw in the towel, I accept it and for the most part move along. But that can also be a bad thing too. Sometimes I'm too easy on myself and I allow too much (those buffalo wings at happy hour, a couple of slices of pizza at the lunch meeting at work, sitting back and not doing anything active on a saturday simply because I'm feeling lazy...).

So I'm going to try something new. I'm going to be hard on myself. I'm going to be strict about my food, I'm going to kick my *** at the gym (or when I go hiking or kayaking or whatever), I'm going to expect results from myself! If I have slip-ups along the way that's ok, I already know it's bound to happen, but I'm going to use it as a motivator to work even harder when that happens. I'm setting a pretty lofty goal and I'm REALLY going to have to work to reach it but up until now my goals have been relatively soft, I just need to change it up!

So here's the deal: I want to go down 2 sizes by the end of the year, I have 2 and a half months/19 weeks. I'm currently a size 14 and by December 31st I want to fit into a size 10. I don't have a weight goal so much, I estimate 2 sizes would be approximately 40 lbs. for me but if I lose less than that because I build a significant amount of muscle or something then it's ok, I'm more focused on the size goal. In order to reach that goal I've made other mini goals:

-Do some form of physical activity at least 5 days a week, it could be going to the gym, going for a hike, playing volleyball with friends, whatever. Enough to raise my heart rate and sweat.
-Eat a small breakfast before working out, make lunch my largest meal of the day before I go to work and eat a small dinner.
-NO eating after work! (I work second shift so dinner is at work and that will be the end of my food for the day).

So that's it. I'm trying a different approach because my usual approach isn't getting me anywhere and I'm tired of being overweight and out of shape!!!!! If I don't exactly hit my goal at least I know I'll be in a better spot than where I am right now but I honestly think if I REALLY buckle down and am serious about it I can do this!
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[AshleighAO]

Good job! I'm looking for inspiration since I'm trying to get myself on track as well. For me it was the opposite though, I wasn't losing and so I got mad at myself and dedicated a whole weekend to giving up. Monday morning I decided I couldn't do that though since I have done it so many times before and it never helped.

I wish you luck, your activties sound fun too! I used to love kayaking (haven't been in a long time).

Get to work! See some results!!!

[carter]

Coddling doesn't work for me either. I need hard discipline, and no one is going to impose it on me but me.

You are astute to note that there is good being hard on yourself and bad being hard on yourself.

"You're never going to succeed, so you may as well sit on your butt and eat that whole pie" is not productive.

"You are better than this; get your lazy butt off the couch and go to the gym" is obviously preferable.

As for goals, I don't set lofty goals ... I set tiny ones. "Don't be a pig." "Go to the gym today." "Lay off the donuts at that meeting; they are not the last donuts you'll ever see." I guess since my approach is sheer force of will, I find it more tenable to discipline myself one small decision at a time than to set goals of larger scope and longer term.

[Onederchic]

Good for you and good luck

[Bombe]

Thanks for the encouragement! Yesterday was my "day one" and it went well, I ate very healthy and I went to the gym and did 30 mins cardio and 30 minutes weight lifting. I'm a little sore today but not nearly as much as I thought I would be!

Today has started off well with a banana protein smoothie for breakfast. I have the day off of work so I'm going to go for a strenuous hike and pack a healthy lunch to eat at the top of the Mountain!