Originally Posted by ValerieL

Grits, it can be done. And believe me, I thought it would never happen for me. Honestly. I was *sure* was going to die obese, alone and unhappy. I tried so many times and it never worked, or if it did, I regained it all eventually.

It only takes once to work. Keep trying, your one time that it will work will happen if you keep trying.

And don't hate yourself through it. You keep trying, it's not easy. Give yourself credit for trying and sacrificing what it takes to make it. Celebrate every day you make it through without overeating.

It really helps to be moving towards something wonderful, not just moving away from something awful. Focus on the rewards at the end, not just how much you hate where you are today.

Originally Posted by kyrasdad

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We went to the pool last week, took my daughter to the wading pool. There was a very large woman there with her three kids. She must have weighed 375, 400 pounds and to her credit, she wore a bathing suit. I sat there thinking, wondering how many people there were disgusted with her. I was in admiration. At my biggest, I never went to the pool. Ever. She was the bravest person there, and if she stayed long enough, some jacksass would eventually have said something to her. But there she was, making sure her kids could splash around and play.

I'd like a world where, if people can't admire her courage, they could at least have the courtesy to respect her. I've never liked the fat acceptance thing (it seems a little self-defeating; we as individuals shouldn't accept being fat) but I totally agree with the notion that fat people should be respected and treated no differently than others.

Originally Posted by TKDman

Mykelogan, I had a recent breakthrough at Six Flags over Texas myself. I fit EASILY in all the rides--no discomfort at all. Regular-sized strangers didn't even think twice about sitting next to me if I was alone on a two-seater.

Also, the sheer ENERGY I had all day. Everyone in my party got extremely tired about midday, barely walking up hill. They "hissed" at me as I outpaced them just doing a regular walk. I had to keep looking behind me to make sure I didn't lose them. Also, when I was bored, I started jumping up on elevated walls or park benches--basic horse-play. I enjoyed every minute!

Another thing I noticed was the lack of "bad" looks from girls as I walked by. I finally felt normal.

Keep at it, folks! It's worth it!

Originally Posted by CMCM

I understand completely how you feel. What I will tell you is this: A HUGE part of success is going to be inside your HEAD. It's not just the eating, because how you eat comes in large part from what's going on in your head, with your emotions.

Here's how I deal with the head part of things: I read a LOT about low carb eating, etc. I read the Gary Taubes book "Good Calories, Bad Calories." I have 3 different Atkins books....I recently ordered the 1972 version (original book) that Atkins wrote...it was 93 cents plus $3.99 shipping, and I LOVE this book because it provides a lot of basic, very understandable info about how this works and why it works, plus a lot of personal stories that were left out of later books. I read stuff on this forum. The reason for all this is that it helps keep me strongly focused on low carb eating, and this keeps me on track better than just reading Atkins and then forgetting about it all as I struggle to eat right.

Be conscious with your eating. Look at each individual day as a separate thing, where you will hopefully count it as a successful day in which you took another big step forward towards your goal. Celebrating all the little daily successes makes you not want to mess up the next day.

Planning a day's eating is hugely helpful. I've found that my own lapses come from a lack of planning: I didn't plan, I get hungry due to not eating when I should...and my resolve can easily go down the drain at that point.

Be realistic about your success: each good day is a giant step forwards, but from one day to the next you can't and won't see big results. But it's all the little daily successes, adding up day after day, over time, that lead to reaching your goal. If you weigh 250 but want to weigh 150, that's a huge stretch and it can be very daunting when you look at it in the beginning. So look at things in smaller chunks: look at going from 250 to 245. When you get there, now look to 240. And just keep going, step after step, daily success after daily success.

It's all about CONSISTENCY over TIME. If you can be consistent, day after day, you'll find the TIME part of things can be greatly reduced. If you're not consistent, you will bop back and forth and the time element will of course be lengthened.

Be POSITIVE...and know that this is something you have absolutely, 100% control over. If you want to lose the weight MORE than you want to eat the goodies, you can attain that consistency I mentioned, and you will find the strength to refuse the bad stuff and eat the way you should until you reach your goal. You absolutely CAN do it, you just have to want it bad enough. And THIS is where the mind and head comes into it so strongly.

Create an image of yourself with some food temptation in front of you: Is someone holding you down and stuffing it into your mouth? Or is it YOU and your hand putting it into your mouth? So just remember, this is where you do have the control. Tell yourself over and over you will make the CHOICE which puts you closer to your goal rather than the choice which takes you away from your goal. It's really not about "good" or "bad" choices. It's more about choices which move your towards your goal or away from it.

Also remember you CAN stay away from damaging foods for the time required to lose the weight. You just have to DECIDE to do it and stick with that decision. It's all in your hands. It's not like you will never have a particular food again; you just won't have it right now. You can live without it now because really, the rewards of not eating it are better than the very brief joy of eating it. And if you do eat it now, how long do you enjoy it....10 seconds? 25 seconds? Is that very brief pleasure worth not losing weight or about just staying in the same, unhappy place?

I'm putting these thoughts out there because I use them every day, and they help me stay focused. This is so much a mind game within each of us.

Originally Posted by kwikdriver

One thing I'm becoming a firm believer in is that the whole concept of "goal" is self defeating. So many of the ladies I see posting here are attractive, some are remarkably beautiful, and yet they doggedly continue to try to lose that last 10, or 15, or whatever pounds to get to "goal." Why? It seems to me that it creates the potential for frustration, which can lead to overall failure. This is true everywhere, not just here, by the way: just about every woman I've ever known wanted to lose a few pounds. But here, where we have a lot more than a few to lose, sticking to this eating plan is about more than vanity, but a matter of life and death in some cases. I think people should
think long and hard about what their real goals are, and how close they are to achieving them.

As for me, my blood pressure is normal. I have no chest pains. I can walk for long distances without getting tired. I feel better, and feel better about myself. Psychologically, I've finally accepted that obesity isn't my fault, that it wasn't a sign of moral failure on my part, but of a medical condition, and now I have the tools to control it. About halfway to my weightloss "goal," (which isn't a number on the scale, but my own satisfaction with how I look) I know I'm going to succeed because I already have; it's just a question of keeping the lessons I've learned firmly in mind, of getting more success, if you will.

Originally Posted by UpTheHill

Pointers?

Find a plan that works for you, follow it day in and day out. Enjoy the times when weight loss is quick and stick to your program during the times that weight loss is slow.

Some days you'll feel like you are making tremendous progress. Other days you might look at your weight loss and feel like you are putting forth a lot of effort and not getting a lot of satisfaction. Don't let any of that influence you to start plan hopping or looking for magic bullet solutions.

No matter what rate you lose, losing a lot of weight will take longer than you'd like. But the time will pass whether your are following a healthy plan or you are going on and of your plan. Best to make a decision to stick with it for however long it will take, and realize right now that you will also need to stick with it for as long as you want to keep the weight off once you lose it.

The folks who have lost a lot and kept it off are the ones who have made life decisions to stick to a way of eating that works for them during the fun times, the holidays, vacations, fast loss times, slow loss times, maintenance times - pretty much all of the time.

The folks who aren't doing so well still have "treats" in their cabinets, celebrate holidays and special events with off program foods, are sedentary, play around with high carb foods, and dream of the off-program foods they are going to indulge in when they hit goal or some other milestone.

If you need to lose over 100 lbs, you'll need to actively manage your weight to lose it, and keep doing so for the rest of your life. It isn't like the folks who only have 10 or 20 lbs to lose and who might be able to be a lot more free-wheeling with what they do. You will be most successful if you are really clear with yourself on what exactly you value about your desired weight goal, and truly believe that it is worth making a lifelong priority. Anything less than that, and all of the small healthy things you need to do every day will seem like a bigger deal than they are and be difficult to sustain.

Welcome to the TDC!

Lynda

Originally Posted by TheBetty

Well ya'll, it's been a looooong haul here on this forum. I have enjoyed the time I put in and it's been an easy way to document most of my journey and learn a lot about eating healthfully.

This will be my last post in this journal because I have reached my goal (and gone beyond), and I don't feel I can add anything more than all these entries I've already invested.

I am very thin now for my build and I wear a size 13 juniors or 12-14 women's. I am large boned, so this is not a plus size for ME.

I am still eating all whole foods, but I had cut out all cow dairy and all gluten from my diet. I still eat a lot of other grains like rice and corn, etc. But I found that it was the gluten that irritated my system, so I stopped eating all gluten and I felt better, and it therefore motivated me to cut back on all food and move more.

The bottom line here with my weight loss is this: Eat LESS food and MOVE MORE, but eat ALL WHOLE FOODS as much as possible. This way, you can actually eat more food than you would if it were crappy junk food.

I do eat dark chocolate everyday, that has not changed!

I found that the calories with cream and other fat was too much for me. I use olive and other healthy oils liberally, but I don't make a dessert out of cream cheese and cream items anymore, it's too many calories. And yes, calories do matter. Although I never count them, logic told me that once I got down to the smaller body size, I didn't need to eat as much. The LOGICAL thing to cut out was excess calories in the form of fat like cream, cheese, etc.

Anyway, that is the bottom, as I said.

I spend a lot of time outdoors moving around. I've never really been a home body anyway, but now EVERYTHING is on the move. All getaways for us are moving-motivated.

The low carb started me off with a great weight loss because it allowed me to still stuff my face with mass quantities and lose weight. But after that big dump off of weight, I was left with needing fewer calories, and in that case, low carb doesn't make a difference (to me).

I eat fruit at each meal. I also eat a LOT of veggies. I eat a good amount of protein and I don't hold back fat that is IN meals, just don't eat extra fat like cream and cheese especially in dessert items. I find that eating FRUIT each meal tapered off my cravings for sugar just as well as eating low carb. I think the years doing this has made a difference. I also think that once I got rid of all the crap in my body that I was able to eat fruit 'safely' and keep losing weight.

MOVEMENT is sooo important for me. I find that when I move I WANT to move. It's first nature to move now. I think the FAT on my BODY tried to trick me into thinking that MOVEMENT WAS NOT IMPORTANT, but it is. God designed our bodies to walk and move, not to do nothing all day.

I have a lot of skin, but it's not quite as bad as I thought it would be, I think moving has helped with that, and slow weight loss as well. I am debating whether to put myself through surgery for this removal. My face looks great though, it's just the belly that is saggy pretty much.

That's the scoop for whomever is reading this.

YES you can lose the weight. You have to:

1) Eat WHOLE FOODS
2) Eat LESS FOOD
3) MOVE that body

And you will lose the weight. Bottom line. Don't fool yourself into trying to guess what foods trigger this or trigger that. Those are MIND GAMES that you use to not stop eating and to start moving. Seriously, it's true. Just start RIGHT NOW.

EAT WHOLE FOODS
EAT LESS FOOD
MOVE YOUR BODY

Those are the only thing you need to know about losing weight.


God bless you all, I hope and pray you will all meet your goals. Keep your eyes upon Jesus and HE will lead you.

--Betty

Originally Posted by ValerieL

Amen to Kyrasdad's post!

People talk about their "aha" moment because it's the "aha" moment they had the time they actually stuck to the diet. They forget the daily "aha" moments that happen everyday that fade into oblivion because we don't manage to make that the day we make a change for the better.

I had an aha moment every night when I'd go to bed disgusted with myself for not being able to not overeat that day. I had an aha moment every morning when I turned on the shower and thought "today is the day I can do it". I had an aha moment everytime I had to walk around a turnstile, ask for a seatbelt extender in an airplane, ask for a table instead of a booth in a restaurant, or wear a blouse open because even the biggest size at the store was too small.

I actually have an "aha" moment that I can point to, something that happened just before this final weight loss attempt that succeeded. It's a red herring though. It wasn't the reason I succeeded, it was just the last major reminder before I found something that worked for me and was able to stick with it. No magic in the aha moment.