I've been kind of avoiding acknowledging that I'd like to lose over 100lbs. I mean... I started at 252.4 at the end of March and have given myself little goals here and there to try to focus on small steps rather than the big picture. I've never been smaller than about 165/166, so 100lbs+ seems impossible.

I started (back-- long story) on March 29 of this year and have hardly cheated and the weight loss has been considerably slower than it has in the past. Understandably given the stuff my body has been through over the last couple of years, but nonetheless it's discouraging.

So here I am. I'm finally admitting that I need some support. I haven't cheated much since I started back. Less times than I can count on one hand... and I always immediately go back on plan, so discipline isn't an issue. It's mostly that I'm getting impatient and the loss has been so slow that I'm getting kind of depressed. 60lbs in 6 months the first time around in 2004 and a month and a half of that I cheated on it. Now 46lbs in 6.5 months while being very disciplined.

I feel like this is never going to end. (

Welcome! There is lots of support here! I am going slowly too, don't know why, but there are a lot of good folks here to help keep the journey a successful one!

Perhaps if you post some information, people around here can pipe up with suggestions. What do your daily menus look like, what about your exercise program? What are the stressors in your life? What has your body been through in the past couple years, if you don't mind me asking?

--Melissa

I don't think it's my menu that's the problem. My body responds differently to different foods than the norm, so it varies a bit from traditional Atkins. But I will say that I eat considerably better and closer to Atkins than I did when I lost all that weight the first time around.

Exercise has been difficult to get. Unless you count chasing my 13 month around the house all day. I am extremely sensitive to temperature and living in Atlanta... it's been way too hot to go walking very frequently. It's just now cooling down, but it's still about 80 degrees and due to my hypothyroidism I sweat like a pig even still. So I try to walk a few times each week, but it's shorter than I'd prefer because of that. I've been trying to talk my husband into letting me get a treadmill so that temperature won't be an issue for me.

As far as my health stuff over the last couple of years... In May 2008 I found out I was pregnant, but in June of that year we found out that it was a tubal pregnancy which ruptured my right tube and I had massive internal bleeding. They had to remove my right tube. Subsequently I was extremely depressed (to the point that I separated from my husband and gained a lot of weight) until I found out I was pregnant again in December 2008. Literally the night before I found out I was pregnant I went to get lots of low-carb food and was ready to lose the weight I'd gained to that point... then I couldn't do it because I was pregnant. So throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding I gained an additional 30 or so pounds. Not sure how much because I wouldn't let the doctor tell me. I tried to moderately LC during breastfeeding, but it messed up my milk supply so I had to wait until I quit breastfeeding which was at the end of March this year.

Stressors-- I work from home (paid), I'm an unpaid counseling (psychology) intern part-time, husband's job isn't paying enough (which is why I work from home), taking care of my 1 year old (good stress though, lol), and pretty much taking care of all of the finances.

Hi Missaec,

When I posted up my stats when I started this I had exactly 100lbs I wanted to lose. Posting that and coming to terms with it was daunting. I couldn't believe I had allowed myself to get to this. It was hard but doing it was an important step for me. I needed to be accountable, I needed it to stare me in the face.

That was 60lbs ago and now I don't have 100lbs to lose anymore. I have less than half that. (Or maybe more, depending on how I feel when I get to my current goal.)

The 2nd half has been very slow going, but when I get frustrated I try to remind myself that I have come a long way already and to celebrate that.

In my head I fear I will always have 100lbs to lose, no matter how close I get to goal. I will always be self-conscious about how I look and how others view or perceive me. When someone tells me I look great or something looks really nice on me, I'm still skeptical. I don't even really want that kind of attention. I don't want to call attention to my shrinking body. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. I've noticed a pattern of self-sabotage whenever I get down below 200 and people really start to notice. I quickly cheat on myself and gain a little to avoid the attention. This is something I need to overcome so that I can continue to succeed. I need the support too!

As for exercise- you don't need to go outside or buy an expensive treadmill. Maybe invest in a floormat, a couple of DVD's and some light handweights to get started. Start easy and slowly build up your endurance. Sure you're going to sweat, but don't see that as a negative. That ugly icky sweat is actually removing all of the fat and toxins from your body, so it's a beautiful thing!

Lastly, if you don't spend alot of time outside, you might want to look into Vitamin D supplements. I started taking Vitamin D3 two weeks ago and it has had a dramatic effect on my mood.

Good luck
... and hi to everyone else in the TDC!

Thank you for your response! As far as the sweating goes... I mean... it's excessive and not because I'm physically exerting myself. I can walk outside in 80 degree weather and start sweating. It wasn't so bad before I had the baby, but now it's horrible and so excessive it's uncomfortable. I do not have the same reaction from working out indoors. But absolutely, I'll invest in a floor mat. I have some pilates DVDs... it's just hard to fit it in with watching the baby. I did, however, check out treadmills on Craigslist just a few minutes ago and found one in pretty good shape for $60, so I e-mailed to see if it's still available.

And yeah, I totally get what you mean about how you fear in your head that you'll always have 100lbs to lose. My short-term goal has been just to get to 199 and more long-term is 166 which is my previous lowest. Still... having been at that weight before, I know I'll need to lose more beyond that. I've just never been able to get myself past that point. I can't imagine what it'd be like to be something like 140. I haven't weighed that since I was probably in the 5th grade. (I was 163 in 6th grade and lost some and was 147 in 7th grade. Stayed around 185 throughout high school.)

Thank you for the suggestion about Vitamin D. I had been considering it. I have a whole mess of supplements that I take, but I sometimes forget to take them. I noticed a big improvement in energy when I started taking a Thyroid complex (containing iodine) and B-12.

It does sound like you have a lot on your plate. Honestly, I think that you need to cut yourself a little slack. You have made significant strides on weight loss while dealing with many challenges and significant stress. You should give yourself some credit--many of us without LC would have been gaining weight in a similar situation; perhaps you have experienced this as well.

As for exercise, just get yourself some dumbbells. You don't need to do strenuous cardio, in fact it's counterproductive. Get in some weight training and hopefully some walking with your son as the weather cools down, and that should complement your dietary efforts nicely.

Are you being treated for hypothyroidism? If it's untreated, it can significantly slow weight loss as well as cause other unintended consequences.

--Melissa

I managed to get a treadmill on Craigslist. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. I have some dumbbells, so I'll throw that in the mix when I have time.

I am not currently being treated for hypothyroidism, but I have a good reason for it. When I did LC the first time around it actually reversed my hypothyroidism. Without medication, I had my levels tested at the beginning of LC and after I'd lost 80+lbs and my levels came back normal.

I'm hoping that the same thing happens again, but if I still feel symptoms in the next 10-20lbs I planned on going to the doctor to have my levels retested and get medication.

Well at 5'0" tall, I set my goal weight at 150 pounds. But of course I should be much smaller than that. I just didn't want to believe I belonged in the triple digits club. For now I'm keeping it there because if I ever get to 150 pounds that will be less than I have weighed in 30 years.

But I do come over to this forum very often to read because honestly I can't relate to people who have less than 20 pounds to lose. Sometimes I get irritated with them (sorry). I have been some form of overweight my entire life, and now around 220, I actually feel pretty good about myself.

Some people with 100+ pounds to lose have different challenges, face different societal discrimination, and feel like they may never know what "normal" is like.

I get such relief and support just reading through this forum.

Having lost the weight once before, I saw some serious changes in how people treated me when I was thinner as compared to when I was bigger. It was even easier to get jobs when I was thinner!

But yeah... Little steps, you know. Having done it before, I know I can do it. It's just requiring significantly more patience than I'd like to give at this point.

i have been lurking around for a while and was unable to admit that i belong here. i started this lc journey at 252 and i am down to 220. however i know i have at least another 60-70lbs to put me in the "healthy weight" range. my goal is to be around 150. i still cant believe that i let myself go this badly. i have been doing good so far. a couple of slip ups but i was able to get right back on plan and that makes me feel like i have really started to turn my life around. its all about making the comittment to changing the way i think about food forever. this is not a diet. thats what i keep telling people.

Everyone is braver than I am! Started at 248=but keep my goals small and just keep adjusting them downwards!! I am too overwhelmed by 100 lbs-it just sounds too, too large, but if I just do 10 lbs at a time-I can deal with that. So I applaud you for facing head-on such a goal! Bravo!

Mirinblue- That's very similar to what I'm doing. When I get to 199, I'm adjusting my goal down to 185. When I get to 185, I'm adjusting it down to 166. And so on...

I just decided to go for it. I figure I've got nothing to lose (except the weight). I just have a different set of goals listed. The weight is NOT my most important goal. Getting healthy and getting my wedding bands back on are my most important goals.

Yeah I think it really depends on your perspective and what you're trying to accomplish. In my case, if I get too overwhelmed with this goal that seems like it's forever away, I have a tendency to get kind of hopeless. I'm so goal oriented that it would be hard for me to look so far into a future that seems currently impossible. My first goal was the biggest though... 252.4 to 199. It seemed the most realistic though. I knew there was no way I was going to let myself stay over 200. It's worked so far because almost 7 months in I'm 5lbs from 199. It's been slow, and I've had a month once where I only managed to lose about 3.8lbs in the whole month. But I've managed to stick with it.

Now that I'm closer to 199... 185 seems doable. 166 seems a bit far out there, so I'm waiting to get closer to 185 before I really focus on it. Beyond that, I'd like to lose more but it's hard for me to look at things and imagine that. I'm so impatient. I'm just like, "Okay, I'm going to get to 199 and see how I feel and go from there." I've never stuck to LC for this long of a stretch of time. I've done it before and lost quite a lot, but it was an off and on thing for the most part for a couple of years (and I still lost weight easier then). I had no idea I'd be able to stick to the plan with so few and minor deviations this time around. But will I feel that way when I get to 199? It's looking like I will. But what about 185? I don't know. We'll see.