Thinking of "starting today"? You might want to check this out - pics inside!

Francl27

You are awesome!

missyjoy6988

Congratulations to you. You look happy.

Holla4mom

Happy New Year! Congrats on your 5K. What a difference a year makes! I am so inspired. I love the idea of making smaller goals, such as 5 lbs.

cardbucfan

What a transformation! Fabulous job!

ewhip17

Thanks again everyone. The "chunking" of small goals really did help. I still do it to this day - right now I have my sights set on 195.

Another thing I did was buying 4 of the same t-shirt in progressively smaller sizes (4xl, 3xl, 2xl, xl) and those are what I wore to the gym for the past year. Getting into the next smaller size was always a great feeling. I'm wearing the xl to the gym these days.....

DianePK

that's great inspiration. I'm at the very beginning of the journey, but I have lost weight successfully in the past so I know what I need to do.

Douggerr

Well done. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

bkknights

This is great. I bet nothing compares to keeping up with your kid (s)! Congrats!

savila311

I just started today im 22 and i weigh 222.4, I joined 24hr fitness and am going to go everyday for a week 1hr maybe more. I am also counting calories and trying to watch what I eat, I hope to have your progress! My son wanted me to be skinny for Christmas. I ccouldn't do it 2014 year but iI'm going to do it 2015! CONGRATS on yr weight loss!

mahaaaaaa90

Wow you are such an inspiration! and you look wonderful now!

O2Bslimagain

What a wonderful gift to give to your kids and wife. I too am a start tomorrow person. I am a binge exerciser. I exercise to prepare for a race and then I stop and when I stop- I blow up like a balloon- my husband used to say- it is like someone has pulled the ripcord and you just expand. So, what did you do for your baby steps? Like what did you do on that first day? Did you go for a walk- did you change just one eating habit? I am carrying a lot of extra weight and I am starting to feel the downside of that. My knee's hurt, my feet hurt- I feel sluggish and tired all the time. I go to the gym and work out and feel great, but then I look in the mirror and I can't believe what I look like. It gets discouraging. I often lose hope, because I feel like I can't change- it is like I have so much fat around my midsection that I can't see it going away. Then I come home and pig out, because I know I can start again tomorrow. One of these days there won't be a tomorrow or my tomorrow's turn into years and then decades. Other times I start to picture myself healthy and not skinny, but muscular and fit- I actually put on muscle pretty fast. My downfall is what I eat- cakes, cookies, chips, pop occasionally, chocolate and candy. I know they make me feel like crap, but I think I can get by with just eating one or two and the next thing I am devouring everything in sight.

Thanks again for sharing.

ewhip17

brklyn8102 wrote: »

This is great. I bet nothing compares to keeping up with your kid (s)! Congrats!

I may never be able to do that.. haha.

ewhip17

savila311 wrote: »

I just started today im 22 and i weigh 222.4, I joined 24hr fitness and am going to go everyday for a week 1hr maybe more. I am also counting calories and trying to watch what I eat, I hope to have your progress! My son wanted me to be skinny for Christmas. I ccouldn't do it 2014 year but iI'm going to do it 2015! CONGRATS on yr weight loss!

Awesome. One day at a time. :-)

ewhip17

mahaaaaaa90 wrote: »

Wow you are such an inspiration! and you look wonderful now!

Thanks - it's hard to wrap my brain around. I don't recognize myself in the mirror.

doh2

very inspirational..you look absolutely superb! Well done

lcantrell65

"I spent 10 years starting tomorrow. Start today."

I loved this!!! Congratulations on your first 5K, and you look great.

ChrissiesWorld

Awesome job!

krysmuree

You look incredible! Congratulations on all of your hard work and success.

csavoy0

Wow! You look great!

ewhip17

O2Bslimagain wrote: »

What a wonderful gift to give to your kids and wife. I too am a start tomorrow person. I am a binge exerciser. I exercise to prepare for a race and then I stop and when I stop- I blow up like a balloon- my husband used to say- it is like someone has pulled the ripcord and you just expand. So, what did you do for your baby steps? Like what did you do on that first day? Did you go for a walk- did you change just one eating habit? I am carrying a lot of extra weight and I am starting to feel the downside of that. My knee's hurt, my feet hurt- I feel sluggish and tired all the time. I go to the gym and work out and feel great, but then I look in the mirror and I can't believe what I look like. It gets discouraging. I often lose hope, because I feel like I can't change- it is like I have so much fat around my midsection that I can't see it going away. Then I come home and pig out, because I know I can start again tomorrow. One of these days there won't be a tomorrow or my tomorrow's turn into years and then decades. Other times I start to picture myself healthy and not skinny, but muscular and fit- I actually put on muscle pretty fast. My downfall is what I eat- cakes, cookies, chips, pop occasionally, chocolate and candy. I know they make me feel like crap, but I think I can get by with just eating one or two and the next thing I am devouring everything in sight.

Thanks again for sharing.

So I've totally been there. The mental battle is greater than the physical one sometimes. And yes it was baby steps but mainly because this time I gave myself permission to not be perfect. I literally started by focusing on each meal and just trying to do a better job for THAT meal. If I did then, great, move on to the next. If I didn't then, ok, do a better job with the next one. Small changes add up to big results.

And I also tried to pay really close attention to what my body..... And mind... Needed to succeed. For example, I must eat something around 3-4pm. If I don't, I'll soon be found in a fetal position on the floor of the pantry covered in chip crumbs, granola bar residue and cracker dust. So learning just that one thing made a dramatic improvement for me.

Regarding exercise, I literally just tried to move more. Parked my car farther away. Took the stairs. And yes, just went for a walk. I've lost 122lbs by just going for a walk. I now enjoy it but at first it was hard.

But more than anything else it just came down to realistic expectations, the ability to move on from a setback rather than letting it give you an excuse to quit, and never quitting. Bad day? So what, it happens. Make today a better day. Get some momentum. You'll never make any progress forward without momentum. And you CAN do it.