Need help and advice please?

spinningmango

I'm 5''5 and weigh 21.11 stones (roughly 295lbs). I am obese, obviously. Every time I try and diet I always say feck this and go back and eat crap, I need to know how to stick to this so I have re-joined here and my overall goal is to lose half of my body weight. I know I think take it in small pieces, I am going to treat myself for everyone stone I lose(not with food). Has anyone got any info they would like to share on motivation?

p.s Thanks in advance.

seska422

You can still lose weight while you "eat crap" and that may be a way for you to actually stick to the plan this time. You can keep eating your foods, just in smaller portions so that you have a calorie deficit.

Start by just logging what you are eating and drinking for a week or two. Get a food scale so that you can weigh everything solid. Only use measuring cups/spoons for liquids.

After you've logged for a while, you can look back through to see where you might make different choices. Perhaps eat smaller portions of certain things or make substitutions with other foods that you like. Log before you eat so that you can change your mind before you eat if you want to do so.

I think of my calories like a budget for money. I only eat foods that I like. I don't eat foods that I don't like. If I think something is too expensive calorie-wise, I'll decide if it's worth the splurge or if I'd rather save my calories for other things.

queenliz99

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

cher2178

Do what you can when you can. If you don't think you have time to do a serious workout then just try to get a couple laps around the block. And one cheat doesn't mean you have to give up. That was always my problem, I'd end up eating chips and say screw it, this days lost I'll have ice cream too. Just try to be a little better everyday and keep your eye on whatever your prize is. Maybe make up a chart that shows how close you are getting to your first reward. Something you will see everyday to keep you motivated for new shoes or a manicure/pedicure, whatever works for you! It takes time but it's soooo worth it, nothing better than your pant being too big! You can do this!

WendyLaubach

For me, it's been about how much I eat, not what I eat. I can eat anything I like as long as I choose portions that keep my daily calories within a certain budget. Over the last few months, I've gotten used to the portions that are appropriate to the amount of fuel my body needs in a day.

It's true that I've taken to avoiding certain foods I used to want to eat in very large quantities, like bread, breakfast cereal, and cheese. In order to stay fuller, I try to eat more veg instead. But I still eat small amounts of bread, cereal, and cheese now and then. There are no foods I've had to give up, only ones I eat smaller servings of, or eat less often.

lorrpb

My tip is to read all the sticky posts at the top of each MFP forum. These threads provide the best info & tips on the site!

RodaRose

1. Program yourself for success: Set a very specific goal
2. Get a plan
3. Identify small measurable steps
4. Create a healthy, realistic timeline
5. Create meaningful monitoring and accountability

http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/89
http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/90

amusedmonkey

When I first started, I was even heavier than you, and I still have a good bit to lose. What people in our boat need to realize is that it's a multiple year process, preferably followed by a lifetime of maintenance. Drastic changes tend to be too extreme and too hard to follow for a long time. You're basically trying to overhaul your whole life. Don't. Just look at your current diet and tweak it instead of completely changing it.

Log your food for a week without changing anything and look at your intake. Where do most of your calories come from? Is there anything you can do to make your current foods less calorie-dense? Do you find yourself eating a lot of pasta, for example? Replace about 1/4 or 1/3 of your current pasta volume with vegetables by adding them to your pasta dish. Plenty of pasta vegetable recipes on the internet. If you don't like cooked vegetables, you can simply add a big raw salad to your meal, eat it before your pasta, and as a result you end up full sooner with less pasta consumed.

That was just one example. You can do that with any food. Instead of "eyeballing" your cooking oil measure out a reasonable amount. You will be amazed how much less oil you can use without significantly changing the taste and texture of dishes. Using leaner cuts of meat will also reduce the calories of your usual dishes. If there are dishes you absolutely can't change, start by cutting the amount by just a bit. 2-3 tablespoons less will likely not stress you out but would make enough of a change until you are ready to reduce the amount by a bit more.

Exercise, don't feel you need to force yourself to do a full hour. Start with a 10 minute walk. Heck, I started with a 5 minute walk. Something that is easy enough to do consistently but has growth potential. Gradually, my 5 minute walk turned into 8, then 10, then all the way up to 45 continuous minutes, with a few multi-hour hikes thrown in every summer. All you need to do is plant the seed of a habit and watch it grow. I now actually run!

Basically these are the principles I live by:
1. Add instead of removing (I didn't cut out anything, but by adding more low calorie foods the amount of higher calorie foods gradually and naturally went down on its own)
2. Reduce instead of removing (instead of 5 cans of pop a day, start by drinking 4 for example)
3. Plant habits as a seed, but be consistent enough to watch them grow.
4. Don't eat foods you don't like just because they are lower in calories, instead try to find low calorie foods that you like and lower the calories of your typical foods by tweaking the cooking and combining process.
5. One "bad" day isn't the end of the world. Happens to the best of us. I always use this example: no use crying over spilled milk, but when you do spill some of your milk you don't go and deliberately pour out the rest of it into the sink because you consider the whole thing ruined. Same with diet. Not being perfect is okay, but to deliberately continue overeating because you made a mistake and "it's all ruined" is silly.
6. Building habits and consistency is a thousand times better than relying on motivation, which waxes and wanes uncontrollably and makes for a very unstable base for a diet.

mamadon

amusedmonkey wrote: »

When I first started, I was even heavier than you, and I still have a good bit to lose. What people in our boat need to realize is that it's a multiple year process, preferably followed by a lifetime of maintenance. Drastic changes tend to be too extreme and too hard to follow for a long time. You're basically trying to overhaul your whole life. Don't. Just look at your current diet and tweak it instead of completely changing it.

Log your food for a week without changing anything and look at your intake. Where do most of your calories come from? Is there anything you can do to make your current foods less calorie-dense? Do you find yourself eating a lot of pasta, for example? Replace about 1/4 or 1/3 of your current pasta volume with vegetables by adding them to your pasta dish. Plenty of pasta vegetable recipes on the internet. If you don't like cooked vegetables, you can simply add a big raw salad to your meal, eat it before your pasta, and as a result you end up full sooner with less pasta consumed.

That was just one example. You can do that with any food. Instead of "eyeballing" your cooking oil measure out a reasonable amount. You will be amazed how much less oil you can use without significantly changing the taste and texture of dishes. Using leaner cuts of meat will also reduce the calories of your usual dishes. If there are dishes you absolutely can't change, start by cutting the amount by just a bit. 2-3 tablespoons less will likely not stress you out but would make enough of a change until you are ready to reduce the amount by a bit more.

Exercise, don't feel you need to force yourself to do a full hour. Start with a 10 minute walk. Heck, I started with a 5 minute walk. Something that is easy enough to do consistently but has growth potential. Gradually, my 5 minute walk turned into 8, then 10, then all the way up to 45 continuous minutes, with a few multi-hour hikes thrown in every summer. All you need to do is plant the seed of a habit and watch it grow. I now actually run!

Basically these are the principles I live by:
1. Add instead of removing (I didn't cut out anything, but by adding more low calorie foods the amount of higher calorie foods gradually and naturally went down on its own)
2. Reduce instead of removing (instead of 5 cans of pop a day, start by drinking 4 for example)
3. Plant habits as a seed, but be consistent enough to watch them grow.
4. Don't eat foods you don't like just because they are lower in calories, instead try to find low calorie foods that you like and lower the calories of your typical foods by tweaking the cooking and combining process.
5. One "bad" day isn't the end of the world. Happens to the best of us. I always use this example: no use crying over spilled milk, but when you do spill some of your milk you don't go and deliberately pour out the rest of it into the sink because you consider the whole thing ruined. Same with diet. Not being perfect is okay, but to deliberately continue overeating because you made a mistake and "it's all ruined" is silly.
6. Building habits and consistency is a thousand times better than relying on motivation, which waxes and wanes uncontrollably and makes for a very unstable base for a diet.

I have to say that number five is great because I loved the analogy of not pouring the milk down the sink just because you spilt some. I may steal that lol.

OP, your getting some great advice. When I first decided to try to lose weight for about the millionth time, I really tried to be analytical about it. I asked myself, why did I fail before and what would give me the greatest odds of success? I did what everyone else has been telling you. I wasn't going to have any forbidden foods. I wasn't going to give up things that I loved, like bread. I would just eat less of it. I would count my calories. Eventually I learned how important it was to weigh and measure my food.

One of the most important things I did was take a relaxed long term approach. It took a long time to gain it all, (I was 268 pounds) I would take my time losing it. Also, Like Amusedmonkey said, I would not give up, just because I occasionally had a bad day. For example, I ate probably around 4000 calories yesterday,
waaayy, over my maintenance amount. It's one day. If I did that everyday I would have a problem. One day, no biggie.

amusedmonkey

One more thing. Mini goals are nice, but they are even nicer if they have a certain significance to them. Makes you feel a greater sense of accomplishment and perspective. For example: my mini goals have always been labeled something like "my weight when I went on that trip", "my weight when I was in college", "the cut off point to move from class III to class II"...etc. It doesn't have to be something grand, just enough to put things into perspective. My next mini goal, for example, is 3 pounds away and is labeled "my weight when I first discovered a certain restaurant I love". Reaching this weight is a reminder that I didn't have to give it up to lose weight like I tried to do at first. Makes me feel good that I now have enough experience to control my intake without giving up things that bring me joy. I've come a long way.

OhMsDiva

What keeps me motivated is that i still have a ways to go. I feel better, I look better, I am stronger physically and mentally. I am now learning to incorporate some "cheat" foods into my daily calories, but that is after losing 100 lbs. For about the first nine months, I wouldn't touch anything that wasn't on my plan. I was so miserable that not eating a donut did not even phase me. I still wont eat one, cause i cant eat just one. I am motivated to keep going because i am working to a goal of being the person i was created to be.