75+ lbs to lose and need a complete lifestyle change.

2018_Win

Hi,

I'm a 24 year old female. I weigh just over 15 stone (15 stone 5.5lbs to be exact). Looking to head back down to about 10 stone. I'm around 5ft 4in tall.

Long story short; I left school 8 years ago and piled on a considerable amount of weight quickly and have struggled ever since. Find it very difficult to look at myself. Wake up everyday wishing my life(style) was different to how it is - I look down and see my big belly and have a moment where I think 'ugh, still there', like it would have just gone overnight which is ridiculous.

I have chronic GI issues, constantly tired, poor sleep habit - generally pretty miserable with myself.

I'd love to return to the once athletic life I had, but it now seems so far away and with the weight piling on, everyday it really is further away.

I'm scared I'm never going to make the change and it's going to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, regret of my life as I feel it affects every aspect of my life.

I'm very aware I'm the only one who can change it, but I'm finding it very difficult recently and I'm not sure where to vent my struggles and frustrations! So I've joined here in the hope I can find some people similar to myself and find the motivation to start climbing out of this hole I'm stuck in.

For anyone who's reading who is having any success; how did you start? what goals did you set yourself? and how have you found the drive to keep going to where you are now?

Would love to hear other peoples situations, feel free to add me as a friend. Would be great to have a few people to cheer on and be cheered on by.

Thanks for reading.

stevephi01

Hi, welcome. You have already made a great step to be closer to your once athletic life. Was that being slimmer than you are now or were you more active?

My own situation was to take a serious look at my electrolytes, I'm not GI issued but have a 'thyroid issue', one which in time wasn't weight related. It did however cause me bad sleeping patterns and just about every part of my life.

To start, well, log everything you do, it is a daunting task to start but does get easier. Once having that info, you can move forward.

2018_Win

Thanks for the reply!

Slimmer - between 9.5 stone and 10.5 stone I enjoyed team sport for fun/hobby. Then the clubs weren't so readily available to me post education. Now I'm looking to get into some gym classes, but I'm so unfit I don't want to embarrass myself. So it would be nice to lose a little bit of weight and gain some confidence before taking a step into exercising with other people who are most likely fitter than me.

Doctors haven't confirmed an exact condition for me (currently undergoing testing and various medications), nor have they ever suggested it's weight related. However I'd be very naive to think my weight hasn't had some sort of bearing on it. It would be my hope that losing weight will at very least improve the symptoms.

I will begin logging tomorrow. Thanks for the advice . Good luck with your own goals.

stevephi01

Adjust your thinking, once where, not maybe up to being there anymore. What you did, may have have at your height of fitness, been have different.
Get to the gym, state your ability as lower than your 'expectation' and you'll find there is no embarrassment - you are holding yourself back if you did. Improvements are merely pushing your own boundaries.

1234kehahn

Thanks for posting. I have to lose 75 pounds also. I subscribe to a positive coaching workout system online called bootcamphub.com. You should check it out and do a 7-day free trial. The premise there is that when you exercise with the coaches, your energy and mood go up, stress goes down, then you start to enjoy the feeling of those three things happening. Then you stick with exercising and "win the mental game." and then weight comes off, and it's true. I lost over 20 pounds with it. Anyway, I hope you get where you want to go. Kelli

davert123

Hiya. Welcome. Your story seems to be my story before MFP. My story is that I realized that the me at the time of joining wasn't going to be able to stick at this because I have tried so many times before. I realized I needed to become a new me :-) the old me just got fatter over time so crashing diet for a few months wasnt going to hack it so I just looked around for who I wanted to be - I went for triathlon. I couldn't swim at the time but I learned. I thought triathletes all looked really fit and therefore if I was one if I could be a triathlete then I would be in good shape and I would keep the weight off. I took on the mantra of fake it until I make it. I just started doing what triathletes do. Rather than lose weight for losing weights sake the weight loss was there to give me a better run time :-) It worked for me. If you want to get into an athletic life I would recommend you do what you would do when you are athletic :-) Keep sensible of course. Runners would gradually increase their distance or increase their effort. It doesn't matter what distance they run at this gradual increase in training load is what is important. Mo farrow would do it building up so I can do it to - admittedly my starting distance was about 1Km walking but I was doing exactly the same (mentally) as I would if I was training for a marathon. I understand the self consciousness involved in going to a Gym but what I would was that there were all shapes and sizes there :-) There are other things you can do as well though, walking is a great way of introducing your body to exercise - especially up hill . just go for it. you are too valuable not to :-) really good luck

2018_Win

davert123 wrote: »

Hiya. Welcome. Your story seems to be my story before MFP. My story is that I realized that the me at the time of joining wasn't going to be able to stick at this because I have tried so many times before. I realized I needed to become a new me :-) the old me just got fatter over time so crashing diet for a few months wasnt going to hack it so I just looked around for who I wanted to be - I went for triathlon. I couldn't swim at the time but I learned. I thought triathletes all looked really fit and therefore if I was one if I could be a triathlete then I would be in good shape and I would keep the weight off. I took on the mantra of fake it until I make it. I just started doing what triathletes do. Rather than lose weight for losing weights sake the weight loss was there to give me a better run time :-) It worked for me. If you want to get into an athletic life I would recommend you do what you would do when you are athletic :-) Keep sensible of course. Runners would gradually increase their distance or increase their effort. It doesn't matter what distance they run at this gradual increase in training load is what is important. Mo farrow would do it building up so I can do it to - admittedly my starting distance was about 1Km walking but I was doing exactly the same (mentally) as I would if I was training for a marathon. I understand the self consciousness involved in going to a Gym but what I would was that there were all shapes and sizes there :-) There are other things you can do as well though, walking is a great way of introducing your body to exercise - especially up hill . just go for it. you are too valuable not to :-) really good luck

As a crash dieter myself - I've never looked at weight loss from the angle you have.

I really like this advice and I will take it on board.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to me. I appreciate it.