When Did You Start to Notice Changes?

Renewed2008

I'm feeling pretty down and out right now. I'm about ten minutes away from heading to the kitchen to find some comfort in food. I decided I'd get on here instead. That's a win, right?

Anyhow, I'm in need of some encouragement and motivation. I want to feel better. I want to stop feeling so lazy and out of shape. I want to have ambition and stamina again. I know that I have created the condition I am in due to my poor food choices and lazy lifestyle. What I want to know is, how long after making diet and lifestyle changes will I start to feel better? Days, minutes, hours, months, years? I'm asking from a mental and physical perspective.

I need something that I can aim for, a timeline I can give myself to keep me from jumping off this bandwagon and trudging to the bakery.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and answer my question.

Blythmag

How much do you want you want to lose? That usually defines the time.

We all have different goals, my best advice is be patient and be in this for the long haul, take ya time and come to terms that its not easy but many many folk on here felt the same but are winning .....chin up.you can turn it around

Blythmag

Forgot to say...im aiming for 21lb loss in around 10months as im getting married next year.thats MY motivation.

jdog022

I think this is a very difficult answer to quantify. Depends where your health markers are now. How bad things got.

For me 90 days was a major difference. 6 months still a big difference from 3. A year i was a totally different person physically. 2.5 years in progress is significantly slower but that’s fine. I long ago crushed my original goals. Stick with it; it works. Keep it simple and don’t over restrict your food

vanmep

Good for you on coming here instead of the kitchen! If I’m feeling low I like to go to the Success Stories tab and checks out the NSV thread. It is always inspiring and reminds me of the millions of reasons to change my lifestyle.

motivatedmartha

A wedding is a good motivation but 10 months may feel a long way away at the moment. Rather than focussing just on that 21lbs (very do-able in your timescales) perhaps try setting yourself some interim, non weight orientated goals. Eg - over the next month I want to challenge myself to work up to swimming x number of lengths/walking for x km or maybe even sign up for Couch25K. I found it really helpful to not just focus on scales but to judge my progress in terms of health. Such challenges give additional purpose to your weightloss as well. I understand that because you're getting married you may be concerned with how you will look on the day but really you also want to focus on how you are going to feel - losing weight sure results in much more energy. The goals don't have to be huge and will reflect where your fitness is now. If you need to start small do it - doesn't matter what the goals are, anything that makes you move more will lead to greater energy and more calories to eat - and lo and behold, many of us end up finding a nrew exercise regime/class fun.

My other suggestion is - if you are going to be tempted by whatever may be in your kitchen only buy small quantities of everything and don't buy what you know you cannot eat in moderation. I don't buy biscuits because I cannot resist them if they are in the cupboard - they sit there, calling my name! I do eat them, but only when out and in public when to take more than one is not polite. Multipacks of crisps/choc bars etc are not helpful either - again save those goodies for eating outside of the home. And if you have to have one at home - a walk up to the shops to buy it will at least have burned off some of the damage,

Good Luck - you can definitely do this

Idontcareyoupick

Physically, it took me a while to see changes, almost 30lbs down. People were commenting before I saw anything. I did notice that I could tie my shoes more easily, that I actually wanted water and that some things weren't worth the calories. Try to look for the little things to push you forward. You already made one change coming here instead of the kitchen! Keep rocking it!

CarvedTones

I went from 223 to 155. I am 5'7.5", so that is dropping from a BMI of 34.4 (well into obese) to 23.9 (normal/healthy). Started getting comments around 200, which is a BMI of 30.9 so still barely obese. How much your appearance will change is a big factor. You see yourself daily so it's never a big change unless you go back and look at photos or have to get new clothes because what you have is just too baggy.

GottaBurnEmAll

It does depend where you're starting from. I was walking with a cane when I started, and was very fatigued all the time. My progress was slow, but it wasn't too long before I was able to ditch the cane. By 40 pounds gone I could tell I looked a lot better. By 70 pounds gone I was running.

Now it's a few years later and time has taken its toll and I can no longer run, but I'm still incredibly active, and no longer suffer through daily the daily fatigue that comes along with my various autoimmune disorders.

The take aways from all of this? Try not to do too much. I took very, very small steps on the road to feeling better so that I always had victories to celebrate. My first walk was to the corner. My portions were slowly trimmed and my food choices got progressively smarter. Congratulate yourself for each small step, and you'll feel good about yourself for having taken it. Then take that step again and add another. You'll eventually get where you want to go.

wmweeza

I'd say around 90 days too. What has helped me immensely is that I keep a running list of all the changes I see and feel on my body. Why? Because the scale BARELY moves, but if I pay attention TONS of changes are happening with my body. Everything from clothing fitting differently to my jawline looks smaller. I also have started taking pictures to look at because I can objectively see better all the changes through photos.
I have been at this a year and a half, almost 2 years now and I've lost 80 pounds. That is A LOT, but it's also very slow, so I know keeping yourself excited and motivated is WORK, but you can do it!

AveriaKyle

Physically u may not see much in the mirror. But if u see ur belt holes moving in, its a good sign. Took me about 3mths to move 2 belt holes.

MelanieCN77

One of the most helpful things I ever read on here was about making perfecting the process your goal. Day to day, choice by choice, the daily achievement of good nutrition and maybe some activity , are how you mark your success. The rest will truly take care of itself over time. For me, upending my life and changing all my "habits" at once didn't seem like a thing that would work, habits are such because they provide us convenience or comfort, no need to punish ourselves for those things. Instead, where we know they aren't great long term habits to maintain, try to change one at a time. Like seriously slowly. Pick one thing and take care of that for a month, and when it's become the new normal, pick something else. And like I said, day to day is where the achievement is at. I found lists and journalling helpful to keep track of my progress.

pinkfairy88

Definitely agree with the taking one step at a time. My issue unfortunately is maintaining, I have been through this game a couple of times. When I think of the journey I am facing I can feel overwhelmed. But by making goals, both weight and physical /mental achievements and thinking about each and every meal /mouthful helped me reach goals. Currently 58lbs down since February - 240lb to 182lb.Good luck

OldAssDude

Renewed2008 wrote: »

I'm feeling pretty down and out right now. I'm about ten minutes away from heading to the kitchen to find some comfort in food. I decided I'd get on here instead. That's a win, right?

Anyhow, I'm in need of some encouragement and motivation. I want to feel better. I want to stop feeling so lazy and out of shape. I want to have ambition and stamina again. I know that I have created the condition I am in due to my poor food choices and lazy lifestyle. What I want to know is, how long after making diet and lifestyle changes will I start to feel better? Days, minutes, hours, months, years? I'm asking from a mental and physical perspective.

I need something that I can aim for, a timeline I can give myself to keep me from jumping off this bandwagon and trudging to the bakery.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and answer my question.

I got a fitness tracker that synced with MFP and set my settings to lose 1 lb per week. I started logging my food and recording my activities (power walking every day) so those calories would sync to MFP. I started logging my main food, but always kept some extra calories for grazing.

After about a month or so I started noticing that I was losing about 1 lb per week, so I just kept doing it. In a year (52 weeks) I lost 57 lbs.

I used that year of logging food as a learning tool to learn how to eat "without" logging, and how to eat better for the most part. I still eat junk food when I want, but not nearly as much as I used to. I have not logged since and have been maintaining my weight just fine, and because I exercise every day, It is pretty easy not to over eat because I burn at least 500 active calories per day.

Exercise IMO is just as important as diet to maintain a healthy weight. We eat every day, we sleep every day, and I think we should exercise every day.

But that's just me.

tk2222

Like 30-40 days or so to start to notice differences, and very pronounced by 60 - just going from 215 to 195lb (I'm 5ft5) clothes started feeling notably looser, various regular walks went easier, chub rub almost entirely gone, bones feel more protruding, etc. It goes pretty fast. Sometimes I feel like I'm just persuading myself that I really feel (and look) different, but then I try on something new and its a size smaller, so I know its not just in my head.

Danp

I've lost 35kg and I'll be honest, when I look in the mirror I STILL don't see the change since it all happens so gradually.

I do however notice it in old photos, I notice it in the way I feel, I notice it in the way I move and I notice it the way my clothes fit.