Question for my big losers (80+lbs)

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starchile
starchile Posts: 248 Member
I've gone up and down and up and down...I don't want to do that anymore. I've been thinking about what it takes to be successful at not only weight loss but MAINTAINING weight loss and it seems to me that the most important thing I can do for myself is to not focus on weight loss but focus on getting healthy instead...making LIFESTYLE changes. Instead of looking at this as a diet that is going to end...internalize the idea that this is NOW how I LIVE MY LIFE. THIS is how/what I eat and how I move my body. Does that make sense?

My question to the Big Losers here is what do you think about that idea and do you believe that it has gotten you where you are? How did you go about trying to internalize that message? If you do not buy into that idea...what HAS worked for you?

I apologize if this sounds like gibberish but I'm trying to work all of this out in my mind and it's definitely been "a process"!! LOL

Replies

  • CardiacKev28
    CardiacKev28 Posts: 172 Member
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    I am not an 80+ loser yet but I will be. You said it right. Don't worry about the weight loss-worry about getting healthy! I used to worry about if I was losing weight and I never lost, but now I am working with a coach and she is all about the healthy stuff. I have given up all soda and I eat only 28 gr of sugar a day! I thought I could never do it but I can and I do. I have lost 60 lbs since beginning of May and I feel great. I only get on the scale every 30 days. Once you commit to it-stay with it. There is a whole new world out there! Good Luck in your new life!
  • incredibleshrinkingjackie
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    you have got the right idea. it's not a "diet", it's a "healthy living plan". it all boils down to cutting out carbs, increasing protein and fresh foods and exercise.
  • emilym820
    emilym820 Posts: 993 Member
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    I'm not quite to 80, but what has worked for me is changing my mindset from "diet mode" to "rest of my life mode." If you are my friend and you follow my diary, you will see that from time to time I do some really stupid things (like eating ice cream for dinner or chocolate chip cookies for breakfast). The difference is the old me would have said, "well I've screwed up now" I guess I'll just eat everything I want to eat and start over again on Monday. Well...clearly that doesn't work!

    Now, if I do something silly, I forgive myself and move forward and make a better choice next time. I don't beat myself up and get discouraged. This is not a quick fix for me anymore. I plan on making better choices and moving more for the rest of my life. So what if I screw up a little today, there's always another choice to be made and I'll do better next time. As long as I'm doing what I need to do 80% of the time, I'm going to get where I want to be.

    It's a mental game for me. If I tell myself I can't have something, then I obsess over it and eventually fall face first into a bag or Doritos or Oreos or whatever I have been fighting. Now, I just measure out 12 Doritos or 2 Oreos and I eat them slowly. I actually take time to savor them. It is hard to get started, but once you start feeling better, getting compliments and donating clothes that dont' fit anymore, it gets a whole lot easier to send that junk food packing.
  • starchile
    starchile Posts: 248 Member
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    YES!!!! Thank you so much for your response Emily...what you've described is the mind set that I feel like I'm beginning to get to and work on developing. I think that when I beat myself up for eating something "wrong" that I go into a downward spiral. NOT that I want to be "easy" on myself at all...but in order for me to successful in the LONG TERM it has to be incorporated into my LIFE...and not just for a few months or a year or whatever, but FOREVER.

    I used to do exactly what you mentioned "well, I messed up today but I'm gonna start back tomorrow...or next week I'm gonna start clean" and that time never comes. NOW, the very next meal is clean and I make EXTRA sure that I am eating clean for the next couple of days so that it doesn't sneak up on my again.

    Wow, this is hard...does it ever get easier?? You've lost a LOT of weight...is it any easier for you? How often do you have your "stupid" moments?? LOL
  • Ftw37
    Ftw37 Posts: 386 Member
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    I've gone up and down and up and down...I don't want to do that anymore. I've been thinking about what it takes to be successful at not only weight loss but MAINTAINING weight loss and it seems to me that the most important thing I can do for myself is to not focus on weight loss but focus on getting healthy instead...making LIFESTYLE changes. Instead of looking at this as a diet that is going to end...internalize the idea that this is NOW how I LIVE MY LIFE. THIS is how/what I eat and how I move my body. Does that make sense?

    My question to the Big Losers here is what do you think about that idea and do you believe that it has gotten you where you are? How did you go about trying to internalize that message? If you do not buy into that idea...what HAS worked for you?

    I apologize if this sounds like gibberish but I'm trying to work all of this out in my mind and it's definitely been "a process"!! LOL

    Unless I change the way I eat forever, I will just gain it all back.

    It's like an addiction. I can't have my drug of choice (bad food) anymore. I have to take it a day at a time, but it has to be forever.