100 lbs to lose and time is not on my side.

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  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    I'm 5ft 5in as of the last time a doctor made me press my heels against a wall. When I started this journey I weighed more than I ever had before, a whopping 250lbs. I'd been on MFP for a while, but I just started focusing on my life since the end of february. I feel like I am making real, sustainable changes. I finally quit my long standing Mountain Dew habit (at my worst I was drinking 2liter+ a day) and replaced it with so much water intake I feel like my eye balls are buoys. I'm progressively changing my diet, and I'm doing it for all sorts of good reasons. I've got a 4 year who I want to be able to run with when he starts soccer next year, My SO and I are thinking of maybe trying to conceive another child starting at the beginning of next year. And I'm becoming suspicious that my SO may also propose to me soon.
    I decided if I was going to have another child I needed to be healthier before I conceive. I aimed my sites at 150lbs. And if he does propose, I'd like to be foxy in a wedding dress.
    And I can calorie count, I'm being much more careful about monitoring my food intake. On the other hand, I work 45+ hours a week and have a toddler, so I'm finding it difficult to find time to actually exercise. And I feel that the exercise may be the difference between success or failure for me. How does everyone find these hours that they spend at the gym?
    150lbs is about 15-20lbs lower than I've been in all of my adulthood. And I'm trying to accouplish it in 12 months. I want it so bad my teeth hurt, but I'm afraid maybe I'm setting a goal I'm destined to fail at. It's actually been super helpful to see the success stories on this site. It gives me hope to see women who were once my weight now sitting at my goal weight.
    I'm not sure what I'm actually looking for out of this post. I just needed to say it.

    100lbs in a year is just under 2lb a week. It's not impossible, but it won't be easy - you will need a 1000 calorie deficit a day to do that. The most important thing about weight loss is patience - don't set goals that you will struggle to hit. You will still look beautiful on your wedding day if you 'only' lose 50lb, or if you don't lose a thing.

    Also, you don't actually need to exercise to lose weight, but at the same time, exercise doesn't have to mean an hour at the gym a day. You say you work, so is there any way you can change your commute so walk part of the way? Or there are DVDs that provide 20 minutes of intense exercise a day - 30 day shred for one. Get up 20 minutes earlier to fit it in. If you want it, you will make time for it.
  • lindsaymarcin
    lindsaymarcin Posts: 81 Member
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    You do not necessarily have to find time to go to a gym. I have kids too a 7 year old and 4 year old. Sometimes we just go for a walk together, play wii fit, dance, take a bike ride, or go swimming. I've been on this journey since November and just joined the gym this past week, but I do not plan to spend a lot of time there. I figure I can get my cardio at home with my kids and then spend a half hour to 45 min on weights at the gym. :)
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
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    While it's good to have goals, don't get fixated on them as a measure of pass/fail. If you lost "only" 80 lbs. by the end of the year, would that be a failure? Of course not.

    And I echo the advice to let go of your self-consciousness about exercising in public. If you asked me to describe the build(s) of all the people I saw in the gym yesterday and Saturday, or the people I saw out jogging/walking on a random Saturday, there's no way I'd remember how many were average and how many were heavy. It's just not something I notice.

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