It's been a long journey...

jtintx

It's been a long journey with a few bumps in the road here and there, much like life itself. I started my journey to health and well-being in January 2009. Yes, a New Year's resolution that actually took root and grew. At that time I weighed 180 pounds and was very unhappy with how I looked and felt about myself. I don't know how I stumbled across this site but I am so grateful that I did. I used another site off and on before but entering my food was just too cumbersome that I didn't stick with it. This site made it so easy...so here I am nearly two years later still logging my daily food and exercise. Some people can get by after awhile with just knowing when they've reached their allotment. In my case I have to write down everything and hold myself accountable.

I have to admit that last year around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years I quit entering my food intake. Guess I didn't want it staring me back in the face. And guess what? I gained about 8 pounds in those few months. I hope I'm smart enough to have learned a lesson from that. If I stay on track I should be at my goal weight by the end of the year. I really have to say that losing the weight slowly is the way to go. Your body has to learn to be comfortable with it's new size and figure out that "No, I'm not going to be getting 2500 calories (or more) a day any more and I'm not just going to sit around on the couch any more so I better just get used to it."

So for all of you starting out, stick with it. Focus on losing the fat and not the number on the scale. Realize that there will likely be bumps in your road too but if you keep your eye on the prize (I new you) YOU WILL MAKE IT!!!

Best wishes to all of you who are on this journey with me!

tim_fitbuilt4life

Thanks for the inspiration! My journey began in March of 2010 and I lost a total of 40 lbs. I hope we can keep each other motivated! Keep up the good work.

kalmf

Jtinx, thank you for posting that - it's a message that sometimes gets lost as we focus on immediate weight loss. It seems that most (not all) successful weight loss happens slowly. I like what you said about giving your body time to adjust at each phase, it's so easy to get discouraged and think you have "plateau'ed".

I too started In January because of my new year's resolution. When I was 30 years old I weighed between 103 and 105 pounds. At 53, on January 1st, I weighed 145. I set a goal weight of 123, came within a half pound of it by July and got bored with focusing on weight loss and checking in with MFP. I gained 5 pounds back and realized that I do need to check in every day or I get sloppy.

My journey was much like yours - a 3lb loss, then nothing for a month, a 5lb loss, then coasting. And I think that's why I didn't rocket back up when I fell off the wagon, I gained the 5 pounds back slowly enough to notice the trend and hopefully I am changing it by coming back here.

Thanks again!

rymattsmom

thanks jtinx!
I am with you, slow and steady wins the race! i also started in the 180's. it will be 1 year next month, and am at 39.6lbs lost. i am taking it slow, learning a lot about myself and my limitations and limitations i put on myself. i am learning a lot about how i have held myself back, no one else did, i did! and that i need to trust myself when i do reach my goal and move on to maintenance. this really scares me, but i will try hard to actually trust in myself that i can do it and that i am worth it, so thanks for your great post, it means a lot.

keep up the good work!