What's it like to be thin...or at least, not overweight?

cleerlyinvisable

I wouldn't know that answer to that question, does anyone else? I am 34 years old, currently 251 lbs (by my scale, 257 by the one at the YMCA--BOO!) I am a mother of 4, happily married. Maybe a little too happy--fat and happy. I have never been thin, or at target weight, with the exception of my birth weight (can I count that? LOL). My family and I recently came home from a vacation in which the cameras had a mind of their own. So I finally was able to sit my fat and happy self down and look through the pictures and what I saw was astonishing.
Now, I have never been one to hide my weight. I can tell anyone how much I weigh, show all my pictures and never think anything about it. I learned early on, the more ashamed of my weight I was, the more I had to do something about it--and well, who wants to exercise? But I found a picture of me that my husband took that literally made my head spin and I ended up questioning everything about the way I felt about myself. I am so huge in the picture, I can actually use it as motivation to get healthy. It's amazing I don't have diabetes or high cholesterol or some other health issue. It's the picture I've chosen as my profile picture.
I've tried methods of weight loss before, different diets, lots of exercise, the whole "life change" blah, blah, blah. But I have never had the real motivation until now. Things that I have struggled with in the past are no longer a struggle because I want this so badly. What I am struggling with has humbled me greatly. I am struggling with what I have now come to terms with as food addiction. I never realized it. I'm an emotional eater. I'm a boredom eater. I'm a hunger eater. I eat because it's there. I don't eat a whole lot of junk, though I don't rule it out, but I love all food. And lots of it. I love pop (yes, I'm from Ohio, it's pop here), and I drink a ton of it.
So for the last two weeks, I have been dieting--mainly calorie counting, and I have been exercising every day. I cut out pop and am only drinking water mostly, and have been eating three meals a day and snacks. I'm only walking on the treadmill and riding a stationary bike, but I'm working myself up to be able to do more. I've been so out of shape for so long, I have to work at just about everything. I have set goals for myself, something I've never done before, and I'm trying like crazy to reach them. I've given myself a year to lose 130 lbs, I don't know if I'll be able to achieve it. It's gonna take a lot of persistence and will power.
I have a good support system here at home, for now. When the newness of the diet wears off, the support will to. Then what? Gain all the weight back? Not an option. I'm determined to see what it's like to be thin-ish.

MB_Positif

You can do this. Stay strong. Don't let life get in your way. Prioritize you.

Chronicle113

Well, for me, I use to be 260 lbs myself. I'm currently 173 lbs. To me being not overweight anymore, it feels great. More freedom, more energy, more confidence level and also more proud of myself. It also depends on the individual as well. However, that's how I feel.

Galatea_Stone

You will find out. Just keep going, take it slow, and you will reach your goals. Remember, there's no time line. You can do this.

AquaticQuests

Going by ticker you've already lost 10% of your goal!
Great progress!
The rate of loss will slow as you get smaller but you will hit your target!
Stay focused, and the NSVs (non scsle victories are good motivations to keep you going on the journey) !

margannmks

You are at a great age to really have an impact on your health for the rest of your life, and to make the changes that you know are necessary. Dont go drastic diet crazy it never works in the long run, instead find enough subsitutions for foods you cant do without that you can learn to enjoy. Try to be more mindful of what your eating and why, bingeing is going to happen dont let it derail you. Dont let one bad day mess you up for the next day. Find an activity you enjoy not dread doing. Realize once and for all this is your new life there is no end of this lifestyle. Reward yourself when you reach mini goal. And my favorite advice " eat whatever you want, naked , in front of a mirror".

SunofaBeach14

Frigg'n awesome, to answer your question.

Just keep it up, you got this. You will hit your goals. Just be patient.

raysputin

For the first 30 years of my life I was skinny, skinny, skinny. I copped a lot of flak from all around. "What are you going to be when you grow up? - a Jockey! Ha Ha Ha". Despite the fact that I was very strong for my weight, could fight like a threshing machine and was unstoppable at ultra-endurance sports, I could never get any respect from my peers. I ate about 7,000 calories a day but over 9 years only put on 2 Kgs. Then I got married and went pear shaped. I went from 65Kgs to 111Kgs. My struggle has gone from trying to put weight on to trying to get it off. The BMI weight range for my height is 55-68 Kgs but my experience as a young man is that this weight range means that my ribs stick out and my arms resemble matchsticks - down right ugly. I want to be overweight according to my BMI.

jnv7594

Well, that's a loaded question, lol. I have been both fat and thin at different points in my life, so I know what it's like to be both. The majority of my life I have spent being fat with that skinny, confident girl layers and layers under the surface. After I had my daughter, I lost 125 pounds. I remember well how that felt. Like Chronicle said, you feel more free, have more energy and confidence. I did things that I would have NEVER done when overweight. I spent more time around friends and family, went out dancing, went swimming, etc. But it went beyond that for me. I felt like, finally, the person I am actually showed through. People didn't just see some fat, lazy person...they saw me. And I noticed a BIG difference in how I was treated. Until someone has been both fat and thin, they truly don't understand the difference in how others treat you at both ends of the spectrum. I had more men opening doors, more people saying hi, more people standing and sharing idle chit chat with me. Now I don't know if that was fully because I was thinner or maybe it was because I was more confident and more approachable. And I was just happier in general. What frustrates me to my core, is that despite how happy I was, I gave up. I got stressed and turned to food and the weight came back. I've been trying desperately to get that part of me back again because I know how great it feels, how freeing it is. And because I know I've wasted too much of my life, too much of my daughter's life, being overweight and unhealthy. This fat person, she is not who I am, and I lose myself a little more every time she comes back. I'm hoping to find that thin healthy person again soon. I hope you have success, too.

ardysedwardsmcgrath

wow u Chronicle were 260?& now173 that's awesome! did it take u long? was it hard to stay motiviated? I start@264&now@249 happy feeling losing.. but hard @ times to stay movitvated.. I too wood love to lose130+lbs.. seems like a ton of weight but we all must take baby steps,..10 a month or so is my goals ea.month.. stay on MFP to stay motivatied talk to ppl on here.. read what they ate in their food diaries or how they or what they did to excerise.. im makin it like a game&tryin to stay focus.. I d beenwalking or riding every day.. & tracking.. U can d o it! im the same way emotional eater, bored eater.., love to eat yes I do look fwd to it.. lol.. we r all here together to make life changes we can talk to ea. other here help ea.1out we can do this! I wood love to say im@goal.. id never ever done that.. id luv to show my girls I can do it.. & all the ppl I know I can get smaller.. I wood luv to feel great&look it too..

gothchiq

I'm going to get into what it physically feels like rather than mentally. When I was fat, I would attempt certain exercises but my rolls got in the way and made it very difficult to do crunches, yoga, etc. I couldn't work around my big tummy until I dropped the first 15 pounds so I had to choose exercises like planks rather than crunches, pushups off the wall rather than the floor, etc. When the weight comes off, you can make all sorts of motions that were previously either not possible or difficult. Also if you have pain in your feet, ankles, and knees, it will be much less.

Clothing feels better and lasts longer. I no longer have sleeves pinching on my arms, buttons popping off, pants cutting me in half when I sit down, things riding up around belly rolls, etc.

So I guess it feels like freedom, you could say. A lot of annoyances you deal with every day and maybe don't even think much about anymore will be gone. You can walk and your legs don't chafe, you can go dancing and not feel like you might as well chop off your feet at the end of the night. I'm not *thin*, I'm medium sized and that is all it takes to get these benefits.

cleerlyinvisable

Thank you so much from everyone! All of your words are now embedded in my brain as extra motivation. I weighed in a couple weeks ago and entered 251.5 as my weight and then I got on a scale that worked---UGH!!!!! SERIOUSLY???? 258. Whatever. I can do this.
So today, I got on the same scale--the same one that worked. And today it says 251.5! In total, I've lost 15 lbs in 31 days. Time has flown by and I feel like I just started yesterday. There has been some days that have been full of struggles--like the day of the Italian festival. OMG. I love the Italian festival and I was having a hard time dealing with what I was going to do. I solved my problem by going on a "cheat day" and I had a little bit---and I do mean a "little bit"---of everything. All in all, it was good and my self control was awesome.
I'm gonna keep going, my results will slow down, I know, but as long as I keep up and keep boosting my workouts, I know I'll get there. Thank you again everyone!!!! It means so much!

geojeepgirl

Going by ticker you've already lost 10% of your goal!
Great progress!
The rate of loss will slow as you get smaller but you will hit your target!
Stay focused, and the NSVs (non scsle victories are good motivations to keep you going on the journey) !

Oh my gosh... Ive never looked at my weightloss as a percent lost... weird how you just see the big picture of so many pounds to go ( my ticker is set for smaller goals.. but looks like Im truly at 18% lost of my goal. Wow! Dude you just made my day!!)

Welcome to MFP cleerlyinvisa!

Few years after High school I made it down to 7 lbs away from being in the normal range. Then let a stupid boy hurt my feelings and ate my weigh back into the obesity categories. And have yo yo'd ever since. But I remember what it felt like to be able to wear Medium sized shirts and shop in regular stores and not have to worry about finding my size... I'm determined to get back to a healthy size.

rides4sanity

First of all.. Hurray for you... I mean that, not in a condesending or snarky way... I'm just happy for you... You seem to have many things in your life right where you want them. When you put this final piece, health, into the equation you will be unstoppable.

Like you I didn't realize how big I had gotten, my internal picture of myself hadn't changed, but the camera doesn't lie...

Here are two blogs I wrote. The first is about my ups & downs, the second is about the other benefits of a healthy lifestyle...

I'm 5' 2" is and about 110-115 now.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/rides4sanity/view/time-to-share-the-belly-photo-ughhh-616669

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/rides4sanity/view/comfortable-in-my-imperfections-rehashing-the-past-and-accepting-my-present-awesomeness-620187

Feel free to send a FR, I think you and I will hit it off...

Nikki

It is sooo possible... I didn't exercise much, but I decided that just meant my joints were in "like new" condition when I began at 29...

Before


August 2014 - I have some loose skin on my belly you can't see in this one, but it's better than it was 15lbs heavier (blog photo)... It has gotten better with time...

chadya07

you sound just like me. i think you are my MFP twin.

i am 36. i had come to terms with my weight, havent been thin since i was i dunno, 11?

have no idea what it would be like.

i too had a visual revelation, mine wasnt pictures, but a new apartment will huge full length mirrors, one which is see every time i step out of the shower. one day i looked and saw i had gone well past the point of cute chubby, or manageable attractive but overweight... i had always carried it well with balance and being tall helped. but one day i looked in that mirror, i saw this flab on my inner thighs that was horrifying. horrifying. overweight women can be beautiful. but i had finally gone past the point of no return.. and to me... i saw a future that was not pretty.

i too somehow started this time without all the reservations and excuses i have had previous times. i just felt... ready. and i started working out with treadmill walks, easy excersize bikes and such, and graduated to running... which changed everything. i learned to love exersize and i learned i could get my endorphin rush there, much better than from a bag of licorice... and became a new person... one with strength and endurance and a new way to cope, and something new to do when i was bored. or whatever emotion i was eating through.

thankfully, since the only other time i have ever been even a little successful at weight loss was when my best friend had done it with me in college, i found MFP so that i dont have to do it all by myself. and i have someone to talk about all the things that either bore or alienate my non weight loss friends... and it keeps me connected so i cant veer off very far.

anyway you really sound like me a lot, and i am down this many pounds (see below) so you can do it too. i am sending you a friend request.

chadya07

Thank you so much from everyone! All of your words are now embedded in my brain as extra motivation. I weighed in a couple weeks ago and entered 251.5 as my weight and then I got on a scale that worked---UGH!!!!! SERIOUSLY???? 258. Whatever. I can do this.
So today, I got on the same scale--the same one that worked. And today it says 251.5! In total, I've lost 15 lbs in 31 days. Time has flown by and I feel like I just started yesterday. There has been some days that have been full of struggles--like the day of the Italian festival. OMG. I love the Italian festival and I was having a hard time dealing with what I was going to do. I solved my problem by going on a "cheat day" and I had a little bit---and I do mean a "little bit"---of everything. All in all, it was good and my self control was awesome.
I'm gonna keep going, my results will slow down, I know, but as long as I keep up and keep boosting my workouts, I know I'll get there. Thank you again everyone!!!! It means so much!

dont worry about scale changes. you do not have one single weight. you have a weight range that ill go up and down daily. your goal is to get that weight range down, not one single number on the scale. dont even trip. or weigh daily for a couple weeks and you will see what i mean.

isacidral

First of all, you have already made the first step. A shift of mentality is one of the most important steps on losing weight.

Also, don't look at this as a "diet", but as a new lifestyle instead. Your body is a machine - really. Feed it with bad, addicting stuff, it will ask and crave for more. Feed it with great nutrition, and guess what? Eventually it will crave and ask for more of that, and the bad stuff will just became a constant question of "why the hell did I put that in my body before?"

Also, when starting to make the switch, there are two things you'll need to remember: you're not taking stuff out, you're replacing them. And also, when thinking of quitting the diet and eating whatever you have in mind, remember that you not eating that "because you can't", but because "you can, but you don't want to!"

It's a matter of switching the way you look at it!

You can do it, girl! You've taken the first step, and now you've gained a support system that will not let you down!
Good luck!!!