Not counting calories... Just looking for support

doreenindetroit

Welcome to my journey.

I jointed MyFitnessPal for support, but am generally not following the guidelines this forum provides in terms of calorie budgets, timelines to lose weight, and goal setting. I'm on a different sort of journey...I'm focusing on adopting healthier habits and a sustainable heath conscious attitude for life vs. crunching numbers for short term weight loss. Don't get me wrong, I support everybody trying to achieve a healthy weight but I know the struggles of maintaining it. I've been an off-and-on Weight Watcher member for 10 years and realize that while the mathmatical approach does work to lose weight, it doesn't work well to keep weight off unless I plan on calorie crunching for the rest of my life, which I DON'T. Successfully losing weight in the past has become my safety net to go back to my bad habits since I know I can do it. Right now I want to lose weight (probably need to lose atleast 30 lbs), and I know with enough pain and sacrifice I can do it again as I have in the past using mathmatical formulas (WW program is based on it!) but I have noticed it's getting harder in my thirties than it was on my twenties. God only knows what forties and fifites will be like, and will I be able to keep up this cycle? Eating healthy and exercising regularly shoudn't be a "pain and sacrifice" type of experience, it needs to be enjoyable and fun or else I won't continue to do these things and maintain a healthy weight. So for me, this requires a new approach: I'm done with dieting and calorie crunching. My approach is to follow proper nutrition (heart-healthy diet), cut down portion size (train my brain to listen to my stomach and STOP EATING beyond the point of being full just because the food is delicious), reduce my cholesterol, get rid of my belly fat, gain lean muscle and increase cardio endurance. Life-habit changes along with mental attitude changes have to happen for any real chance and losing weight and maintaining better lifelong health.

I don't have a "goal weight" either. My ideal weight will be when I accomplish better health (weight being only one measurement), and also reach a point where I can be proud of how I look and feel. I want to feel psyically strong and drop a few pants sizes, and I have no flipping idea what weight or weight(s) that is. I'll let you know when I find it.

Let the journey begin...

Amazonbella

I have done weight watchers and have been very successful with it as long as I was honest with my tracking. That is how I lost all my weight over a year ago. When I suffered two injuries and could no longer workout I attempted to go back to WW and just follow the food plan and found it much harder to lose the weight I did while doing the plan AND 1 hour daily of workouts (and I am almost 40 so I understand the struggle as you get older).

The one thing I would suggest is regardless if you want to committ to a set goal, make mini goals to strive for. What I do is for every 10 pounds after my 5% and 10% goal I reward myself with something I want (non-food of course) like a manicure, a massage, ect. It helps to have something to watch and go after, or else it becomes too easy to make excuses and keep yo-you dieting losing and gaining weight.

The other thing I did was to actually make eatting more fun by challenging myself to try new recipes (and I am by no means someone who enjoys cooking) or coming up with low fat, low calorie treats and making them for others and feeling a sense of accomplishment that way. Little pat's on the back also help and that is why a forum like this is a great place to share those accomplishments. I think you have a good mind set by trying to adopt healthier habits, by doing that the other things like losing weight, dropping a size, ect. will happen naturally and you will be living a LIFESTYLE not just following a fad.

Good Luck.

Nanook8

I just read EAT TO LIVE which pretty much provides a way to eat and not count calories with the focus being on becoming healthy! Weight loss will occur without counting by eating what is good for your body. Sounds like you have the right idea!

doreenindetroit

Thanks for your support. I definitely plan to cook more at home and plan my meals better. That is definitely one of the leading reasons why I continually backslide back this higher weight. It's definitely something I am ready and excited to change.

I just need to do the right things (eat heart-healthy, exercise, focus on health) and the weight will come off. It's already working, I just don't want to set a timeline in which to 'complete' because I really don't know what weight my body should be. Obviously I will weigh myself frequently to make sure some kind of progress is happening and make adjustments along the way, but I want to make all adjustments as pain-free as possible. I have to explore and change things up to keep healthy food and exercise appealing when I hit a rut. My approach may take longer than the calorie crunching, but I think it will be worth it.

A reward on the horizon is when my clothes no longer fit: I will be forced to go shopping and rebuild my wardrobe

Pamela_June

I was also a member of WW and did very well...but I guess 'life' just happened and well I am starting all over again...since I can't afford the WW membership any more - this was and is a great support and help. I also don't count calories - but it sure helps me to actually track what I am eating all day - love to be a pal to you on this journey we all are taking!! Welcome to the MFP boards!

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