Looking for people to help keep me motivated

hampstenj

I'm 26, needing to lose a LOT of weight, had a great start in losing, but over the past month I've seemed to hit a wall in my progress, and it's making me feel down and not as motivated. I need help to keep me going, keep helping me hit my goal, so please if you can help motivate and keep me going, help

Chip436

I need to lose a quite a bit of weight as well. I am sure that we could support one another

fresh_start59

First off, I want to congratulate you for the weight you've already lost!
Secondly, I want to give you a great big "Hooray!" for having an open food diary!!

You are about the same age as my sons, so please excuse me if I come off sounding too "motherly".

I took a look at your diary and there is one thing that stands out:
You are trying too hard! You are shorting yourself by hundreds of calories a day.

It is true that those of us who have a larger amount of body fat can get by with fewer calories, at least for the short term. But we need to be VERY careful not to deprive ourselves.

I can tell you by experience that deprivation is the road that leads to failure. We deny ourselves, we lose weight, we deny ourselves, we binge. If we are lucky to get back on the wagon, we deny ourselves, lose weight, deny ourselves and hit a stall. And when we hit a stall, we punish ourselves with a binge.

If MFP gives you X amount of calories. EAT THEM!
Most people will also say that if you earn calories through exercise you should eat at least half of them. I would definitely encourage someone who wants to drop just a few pounds or to tone up to eat back all their exercise calories. But again, those of us with a lot to lose can probably get away without. And yet, there are always those days when those exercise calories come in handy ... so on a day when you've got a big ol' craving that you can't ignore, use that day's exercise calories to curb that craving.

I am one of *those* people who believes in the IPOARM (In Place of a Roadmap) way of eating. It is all about losing slow and steady, fueling your body, avoiding deprivation, staying on track for a lifetime, not just the life of your "diet". You can read about it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

You can determine your caloric needs using heybales' spreadsheet (which has simplified the process for me):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE
Download the spreadsheet, save it to your computer, fill in your own stats and you are ready to go!

This post by heybales' explains how to use the spreadsheet:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

I certainly don't have all the answers. If I did, I'd have been at my goal weight 20 years ago. But I can tell you that for the first time in decades I'm losing weight without feeling that I'm "missing out". No more 1,000-1,200 calorie diets for me. Am I dropping weight Biggest Loser style? Nope. But it is coming off slowly and steadily and I'm feeling better than I have in years.

fresh_start59

Another place that you might want to read is: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

The stickies in this thread might explain why you've hit your wall. Look for posts by my MFP friend, Gapwedge01, who broke his stall by using the Eat More to Weigh Less theory.

Another person who you might want to MFP stalk is Pu_239. He's about your age, has lost a lot of weight and knows all about the challenges and pitfalls that come with doing it the wrong way versus the right way. In fact, he's rewritten the IPOARM info to make it easier for lay people like me to understand. I can't find that link right now, but I'll send him a note and ask him to come here and post it.

Finally, I'd like to direct you to: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

Granted, most of the people who frequent that group are heavy-lifting, bodybuilder types whose workout causes me fatigue just by reading about it. However, the two people who run this group, side steel and sarauk2sf, are very knowledgeable about fitness and I trust them to provide safe and solid information about diet and exercise.

hampstenj

First off, I want to congratulate you for the weight you've already lost!
Secondly, I want to give you a great big "Hooray!" for having an open food diary!!

You are about the same age as my sons, so please excuse me if I come off sounding too "motherly".

I took a look at your diary and there is one thing that stands out:
You are trying too hard! You are shorting yourself by hundreds of calories a day.

It is true that those of us who have a larger amount of body fat can get by with fewer calories, at least for the short term. But we need to be VERY careful not to deprive ourselves.

I can tell you by experience that deprivation is the road that leads to failure. We deny ourselves, we lose weight, we deny ourselves, we binge. If we are lucky to get back on the wagon, we deny ourselves, lose weight, deny ourselves and hit a stall. And when we hit a stall, we punish ourselves with a binge.

If MFP gives you X amount of calories. EAT THEM!
Most people will also say that if you earn calories through exercise you should eat at least half of them. I would definitely encourage someone who wants to drop just a few pounds or to tone up to eat back all their exercise calories. But again, those of us with a lot to lose can probably get away without. And yet, there are always those days when those exercise calories come in handy ... so on a day when you've got a big ol' craving that you can't ignore, use that day's exercise calories to curb that craving.

I am one of *those* people who believes in the IPOARM (In Place of a Roadmap) way of eating. It is all about losing slow and steady, fueling your body, avoiding deprivation, staying on track for a lifetime, not just the life of your "diet". You can read about it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

You can determine your caloric needs using heybales' spreadsheet (which has simplified the process for me):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE
Download the spreadsheet, save it to your computer, fill in your own stats and you are ready to go!

This post by heybales' explains how to use the spreadsheet:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

I certainly don't have all the answers. If I did, I'd have been at my goal weight 20 years ago. But I can tell you that for the first time in decades I'm losing weight without feeling that I'm "missing out". No more 1,000-1,200 calorie diets for me. Am I dropping weight Biggest Loser style? Nope. But it is coming off slowly and steadily and I'm feeling better than I have in years.

Thanks for the friendly motherly advice.. not sure exactly how I can get more calories without sabotaging myself though, that seems to be my problem. Not sure what to do really.. I know what part of my problem was, I was under a lot of stress with classes and such and ate a few too many pizzas and chinese dinners, when you live alone it's too damn easy to eat an entire large pizza without even knowing it heh, we'll see what happens, and once again thanks for the advice!