Looking for some motivation

recipe4success

I am starting my weight loss journey again, after a long hiatus where i have hovered consistently between 265-269 lbs. My body seems to 'like' this weight, and I tend to maintain my weight at this amount. Previously I had lost a lot of weight- from 265lbs to 216 lbs or so at my lowest (this was a few years ago now). I then maintained around 230 consistently for awhile, before gaining right back up to where I am now. It is a bit disheartening and hard to think about starting all over again. Any motivation is appreciated. I did calculate my food in the diary today...but it is NOT meant to be a good day or an indication of how I am planning to eat on this weight loss journey. I was just trying to get back into the swing of tracking my intake and I was completely honest about what I ate today.



Thank-you in advance.

sss1966

Tackle one thing at a time, keep a food diary, start moving a bit more today than u did yesterday, drink more water, it will all fall into place if u want it to x

abikinibyjuly

Just jump right in. Get rid of the junk at home, especially those foods that trigger you to eat more. Log every bite. Plan your meals. Make some friends to help motivate you along the way. I'll be your cheerleader. Feel free to add me.

MissMissyMiss

If it helps you to hear it you and I are in the same place (literally) i tend to be right around 260-280, i just got back on the wagon a few weeks ago, i have thrown out all the junk in my house, and have ordered a pedometer. I am hoping to start a self challange and each week increase my steps by "x". Just know you are not alone in this! So far every time i have felt myself getting weak I come on here and it helps me get back on track, of course like I said it has only been a few weeks but MFP has helped so much!

recipe4success

Tackle one thing at a time, keep a food diary, start moving a bit more today than u did yesterday, drink more water, it will all fall into place if u want it to x

Thank you very much for the reply! You are right. I think step 1 for me is to come here daily and keep track of food in the diary. So that is my goal to start

recipe4success

Just jump right in. Get rid of the junk at home, especially those foods that trigger you to eat more. Log every bite. Plan your meals. Make some friends to help motivate you along the way. I'll be your cheerleader. Feel free to add me.

Thank you for the post!

yes I need to stop buying certain foods which I am quite partial to, great advice! And planning meals is definitely a long term goal of mine.

I would love to add you and will do that right now

recipe4success

If it helps you to hear it you and I are in the same place (literally) i tend to be right around 260-280, i just got back on the wagon a few weeks ago, i have thrown out all the junk in my house, and have ordered a pedometer. I am hoping to start a self challange and each week increase my steps by "x". Just know you are not alone in this! So far every time i have felt myself getting weak I come on here and it helps me get back on track, of course like I said it has only been a few weeks but MFP has helped so much!

Thank-you : that helps me very much to hear that we are in the same place!! Great job on getting back on the wagon yourself

Thank you for letting me know I am not alone

Pelly57

Thank you for the honesty of your post. I was doing good for a while and then have been losing steam the last few months. I came to your post looking for motivation myself.

marymickaela

Some fitness advice from "WebMD" I thought might be helpful.

"Any little increment of physical activity is going to be a great boost to weight loss and feeling better," says Rita Redberg, MSc, chairwoman of the American Heart Association's Scientific Advisory Board for the Choose to Move program.

Your exercise options are numerous, including walking, dancing, gardening, biking -- even doing household chores, says Redberg. The important thing is to choose activities you enjoy, she says. That will increase your chances of making it a habit.
And how much exercise should you do? For heart health, the AHA recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking, on most days of the week.

Yet "if you're getting less than that, you're still going to see benefits," says Redberg. "It's not like if you can't do 30 minutes, you shouldn't do anything, because you're definitely going to see benefits even at 5 or 10 minutes of moving around."

"Start low and go slow," advises Bryant. Many beginners make the mistake of starting out too aggressively, only to give up when they end up tired, sore, or injured, he says. Some get discouraged because they think an aggressive workout will produce instant results.

"Generally speaking, when people go about it too aggressively early in the program, they tend not to stick with it over the long haul," says Bryant. "What you really want to do is to develop some new habits that you can stick with for a lifetime."

Before beginning any fitness routine, it's important to warm up, then do some light stretching. Save the bulk of the stretching for after the workout.

Once you're warmed up, experts recommend three different types of exercise for overall physical fitness: cardiovascular activity, strength conditioning, and flexibility training. These don't all have to be done at once, but doing each on a regular basis will result in balanced fitness.

Hope this helps you get started. Although I am struggling, one thing that's helped me was joining an inexpensive gym and working with a personal trainer to learn how to do strength training and lift weights correctly. Today I was exhausted, but made myself get on the treadmill for 25 min and do 20 min. of strength training. Amazingly (to me) I felt much better after, so I think I need to stop thinking about exercising and just "DO IT!" Also worked in an additional walk with my hubby this evening. As far as the eating part that's an ongoing problem for me. I'm craving carbs like crazy.

Mary

recipe4success

Thank you for the honesty of your post. I was doing good for a while and then have been losing steam the last few months. I came to your post looking for motivation myself.

motivation can be found almost anywhere I believe I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

recipe4success

Some fitness advice from "WebMD" I thought might be helpful.

"Any little increment of physical activity is going to be a great boost to weight loss and feeling better," says Rita Redberg, MSc, chairwoman of the American Heart Association's Scientific Advisory Board for the Choose to Move program.

Your exercise options are numerous, including walking, dancing, gardening, biking -- even doing household chores, says Redberg. The important thing is to choose activities you enjoy, she says. That will increase your chances of making it a habit.
And how much exercise should you do? For heart health, the AHA recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking, on most days of the week.

Yet "if you're getting less than that, you're still going to see benefits," says Redberg. "It's not like if you can't do 30 minutes, you shouldn't do anything, because you're definitely going to see benefits even at 5 or 10 minutes of moving around."

"Start low and go slow," advises Bryant. Many beginners make the mistake of starting out too aggressively, only to give up when they end up tired, sore, or injured, he says. Some get discouraged because they think an aggressive workout will produce instant results.

"Generally speaking, when people go about it too aggressively early in the program, they tend not to stick with it over the long haul," says Bryant. "What you really want to do is to develop some new habits that you can stick with for a lifetime."

Before beginning any fitness routine, it's important to warm up, then do some light stretching. Save the bulk of the stretching for after the workout.

Once you're warmed up, experts recommend three different types of exercise for overall physical fitness: cardiovascular activity, strength conditioning, and flexibility training. These don't all have to be done at once, but doing each on a regular basis will result in balanced fitness.

Hope this helps you get started. Although I am struggling, one thing that's helped me was joining an inexpensive gym and working with a personal trainer to learn how to do strength training and lift weights correctly. Today I was exhausted, but made myself get on the treadmill and do 20 min. of strength training. Amazingly (to me) I felt much better after, so I think I need to stop thinking about exercising and just "DO IT!" Also worked in an additional walk with my hubby this evening.

Awesome! Thank you very much for posting this

I want to get back into exercising!! I haven't done any formal exercise in a long time...and i used to love it

jenilla1

I agree that what you need is a slow, deliberate start. Don't even worry about extreme changes or quick loss. Even just getting your weight down by 10% is a major health victory. Just start by tracking (weigh and measure to get used to the habit of doing it) even if you are just eating at maintenance or a tiny deficit to start. Make little changes and then build on your successes. When you're ready, start your calorie deficits and reap the rewards.

If and when you feel overwhelmed, take a break and put yourself back on maintenance levels until you are ready to continue. (No need to backslide and lose the progress you've worked hard to achieve, but it's also ok to take a break and NOT lose weight for awhile, too!) And just because you need a break doesn't mean you have to give up and let yourself go altogether - I see that sometimes here and it makes me sad when it happens.

I see you are a fan of chocolate milk. (That's a lot of sugar.) What I do for my chocolate fix is to make cocoa using unsweetened cocoa powder (10 calories per Tbsp.) and stevia (instead of sugar). Tastes just the same to me. Good luck! :drinker:

sjeannot

Exercise is one part of it but did you know that cardio helps you lose inches not weight. Combined with dieting though, it works wonders. What is your caloric intake per day? Perhaps you can lessen it because nothing good comes without sacrifice. This is coming from someone who loves and knows how to eat and never gets full. But I had to change my idea of fulness to drop my weight from 228 lbs. Sacrifice helped me to lose about 70 lbs. I started my journey before discovering this site. Helped to decide for myself that I no longer needed to eat rice, pasta or bread on a daily basis and instead, eat it when I felt like having some. Maybe three months later, have a cup of rice. Every six weeks, add meat to my diet for a week and then none for a while until I want it. We are the only ones who can really control our own habits. Exercise also is a good thing to do because while you are losing from your diet, your body starts complimenting it when you do things like walk.

My knees are not the strongest becaus eI have flat feet so I do not do much running. But I love the elliptical machine. Great burn on that. Try it all sis. Whatever is your desire, you can achieve it if you not only go ahead and put your effort in but pray and let God hear you say, you trust him and want that change you are looking for. God bless you and let's get that victory. You got this.

Robin_Bin

Do I understand correctly that this weight is lower than where you first started? Yes, you got lower and came part-way back up... if I understand correctly, but you've made progress and now you have a new, better level-set to start from. Weight loss is not usually a steady progression in one direction. Think of plateaus as your body getting used to a new lower place and getting ready for the next step.

Even if I misunderstood your starting point, I agree with what others here are recommending. Start slow. Pick one or two, gentle, first goals. Then you can add more changes and more goals.

See http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin/view/how-to-use-myfitnesspal-427993 for a starting path with links to several other options.

You can do it!

recipe4success

I agree that what you need is a slow, deliberate start. Don't even worry about extreme changes or quick loss. Even just getting your weight down by 10% is a major health victory. Just start by tracking (weigh and measure to get used to the habit of doing it) even if you are just eating at maintenance or a tiny deficit to start. Make little changes and then build on your successes. When you're ready, start your calorie deficits and reap the rewards.

If and when you feel overwhelmed, take a break and put yourself back on maintenance levels until you are ready to continue. (No need to backslide and lose the progress you've worked hard to achieve, but it's also ok to take a break and NOT lose weight for awhile, too!) And just because you need a break doesn't mean you have to give up and let yourself go altogether - I see that sometimes here and it makes me sad when it happens.

I see you are a fan of chocolate milk. (That's a lot of sugar.) What I do for my chocolate fix is to make cocoa using unsweetened cocoa powder (10 calories per Tbsp.) and stevia (instead of sugar). Tastes just the same to me. Good luck! :drinker:

lol my food diary is embarassing right now!! but i am trying to be honest. i do not usually have so much chocolate milk, but no reason for anyone to believe me...all i can say is that today was not a typical day in that regard.

what happened to me after i lost a bunch of weight the first time is that i got 'stuck' around 220lbs for awhile (like 6 months or so). and it was frustrating keeping logging food, exercising etc and nothing seemed to be happening. so i let things go a bit, then hovered around 230 lbs for awhile. i still kept trying for a bit but then i stopped and that is how the rest of the weight went back on. if only i could go back and tell myself that maintaining is ok!

thank you for your comments

recipe4success

My knees are not the strongest becaus eI have flat feet so I do not do much running. But I love the elliptical machine. Great burn on that.

i love the elipitcal machine! i have to get back into using it again thank you for your post.

recipe4success

Do I understand correctly that this weight is lower than where you first started? Yes, you got lower and came part-way back up... if I understand correctly, but you've made progress and now you have a new, better level-set to start from. Weight loss is not usually a steady progression in one direction. Think of plateaus as your body getting used to a new lower place and getting ready for the next step.

Even if I misunderstood your starting point, I agree with what others here are recommending. Start slow. Pick one or two, gentle, first goals. Then you can add more changes and more goals.

See http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin/view/how-to-use-myfitnesspal-427993 for a starting path with links to several other options.

You can do it!

thank you so much for the motivation!

my weight loss is a bit confusing.

originally i was at 265 lbs at my top weight. then i lost down to the lowest weight i've been at (216lbs). Then I gained eventually back up to an all new high weight of 279 lbs over some time. I HAVE therefore at least maintained the 10lb loss from my highest ever weight of 279lbs. And i am not discounting that fact...this is still very good.

Sorry if that is still confusing!

I agree slow and steady is best. Losing is not even really my main goal at the moment on this site.

Robin_Bin

You're off to an excellent start -- being honest in your tracking. And you are down from your all-time-high. As you understood, slow and steady... and you're not going to see that all-time-high again. :-)
There are many worse things you could have had than chocolate milk. And as treats go, it's nutritious, filling, has protein and other nutrients. Ok, yes the commercially mixed chocolate milk tends to be high in sugar. Some people recommend that you don't "drink" your calories, but on the other hand, research has found that people who have soup are more likely to lose weight than those who don't. I expect that high sugar, low nutrition drinks are the real problem. Other liquids can be more filling per calorie than solid foods. (Although personally I've found that fiber is helpful, so I go for fruit rather than fruit juice these days.)
I started with 5 minutes of exercise every day. After that got pretty easy, I added a minute, and then another... when I got to about 15 minutes per day, I allowed myself a day off each week -- if i wanted it. I now exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day, but can take off as many as two days per week if I want. Sometimes I take the days off; sometimes I exercise more -- today I exercised over 80 minutes -- and I enjoyed it!
Similarly, I didn't try to change my entire diet overnight. That works for a few people, but more seem to react with binges and an inability to stick to it. Just tracking makes it easier to step away from some foods. You begin to realize that some foods that you didn't even like or enjoy that much just aren't worth the calories.
Some changes will work for you... others won't. If it doesn't work, recognizing that is still a victory. You learned something about yourself and what works for you and what doesn't. Use what you learned. Move on and try other options. Also, what works for you at 250 pounds, may not work or may need adjustment at 175 pounds, but you'll learn and work it out.
You can do it!
(Great profile photo!)

recipe4success

You're off to an excellent start -- being honest in your tracking. And you are down from your all-time-high. As you understood, slow and steady... and you're not going to see that all-time-high again. :-)
There are many worse things you could have had than chocolate milk. And as treats go, it's nutritious, filling, has protein and other nutrients. Ok, yes the commercially mixed chocolate milk tends to be high in sugar. Some people recommend that you don't "drink" your calories, but on the other hand, research has found that people who have soup are more likely to lose weight than those who don't. I expect that high sugar, low nutrition drinks are the real problem. Other liquids can be more filling per calorie than solid foods. (Although personally I've found that fiber is helpful, so I go for fruit rather than fruit juice these days.)
I started with 5 minutes of exercise every day. After that got pretty easy, I added a minute, and then another... when I got to about 15 minutes per day, I allowed myself a day off each week -- if i wanted it. I now exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day, but can take off as many as two days per week if I want. Sometimes I take the days off; sometimes I exercise more -- today I exercised over 80 minutes -- and I enjoyed it!
Similarly, I didn't try to change my entire diet overnight. That works for a few people, but more seem to react with binges and an inability to stick to it. Just tracking makes it easier to step away from some foods. You begin to realize that some foods that you didn't even like or enjoy that much just aren't worth the calories.
Some changes will work for you... others won't. If it doesn't work, recognizing that is still a victory. You learned something about yourself and what works for you and what doesn't. Use what you learned. Move on and try other options. Also, what works for you at 250 pounds, may not work or may need adjustment at 175 pounds, but you'll learn and work it out.
You can do it!
(Great profile photo!)

Thank you so much! I am taking things slow and steady for now Small changes so that I can stick with this. I went crazy all out the first time and it burned me out. Not for me.

recipe4success

I am looking for people to add to support me in my journey Maybe some people with similar type of goals. I can use all the motivation I can get!