Sick of being fat!! :)

Dimples303

Hi everyone!
My name is Liz and I'm 24 years old from Denver, Colorado. I am married with one child (a beautiful 2 year old little girl) and I am currently a stay at home mom. I joined mfp a while ago but never used it so now I'm back and I'm ready to lose the weight!! I am 5'3" and weigh almost 200lbs. :x I am looking for positive and encouraging support groups so if you know of any good ones, please let me know!! I look forward to meeting new people here and starting my journey to a healthy and more confident me.

PLEASE if you have any tips, suggestions or friendly advice I would really love to hear it! I need all of the support and advice I can get because motivation seems to be my downfall.

MrsTorresisBACK

Then you've come to the right place. Bottom line is to move....diet alone will not make it come off. I too am 5'3 and started at 195...down 15.4 lbs and only because i'm moving. I follow the Weight Watchers principals but mostly eat what i want (healthy choices of course) and at moments of "not so healthy", i do in moderation.

It's not going to come off until you start getting that heart rate up....so even walking does a wonder of a difference. Feel free to add me and my friends....they are an AMAZING support system and are NO JOKE if you slack off....so if you are ready to DO THIS ....we definately have your back!!!

Here's to wishing you all the best!!! YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKE....and ARE WORTH IT!!!!

namitchell04

Hi Liz

The only advice I can really offer is to stick with it through the first few weeks, it's a good time because you tend to see faster weight loss then but it can also be the hardest when you are trying to break bad habits and get used to logging everything on MFP.
I found after those early weeks, it started to come naturally and hasn't felt like so much of a battle.
The only other thing i'd say, is if you stray one day for whatever reason, don't beat yourself up about it, just re-start the next day.
Adding current friends (and new ones!) can really help keep you motivated, I have my best friend on the same journey with me on here, we may live in different continents but seeing each others progress and swapping meal idea's etc has made it so much nicer.
Good luck x

LoraF83

The trick is not to let one small issue turn into a deal breaker. Instead of giving up, work through it. There will be problems. There will be times that you eat too much, don't exercise like you should. Times when you don't lose much weight, times when you don't lose any at all. There will be times when the scale moves in the wrong direction. Times when you want to quit, when you have no motivation at all. When that happens, just keep going. That's what makes someone successful.

The time is going to pass anyway. You might as well be working towards something.

gelendestrasse

For me the motivation was the doctor saying I was going to have to stick myself with needles because I was becoming diabetic. That worked....

You're going to have to start an excercise regimen as well as eating more carefully. If you just stop eating as much your metabolism will just slow down and the weight stays on. Get a bicycle and a trail behind for the kid, anything to get at least an hour of real exercise a week.

You might want to try to shift your foods away from carbs as much as possible. Try just a tablespoon of rice or pasta. Use brown rice. Get a Japanese rice cooker and it makes prep for brown rice really easy. Get rid of the chips, beer, alcohol. But get rid of one thing at a time so it's not such a shock that you hate it.

Give yourself a break day. You're trying to lose weight, not become a cloistered nun.

Shift from lots of meats to more veg and fruit. Not that I don't go for a steak now and then, but now it's half a steak.

Really, it's more about making your life fit your goals. But the exercise bit - that you have to include, the more the better. And don't worry about quick results, this will take 1 - 2 years to do it right. But once you do you'll have more energy and be able to keep up with the kid.

Good luck!

Eric

mfleeg

Hey Liz! Just wanted to say you're very pretty! I am already jealous of your eyes and flawless skin!

It is also great to start a journey towards a healthier and more confident you. I have also started a similar journey. I'm 27, 5'5", and a size 18. I had lost 40 pounds about a year ago and stopped going to the gym daily because of the hassle. (It would take me almost 40 minutes to get there after work due to traffic!) I put about half of it back on and have started my journey to get to my goal weight without losing the motivation. (I was a gym fan because I was in a living situation that I hated so I wanted to be at the gym instead of at home! suddenly, i got my own apartment and enjoyed my home time a little too much!)

I guess as far as support groups go, I don't really have one and what I struggle with the most is weekends when my boyfriend likes to go out to dinner or his parents want to take us to dinner. Clean eating is just so hard. I have a group of coworkers who are all doing the insanity workout with me, so I guess that helps. I am the kind of person that likes to make lists and have really found Insanity helpful for me to workout, because I like coming into my desk the next morning and crossing off the prior day's workout and keeping it on my cubicle wall for everyone to see has helped to motivate me so far. I guess that might only be helpful if you're a list type of person!

jzammetti

Congrats on getting started!

When I began this process in January 2011, I weighed 200 pounds (and am 5'2.5" tall). Today I weigh 122 - 124. It has been a lot of hard work and self-motivation. Some things I learned:

1. Forgive mistakes and move forward - it happens to everyone
2. Do not deprive yourself of things you love - eat less of them and make them fit I your caloric targets
3. MOVE - weight training is the best addition to a better diet, in my opinion (New Rules of Lifting for Women is a great start)
4. I found that after my entire life of listening to the mean people, I actually was my worst critic - the voice in my head was uglier than any bully I have ever dealt with - get a hold of that if you see the same in you. Do not let that voice deter you - beat it down and it will go away eventually
5. Take before photos and measurements (I failed to do this and I really wish I had!)

Most of all - keep telling yourself you can do it and just do it - because you can and should. Best of luck to you!!