I will never be able to lose this....

Beyond discouraged. I think I am going to give up and just be a big belly girl for life. Not worth it. It's driving me crazy I am too manic to count calories...I just can't anymore!!!

Then DON"T count calories. I never count calories and I have lost 14 pounds (apparently mostly off my belly as my waist size has shrunk by three inches! What I do is tell myself every day is that, "I DON'T EAT SUGAR AND I DON'T EAT GRAIN!" I can eat everything else I want. What I find is that if I cut out all sugar (including high sugar foods like fruit juice and like canned baked beans, for example) and all grains, I lose weight effortlessly. I eat all the vegetables I want plus two fruits every day. I eat more fish than red meat because red meat is associated with inflammation (I have osteoarthritis) and I don't worry about moderate fat (but I only eat healthy fats like a few nuts and avocado and extra virgin olive oil for salads and cooking). I have 60 more pounds to go and I will NEVER return to eating the high-carb diet that I was eating before. I tried low-fat diets (which tend to be high-carb diets) before and felt absolutely AWFUL on them.

Try setting small goals instead of looking at the goals that seem so far away. Such as make a goal of 20 pounds and then keep making new goals. You will get frustrated if you look at how far you have to go then the small accomplishments

This is really good advice.

I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of weight and have sat and calculated how long it will take to reach goal, and quit before I started many many times. I bet most of the people on this website have done the same at some point. I didn't even start tracking or trying for several weeks after joining MFP, it took me those weeks to get my mind right. I feel I have been successful so far because I decided I no longer care how long it takes and I almost never think about the total amount I want/need to lose (about 70 pounds) - I think about TODAY.

I get up every morning and look at the app on my phone and I think of it like my bank. So this morning, I had 1720 calories to spend. If I exercise, I've made an additional deposit. The bigger the deposit, the more I can spend, if I need/want to. If I want to feel full, I know I need to choose my food wisely to get the biggest bang for my buck :bigsmile: I track every bite, I drink my water, I exercise. In 8 weeks, it's already become second nature. And it works. My goal is to lose 1 pound a week. If I make it (on average, since I only weigh every 2 weeks), I have succeeded, and I press on. So I'm focused on today and on my weekly goal. I have not missed my goal once in 8 weeks. At some point, I'll probably hit a plateau, and when that happens, all my food and exercise is right here for me to look at and evaluate and figure out what I can change to fix it.

So many people have had success, they post their stories and pictures on this website all the time, people who had 20 pounds to lose and people with 200 pounds to lose. If they/we can do it, you can too! Don't give up!! :flowerforyou:

How many you know with a belly like
Mine? None right?

Just wanted to add - I saw a woman with a belly larger than yours at my gym last night. She walked on the treadmill for a long time and then she used the weight machines. She's doing it, you can too. :flowerforyou:

I just posted my blog today about my 1 year anniversary. Read it and then tell me you can't. If I can and am, you can.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/dantanna85/view/what-a-difference-a-year-makes-424427#comments

Go over to the success stories board and look at some of them. Bookmark some of the ones who have lost the most. Start with this one.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/747198-179-pounds-lost-31-to-go

You break my heart to see someone so upset......we are all here for you and there has been very good advice given to you.

Remember your not alone on this journey. It isn't easy, and you will go up with your emotions and down with your emotions.
Good you are communicating because that is a cry for help.......

Take one day at a time....and sometimes you have to take one minute at a time.....you can do this......you can do this.....let all of us help you.

Are you freakin serious????? I am TWICE your age. I used to sit on my bed and catch this sight out of the corner of my eye and then I realized that was MY BUTT. A person is not supposed to see their own butt out of the corner of their eye when they sit!
When I would go to the bathroom I would be in tears because my GUT was resting on my legs! How did I ever let it get to that point? But then again who cared. I am OLD, divorced, over the hill....

Then, one day I was tired of it. Tired of being able to grab HANDS full of fat hanging in front of me. This was not normal. This was not RIGHT. I was disgusted at myself and what I had become.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, one day at a time...baby steps. I cut back from two bottles of soda a day down to one, then down to just a can, then down to just a can every other day, now down to one a week. That alone had to account for at least ten pounds! Then my diet. I didn't do "diet" foods. I wanted something that I would be able to do the rest of my life so I just started cutting back my portions, eating out less, making healthier choices, less butter, fewer "cream sauce" based meals, fewer fried foods. Then just when I thought I was half crazy I jumped in all the way and started EXERCISING! I KNEW I had gone crazy! I started sweating and I LIKED IT! I was starting to see progress on the scale, progress in loser clothing and one day I actually SAW my collar bones!

I am a long way from having the perfect bikini body, but I am fine with that. But those belly rolls???? I am down to just one much smaller handful now. I am proof it can be done. Don't give up on yourself. It won't happen overnight, but it will NEVER happen if you don't do SOMETHING!

If you don't want to count calories, there is a book called "Intuitive Eating" that you should read.

Come on. I am 71 years old and I am doing it.

My folks live long==into their 90's. I want to be upright and mobile as long as possible! Also, this much overweight is hazardous to my health.

They told me that losing 10% of my weight would make a big improvement, so I did that (28 lb.). Now I'm doing it again. And then I'll do it again...

If I can do it, you can do it.

The fact you posted this tells me you don't really want to give up. It helps to vent sometimes. It is hard but well worth it. I too have a lot of belly fat, and it can be discouraging. It comes down to how important is it to you. You are the only one who can answer that for your self. If the calorie goal is too hard then try adjusting it. Sometimes it can be trial and error to see what is going to work best for you. Not everyone is the same in what works for them. If you decide to take a break there is nothing wrong with that. The important thing is for you to be happy with who you are. You are more than welcome to add me if you decide to stay.
Sheila

Eat half of what's normally on your plate at every meal and walk twice as much as you usually do every day.

to help this idea along. Change plate sizes. If you are using your biggest dinner plate. Move down to a salad
or dessert plate. I do it all the time. It's how I control my portions.

The problem here is your attitude and way of thinking. You tell yourself that you can't do it so you're automatically setting yourself up for failure. Believe in yourself. Tell yourself that you CAN and you will do whatever it takes to lose the weight. Set small goals for yourself. Take before and "during" pictures (it helps tremendously!). It doesn't take some special person to be able to lose weight.. TONS of regular people just like you have lost weight because they told themselves they could and they DID... You are living your life anyway, so why not lose weight and get healthy in the process? In a year from now, you'll be glad you did.