At my highest weight and feeling lost

I completely am right where you are right now. I am at the highest weight I've ever been and the number is shocking (260 when I joined, I'm 5'5). I have had lots of "I've got to get my *kitten* together" moments but for some reason, this week something just clicked.

Think of your goal as small, like a pound a week. And literally take it one day at a time. Weigh yourself once per week on a certain day. And every day, eat a little bit less and a litle bit better than you normally would. AND LOG YOUR FOOD EVERY DAY. It makes such a difference, it makes you aware and accountable for what you eat and do.

Do reading other's success stories help you? It helps me. It makes me feel like it's not impossible.

My goal is 100 pounds by June. I want to go on vacation with my (very athletic and in-shape boyfriend) and feel amazing and do all the sight-seeing and water sports and everything. I don't want to feel FAT for once in my life! So I'll be glad to be there for you and vice versa. You can do it!

I've been a diet rollercoaster forever it seems. Turn being home into an advantage instead of a problem. try to add excercise a couple days a week. Drink water with your meals. Find healthy recipes and try them, if it serves 4 divide it into 4 and you've got 4 lunches. small changes can have big results but it does take time. Don't be hard on yourself if you have a bad day. Just start back the next. Set real goals! If you'd like to add me as a friend we can support each other. Good Luck!

Only you can control you. I've come to the realization that I want to be there for myself, my family, and friends. One very practical reason I'm "being good" with food and increasing my exercise is due to the fact that is the frugal/right thing to do...it also is good for the environment (less garbage in the landfill)/saves precious food resources for others that might not have what we have. My deployment to Afghanistan offered me the opportunity to see people living like animals (not by choice)... Sorry for the long winded advice..

Welcome to the place many of us have been. It starts with an hour by hour, day by day commitment to your health. Using MFP to track your food intake is a great tool, because it requires awareness and accountability. Along the way, you will gain friends to motivate and inspire you. I was 14lbs away from 200 when I decided enough was enough. I lost 10lbs on my own, then found MFP. I've lost 30lbs using MFP, and working toward another 20 to my goal. You won't be perfect - most of us aren't! - but you will find self-confidence and motivation here!

Start simple. Plan your meals for the week and shop accordingly. There are so many great sites where you will find healthy, easy recipes that your whole family will enjoy. www.skinnytaste.com, www.dashingdish.com, www.sparkrecipes.com are just a few.

Good luck in your journey!

Start logging exactly what you eat, don't try and be "good" straight away. As you log you will see where you can make changes to what you eat, portion size, get some food scales (digital are cheap and very good), start to plan out your day, get some exercise, even if it is marching on the spot in your lounge room. These first steps will get you started; as you start to feel better and lose some weight you will be energised and rewarded with weight loss and feeling better about yourself and you are on your way. This is not a "diet" to come off and on, it is about learning better ways of eating and moving, and do it for you.

Read some of the success stories, and know it can be done when you are ready to do it.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

The best things to do are -

Set a few small goals for this time next week. Use things like, 'eat a healthy breakfast every day', 'go for a long walk daily', 'get a skipping rope and do 5 mins of skipping everyday', 'clean out the cupboards of all junk', 'log my food every day' etc.
Make it small and manageable. Don't go in at the deep end and change everything at once, you will only set yourself up for failure.

There's a book called 'Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle' by Tom Venuto. He talks alot about setting goals and visualisation before going on to helping you understand food in a way it sticks with you.

This is a lifestyle change so take one step at a time and you will get there

'All i have is today, all i have is this meal, this workout, this moment. If i do what i know i must right now, i will reach my goals eventually' - Tom Venuto

I agree a great deal with christine s 51. Stop fretting that will only exacerbate what is happening to you. I am a protein gal...low carb...as I swear I am lugging around on my bottom the fat from another life time. Any who for me personally I find that if I ADD good foods I will eliminate some BAD foods without being denied. Incorporation of good things will make you feel better and tracking tracking tracking. You will find lots of support here. Good luck.

I don't know if this will work for you, but this is how I started.

I got up one day (Christmas Eve morning) and like you, got on the scale and had hit 179lbs. I am 5ft 3" and I looked and felt horrible. Even when I was 9 months pregnant, I only weighed 126lbs! I'm short and very small boned so I looked like, welllll an inflated toy in a Macys parade is what I looked like to me. That was it.

I finally had enough. This part is key. YOU have to be ready to do something about it and since you posted your topic on here, I'd say you're ready. It's YOUR choice.

I asked myself.. what am I going to do? I had tried 'dieting' and I had no willpower, my family is huge (over 90 nieces and nephews alone - my father had just died, along with my grandmother, 2 aunts and a sister in law) I was stressed to the max then found out my husband has a terminal illness! I had to do SOMETHING to lose weight and alleviate the stress.

I decided that I was going to 'exercise'. Not jump up and down, run, lift weights, swim hard.. nothing like that. I was mentally exhausted and decided that I wanted to do something that I'd want to do again tomorrow, and the next day and next. So I got on my treadmill and told myself that I was going to walk as slow as I could stand it, and easy enough that I could enjoy it and WANT to do again the next day. I think I only walked 20 minutes that day at about 2mph.

I did that daily for 2 weeks and had quickly noticed changes! My jeans felt a little looser, I had more energy, etc. So I thought, hey this is great AND it's easy.. so I'll walk a little longer. So I started watching movies while I walked, on my laptop. I started out with Raising Hope. I wanted some Hope and I thought it sounded like an 'inspirational' show and it ended up being a somewhat vulgar comedy. I was hooked! I still love that show. LOL

Ok so then after that I decided that since I liked even more changes, I wanted something to encourage me to walk even more. I told a dear friend of mine that I was going to walk 1,000 miles for her son, 5 now, who has an inoperable brain tumor. I got people to sponsor me one penny per mile. Ok so now I had more encouragement and the responsibility to finish! lol Ok, that's extreme and I don't expect anyone else to walk 1,000 miles, but my point is that sometimes we need something or someone to inspire us. That little boy certainly has inspired me.

Then, I was introduced to MFP. I started logging my food and was horrified. I started eating less, then started eating better, then less sodium (I"m still working on that one), then started eating more.. It's amazing that when you eat healthy food, you get a LOT more of it. I feel like I'm always eating!

Then the weight started melting off! I've lost 40lbs, I no longer am pre-diabetic, I have no more indigestion, I'm off one of my blood pressure pills, I'm 52 years old and I CAN WEAR A BIKINI. If I want to anyway. lol

I'm happier, healthier, have tons of energy and now I bike, run, trail run, do water aerobics and of course, I'm still walking. I've gone over 950 miles and should finish by the end of this month. I lost most of my weight in 4-5 months and now, while I have a goal of weighing even less, I'm happy with how I look and if more comes off, that's ok, if it doesn't, I know I'm still building muscle and it will in time. I think I look great for my age. I did all of this without going to a gym, although I may join one this winter.

I know that was a long SPEECH, but what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to jump in and do everything all at once. You don't have to DIET. If you do that, you'll get burnt out, you'll feel deprived and you'll quit. Start slow with ONE thing, then add something else when you're ready. You'll be amazed at the progress you see and like me, be encouraged to work at it even harder. Do this in a way that you can maintain it later.

YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU'RE READY! Start something today! <HUGS>

Me too. {{{hugs}}}

You are at the start of an exciting future.
Stop looking at what is, and see what can be...
It will be challenging, but healing....you are worth it!

One step, one choice, one day at a time. Pray for strength and a renewed love for you. You are wonderfully and beautifully created and you deserve happiness.

Get excited!

I was exactly where you are just a week ago! I haven't touched the scales for a while, and shocked when I realised I was at my heaviest, ever, but determined that was the last straw.
My first day I didn't really track what I ate, just was careful not to binge when I was sitting alone. Instead, I ran up and down the stairs 4 times. OMG was I shot! The burning in my thighs really threw me - not so many months ago I was actively fit doing an hours zumba class 4 times a week!
My goal to myself was to keep using the stairs (free, can take it at my own pace and irrelevant what the weather is doing), and after a couple of days was doing the 4 sets of stairs twice a day. Without making much of a change to my diet, I have lost 3.5lbs this week - thus pushing my determination even more.
You will crack it - just be honest with yourself and track every thing that passes your mouth And if youre feeling low, come here and type out your frustration instead of resorting to snacking and binging.
Here's to our new start! :happy:

The weight not only affects your health, it also affects you emotionally .Let this be your rock bottom. Be overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and fear. Use that negative energy and catapult yourself into a new life.

You are no longer bored with your day, now schedule your day. Start each day with a long walk. DON'T SKIP IT. We know all of the excuses: weather, phone calls, kids, body aches ... These are excuses - you can always find the time. After your walk, come home and take care of housework. Then make a healthy meal plan for you and your family. Search healthy snacks. Add them to your grocery list. Go and get your groceries for your new healthy life. I can imagine money is kind of tight for you right now, but on this first day, go out and buy a food scale, if you don't already have one. And weigh your food before you cook it and before you eat it.

Each day have a schedule. One that starts with exercise. Keep your days filled, then you can't even think about the snacks. Stay off the couch. Couch = calories, both consumed and not burned. The first week may be tough, but focus on your goal and cling to your plan. Visit frequently the success boards here at this site. You will see dozens of other women with your story who clung to their plan on those early days and now are on the other side. Friend these women. Create a network of support here on this site. We are all here to encourage and cheer because we all want to see you succeed.

You now have the time to become the best, most amazing you possible. You will be amazed at how quickly you will start feeling good about yourself again. It may be a week or two, but once the weight starts to come off, you will feel and be AWESOME!

Oh, and take pictures and measurements these first days. Yes, you will feel silly. But, nobody has to know. There will be days when it gets tough. If you look at those pictures and measurements, you will see progress, and that will help you stay on track. Also, you will want to have them to post right next to your success pictures.

I had to leave my full time job in 2008 due to severely arthritic back coupled with degenerative joint disease, and a few other things. A 5-minute walk put me in agony and standing to cook in the kitchen more than 10 minutes at a time was torture. I settled in to my one relief spot, my recliner and that is where I stayed for the next 3 years. A few work days per week left me in pain for days afterwards.

I came to believe that this was to be the way I would life the rest of my life. My weight topped out at 298 which scared me. I had considered weight loss surgery 6 years ago, but it was not covered by insurance and other things depleted any possibility of doing it out of pocket.

A year ago, my hubby came to me and said ... "We're going to do it." He changed insurance companies (to one much more expensive) and that was the beginning. I had surgery this past June and have found a warm water therapy pool to do my exercises in. I feel so much better already and those around me have been amazed in my transformation so far.

There is hope. There is a way. For me, becoming aware of my caloric intake was huge. Once I made it a game, to score each day and give myself a means to track progress... that helped me. But the real kicker in terms of motivation was to put something way out there to motivate me to keep going even when I hit a plateau. A year from now, I will be at goal weight. I will be ready to get on with my life and to commemorate that new beginning, my hubby and I are renewing our wedding vows on our 35th anniversary.

The other thing that helped me enormously was to do some spiritual housecleaning. I have come to the realization that I am not in this alone. And how I think is what will be. I changed my thinking and now, even though I am only about half way there, I have already seen my future success. I have already been there in my mind. It is so real to me, it is only a matter of time. I cannot fail. I may make less than perfect choices along the way, but my goal is a done deal. I am just not there yet. I believe in my destination and am patient as I know it is my future reality. I am grateful and thankful already for this and am enjoying seeing myself progressing. There is joy to be had along the way and I am more aware of it all.

God bless you as you choose your path. I believe in you and your future reality. Go for it!

hi
i was also at my biggest weight before i started my journey. a few pointers that have helped me this time around that i am trying to stick to. 1 keep a food diary/journal. be honest with yourself about what you eat and drink. you will be surprised at the end of the day .
2 write a list of why you want to start, what you want to achieve and keep them where you can look at for motivation.
3 don't beat yourself up if you have a slip up we all do, its how you react that can make a difference.
4 keep in touch with others when you feel you need to talk it helps if others have been there, they understand.

You are already at a good start you are acknowledging what you need to do, I was in a similar position a few weeks ago. I am a house wife of almost a year, I used to be really healthy and active before the wedding. But after I got married I was so busy trying to be the ideal wife and I was done cleaning my diet consisted of Oreo's, whole milk, chips, Ramen, Instant Mac and Cheese and candy. Needless to say I went from 130 to 152 in 8 months. I only recently kicked my butt into gear and found this great woman called zuzka (zuzana) light. Her work out's are only ten minutes and are intense, but so worth it. She breaks the work out's down before she begins so don't worry about copying her exactly. (This is if you want to try it ) She normally doesn't use any equipment and you can also just do the workouts at home I think we all know you can do it because you are already willing to admit openly that you want to fix the problem.