New, Nervous and Ready To Do This.

Hi! I'm new and nervous with you. I just posted my information and you stated my feeling so much better than I did! I get it. Let's do this!

You are off to a great start! You are going to love this site!

YOU. CAN. DO. THIS!!!

log everything, read everything (ignore at least half of it), commit to getting exercise. We can do this. I had 100+ to lose when I started and am a quarter of the way now!

Welcome.

You can ALL do this...you have done the hardest part and that is to acknowledge. Feel free to add me if you'd like to!

You've can do this! I would love to get my sister on here....she also have 100 lbs to lose and pre-diabetic?; her doctor gave her 6 months to lose weight before putting her on diabetic meds. I know she can do it too! You've made a great first step!

PCOS makes it harder to lose weight? Why? Sorry...I'm not familiar but my sister also has this, but she has had a hysterectomy now.

I understand about being afraid to put your stuff out there for everyone to read. But it really does help to keep you accountable I think. I did not say anything to most people about my effort to lose weight for a long time, and did not post anything on Facebook about it, etc. But I was a lot more comfortable doing it here, surrounded by other people who were trying to do the same thing! It really is a GREAT resource!

You can do this!
And the great thing about sharing is that you can get so much support and motivation from other people who are also working hard to reach their health goals.

You CAN do this and you WILL do this, think of your little boy and do it for him

Feel free too add me for support and encouragement

You just took your first step by posting! WTG! Welcome to MFP. You can do this. Just make sure you log EVERYTHING you eat. Even if you go over on your calories. See if you can purchase a meal scale so you can weigh things that you eat. Sometimes it's hard to figure out how much you are eating and we tend to underestimate. Please feel free to add me. I'm on all the time and always available for questions and motivation.

Best of luck! :flowerforyou:

This site has so many tools available to you but the most important thing is you have to want it. All the advice, support, encouragement and tools won't help unless to commit to doing it.

You have taken the first step by coming to this site and coming back again sounding like it you are wanting to truly do this.

That said - there are many people on here to help you through the hurdles of getting healthy. My suggestion is to include 2 types of people on your Friends List - those who have and those who are. What I mean is find some people to friend who have accomplished what you want to who can help guild you through the tough times and answer questions. Also, those who are trying to accomplish what you want to so you can help encourage and support each other.

Best of luck to you! YOU. CAN. DO. THIS!!!!!

I'm Karollea, from NY. I am 27 and have a wonderful husband of 5 years and the cutest 2 1/2 year old son ever! (Okay I may be a little bias). I feel I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was diagnosed with PCOS after high school. I would like/need to lose 100+ pounds.

My Mother in law was told about this site and suggested I try it also. I signed on in August, and never came back. I switched doctors and was told I am pre diabetic and will have a even harder time getting pregnant because of my weight messing up my body. I was devastated and knew I had to loose weight, but something was blocking me from doing it. After reading the book Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin by Allen Zadoff (I learned A LOT about myself) and lots of prayer and encouragement, I decided to come back.

I am a pretty shy person and am very nervous about posting my personal life, I am afraid of rejection and have sat here for almost 10 minutes deciding if I should post this. But here I am, an open book from now on, and if I want to start this journey I need to do it 100%..so Hi All!

I wish you good luck and all the best. I really think you can do it if you commit to it and I think you have great motivation right there. Mfp is a great help too, just be sure to log everything

I'm Karollea, from NY. I am 27 and have a wonderful husband of 5 years and the cutest 2 1/2 year old son ever! (Okay I may be a little bias). I feel I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was diagnosed with PCOS after high school. I would like/need to lose 100+ pounds.

My Mother in law was told about this site and suggested I try it also. I signed on in August, and never came back. I switched doctors and was told I am pre diabetic and will have a even harder time getting pregnant because of my weight messing up my body. I was devastated and knew I had to loose weight, but something was blocking me from doing it. After reading the book Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin by Allen Zadoff (I learned A LOT about myself) and lots of prayer and encouragement, I decided to come back.

I am a pretty shy person and am very nervous about posting my personal life, I am afraid of rejection and have sat here for almost 10 minutes deciding if I should post this. But here I am, an open book from now on, and if I want to start this journey I need to do it 100%..so Hi All!

Hi Karollea,

I'm Bobbie and welcome to this fun tool and place.

Here's what worked for me. Some of it may work for you and some of it may not, but maybe something will strike a note for you.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

All I can do is share what worked for me. I achieved my goal at age 50 after beating my head against the wall for 15 years. Yeah anyone can do it, but I can tell you that you are up against a lot when you are older and I believe females have some unique issue to face with hormones and such. The sooner you can get a handle on it the better. DO NOT GIVE UP. As I got older and the weight piled on (and I didn't feel I was eating too much!) everyone kept telling me to give up, this is what happens when you get older. I'm small, and I didn't realize how small I was until I lost the weight. Everyone said I had big bones. I looked hefty because I worked out. Once I lost the weight I realized how small I really was and that small people don't need to eat as much as big people. HINT: If you are short you are probably small.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.


Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

It really is about calories. I tell people this all the time and they say "Well if calories are all that matter why do you eat so clean???!!" Well, because it makes me feel better, sleep better, and perform better at my sports.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

Welcome to MFP and congrats on taking the first step! Feel free to add me, always looking to share and encourage others. You can do this!

The important part is that you are HERE and you came BACK. Your sweet little boy needs his mama in his life, and he needs the very best version of her! That was my motivation when I lost 40lbs last year - my husband and I wanted to start a family, and I wanted to be the best mom I could be for our little one. There are a million factors working against you, but your desire to get healthy must outweigh those factors. You're in the right place and it's great you asked for support. Feel free to friend me if you'd like

Welcome. I'm from NJ. This is a great site. Record everything you put in your mouth. Drink plenty of water and do not waste time on liquid that has unneccesary calories. Stay within your calorie guidelines and know that you are on a decline in calorie in take do not worry about trying to stay under... eat your calories without going over. Get your rest and get out and move as much as possible even if it's just to walk. You will get plenty of info from this site. Feel free to add me as a friend.