What if you're just average??

BeingAwesome247
BeingAwesome247 Posts: 1,171 Member
in Motivation and Support
Ya'know I see all these posts about needing to lose these large numbers or people who have successfully lost large numbers.
I see posts about some amazing people who have overcome the odds or been through hell and back and it's all really inspirational, it is.
However, what about those of us that are basically average. Yea, I've had some messed up *kitten* happen but no worse than the average joe/jane I think.
I've never been over 200lbs (I hit 198 pregnant)
I was never bullied in school - awkward but not bullied
I did the typical stupid teen girl crap of puking and diet pills but never to an extreme
Honestly, I was just always on the high end of a healthy weight for my height and bone structure
Not overly out of shape but not in good shape either

My highest post baby weight was 180. I actually lost 40lbs in 2011.
In the beginning of 2012 I quit smoking and started having some health issues and now back up to 159lbs.
Ok so I have about 30lbs I want to lose but it almost feels harder than when I was pushing plus sized.
I don't look overweight - I look average. I'd rather be smaller and tighter but I'm not horribly uncomfortable in the 150s

So for those of us who have less they want to lose, how do you stay motivated? I know, I know - it comes from within. But some days, I'm just not feeling it ha ha I'm comfortable - not fantastic but comfortable.
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Replies

  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Well, I stay motivated because even though I'm not and have never been terribly overweight, I am not happy with where I am. I was much thinner most of my life and I miss that. It's tough now because of regaining and not being able to lose for so long, but I'm working my way back.

    And, just to point out, it really isn't typical teenage girl stuff to purge. I don't know anyone who did that.
  • sammyneb
    sammyneb Posts: 257
    My highest post baby weight was 180. I actually lost 40lbs in 2011.
    In the beginning of 2012 I quit smoking and started having some health issues and now back up to 159lbs.
    Ok so I have about 30lbs I want to lose but it almost feels harder than when I was pushing plus sized.
    I don't look overweight - I look average. I'd rather be smaller and tighter but I'm not horribly uncomfortable in the 150s

    You sound just like me (well except my baby was born in 2006, but I just held on to the weight :ohwell: ) But I lost about 50 lbs (mainly by lifting weights) in 2011, then I quit smoking and took up running...and I managed to gain back about 25 lbs. Everyone kept saying oh I'm sure it is just muscle..but I'm went up about 2 pant sizes..so yeah not muscle :noway:

    But I keep motivated because I just want to be where I was in 2011, I liked it then, I was comfortable and happy...and so that is where I want to go...so that is my motivation.. ;)
  • dorianaldyn
    dorianaldyn Posts: 611 Member
    I've lost about 25 lbs and honestly, while I'd like to lose a couple more, I'd be fine with maintaining too. So, I didn't have all that much to lose in the first place compared to some others.

    But, the rewards have been plenty and definitely worth the effort! I'm loving shopping from my closet again. I'm no longer shying away from being in pictures. I'm actually having fun discovering new recipes, new things to eat - all things that are healthier options for me AND my family. I love how my running pace has picked up because I've lost weight. I love how my kids are going to grow up seeing parents that both exercise regularly and are going to think that's a completely normal part of life.

    Taking the time to exercise and eat right is the best investment you'll make in your life.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    I plastered my bedroom wall with pictures of muscular, scantily clad men.

    Ya know, for motivation.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    I'm motivated by the fact that I want to spend my life in good shape. I'm about 20 lbs off of where I'd like to be ideally, but certainly I could be happy where I'm at.
    Problem is, no one ever stays where they are at by accident. The tendency is to improve or worsen. I'd rather be improving.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    I plastered my bedroom wall with pictures of muscular, scantily clad men.

    Ya know, for motivation.

    ^^^ I printed his pictures off his profile and taped them all over my bedroom in the hopes that one day I'll look good enough for him. :sad:
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
    my goal is to never be average.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    I plastered my bedroom wall with pictures of muscular, scantily clad men.

    Ya know, for motivation.

    ^^^ I printed his pictures off his profile and taped them all over my bedroom in the hopes that one day I'll look good enough for him. :sad:

    Nothing crazy about that...
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    I find that it helps to set yourself goals that are not related to weight loss. Things like running a 10k or half marathon in a specific time or doing an unassisted pull-up, 50 push ups or deadlifting your body weight. Focus on these goals and being healthy for them and the weight will come off along the way
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    I plastered my bedroom wall with pictures of muscular, scantily clad men.

    Ya know, for motivation.

    ^^^ I printed his pictures off his profile and taped them all over my bedroom in the hopes that one day I'll look good enough for him. :sad:

    Wait, you're cheating on your girlfriend with fire_rock? I'm sooo confused! :bigsmile:
  • lulusmom
    lulusmom Posts: 71
    If my effort just results in me maintaining, I'll take it. How's that for motivation...the worst you could do is stay comfortable? :)
  • BeingAwesome247
    BeingAwesome247 Posts: 1,171 Member
    my goal is to never be average.

    I love this
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
    I don't know of a single attribute where I fall in the average range.

    Sometimes I'm a little bit jealous of average people. It seems like life would be a little simpler. But then that feeling passes, and I'm happy to be who I am in all of my unusuality.
  • cuterbee
    cuterbee Posts: 545
    Well, does it help if I tell you that I used to be you, and think like that myself?

    Then I got older, had a pretty difficult medical problem, plus other bad stuff happened, and the weight piled on. Now I have a lot more work to do than I started with. I drove my body like a machine and didn't keep it fine-tuned.

    A good attitude now means a lot less work later. Kind of like keeping your car repaired...it costs you less in the long run to replace that timing belt before it breaks and ruins your engine. Look past today, and look at 30 years from now. Spending that time staying fit and toned NOW means you will go into menopause and then old age at your best, and you will find it so much easier to keep up when bad stuff DOES happen (because that's life. Stuff happens).



    So...do you want to take care of yourself now, or be someone's bad example later?
  • UKMarjie
    UKMarjie Posts: 257 Member
    Ya'know I see all these posts about needing to lose these large numbers or people who have successfully lost large numbers.
    I see posts about some amazing people who have overcome the odds or been through hell and back and it's all really inspirational, it is.
    However, what about those of us that are basically average. Yea, I've had some messed up *kitten* happen but no worse than the average joe/jane I think.
    I've never been over 200lbs (I hit 198 pregnant)
    I was never bullied in school - awkward but not bullied
    I did the typical stupid teen girl crap of puking and diet pills but never to an extreme
    Honestly, I was just always on the high end of a healthy weight for my height and bone structure
    Not overly out of shape but not in good shape either

    My highest post baby weight was 180. I actually lost 40lbs in 2011.
    In the beginning of 2012 I quit smoking and started having some health issues and now back up to 159lbs.
    Ok so I have about 30lbs I want to lose but it almost feels harder than when I was pushing plus sized.
    I don't look overweight - I look average. I'd rather be smaller and tighter but I'm not horribly uncomfortable in the 150s

    So for those of us who have less they want to lose, how do you stay motivated? I know, I know - it comes from within. But some days, I'm just not feeling it ha ha I'm comfortable - not fantastic but comfortable.

    From everything that I have read it is harder to loose weight in the 'closer to your goal weight' group than it is for those at the beginning stages of a weight loss journey - especially if it is a large scale process. It is not to diminish the huge accomplishments of those people but when there is a lot to loose any change is going to yield massive results because it is moving from unhealthy to healthy. Whereas you sound like you are more at the tweaking stage where it is minuscule changes to get ounces off...agonizingly slow progress and you are exchanging weight up and down with muscle to fat ratios and such. So like I said - nobody's accomplishments are to be sneezed at but the challenges at each level are different and hard.

    I think to stay motivated (although I am super down on myself and although a dress size 12 - which is pretty much average these days) I am aware that I am not at a healthy weight for me. I think my overall thing is that I have 9 years before I turn 50 and by then my kids will be 10 and 14 respectively...it concerns me to think what adding on a few pounds a year would do to me and them in that time frame. I want to be fit and 50 - a role model for my kids and to be that hot Momma everyone thinks - **** that's what 50 looks like? That ain't so bad!
  • lustingforfitness
    lustingforfitness Posts: 74
    my goal is to never be average.

    ^
    I used to stop when I became comfortable... and then eventually the weight would come back. I'm not looking for comfortability anymore, I'm looking to be the absolute BEST me that I can be. I'm training for Tough Mudder this year and I'm making my miles longer and faster and increasing my weights and those are the things that keep me going. I haven't lost any weight in two full months but I'm still striving on because I don't want to be comfortable or average... I want to feel invincible and beautiful. I don't just want to be "thin," I want to be strong and lean and toned and I am getting closer to that goal everyday.

    Finding the motivation to push yourself past the point of being "average" and "comfortable" is something you must find in yourself.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    I plastered my bedroom wall with pictures of muscular, scantily clad men.

    Ya know, for motivation.

    ^^^ I printed his pictures off his profile and taped them all over my bedroom in the hopes that one day I'll look good enough for him. :sad:

    Wait, you're cheating on your girlfriend with fire_rock? I'm sooo confused! :bigsmile:

    I've got multiple affairs going. :wink:
  • bookworm_847
    bookworm_847 Posts: 1,903 Member
    Well, I stay motivated because even though I'm not and have never been terribly overweight, I am not happy with where I am. I was much thinner most of my life and I miss that. It's tough now because of regaining and not being able to lose for so long, but I'm working my way back.

    This sounds just like me. I was always pretty slim before I got married, then 5 years and 40 pounds later here I am. I never really had to diet before, so this is a fairly new experience.... even though this'll be my 4th try getting rid of the weight.

    I stay motivated by trying to keep in mind how comfortable I felt at 140-145 as oppsed to how bad I feel now at 180ish. And I have my favorite jeans out as a motivator. I want to be able to get back into those things this year!

    Good luck to everybody!
  • katynic12
    katynic12 Posts: 10 Member
    The best motivation you can have to keep eating/exercising is setting a good example for your kids. If you want them to live happy, healthy lives you have to make that the norm in your household so that is all they know growing up. By doing it all the time it will become second nature and when they grow up they won't have to deal as much with the struggles you have.

    There's nothing wrong with getting comfortable with where you are as long as it doesn't cause you to slip back into old bad habits.
  • Alyssa__Lauren
    Alyssa__Lauren Posts: 148 Member

    Ok so I have about 30lbs I want to lose but it almost feels harder than when I was pushing plus sized.
    I don't look overweight - I look average. I'd rather be smaller and tighter but I'm not horribly uncomfortable in the 150s

    I know how you feel. I only have about 30 lbs to lose and I don't really "look" overweight but I have extra fat on my stomach and hips that I'd like to lose. I also need to adopt better eating habits and be healthier in general. That's what motivates me. (And cute clothes) :wink:
  • poedunk65
    poedunk65 Posts: 1,336 Member
    Think of all the money you will save over the years of beinghealthy vs bieng sick. People who workout stay healthier in general. And weather or not yo have alot of wiehgt to lose, everyone needs help.

    You are welcome to add me as a frioend if you want.

    P.S. I was never bullied and have been through the same things alot of people have been through also.

    I just got compfortable over the years of being married and just let myself go.

    Now for me it is a journey back to good health.
  • bellygoaway
    bellygoaway Posts: 441 Member
    If you don't want to put in the time, lack of effort, and focus it takes to put on enough weight to account for two people, well I guess you are just stuck with average

    :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • FabMrFox
    FabMrFox Posts: 259 Member
    beingawesome ??? if you were okay with average you would have picked a different name - go get you some Awesome!
  • AuntieMC
    AuntieMC Posts: 346 Member
    People who have lost big numbers eventually arrive at this same place! It is where I am, now! Yeah, I was a huge child, a 300-pound-teenager, an enormous adult. I have lost 172 pounds since August 2011. That is quite an acheivement, to be sure, but here I am, now, at 183, still officially obese, but fairly normal looking for our American society. It gets old, trying to stick to 1200 calories day after day. I started out with a health crisis, and now I have ended up in the daily grind. I have started exercising. It is hard, I have never exercised before, but it is what I need to do to get healthy! I am getting weary of cooking everything from scratch, but fast foods are out of the question for me, for health reasons. So, although I have lost huge number, I have arrived at a place of battle-fatigue, and the war isn't won yet. There is a point at which those who have lost big numbers become just average, overweight folks, too! I am trying daily affirmations to plant into my brain that I LOVE to exercise, I really AM a slender person trying to get out! We'll see if it helps!
  • gingerveg
    gingerveg Posts: 748 Member
    I find that it helps to set yourself goals that are not related to weight loss. Things like running a 10k or half marathon in a specific time or doing an unassisted pull-up, 50 push ups or deadlifting your body weight. Focus on these goals and being healthy for them and the weight will come off along the way

    Yes this^ I've never had more than 15-20 pounds to lose and I'm here :) Occasionally there are threads that pop up for us too, so it's not just us here.

    BTW, I'm not sure puking and using diet pills are "average" I've never forayed into that realm. But I'm probably significantly older than you so maybe it's more of an "average" thing now.
  • Mariannewww
    Mariannewww Posts: 67
    I've never actually fallen into the overweight category iv only ever got to the high end of bmi normal range, so when I started I had about 14 lbs to get back to low/mid average and 25lb to get down to my ideal weight. It's taken about a year and a half to lose 18lb and I'm still working on the final 7. (Bit of extra Christmas padding thrown into the mix (turkey sandwiches and Boursin back to back are not the ideal diet staple!)

    It's basically a vanity thing - I want to be the best shape iv ever been in instead of feeling - ok- ish but never actually happy. Picking clothes to suit the body and hide the bits I don't like rather than just what I want to wear etc.

    Anyhoo it's basically been an enormous pain in the *kitten* and has taken Fricking ages and will continue to take ages. The worst of it is that you have to break that ingrained emotion that not eating way you want when you want (and as much as you want ...mmmm Boursin) is somehow depriving yourself. Your not depriving yourself, this is what you have to do and how you have to eat to look the way you want.

    It's tough and drawn out - you have to want it pretty bad


    God iv just depressed myself - :)
  • Ariana_75
    Ariana_75 Posts: 224
    What keeps me motivated is my personal choice of refusing to be just average! And I enjoy kicking my own butt every day.. love the challenge of me vs me!
  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,078 Member
    It's all down to how much you want it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I suppose I'd fit that bill OP. Most definitely I was overweight and still am, but not grossly so...about 30 Lbs or thereabouts. I actually started logging food for reasons other than losing weight...namely my doc told me I really needed to take it easy on the sat fats and sodium due to my cholesterol issues and hypertension. My goal was to cure these things through diet and hopefully get off the meds...so far so good.

    The interesting thing was that when I started eating more nutritious foods and exercising for my heart health, I started to lose weight naturally...just wasn't getting the calorie intake I was before. When I started noticing that, I thought...what the heck...losing a little weight would probably be beneficial to my health as well. That's right about the time I found MFP.

    I'm personally feeling better than I have in years and that really motivates me. Also, I know what it feels like to be strong, lean, and fit. I was very much into sports and athletics when I was younger and through highschool...then joined the Marine Corps. Really, I just let myself go for too long. Now that I'm eating better, exercising, and losing weight...that part of my brain goes back to those days and I remember how I used to feel, and I want that again...that's my motivation.
  • sugarlips1980
    sugarlips1980 Posts: 361 Member
    You raise a good point. It's fantastic when people lose a dramatic amount of weight but it's applaudable to reach your goal whatever amount you have to lose. Focus on the benefits to yourself in getting into shape and losing weight. Even if you don't get as much praise from people as bigger people do, make sure you praise yourself with each milestone reached!

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