Starting over-need encouragement!

dont give up! are you exercising as well? remember that makes a huge difference! i have delt with huge weight fluctuations my whole life so i know how it is to feel like the journey will never end....but you have to see it as a lifestyle change and not just an evil diet that you just have to do for a little while. keep your chin up! hard work pays off

I HATE EXERCISING! But you know what, as much as I hate it...I LOVE the feeling afterwards. That feeling of accomplishment and knowing that my efforts WILL produce results is the most addictive drug in the world.

For me, I started small...I gave up the sodas and started drinking WATER! LOTS OF IT. I still have my morning coffee...but its water the rest of the day. I might have a diet soda occasionally....but that's very rare.

Then I moved onto religiously monitoring my food intake...it didn't matter if I ate well that day or ate an entire sheetcake (LOL never did that but you get what I'm saying) I put it in the counter. It forced me to be accountable for what I was putting in my body. It forced me to see how much excess calories I am taking in. It forced me to look at why I'm overweight.

Then, I started exercising...and I still have a problem with it. But I get up and I walk the trails at the park almost every morning. 2.6 miles in just under an hour. If I don't do that....I do some wii fit. Strength training too....slowly but surely.

My point of all this is you can't try to change everything ALL AT ONCE. It's overwhelming, discouraging, and disorienting. Small steps, and before we know it....we will be fitness QUEENS!

You can do this. We all can. Don't look at how far you have to go....look at how far you've come!

Things may not be moving as fast as you would like, but at least they are moving. That is something to be happy about. Don't make the same mistake I made. Last year I topped out at 162 pounds. I was frustrated that in spite of my exercising, I was not really losing any weight. (It is because I was eating for 3--apparently for 3 hungry lumberjacks, LOL). The point is that when I became discouraged about not losing any weight as fast as I wanted, I quit trying to lose weight at all. And then you know what happened? Over the period of the next few months I GAINED 45 pounds. So now I am right above 200. AArrgh!!! Even if I had not lost any weight, if I had not just thrown in the towel, at least I would have not gained more weight. So I can feel your pain of trying and not getting where you want to as fast as you would like, but take it from me, don't give up. You are on the losing side (scale-wise); it is just a matter of time.

Since I, too, have recently started over, I am finding this site helpful in making changes in my lifestyle. For starters, jotting down what I eat really has made me aware of how much I am eating. No wonder I have a weight problem--my mouth likes to be constantly eating!! :drinker: So far this site is really helping me learn to recognize what I am doing wrong (and right). Stick with your efforts and you will see results, even if it takes time. And if you get discouraged in the meantime, remember that you could choose to give up like I did last year and gain a lot more weight, or you can keep going, knowing that even if things aren't where you would choose them to be ideally, at least they are not worse!!! Keep going and you WILL get there!! :flowerforyou:

Hi Katz

i right with you, girl! I did loose some weight since I started here in January, but I haven't been very consistent. I am still over 200 pounds and can't seem to get out of it. So I am starting over as well. You can count me in because I need all the support i can get.