150 to go, seems impossible

Yes!! Peruse the "success" threads. There are SO many people that are SO inspiring! Welcome to MFP! :flowerforyou:

It's doable I had 170 pounds to lose and I've lost 43 of that already. In 4 1/2 months. It's doable with eating right, exercise, and lots of determination

Yup, it's entirely possible. Just take it one day at a time. When I started 14 months ago, I needed to lose 123. I'm halfway there. is it slower than I'd like? HECK YEAH! I'd love to wake up tomorrow and be at my goal weight! It doesn't happen that way though, so I just keep marching forward and look at the successes I've accomplished already. So far, I've lost 5 clothing sizes, I can now walk forever without feeling like I want to keel over after two blocks, I can ride my bike and keep up with my 9-year-old son and my blood chemistry numbers have changed dramatically for the better.

Set small goals for yourself that aren't necessarily tied to the scale, such as recording everything you eat every single day, walking 20 minutes every other day, etc. Keep adding to those goals and good habits. If you focus on the good habits, your weight will follow. Conversely, if you focus only on the scale, the habits don't necessarily follow and it becomes harder and harder to stay on track and far more frustrating!

Be kind to yourself and don't beat yourself up over minor slip-ups. They *will* happen and the trick is to get right back on track the next day. You didn't gain the weight over night and it's not going to go away over night either. So that means that one day of being off program is NOT going to completely derail all of your efforts.

the other piece of advice I'd give is to not do anything to lose weight that you aren't willing to do for the rest of your life. If you aren't willing to give up pizza FOREVER, then find a way to fit it into your new healthier lifestyle. That goes for everything. You might not be able to eat the treat you love as often or have as much of them as you did, but you CAN still have them. Figure out how to make them work and you'll be much happier in the long run.

Finally, keep in mind that weight loss is far from linear. You will not lose steadily week after week after week. There will be weeks that you stay the same and some that you will even gain - EVEN IF YOU ARE DOING EVERYTING 'PERFECT!' Do not let those weeks derail your efforts! Sometimes our bodies do strange, unexplained things. Watch your weight loss trend over time. You may even develop a pattern lose, lose, gain, maintain, lose, etc. As long as the overall trend line is going down, you have nothing to worry about, except just maintaining your patience.

Feel free to add me as a friend if you'd like.

I do not have that much weight to lose but I believe that 150lbs is possible. The biggest problem I have is staying positive and that is why MFP is great. There are so many people who will try to offer advice and support when your journey gets difficult. Add some supportive people on here and I think you'll be twice as likely to succeed.

Also accept that there may be days or weeks (often in my case) that you'll fall off the wagon but keep logging and doing your best until you're ready to give it your all again.

Give yourself a chance and you will be amazed at what you can achieve and how much easier doing daily tasks are. I was constantly in a lot of pain before I started losing weight and the pain is so much less now for shifting a few pounds. Its given me a bit more freedom and I feel stronger.

I have a friend on my MFP friend list that has lost almost 200 without surgery. I have another that is down 140. I'm down nearly 70. My husband is down more than 80. Both he and I are still working on it. As I approach my initial long term goal, I look at myself and think, "It's not going to be enough." Glad I didn't know that for sure early on, because you're right, a large weightloss goal looks overwhelming.

So don't look at the whole goal to judge your success. Pick something small. For the first 2 weeks simply tell yourself that measuring and logging EVERYTHING you put in your mouth is the goal. Do you drink sugar-sweetened soda? Cut back to one a day. Or one a week. Do you eat fast food for lunch daily? Resolve to check nutrition info on the menu items for places you're most likely to go and have one or two "best on the menu" choices in mind. Do you not eat junk really, but simply too much of otherwise healthy foods? Measure your food so you can start to see what is too much and begin to downsize. Decide to take a timed walk of at least 15-20 minutes twice a week. Once you know what you've been eating and have a best estimate of your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), look at that consumption number and knock 10% off of it and stick to that for a week. Pick a goal of 1 pound lost per week and with making some of the small changes (or similar one that fit your circumstance) listed above, weigh-in once a week for 4 weeks. Bet you've lost something by then. Make that your first interim "loss goal". Just to see the scale shift in a downward direction. Just to be able to walk an extra 5 minutes and not feel any more winded that you did 2 weeks ago walking a shorter time. Set little goals, and choose steps that will move you toward the goals.

You can do it, but not if you let that nasty little voice in your head tell you it's all too much and you just can't make it. Tell that son-of-a-gun to shut it. You're doing this.

But its not..my goal is 120 pounds and Ive lost 86 so far..no surgery..just counting calories and walking..you can do it.

It's possible! Check out everybody's tickers here in the forums. I see people all the time who have lost that much. Good luck!!

I started off needing to lose 235 lbs. It seemed so daunting at first but 15 months into it and almost 120 lbs down I see it as more of a possibility now. I agree with the others here thinking about all the weight you have to lose will discourage you. Setting small goals and reaching them keeps you motivated to keep going. The other thing is you don't want to lose weight too fast or you have a higher chance of putting it back on. Slow and steady always wins the race. Reward yourself for reaching goals. I got myself an engraved ring that says 100 lbs lost when I lost my first 100 lbs. And be realistic. You are going to have days where you just can't be on, where you don't feel like exercising or eating healthy. You just have to pick yourself up and keep moving forward even if you slip up. No one is perfect all the time. It can be done and there are people who do it without surgery all the time.

I commented earlier but just another thought for you: Please read and get inspiration from "BeingKevinsBlog" on MFP.

It is possible. I lost over 100 pounds after I had let myself balloon to 250 lbs. (I am only 5' 2"!) Anyways, I lost it all and was a size 10. Then proceeded to get pregnant with 3 children right in a row. I am not nearly as big as I was before, but I still need to lose 67 pounds to get back down again. It can be done though! Did it once I will do it again.