having success but feeling a little down

well all depends on what look that you want to achieve.

Personally I know its a longgg journey its a life change so if its not my year im ok with that.. cause you know what i know where ill be in the next year.

Im down from 300 and im 5'5'' still cutting. should be about 175 this saturday.. I know i'd like to get to about 8% bf so i know how long i have to go. I know when i lift i know how i want to lift to achieve my goals...

I know what you mean clothes look fine.. personally i got skin to contend with.. i know its my own doing but I also can see the changes and Ill never go back to where i was and iknow its more than a fair trade off.

Gl hope this helps.

I don't have any personal experience words of wisdom, but I can appreciate what you're saying.

I'm mostly posting this to draw attention to it for my awesome FL where I suspect at least a few of them have BTDT and can share how they got through this part of the process.

ETA: And for what it's worth, I appreciate that your post isn't a "everyone come and give me random generic motivations and supports to help me get started!" but instead is an "I started this thing, I've made some good progress, but here's a problem I'm having right now, does anyone have any thoughts on what might help me get through this part of the process?" That distinction is important, and I like how you're approaching this.

I'm at goal (passed it actually) and I can totally relate. I see my flaws now more than I ever did when I was fat, because then I knew I was fat and I tried not to think about it.

I don't know how much this will help you, but I do think it takes your brain awhile to catch up. 6 months is what people usually say is the time it takes to start seeing yourself as you are when you go through major weight loss. I also found that I needed a little break. I took a day off from logging (it had been seven months) and I bought myself some really nice new clothes that accentuated my good features (YMMV on that). I'm also going to link a great article that really helped me get into a better head space about my progress. Just remember that it's a process and that the process is as much mental as it is physical. Be easy on yourself about this, because it really does take some time.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1013098-the-10-commandments-of-lean-by-sohee-lee

You're doing great man. It takes time, not only to lose the weight, but to start liking what you look like nekkid. I lost a lot of weight fairly rapidly ( no surgery) and was not happy with myself under the clothes at my goal weight. I did cardio 7 days a week during my rapid loss. You're already doing better than I was by lifting now. Once I hit my weight I changed it up to a slow bulk. Went to 3 days cardio and three days lifting, while eating at a slight surplus. A year later and 17 pounds heavier I am much happier with my appearance, in and out of clothes.

I am now cutting again (10 lbs or so) then I will bulk. I plan on bouncing back and forth between 182 & 200 until I get the physique I want. This probably wasn't too helpful, but the moral is that it takes time. You are already making huge progress, just keep at it and you WILL get to where you want to be. Keep lifting and making gains there, that made the biggest difference in my appearance ( filled in skin etc).

(2 years later and I still have body dismorphia issues, they get less frequent and intense, it just takes time)

Good luck and keep killing it!

First of all, BIG congratulations on how far you've come so far.
Second, as for changing your goal - why don't you see how you feel when you get to your first goal? We all have a healthy range, not just a set number, so you might find that you're happy at your original goal or that you want to go a bit further.

Finally - the most important thing - how you view yourself. It's hard. Believe me, I know its hard. You can see the number go down, see the improvements in your measurements and appearance, and still feel inferior. Sadly, reaching your goal weight won't fix that. I still struggle with this myself, even though I have been maintaining a healthy weight for almost 2 years now.

One thing that helped me somewhat was to try to come up with something positive about myself for every negative thought I had.

I also tried to take the things I saw as flaws and find something good about them (example: stretch marks - I hate the way they look, like my stomach has been clawed at by a madman, but I am glad they're here because they are a testament to the wonderful child I have, and some of them are also a reminder of how big I used to be and what I will never go back to).

Another thing that might help is to celebrate each victory - did you go down a size in your pants? AWESOME. Does your shirt have a bit more room in it than it did last month? GREAT.

Celebrate how far you have come and keep celebrating. Make small goals and give yourself kudos when you reach them. Don't beat yourself up if you stumble. Just keep trying.

Good luck, and a big congrats again to how far you've come already!

It took me a while to see the changes, and start to feel good about it all. For a while I was only doing this for my health, and didn't really expect much else. The psychological changes seem to take longer for some (certainly did for me).

I don't know if it's relevant for you, or not... but taking a 2 week break every 6 months (and eating at maintenance instead of a deficit), did wonders for re-motivating me.

I hope you find your smile soon. :flowerforyou:

Patience grasshopper. Big changes take time. Almost all of reach plateaus we can't bust through, or gain weight back, or don't lose as fast as we think we should, etc.

First, congratulations. You lost a tremendous amount of weight and should be damn proud.

Second, congratulations. No, seriously. Most people don't make it as far as you have. Excellent work.

Third. I understand where you're coming from. You've put in the work to lose a big number but you aren't quite satisfied. But keep in mind that your original goal was most likely an arbitrary number that you pulled out of the sky (or somewhere). If you're anything like me, you picked a number based on 3 criteria. It was round (nobody picks 253 or 247), it was big (80 pounds!) and it felt somewhat attainable.

Take heart in knowing you've done all the right things so far. You found a weight loss method that's worked for you and will continue working. You set a target and moved close to it. The next step, if you're not happy at your original target, is to set a new one. Since it sounds like you're concerned about how you look with clothes off, I suggest you use body fat percentage as your guide. Get your body fat percentage checked and figure out how much more fat you need to burn to get to the BF% you desire. That will give you a goal weight that should be more satisfying once you reach it.

Oh, and congratulations!

My wife and I had this discussion last night. We were on our way home from the gym and talking about progress and stuff and I told her that I "feel" fatter now than I ever have. Like you, I feel great, I like my progress, but I also now actually see what "needs" to be done.

I guess part of it was that I never really saw myself as big as I was. I always had an image in my head that I was much smaller than I was, but now that I am actually smaller, I see the work that needs to be completed. For me personally, it's not a downer or a bad thing, it's just what it is. I don't have a goal weight, but I have a goal look. Whether that look takes 1 yr or 3 yrs, I know that I've come too far to quit now and I'm having the best time getting there.

I guess I'm just more realistic about how I look. In clothes I look pretty good, naked..well, not as well as I would like. There are positives and negatives. I understand that this is a process and I'm just going to have to complete the process for the desired end result. The only bit of advice I can offer is to keep knocking it out and believe that it WILL happen. I know it will and I'm focusing more on that then I am the things I don't like.

Just sent you a FR as we are very similar in body profile and current progress level and can use more friends in the same boat as I am to help keep ourselves motivated and accountable.

Great work on your progress so far. Don't lose sight of that.

Stay on the course for the long term results also.

We got this ****.