For those of you who have lost over 40 lbs!

I've had trouble for a while losing weight. Usually can drop 10 pounds - then it stops - then I stop. Here's what I think is different for me this time after failing to lose this weight over the past 10 years.

1) From my Larry north book: "Any diet you can't do for the rest of your life is not worth doing for a day" - Amen - I've learned this the hard way, but this time I'm trying to be less extreme. So when it's someones birthday - I have some birthday cake - that's realistic. If I don't lose weight that day - there's tomorrow.

2) Group exercise classes at my local rec center. This is an interesting one - I really don't have any relationships in there, but I tend to see the same people in there over and over - if I miss a week - someone might say - hey where have you been? For some reason I feel like they are glad I'm there - and it's been motivatiing.

3) MP3 player for walking - walking can be boring - so finding a book on mp3, or some good bible teaching has been nice.

4) Knowing today what I'm going to eat tomorrow. I eat 5 times a day - smaller meals - good proteins and carbs - I have to plan ahead 1 day

5) Maybe this should be number one: finding foods that I love that fit within my program.

6) Springerhill ranch 98% lean ground beef. Makes number 5 work great.

I dropped 100 lbs. 5 years ago, in 1 year. What did it for me were a couple keys, the first being 100% commitment. When we have serious weight to drop, we have to plan our whole day around eating and exercise. Those things won't be your priority forever, but for now you need to be extremely aware of what you're eating and how you're moving. When I did it I didn't have anything like MFP. This site makes this first key MUCH easier.

The second key was routine. I ate the same thing every day for most meals. I went and played racquetball EVERY DAY for an hour. I even took a timer and wouldn't leave, no matter what, until my hour was up. No matter how tired or beat I was, I'd go and stay the whole hour every day. I even went out in a couple hurricanes (that was the year in Florida that we had 5 hurricanes cross over central Florida.). The routine helped me seperate emotion from the process of losing weight. When you do the same thing every day, you don't have to think about how hungry you are, and you especially don't have to think about what you're missing. You just do the same thing you did yesterday.

You'll find that once you commit 100% to the process, the way you think and feel about food will start to shift, and the choices will get easier to make. This is how we make changes that last. We don't change WHAT we eat, we change how we SEE food and what food's role is in our lives.

Like the poster above I also lost 43 lbs on Weight Watchers about 2 years ago. Its a good program. I found that weighing in, with a person recording it, was an incentive. I don't trust myself! I continue to attend meetings when I can, and still weigh in monthly as a lifetime member.

I never once approached my weight loss as a "diet". From the get -go, I said I needed to change my life. I changed my diet, and exercise routines, making it a part of my every day lifestyle. Once you meet goal, you have to continue to live the healthy changes that you made through out the journey. My lifestyle and my diet is no different today than it is when I started on my "diet".

Its an ever changing and evolving journey. I am always researching and learning new and interesting foods that fit into my "new" lifestyle. But it is so worth the journey to feel and look good. I can look in the mirror and like what I see. I can run through the parking lot in a heavy rainstorm, and not feel like I need to collapse as I enter the store. {and I left my husband behind me, because he could not keep up with me!} Its not an easy journey. There will be some great weeks and some frustrating weeks, but well worth the end results. Keep going and don't give up.