When you have 100 llbs+ to lose.

It is nice to hear others say they notice, but I am not doing this to get confirmation of others, it makes your success rely on other people, which is a very dangerous situation to be in. You need to be 100% independent in this - with or without others.

It is nice to hear others say they notice, but I am not doing this to get confirmation of others, it makes your success rely on other people, which is a very dangerous situation to be in. You need to be 100% independent in this - with or without others.

WE HAVE A WINNER! perfectly put

On short lunch and don't have time to read every word that precedes my post, but you're getting some great advice! Sorry if mine is redundant.

I have lost 94 so far and have a ways to go ... but here's what I've learned.

My advice is to put most of the conventional weight loss advice aside, and start tagging along the bodybuilders community. There are some exceedingly kind and generous souls who haven't been where we are with the very high weight and lack of fitness, but some of them have. I realized early on at MFP that almost everything I had been taught about weight loss was coming from people who profit from my failures, which are inevitable when you're doing things that make your body think it's starving and being punished. Instead, go for the long range and think about healing and building your body rather than simply reducing its size at any cost. Don't punish it with starvation, excessive exercise or self-hatred or judgement. Instead, love it into your plan.

1) Count calories, but don't overly restrict them. Lower is NOT better nor faster! You need to NEVER eat below your BMR (there are BMR calculators out there). This keeps your metabolism chugging, keeps you ON PLAN and gives you endurance.
2) Mix/alternate cardio and strength training. Read a book called "New Rules of Lifting for Women"
3) Don't eliminate ANY food group or macro. Try a balanced 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein for a great reduction plan. Make it a priority to get your MINIMUMS as well as staying within maximums.
4) Drink water! Water comes in tea and coffee and lemonade too. If you drink something besides water, count it as BOTH water AND food, recording calories as well as fluid intake.
5) Don't junk up your diet with junk food, but allow yourself that occasional treat as long as you can keep it together. If you eat all your calories of junk food every day, your body will STILL think it's starving and will slow your metabolism. But eating strictly veggies is really no better. You need to find your balance. Some say 75-80% good healthy clean food, 20-25% "junk" is optimal. I find that this is too much for me to lose. Experiment and find what works best for you. Also look for sugar and other dangers on your labels. My yogurt for several months had more sugar in it than my ice cream! I eat the real deal, though---if I were to eat fake sugar, fake mayo, fake butter then I wouldn't be satisfied, and I'm not willing to put synthetic poisons into my system just to lose weight. I can assure you that I have lost all mine so far eating real bacon, real butter, real sour cream and real sugar. Animal fats are now believed to be super-good for you and carbs are essential to healthy body function.
6) Give yourself TIME to heal! As long as you're on the right road, don't sweat the timetable.
7) The scale measures your TOTAL weight, not just fat loss/gain. Scale readings can be affected by muscle gain, water gain (sugar and exercise both contribute) and by constipation! Use the scale for informing yourself on trends but don't hang your sense of success or failure on that single number. There are so many other ways you are succeeding!
8) Don't compare yourself to others. That can get very dangerous in terms of setting expectations too high.

Most importantly, be KIND TO THAT BODY! It's trying its best to keep up with your life decisions, give it room to heal and nurture it with good nutrition or else it will have no choice but to fail your expectations in the end.

You're in the right place!

FR sent. Great advice on this thread. Even though I have lost 100lbs, I see so much of it I need to take myself.

It is nice to hear others say they notice, but I am not doing this to get confirmation of others, it makes your success rely on other people, which is a very dangerous situation to be in. You need to be 100% independent in this - with or without others.

WE HAVE A WINNER! perfectly put
[/quote

Yes well put! Tomorrow is day 15 for me and my first weigh in ...I am not obsessing over the pounds as the lifestyle change and the way my clothes are feeling are rewards in it self!! I too am a shorty, 5' 4", at 237 two weeks ago, my goal, 155. I just today actually started feeling comfortable talking about my weight loss to others at work, and am fortunate to have a healthy support system at home and work as well.
I can use all the help I can get to help to motivate me to fet up and move more.

Anyone who would like to add me, please feel free, we can do this together and I know I need friends in the same situation.