Thinking of "starting today"? You might want to check this out - pics inside!

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  • astrose00
    astrose00 Posts: 754 Member
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    Great post. Congrats!!! I'm almost halfway to my dream goal weight but I agree that it's best to just start today. My "today" was on September 22 and I haven't looked back. I'm so glad I decided to do it.

    Thanks for sharing your story. How are you feeling these days? Is this something you feel you can keep up forever? How has your mindset changed? I dream and fret about maintenance. I am so anxious to get there but don't want to mess it up once I do.
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
    edited January 2015
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    astrose00 wrote: »
    Great post. Congrats!!! I'm almost halfway to my dream goal weight but I agree that it's best to just start today. My "today" was on September 22 and I haven't looked back. I'm so glad I decided to do it.

    Thanks for sharing your story. How are you feeling these days? Is this something you feel you can keep up forever? How has your mindset changed? I dream and fret about maintenance. I am so anxious to get there but don't want to mess it up once I do.

    Congratulations - nice work!

    I feel great honestly. But I completely hear you about maintenance. I have the same anxiety.

    Realistically, I've had to recognize that I may have to be regularly active and track my calories for the foreseeable future. That's why I chose this method and why it worked for me. It's simple, sustainable and it gives me the information I need to make sure I'm being honest with myself about my decisions. And that's the biggest mindset change I think - realizing that, left to my own devices I don't truly "eat like a normal person" which is something I used to try to convince myself that I was doing.

  • astrose00
    astrose00 Posts: 754 Member
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    ewhip17 wrote: »
    astrose00 wrote: »
    Great post. Congrats!!! I'm almost halfway to my dream goal weight but I agree that it's best to just start today. My "today" was on September 22 and I haven't looked back. I'm so glad I decided to do it.

    Thanks for sharing your story. How are you feeling these days? Is this something you feel you can keep up forever? How has your mindset changed? I dream and fret about maintenance. I am so anxious to get there but don't want to mess it up once I do.

    Congratulations - nice work!

    I feel great honestly. But I completely hear you about maintenance. I have the same anxiety.

    Realistically, I've had to recognize that I may have to be regularly active and track my calories for the foreseeable future. That's why I chose this method and why it worked for me. It's simple, sustainable and it gives me the information I need to make sure I'm being honest with myself about my decisions. And that's the biggest mindset change I think - realizing that, left to my own devices I don't truly "eat like a normal person" which is something I used to try to convince myself that I was doing.
    I scour the pages on this site and the thing that most maintainers say is that they weigh themselves all the time and continue to log. I'm not sure I will log the way I have been during weightloss but I plan to weigh myself daily and have a 3-5lb window that I can never exceed. If I do, I will go back to caloric deficit. My sister is also on a weight loss journey and we talk all the time about changing our view of food. In my family, it was always THE focus at our gatherings. It'll be quite a challenge to change this but we've taken the focus off of food during the holidays and it's been great. I've yo-yo'd in the past but really want this to be the last time I have to lose weight. I envy the few friends I have who eat to live instead of living to eat. Not overeating or not eating poorly on a consistent basis shouldn't be that much of a challenge. I am working everyday to drill that into my head.


    Congrats again on your great accomplishment. I can't wait until I'm drafting my success stories post!!!
  • wildcowbell
    wildcowbell Posts: 15 Member
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    Such a difference, great work! I'm sure it was tough, but so worth it!
  • gitanab76
    gitanab76 Posts: 4 Member
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    Can't wait to have a story like yours! !! Good job!!!
  • bookworm_847
    bookworm_847 Posts: 1,903 Member
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    ewhip17 wrote: »
    I spent 10 years starting tomorrow. Start today.

    I love this. Congratulations to you on all of your hard work!
  • misalillstead
    misalillstead Posts: 407 Member
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    Such and inspiration! Thanks so much for posting and congrats on your success!!!
  • O2Bslimagain
    O2Bslimagain Posts: 120 Member
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    Thank you for your words of encouragement. It has been 10 years for me to of saying I will start tomorrow. I have started and lost weight built muscle and then quit. I joined mfp in 2011 and really haven't changed much. I lose weight. I exercise. I run a race. I quit. I exercise, lose weight and quit. I can't seem to get past once I lose weight to keep on exercising. I used to be where I only needed to lose 10 lbs then 20 then 30 then 40. Now I am up to needing to lose 50 lbs. That might not seem like a lot compared to some that are over that 50 lbs., but it is a lot to me and I seem to gain fat so fast that if I don't take care of it now - I will just continue to grow. I am glad to hear that you had hard days and days where it took all you could to stay on track. Thanks again and today is going to be my "Today". I will keep you posted. If you want to add me as a friend- I would really like that.
  • strive58
    strive58 Posts: 18
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    So inspiring. What part of your journey seemed to "make all the difference?"
    Way to go!
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
    edited January 2015
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    strive58 wrote: »
    So inspiring. What part of your journey seemed to "make all the difference?"
    Way to go!

    You mean like taking the road less travelled by? :smiley:

    Grrrr.... MFP just vaporized the post I typed out. Let me try that again.

    Couple of things:
    - setting my weight loss expectation at 1-2lbs per week and always keepng that in mind. Kept me sane.
    - Being able to shrug off a bad day. A 1500 calorie Hershey bar and peanut butter incident comes to mind... Tomorrow is always another opportunity to succeed as long as I don't quit today.
    - Pizza. Fitting it in to my day as often as possible.
    - Not making my quest for better health a huge deal. Just going about it just like I would any other activity like going to work or brushing my teeth or mowing the lawn. Not singling it out as anything more extraordinary than any other daily activity.
  • annie5678
    annie5678 Posts: 16
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    You are a huge inspiration! Congrats, you look great!
  • nlmillervt
    nlmillervt Posts: 242 Member
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    So I've totally been there. The mental battle is greater than the physical one sometimes. And yes it was baby steps but mainly because this time I gave myself permission to not be perfect. I literally started by focusing on each meal and just trying to do a better job for THAT meal. If I did then, great, move on to the next. If I didn't then, ok, do a better job with the next one. Small changes add up to big results.

    And I also tried to pay really close attention to what my body..... And mind... Needed to succeed. For example, I must eat something around 3-4pm. If I don't, I'll soon be found in a fetal position on the floor of the pantry covered in chip crumbs, granola bar residue and cracker dust. So learning just that one thing made a dramatic improvement for me.

    Regarding exercise, I literally just tried to move more. Parked my car farther away. Took the stairs. And yes, just went for a walk. I've lost 122lbs by just going for a walk. I now enjoy it but at first it was hard.

    But more than anything else it just came down to realistic expectations, the ability to move on from a setback rather than letting it give you an excuse to quit, and never quitting. Bad day? So what, it happens. Make today a better day. Get some momentum. You'll never make any progress forward without momentum. And you CAN do it.

    Thank your for your inspirational story and your wise words!
  • ksmithnh
    ksmithnh Posts: 68 Member
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    Thank you so much for sharing your story! I had such a good start to my journey but I hit a plateau and have completely gotten off track the last couple of months. I feel terrible but can't seem to get my inspiration and motivation back. I think I lost sight of the big picture and what is possible because I still have so far to go. Your commitment and results are so encouraging! Congrats :)
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
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    Thanks everyone!
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
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    ksmithnh wrote: »
    Thank you so much for sharing your story! I had such a good start to my journey but I hit a plateau and have completely gotten off track the last couple of months. I feel terrible but can't seem to get my inspiration and motivation back. I think I lost sight of the big picture and what is possible because I still have so far to go. Your commitment and results are so encouraging! Congrats :)

    Yeah, been there for sure. In the past I think I got too caught up in chasing motivation when I should have just taken one simple action in the right direction. I think that a lot of times just taking that action, making that gesture, actually turns into motivation. I find myself even doing this with work now as well - when I've been putting something off that I don't particularly want to do I try to stop looking for motivation to do it and instead just do one little thing to get started and before I know it I'm on a roll. Ummmm..... Roll...... ;-)
  • Serendipity5215
    Serendipity5215 Posts: 190 Member
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    What a tremendous accomplishment!! Congrats!! :)
  • MargueriteMuguet
    MargueriteMuguet Posts: 230 Member
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    Bravo!
  • groversa
    groversa Posts: 450 Member
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    You are such an inspiration! This is wonderful, great job!!
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
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    Thanks - I have to make one confession about an unfair advantage I may have: my wife. She's a total rock star and has made a number of sacrifices over the past year so that I could pursue this.
  • iSpeakLife
    iSpeakLife Posts: 104 Member
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    gettinfitaus wrote: »
    You look great, I love the: I spent 10 years starting tomorrow. Start today - so true!

    Awesome!

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