looking for support and tips to continue and never give up

Hi there! Ya I know that feeling. The moment you look in the mirror and you start to like what you see so you stop being so militant on yourself and letting yourself do things you wouldn't have dreamed of months prior to it. Back when i was 23 i weighed 230, i got tired of it, so i started to do something about it. I got down to 195 and was so happy i started to let up.

Here I am 5 years later 250 lbs, 20 lbs heavier. I realize now where i went wrong wasn't being happy about how i looked, and relaxing. It was the very idea that i thought it was a temporary diet, and that when i was to my goal weight (180) that I could go back to my bad habits.

I know now that this is a lifestyle change, and that crash diets, and miracle weight loss programs aren't going to cut it. One of my new friends just asked me what my goals were. I responded with "My MFP goal weight is 180, however, my true goal im living right now" and i went on to explain that when i started this i decided to do something I had never thought to do before, and believe it or not, a lot of people don't think about doing this. I decided to research nutrition, not weight loss, or muscle building, or flat bellies. I spend everyday trying to reach 100% of my daily nutritional values while still coming in under my calories and I feel better than ever, and I know that with time the weight will naturally come off in a healthy way. Also this is something I can do for the rest of my life without depriving myself.

I guess what I mean by all of this is instead of thinking of this as a means to an end to lose weight, think of it as the first day of your new lifestyle, that's how I am learning to look at it, and its very freeing

Also feel free to add me if you would like I just started using the community chat today, and I have met a lot of really cool supportive people.