I want to see it can be done! 300 lbs start

Get a new doctor.

I have heard of a theory (sorry, not much in the way of references) that people who have been overweight all their life have some change take place in their genes so that your body naturally wants to get back to that highest weight again....the theory says that your body thinks it is starving so is always trying to get back the high weight. Perhaps this is what your Doc is referring to?

The more I lose by calorie counting on MFP, the more I think that the theory might be a poor excuse for our obese society, and how we have come to accept crappy food and laziness as 'normal'.

I too have been overweight for a long long long time. I know I will have to put effort into thinking about what I eat and how much I move for the rest of my life. Will my body want to put back on the 40kg I'm going to lose?? It will if I feed it too many calories. Can I do it without a tool like MFP?? I don't know yet....I am only 8kg down so far, so have a long way to go. If I find that I can't do it without MFP - then taking deliberate note on what's going on with calories for the rest of my life is a very small price to pay for health.

Keep looking at these Success Stories - lots and lots of people have done it and have pics to prove it. Then go and read through the Maintenance section. Lots and lots of people have kept it off. You can too.

It's not impossible, but it's very difficult. Your doctor has probably never seen anyone make that big of of a change. But lots of people here on MFP have done it. I am well on my way after 15 months with no intention of stopping!
SW 301
CW 196
GW 150
Video of my success so far, compliement of my trainer:
https://www.facebook.com/GetfitPT/videos/vb.241674085965567/704218469711124/?type=2&theater

5'[img]https://15254b2dcaab7f5478ab-24461f391e20b7336331d5789078af53.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/mfp-en.vanilla forums.com/editor/8r/urfl28zs6wvy.jpg[/img]
5'3 300lbs to about 175... But I'm even less now and still going. IT CAN BE DONE

I started at 230 lbs and I'm 170 now...I wasn't necessarily 300 but I set out to lose 100 lbs and I'm 40 lbs away now so yes it can be done.

Persistence and patience is key, and That's all it takes.

If your doctor has hooked you up with the dietitian and exercise physiologist then he/she is obviously serious about helping you lose weight.

If - or should I say when - you get to 220 I think your doctor will be delighted and will be more than willing to support you to lose more.

I guess many doctors get demoralized giving out advice about weight loss and not seeing much success in the majority of cases. Make his/her day by being the exception and succeeding.

Sophlilcady wrote: »

I am losing weight with the help of my doctor, a dietician, an exercise physiologist, and MFP. When I told my doctor my weight loss goal, he said that it was pretty much impossible, because i've been overweight my whole life. I would LOVE to see pictures of people who HAVE done this, because I want to do it and prove my doctor wrong!

My start weight: 135 kilos (297 lbs)
My ultimate goal weight (i have set smaller goals along the way): 70 kilos (154 lbs)

My doctor has said I should aim for a little bit under 100 kilos (220 lbs) and be happy with that for the rest of my life. Thank you so much in advance

http://whatwillilooklike.com/#1p9bjy

This will give you a very good idea. Other than MFP, this is what motivated me.

My own partial story on: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10252978/43kg-off-in-6-months-and-targetting-the-last-20kg#latest

Sophlilcady wrote: »

My first goal is 10% of my body weight, then each 5% from there is a mini goal. For each goal reached I am buying a little charm, and when I reach my final goal will buy a nice silver bracelet for all my charms to go on

I really like that idea!

While my goal was smaller than yours, I still managed to lose the 10% in a short amount of time, the 5% has been slower. I did not make any dietary changed that I could not be happy with for the rest of my life.

You can do this!

Okay, so, your doctor is probably trying to be mindful of recidivism statistics, and I'm glad that he's not trying to force you into an arbitrary "healthy" weight based on BMI.

BUT he's wrong. It can totally be done. I started at 290 (probably up at 300 at my highest, but I didn't own a scale for many years, so) and I'm down by 95 pounds now and still going. I have the most recent comparison/progress photo at the bottom of this post, if that interests you at all. I've got another 45 pounds to my goal, and I've maintained the weight I've lost several times over the last few years. While I don't discount the possibility that I could regain some of that weight (probably not all, as there were more factors to my heaviest weight that strictly diet), nor do I feel "impossible."

You (and me, and most of us who intend not to slip into recidivism) will always have to be more mindful of our eating and activity than people who haven't been fat, but that doesn't mean we can't successfully lose and maintain weight loss. Lots of people here have done it.

Sophlilcady wrote: »

I am losing weight with the help of my doctor, a dietician, an exercise physiologist, and MFP. When I told my doctor my weight loss goal, he said that it was pretty much impossible, because i've been overweight my whole life. I would LOVE to see pictures of people who HAVE done this, because I want to do it and prove my doctor wrong!

My start weight: 135 kilos (297 lbs)
My ultimate goal weight (i have set smaller goals along the way): 70 kilos (154 lbs)

My doctor has said I should aim for a little bit under 100 kilos (220 lbs) and be happy with that for the rest of my life. Thank you so much in advance

I totally believe you can do this. I too am 300 lbs (yikes) Actually 301 as of this morning, my highest weight was 325ish right before my son was born (have no idea what I was right after) but when I went for my 5 week check up I was 313 was horrified because prior to this my highest weight was 309 and that freaked me out enough to make changes but I did not stick with them so here I am again over 300 lbs. My doctor encourages me to lose weight but also told me that for my height and bone structure around 200 would be a good weight for me, I was close to that once and felt awesome. For most women the thought of weighing 200 lbs is horrifying but for me, right now it is my goal. When I finally meet that goal IF I see that I could lose more without looking sick than I will but if not and my health checks out I will maintain to stay there. According to all of the medical books I will still be 'Morbidly obese" however those books assume every body is the same when they are not. Good luck. You can do this and you can add me if you would like, I do post quite a bit about my WOE that is LCHF but I do NOT push it on anyone, what works for me may not work for you.

When I started I was 178, My doctor asked me what my goal weight was and I said 140. She looked at me and said, " You could safely get down to 125" lol

I actually got down to 126 but in my opinion, didn't look good. I'm comfortable at 130-133

You can absolutely get to your goal weight!

jamesha100 wrote: »

If your doctor has hooked you up with the dietitian and exercise physiologist then he/she is obviously serious about helping you lose weight.

If - or should I say when - you get to 220 I think your doctor will be delighted and will be more than willing to support you to lose more.

I guess many doctors get demoralized giving out advice about weight loss and not seeing much success in the majority of cases. Make his/her day by being the exception and succeeding.

Boy I wish there was a "like" button. I remember my doctor hugging me, saying she couldn't believe someone listened to her, I was able to get off all my meds.

No pics but I started at 284-286 and have been going down from there. F what the doctor says. Reasonable for him to assumee but it all depends on you. I am currently at 230-236(I refuse to weigh until I get it right). I have been as low as 199. I was small, happy, strong, and accomplishing things. When I reduced my activity (5 hours a day) I didn't adjust my eating enough and slowly crept up. Adding muscle and losing fat now so I am not too worried about it.

Just in case you need advice. I started making bologna sandwhiches on wheat instead of white. Eating half and chugging a water instead of the usual sprite and subbing mayo for bbq sauce until I was up to making lean turkey and wheat sandwiches with low fat dressing. So for this one meal I dropped some lbs. Then, I started lifting weights and KI tried football and track training which helped me drop 15lbs and I lifted weights and played basketball every day for a summer and lost 33lbs while portion sizing everything. Then, I kept lifting weights, and changed more of my meals to be cleaner. Now I am at my current weight just working on the sweets and empty calories that usually fill my nights. You can do it. I know I felt like a small buff king at 199 and I know I can get back. Go for your goals!