How did you commit to weightloss?

It took 15 years of 'I'll start tomorrow' until I was actually ready to make a change. It took a doctor checkup (with my weight actually up after maintaining at 200 for years) and Holidays when I stuffed my face and made myself sick of food to get there and be ready to make a change forever.

When do people change? When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.

1. Making small changes. There's no need for you to jump right into day one weighing everything, running 10K for cardio, and eating 150g of protein a day. You'll tire out and become more likely to crash and give up. Instead, shoot for small changes like logging your food into MFP regardless of if you go over your calorie goal (and then maybe tighten your goal so that next month you'll be shooting to accurately log 50% of your meals with a food scale for instance)
2. Keeping up with those small changes over a long period. Though I don't know if this is true, many say it takes 21-28 days to form a habit. Find ways to motivate yourself to reach that 21-28-day milestone and keep at those small changes. I feel like after those 28 days it gets a lot easier, because it's more incorporated into my lifestyle (For instance, I do not need to think about weighing my food -it's almost automatic for me to grab my food scale when I want something to eat).
3. Start today. "Tomorrow" is just another wasted day if you hold onto the "I'll start tomorrow" mindset.

For me, changing my diet was almost immediate. I was diagnosed with a medical condition that requires that I pay super close attention to what and how much I consume. It was either get myself and my diet together or risk an early death.

Start logging today. Start counting calories tomorrow. I logged all damn near 3000 calories a day I was eating for about a week, and seeing that was what made me commit to my deficit. Baby steps, do the thing-do the thing well-enjoy the thing

Four years ago, I was accepted into professional school for a career in health care. I was 200 pounds at the time. What right did I have to talk to patients about their health if I was neglecting my own? I've had a lot of ups and downs since then, but I've learned a lot both on my own and from MFP.

I had a Come To Jesus at the doctor and left the office committed. I literally stopped at the grocery store on the way home to buy some healthy food, which I ate for dinner that night. Woke up to Crunch Berries and donuts,went to bed after baked chicken and green beans.

Nothing like a medical problem to scare you healthy!

I promised my wife the next "20, 30, 40 years" and I can't keep that promise if I eat myself to death. A heartscare earlier in the year that turned out to be stress was part of it. My knees kept getting worse. My back hurts everyday. At nearly 400 pounds I had to do SOMETHING.

I have always had good willpower on other things. When I was in my 20s and smoking weed and the money wasn't there.... I stopped smoking. No biggie. I didn't understand what the big deal with addiction was when I experimented with cocaine at one point in my 20s. One day heard myself say "I need to do some coke" as opposed to "I WANT to do some coke", I was done and haven't touched it again. I smoked cigarettes for about 8-10 years in my late teens/20s. When I quit I was just done with it. Even now, I live in a state with legal recreational marijuana and I can and have easily purchased it in stores no different than going to 7-11 to buy a 6pack of Budweiser but I still don't smoke it because work doesn't allow it.

I have questioned myself many times about why I could have willpower on many things but couldn't stop myself from eating more food in a day than most people go through in a week. I still don't have the answer but what I do know is that I have to be alive for her and I want much better for myself.

I am not looking to be in great shape to do 3 day/160 mile bike rides like i used to do when I was 17 but it would really be nice to be able to buy clothes from most any clothing store because I don't need to look for a 5x or 54"+ waist pants. As I lose weight it just makes me more determined to keep it up.

My come-to-jeebus moment was when my weight began with a '2.' And no, I was not 20-something pounds...
~shudders~

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Left the doctor's office. Sat in the car. Said screw this. Downloaded MapMyWalk, MFP, and a few others. Went home, read about weight loss. Lost the weight.

This is pretty much how it went for me, too. It was a combination of the doctor telling me that my weight was my biggest health risk and my realizing that being overweight was holding me back from doing things I want to do. Screw that.