you will always be fat...

I think for me that's why my ultimate goal is not to lose weight but to live a healthier lifestyle for the rest of my life. Although weight loss would be a fantastic perk, it's not my only reason for doing all of this.

If I can make a permanent change then hopefully I can break the cycle.

That is actually one of my goals. I don't want to exercise to just lose weight, but to try and make it as natural as brushing my teeth. That is why it is better to view this as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. Which is also why I like to switch up my activities so I can keep challenging myself and not get bored.

Totally...How easy is it to gain it all back. We have all been there. 5 off, 7 on, 6 off, 10 on, and so on. I swear, it is almost easier for a person to get off drugs than for someone to lose weight and KEEP it off. This site helps a lot though, so I am staying here for my 12 step program.

I agree, I want to feel good and have energy, and the ony way I can achieve that is by eating healthy and working out. But, sometimes I eat too much healthy, so the scale may stay the same but I will still fee good.

I think that is a really negative way of looking at things. I would rather focus on the positives of losing weight.

I totally agree with this!! But I think for most people having to focus on healthy eating and making an effort to get some sort of physical activity will always be something that they have to be mindful of. It is kind of stereotypical to think that skinny people don't ever have to worry about what they eat or how much they work out. I'm sure none of the Victoria Secret models have ever been overweight but they are always have to be conscious of what they eat and how much they work out.

I think that is a really negative way of looking at things. I would rather focus on the positives of losing weight.

All the positivity in the world can't change your genetic predisposition to being over weight. You pretty much have to make conscious food decisions from the point when you hit your goal weight on as our metabolisms are not the same as people that are predisposed to being skinny.

I agree. If you began your life either having bad choices made for you and then making bad choices for yourself, You will always go back to what you know. Therefore you have to make a choice, either change to a healthy lifestyle or be a yo-yo dieter.

I would have to agree with everyone else here. I've been overweight for most of my life, but after my 28th birthday I knew I needed to make some serious changes in my life. Not just to lose weight, but to gain control over my life period. I've been at this lifestyle change for almost a month and I can honestly say I see my attitude about food and about exercise totally different than I did before. It's amazing to see that my positive attitude has helped me lose the almost 15lbs I've lost so far.


This sight is such a useful tool as well. It's such a wonderful community here. People understand your goals and are there to support you. If you really want to just lose weight to lose it, then you're doing it for all the wrong reasons. You have to change your outlook on food. It's okay to go out to eat and eat a piece of pizza, but don't eat it every day or every week even. I noticed so far for me, I think about what I'm going to eat before I actually eat it now. Depending on what I ate yesterday and if I'm going to be doing any extra activities later on in the day. There is a time and place for every kind of foods. You just have to think about it.

So I do not believe that I am doomed to be chunky my whole life. I do believe that through my journey I will become healthy, and to live a life that I always wanted. That is my goal. So that 25 years from now I'm still hiking and riding bikes and when I have kids to be able to do the activities that they love.

You just need to stop thinking about getting skinny, and start thinking about changing your life for the long run. If you do it that way, you won't have to be worried about gaining weight.

do you have the link to the article?

It's the same as quitting smoking. I quit 3 years ago and I still think about it sometimes. I think about it much less, sure, but every now and then I hear, "I could really use a cigarette" pop into my head, before i say to myself, "Uh, we don't do that anymore, remember?" And then the urge goes away. It's the same with being overweight. I still feel fat sometimes even though I'm at my goal weight and the thinnest I've been since high school. The way I feel inside does not always reflect what is in the mirror.

The flip side of this, however, is that most of the time I DO feel confident because I CAN look into a mirror and see how much progress I've made. I worry less and less every day. So, yes. I will always be worried about gaining the weight back, but the more I exercise and the stronger I get through strength training and the more natural it is to work out every day... the less I will worry, because even if I have that pastry one day a week, I'll have the tools to counteract the negative impact that at one time might have derailed me for weeks.

It becomes just a pastry that I can run off later today and it stops being, "well, I had that pastry, so I might as well have a cheeseburger for dinner". I no longer think like that and that's it's own accomplishment.