How Making CHOICES Has Helped Me Lose Over 80 pounds.

jmorrisof2 wrote: »

Thank you for this. Just what I needed to hear. Thank you for your honesty. It felt like you were describing me perfectly. I realize there is no magic food or pill to help me get the weight off, just good ole tracking. For some reason, I've had an aversion to tracking, but I realize I just need to do it.

I resisted tracking for, well, for forever. I used to do Weight Watchers--it worked great. I'd lose 20 pounds and then stop. Just stop. I guess because I was so angry or bored. Whatever. I think I've lost weight this time around (I once lost around 50 lbs one summer, about fifteen years ago), because it's just time, the right time. For me. I am willing and eager and I was lucky enough to have success right away.

If I hadn't lost in the beginning, I might have given up. I know some people don't lose at first and I can't fathom how frustrating that would be. But frankly, it's never been hard for me to lose weight. Or gain weight. Boy, does my body LOVE to pack the weight on! In any case, I am fortunate enough to have a body that was ready to lose. I SHED these pounds.

But in the beginning, as someone else in this thread has said, I realized just how MUCH I was eating. I would sit down with friends for dinner and easily eat almost 3,000 calories. This was normal for me. I think knowing how much you eat, taking the time to figure it out, can be the eyeopening moment. And back then I was DRINKING. I've stopped drinking altogether. That's a significant calorie reduction right there.

But I can't stress enough that I was ready. If someone knows, deep down, that their heart isn't in it, then I think it's best to wait and work on the things that keep you from really doing what you want to do. Like my mother-in-law. She knows that she will just gain it all back, and then some. I feel really bad for her. She's so used to punishing herself that she doesn't know of another way to treat herself.

I spent years in therapy and learned to love myself as I WAS. That was hard and it had to do with so much more than food. That's why I don't want to post before and after pictures. It would somehow send the message that I wasn't lovely and deserving before I lost weight. I was the same person I am now, just larger. And out of breath.