Anyone need to lose 100+ lbs?

I've lost 120 pounds, with another 40 or so to go. I started at 290 pounds, only 5 feet tall, and 27 years old. Shameful. But, you can do it, it is totally manageable. You are stronger than you've ever imagined. It has taken me about two years to reach this point and I've never been happier. Some of my advice:

1. If you have reached the point where you need to lose 100+ pounds, there is actually some good news: There are clearly habits you have that are not healthy for you, so you can immediately spot them and change them. If you only have 10 pounds or something to go, it might be really difficult to pinpoint where you can cut calories or where you're making mistakes. But if you've put on that much weight, it's easy to see what you're doing wrong. For me, I knew I was eating crap. Nothing healthy. Poptarts for breakfast, fast food for lunch, a box of Cheez-Its or a full bag of potato chips for dinner. I would look in my grocery cart and think, "There's no actual food in here." I'd order an extra large pizza and a side of breadsticks, and eat it in one sitting. I'd go to McDonalds and get two hamburgers, a large fry, three cookies, and a milkshake. I'd eat family size bags of cookies in one sitting. Obviously, I was eating way, way too much, and if you've got that much to lose, you're massively overeating too. But that gives you a great starting point. You can make a few changes and see improvements quickly. You can easily spot, "Wow, maybe I shouldn't order an extra large pizza. Maybe I should just get the smallest size." "Maybe I should order a small fry and no milkshake." "Maybe I should get water instead of an extra large cola." "Maybe tonight, I will skip dessert." There are so many relatively minor changes you can make and see results. You don't have to immediately swear off everything except carrots and lettuce. Start by cutting back portions, maybe eliminating colored drinks or certain types of food. If you love ice cream and find yourself eating an entire tub--guess what, you can buy small half-cup sizes instead, and you're immediately cutting out hundreds of calories, just by doing that. You'll see results.

2. Find lower calorie, healthy foods you actually enjoy eating. If you try to force yourself to eat something you don't like, just because you believe it is healthy, guess what? You won't stick with the food. You'll find yourself "cheating" and avoiding those foods, and you'll feel like a failure. Do not eat something just because everyone else eats it or finds it useful. Find foods YOU like. I hate broccoli. Broccoli is pretty healthy. I don't force myself to eat broccoli. I am still losing weight. Try different foods and experiment. I never thought I'd like turnips--but I do. I could never imagine eating as much salad as I do now--but I found salad ingredients I enjoy, and that's how I make my salad. I like tomatoes, I eat them; I don't like beets, so I don't eat them. If you like beans, eat them. If you don't, don't eat them. If you like eggs, have some. If you don't, that's okay. Embrace new things. Try different fruits and veggies. Try different ways of cooking. If you don't like something, don't force yourself to eat it, just because it's something society says is healthy. You will not be successful. The key is to find healthy, low calories foods YOU ENJOY, so you can eat them for a long time and be successful in losing weight, keeping it off, and being healthy.

3. Depending on your fitness, start VERY slowly with exercise. In the beginning I just wanted to walk around my apartment complex. I was so out of shape, I could hardly do that. I remember not being able to vacuum my apartment in one go, because I was so unfit. I remember I would carry my groceries into the apartment, then have to sit down and rest before putting them away. I never would have imagined I would be someone now who exercises six times a week, who regularly runs 5ks and does yoga three times a week, someone who can spend a day walking around outside and not have my feet and hips hurt. It's taken time to get to that point. Start slowly, really, just start with walking around your neighborhood, or taking one flight of stairs. Just get used to moving your body. Explore your body. Stretch and see how flexible--or inflexible!--you are. Touch your body, explore how far you can reach to your toes, or not. See how far back you can reach your hands. See how low you can squat. Experiment and get a baseline, and then work, very slowly, on improving it. DO NOT immediately jump into some crazy routine. Don't immediately join the gym--I waited several months before making that commitment, and a whole year before joining a yoga studio. Don't immediately purchase a ton of workout equipment--you can always walk outside, you can always lift a milk jug, you can always start with jumping jacks or planks, something that requires no equipment at all. If you over commit, you will get burned out, feel like a failure, and quit. Don't punish yourself like that. You deserve better. Start very slowly, with very brief and simple workouts. Really, walking is a great way to go.

4. Get used to discomfort. I hate being sweaty, but guess what? When I'm in the gym for 90 minutes, I am going to sweat. And I sweat like a disgusting, huge, nasty man! I sweat like you wouldn't believe! When I'm done in the gym, I look like I just got out of the shower. I hate that feeling...but I told myself, "This is temporary discomfort. This doesn't last forever. Get used to be uncomfortable." If you start even very minor workouts, like brief walks, you will experience pain. You will be sore. Your knees might ache, or your back. You will easily get out of breath and develop side stitches. You will feel uncomfortable being sweaty around others, and worry about how you look in workout clothes. This discomfort will not hurt you. It is all mental, it is all in your mind. We become obese and out of shape by avoiding discomfort. It feels so good to sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips. It doesn't feel good to climb stairs or lift weights--at least, at first it doesn't feel good. We avoid discomfort, but it will not kill us. It will benefit us. Accept that, "For this twenty minute walk, I will feel discomfort. It will not last. When I am done, I can sit. I am strong enough to tolerate a few minutes of discomfort."

5. Accept that this is going to be a time commitment. A lot of people say, "I don't have time to cook. I don't have time to exercise." The average American watches 5 hours of television every day. There is your time, right there. If you truly want to lose weight and get healthy, you are going to have to make some sacrifices. I love reading, and I miss the 90 minutes of reading I've sacrificed to the gym every day. It's been worth it. (I mean, I still get in three or four hours of reading, but I do miss that 90 minutes.) Monitor your day, evaluate how much time you're spending on the computer or playing games on your phone or watching Netflix. You have more free time than you think. And don't forget--a lot of gyms have televisions. You can always take your phone with you and listen to music on it. You can cook while listening to the radio or while having the TV on. This will take effort on your part, and that might mean sacrificing a 30 minute rerun of "Keeping up with the Kardashians."

6. Accept that this will be slow, and you are not perfect. Mistakes will be made. This weight is not going to fall off you overnight. At the beginning, you will see quick improvement, but it will slow down. When I first started, I was losing about 10 pounds a month, for maybe the first four or five months. That has slowed down now to about 4 to 5 pounds a month. That is still an incredible loss and fairly speedy. As you lose, it is going to take time. It's been two years and I'm still not at my goal of 130 pounds. But I look at it this way: time is going to pass whether you like it or not. Would you rather be 300 pounds today and 300 pounds a month from now? Or 300 ponds today and 290 pounds a month from now? If I had chosen, two years ago, to do nothing and stay on the same path, I'd probably weigh more than 290 pounds. I chose to work hard, and now I'm 170, and I am thrilled. I am much happier now than I was two years ago. Aim to be happier every day than you were the day before. Aim to be lighter than you were the same day last month. If you do that, you are winning, even if you are still 100 pounds overweight. Some days I still eat too much. Some days I don't feel like working out. The way to be successful is, don't let one mistake derail you. Say, "Wow, I ate too much last night. But I can choose differently tonight. I haven't thrown my progress in the garbage." Every minute, you get a new chance to make the healthier choice. Sometimes you will, and you'll take the stairs. Sometimes you won't, and you'll take the elevator. The trick is, if you took the elevator this time, you can still take the stairs the next time. Do not give up.