Looking at the path ahead and realizing how for it actually is..

LaReineDesPixels
LaReineDesPixels Posts: 105 Member
in Motivation and Support
This week for me started kind of crappy from jump. I'm just noticing how there are approx 52 weeks in a year and it's supposedly ideal to 1-2lbs a week. Just noticed it might take me over 2 years to get to my goal. It's a hell of a commitment!

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    It probably won't take that long, but even if it does, it's totally worth the effort.
  • spikycactus
    spikycactus Posts: 13 Member
    edited July 2016
    That's just the safe recommendation (legally). It is certainly possible to have a larger loss in the beginning that can really motivate you :)
  • Madelinec117
    Madelinec117 Posts: 210 Member
    That's a good reason to focus on mini goals. Each mini goal reached is a step closer to the major goal. Also, accomplishing the mini goals seems to make it a little daunting for me since I have a long way to go.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    blackrose414 wrote: »
    This week for me started kind of crappy from jump. I'm just noticing how there are approx 52 weeks in a year and it's supposedly ideal to 1-2lbs a week. Just noticed it might take me over 2 years to get to my goal. It's a hell of a commitment!

    The commitment should be for life. Unless you are planning to gain again once you lose.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    blackrose414 wrote: »
    This week for me started kind of crappy from jump. I'm just noticing how there are approx 52 weeks in a year and it's supposedly ideal to 1-2lbs a week. Just noticed it might take me over 2 years to get to my goal. It's a hell of a commitment!

    The time is going to pass anyway. You choose how you spend it.
  • LaceyBirds
    LaceyBirds Posts: 451 Member
    It is, but don't think about it like that, it will overwhelm you. I'm down 60 pounds since I started MFP in mid-April of 2015, and 89 pounds total since I started trying to lose weight in mid-2014. I didn't exercise, so I lost weight slower than you would if you did. Many people have lost far more than I have in that time period, but still, I'm no longer in the obese or overweight category, am off all blood pressure and cholesterol meds, and am no longer pre-diabetic. As many people say, the time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well be losing weight, eh? I didn't ever think "I have 100 pounds to lose," I thought in ten-pound increments - that was it, then I would move on to the next ten.

    Make sure that, in addition to the calories MFP gives you, to keep track of your macros, to ensure you use those calories in a way that will make you feel full. I have been on 1200 this whole time (I'm 60 so that is fine), and, because I make sure I get all my protein, fat and fiber in each day, I am never hungry. That makes this process sustainable. I log every single thing I eat and drink, and I weigh nearly all my food, except for things I have discovered through time essentially weigh the same all the time. If I go over my calories, I don't freak out, I just start fresh each new day. If the scale goes up, I no longer freak out because I know from experience if I keep eating at my goal calories, it will go back down.

    It takes time, patience and, for me, mostly discipline. I want this, and I make sure I do everything I can to make myself successful. I am not perfect, and I get mad at myself for "blowing it" occasionally, but I ALWAYS start again fresh the next day, and no longer beat myself up for moments of weakness. I still eat ice cream, candy, chips, alcohol, donuts, fast food, basically all the food I like, but I simply make room for it in my daily calorie goal, while still getting in my macros. It takes time to perfect your system, but once you do, it really does get easy (the logging and sticking to it). It is mostly a head game - that is the hardest part - so you really have to want it, and really have to get used to the idea that it is going to take time. But here I am, two years later, healthier and not ashamed of myself anymore for being obese. I feel like a normal person again.

    Hope this helps.
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
    rsclause wrote: »
    Its not a diet, its a lifestyle change. Diets stop but this goes on forever. It always helps me stay on track when I think off it this way.

    I'll go further and say that the goal shouldn't even be weight loss or looking a certain way. Make the healthy lifestyle your goal, and everything else will fall into place.
  • LaReineDesPixels
    LaReineDesPixels Posts: 105 Member
    edited July 2016
    I truly appreciate the responses it really helps to know someone out there is at least reading my voice! Believe it or not I went on a walk and came back and started perking up. Like I said, it's been a rough week for me and I do expect more of them to come. My mind has been all over the place and today it ended up here. This is be my second attempt after gaining it all back and then some. :disappointed: The past few months have been life changing and thing are starting to get a little better in general.

    I just needed somewhere to vent.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    blackrose414 wrote: »
    I truly appreciate the responses it really helps to know someone out there is at least reading my voice! Believe it or not I went on a walk and came back and started perking up. Like I said, it's been a rough week for me and I do expect more of them to come. My mind has been all over the place and today it ended up here. This is be my second attempt after gaining it all back and then some. :disappointed: The past few months have been life changing and thing are starting to get a little better in general.

    I just needed somewhere to vent.

    Hey, it happens. Learning to stay on plan when life is hard is tough. And very few are able to do it all the time. But as long as you dust yourself off and get back to it when you go astray you'll be fine. Best of luck to you.
  • danibabii11
    danibabii11 Posts: 72 Member
    Once you start losing you will feel over joyed at the excitment!!! Trust me. After a while it all just becomes habbit. You end up going to the gym ( even though and hour ago you said you didnt want to) you'll do your excersise and kick but at it ( even though you said yiu woild take it easy. Amd you will do cardio even if you hate that part most ( in your head you keep saying how much you hate it over and over again) but youll realoze you dont hate it! You love the sweat, the reward of being done! And it all just falls into place. Dont lose hope!!! Good luck lady!!!
  • Tweaking_Time
    Tweaking_Time Posts: 733 Member
    xmichaelyx wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    Its not a diet, its a lifestyle change. Diets stop but this goes on forever. It always helps me stay on track when I think off it this way.

    I'll go further and say that the goal shouldn't even be weight loss or looking a certain way. Make the healthy lifestyle your goal, and everything else will fall into place.

    ^^^This^^^

    When you lose your first 5 pounds - pick up a new bag of flour and carry that around for an hour or so to get you back to your starting weight...and then tell me how glad you are to be rid of that weight.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Ive been at it over 2 years, 143 lost, 8 to goal. Yes, it's a long time, but so is the rest of your life. I'm losing so slowly now, that by the time I reach maintenance I'll only be able to increase my intake by a couple hundred cals per day, an extra snack. So yes, it truly is lifetime. I cannot go back to where I was.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,611 Member
    Someone said this ...

    A year is going to go by no matter what.

    It is what you do within that year, with that time, that makes a difference.


    So ... it's up to you what you want to do with the next 52 weeks.

  • mickey2942
    mickey2942 Posts: 71 Member
    I have been focusing on the health problems I have now, short of breath after walking a flight of stairs, knees hurting, and I just don't want to feel this crappy all the time. So, I am not looking at how much weight I have to lose, a lot, just on what can I do each day, to feel better soon.
  • RoseTheWarrior
    RoseTheWarrior Posts: 2,035 Member
    Better start now then!

    The time will pass anyway. You can be down to goal weight in 2 years, or you can be exactly where you are now, or maybe heavier. Maybe with health issues. The choice is yours.

    I had 100 lbs to lose. I started Sep 1/15. It's been 10 months. I'm down 80 lbs. I sure am glad I started when I did. Did it seem daunting at first? Of course. But the time has really flown by, and now I'm enjoying the constant compliments I'm getting, enjoying putting on size 14 petites and mediums rather than 24 wide and 2XLs. Enjoying shopping. Enjoying life.

    You CAN do this. If not now, when??
  • LaReineDesPixels
    LaReineDesPixels Posts: 105 Member
    I'm so loving this! I'm in a much better mood today for sure thank you all! I know its gonna take a while. Progress has been made so I know SOMETHING is being done right. The only true challenge for me is staying on track and all of the responses are very helpful! :)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    It's going to take way longer than that. Paying attention to how you eat does not stop at goal weight. For me, realizing that was kind of a relief. It's not a long drawn out task that I need to plug through and count the days till it ends. It's just how my life is now and how it will be for good (hopefully). Once I normalized the process in my mind as part of my normal life and stopped pouring stressed perfectionist energy into it things became easier. Slip ups stopped having a discouraging impact because well, that's how life works (instead of "I failed at my task"). Situations stopped being rigid. Not losing weight for a while stopped meaning "failure". Continuing where I left off every time is just a natural part of the process and not a willpower battle to punish bad behavior... Thing are just more "normal" now.

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