I Need Some Serious Help! 100+ lbs to lose!

awebb0111
awebb0111 Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
I have used this app a few times. It works great, I have no real community to jump on board with me. I desprately need someone to stay in my butt daily about staying on track. Is there anyone who has worked their way out of a similar situation willing to hold me accountable?! Heck, anyone add me!!! I have no idea what I am doing. I haveno idea how to even start successfully.

Replies

  • tafregnolon
    tafregnolon Posts: 16 Member
    I need to lose a hellavalot. That is a real measurement. Trust me.
  • asrai50
    asrai50 Posts: 937 Member
    You can do it...its tough I know. I have lost a lot and regained. Here I am again. The hard part is keeping it going when it can be so easy to just slide back into old habits.One day at a time. I am starting again with MFP. I am also keeping a daily planner. My life is so hectic that I found it was easy to forget to take care of me too, so now I incorporate my fitness plans into my daily plans. I find the constant reminder, plus I love being able to check things off on my planner, is helping to keep me focused. Feel free to add me. I find the personal motivation is a big help!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    courtneyfabulous wrote: »
    No one can make you do this but YOU. Having a supportive community is helpful but the only one who is responsible for you is you. You have to dig deep and find the motivation within yourself. If you are relying on others you have already failed.

    This is surprisingly easy if you follow the right methods, but knowing what those actually are is key. You also have to be committed to this. Not for a few weeks or months, but YEARS. Your whole life really. With the amount of weight you have to lose you're looking at probably over a year, probably 2 years, to get most of it off- and that's if you stay on track. And then you must commit to maintaining that weight loss which is it's own challenge.

    You CAN do this, but you have to have a different attitude. The "someone" you are looking for to help you, to stay on your butt, to hold you accountable? You already have them- it's YOU.

    Now set up your myfitnesspal account with your stats, eat your allotted calories, log everything you consume, and try to also hit your protein goal (very important) and not go over your sugars. Every day. If you screw up, just keep going. It's not about perfection, it's about doing your best and not giving up.

    Feel free to ask questions, do your own research, learn as much as you can, find what works best for you to stay on track- but the basics are simple: Eat in a calorie deficit (not too much of one either- crash diets don't work. You want to probably set your goal at 1 pound of weight loss per week to start- if you find you are hungry all the time or bingeing then change it to 1/2 pound loss a week), eat enough protein (this helps you to lose fat and not muscle- at the bottom of your food diary is the "nutrition" button- hit that and it will show you what your carb, fat, and protein goals are and also your sugar limit. Check this as you add foods to see how the numbers change and learn how to choose foods so that you don't go way over or under on these). That's it.

    Exercise is not essential to weight loss but I would say it's important for best results and overall health. Start slow with simply walking. As things become easy for you slowly increase the challenge. I started with short easy walks, then longer walks, then walks at a quicker pace, then some hiking, some yoga, body weight exercises, some light weights, then heavier weights and strength training, then added in hiit cardio, running stairs, doing sprint intervals... it all started with just walking though. Go at your own pace and just do what you can do.

    Be careful of logging exercise in myfitnesspal though- the calories burned seem over estimated. Either don't log exercise or log just half the amount you actually do.

    I hope this is helpful, remember- you can do this!

    All of this!

    Read the Announcements at the top of the message board threads. There is great information in them for getting started. Start with these:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10097870/the-really-blunt-list-of-things-to-consider-when-losing-weight/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1

    Baby steps are key. Don't try to change your entire life overnight or you'll likely end up frustrated and overwhelmed. Start out by simply logging everything you eat. Every single thing. Logging everything makes it easier to see where you can make simple changes that have a big impact. For greater accuracy with calorie counts, weigh solid foods using a kitchen scale and measure liquids that can't be weighed.

    Don't "play" with the numbers, underestimate calories eaten or overestimate calories burned in exercise. You'd only be cheating yourself. I'll agree with the quoted post that eating back half of your exercise calories gives a good margin for error.

    Start strength training as soon as possible. In my opinion it's more important than doing cardio because it is much easier to maintain the muscle you already have than to build new muscle later. When we lose weight it is a combination of water, fat and muscle. If you're maintaining muscle then more of your loss will be from fat! Also, your body has built up a lot of muscle mass to move around your extra weight. If you can keep that muscle through strength training while you lose weight you're going to look amazing when you've lost the fat over it.

    The measuring tape is a better tool than the bathroom scale for judging your progress. In addition to "Before" pictures, measure your chest, waist, hips, thighs and any other body part you want to track and start recording them in MFP now. When the scale isn't moving your body might still be shrinking especially if you're lifting weights.

    Weight loss is not linear and you will lose pounds faster at the beginning than at the end. Don't get discouraged when it slows down and it will slow down at some point. Get yourself into the mindset that you're making a lifestyle change and its not something that you will eventually finish. If you "go back" to your previous lifestyle you will end up putting the weight back on. That's the secret of losing weight and keeping it off.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    courtneyfabulous wrote: »
    No one can make you do this but YOU. Having a supportive community is helpful but the only one who is responsible for you is you. You have to dig deep and find the motivation within yourself. If you are relying on others you have already failed.

    This is surprisingly easy if you follow the right methods, but knowing what those actually are is key. You also have to be committed to this. Not for a few weeks or months, but YEARS. Your whole life really. With the amount of weight you have to lose you're looking at probably over a year, probably 2 years, to get most of it off- and that's if you stay on track. And then you must commit to maintaining that weight loss which is it's own challenge.

    You CAN do this, but you have to have a different attitude. The "someone" you are looking for to help you, to stay on your butt, to hold you accountable? You already have them- it's YOU.

    Now set up your myfitnesspal account with your stats, eat your allotted calories, log everything you consume, and try to also hit your protein goal (very important) and not go over your sugars. Every day. If you screw up, just keep going. It's not about perfection, it's about doing your best and not giving up.

    Feel free to ask questions, do your own research, learn as much as you can, find what works best for you to stay on track- but the basics are simple: Eat in a calorie deficit (not too much of one either- crash diets don't work. You want to probably set your goal at 1 pound of weight loss per week to start- if you find you are hungry all the time or bingeing then change it to 1/2 pound loss a week), eat enough protein (this helps you to lose fat and not muscle- at the bottom of your food diary is the "nutrition" button- hit that and it will show you what your carb, fat, and protein goals are and also your sugar limit. Check this as you add foods to see how the numbers change and learn how to choose foods so that you don't go way over or under on these). That's it.

    Exercise is not essential to weight loss but I would say it's important for best results and overall health. Start slow with simply walking. As things become easy for you slowly increase the challenge. I started with short easy walks, then longer walks, then walks at a quicker pace, then some hiking, some yoga, body weight exercises, some light weights, then heavier weights and strength training, then added in hiit cardio, running stairs, doing sprint intervals... it all started with just walking though. Go at your own pace and just do what you can do.

    Be careful of logging exercise in myfitnesspal though- the calories burned seem over estimated. Either don't log exercise or log just half the amount you actually do.

    I hope this is helpful, remember- you can do this!

    This is a post I should've gotten 5 years ago. It would've taken me less time to lose my weight. Only thing I can add is be patient.
  • MenayD
    MenayD Posts: 31 Member
    Add me! I have about 120 lbs to lose and in a similar struggle(needing accountability). I just started but I would be willing to check in with you every few days if you would like.
  • billglitch
    billglitch Posts: 538 Member
    edited October 2016
    Willing to help. Do you have no willpower or is it that like most people when you "diet" you are always hungry? In January of this year I weighed 355 and started on low carb, high fat eating. Because I am not hungry eating this way I also limited my cals to 1500 without cravings etc. I am down to 248 and am trying to get to 220...maybe less. Add me or message me. By the way I started losing right away and success breeds success. AND I have not done any exercise until yesterday.
  • ds41980
    ds41980 Posts: 133 Member
    I have 100+ to lose too. Been on here for 3 months as of today. I have lost 19 pounds. Its slow going but it works. You can add me if you like.
  • alc649
    alc649 Posts: 467 Member
    Feel free to add me, everyone/anyone on this threat. I have about 100 lbs to lose, have lost 20,been at it for 4.5 months. It's so true you definitely need to make up your mind that you're ready to do this. To be honest though without all my awesome friends on mfp..I probably would've given up by now. Food's got a strong hold on me (especially on the weekends) But I'm getting better. It's about persistance, not perfection. Would love to be friends and do this together :)
  • carlosapolinarioferreira
    carlosapolinarioferreira Posts: 31 Member
    Hello, when I started I could actually say that I was a little depressed, and also scared because I was thinking of surgery. I educated myself of all the consequence there is with surgery and found the whole process very drastic. But when there is over 100+ pound to loose and I have tried all kinds of ways too loose the what we become desperate.
    The things that are making a difference for me:
    I purchased a Digital scale. For me this actually made a huge difference.

    Get motivated with others that have told there story. For me this what made me turn the tide. To explain what did it for me is knowing what you need to do to start being active. Logging everything in MFP has become religious me. I learned that exercise plays an enormous roll on getting my weight down. The other thing that I have done, is not to obsess on the number that I see on the scale. Every day I say to myself I need to work on myself before I lose the strength to do it. This time I said to myself that the word try to do it is not in my vocabulary but I need to do this. When I realized that I change my way of thinking, instead of trying to lose weight, I started saying I need to lose weight. And last thing is time should not be a factor this is going to take lots of time.

    Have a good journey, welcome if you want add me for support.
  • johnneedhamSr
    johnneedhamSr Posts: 223 Member
    Follow a ketogenic program
  • beckey24
    beckey24 Posts: 170 Member
    Feel free to add me. I log in everyday, have an open diary to friends, and try to log in my foods everyday. I had almost 200 lbs to lose, almost 40 of them are gone. I have a great network of cheerleaders on here.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    I too, once again, have 100 lbs to lose. I keep my profile pic to remind myself how well I did before when I remained dedicated. You can't depend on others to keep on your butt but you can use us all as a support system. If you have a Fitbit I would be happy to pick up some new fitbit friends for stepping challenges! :) My fitbit user name is https://www.fitbit.com/user/4DCYCZ
  • Jamie_Keto
    Jamie_Keto Posts: 3 Member
    loving all these posts...i also have quite a bit to lose and have realized i don't need another diet but rather a lifestyle change. Feel free to add me :)
  • crystalmorrison378
    crystalmorrison378 Posts: 180 Member
    You can do this! I'm on a journey to lose 100lbs myself. I have lost 61 so far... 39 to go! Add me if you wish :)
  • mysteps2beauty
    mysteps2beauty Posts: 493 Member
    Find your why. "Wanting to" sometimes is not enough.

    When you find the thing in the pit of your stomach that forces you to say, I cannot continue going on with this, I have to change, then doing what you need to do, esp. in the face of temptation will help reel you back into doing the work.

    Here are some of mine:

    1. If I don't, I fear I will not live as long as I hope to.
    2. If I don't, my daughter may loose her mother at an early age.
    3. If I don't, who will take care of me if I become bed ridden.
    4. Because the one pair of pants I can fit in I wear every single day have holes where my thighs rub together from the constant friction. They will one day be hung up in my room to remind me what happens if I take my eye off the ball.
    5. Because I'm tired of looking in the mirror and hating what I see. I mean hate.
    6. Because I want someone to look at me and think I look great, instead of avoiding eye contact, or looking or treating me with disdain.
    7. Because when I look good, I feel good, and when I feel good, I can do anything I set my mind to do.
    8. Because I want to promote myself to the next level...no matter how talented I am, all they see is if I cannot manage my weight, how can I hope to manage their business. Successful people take really good care of themselves.
    9. I believe fat people are slobs. Yep, self-hate.
    10. Food is not the answer to my problems.

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