Help!!! The struggle is real.

I am awed by your commitment to this journey. So many people in your situation would just give up. It says a lot about your strength that you've come this far. I know it's hard, and at times you'll want to give up, but. please stick to it...it is so worth it! Life can be beautiful when we have our health. Looks don't matter so much, but being healthy equals a real chance to make each and every day wonderful. My current motto is: "it feels good to feel good." Sending good energy and prayers out to you...

I am 41, a woman, a mom. At 38 years old I weighted more than 350lbs (I have no idea of my heaviest as my home scale only went to 350lbs). Today I am at about 175lbs.

What I've learned (some of it the hard way)

1. Learn to correctly log your food. That's actually the hardest thing I had to figure out. My advice, set your goal to maintenance for a few weeks and simply get used to logging EVERYTHING. If you keep gaining weight, then stopping is a success. A food scale is the best money you can spend to lose weight.
2. Go slow. Start at maintenance, get used to eating there. Then once that is comfortable, set your goal to 1/2 lb per week, and eat there for a while. As you get comfortable, slowly increase the rate of loss until it is no longer comfortable, then go back a little to a better rate. It takes longer this way, but because you are making small changes, it's easier to stick with in the long term.
3. Changing your entire lifestyle all at once is incredibly difficult and nearly impossible to maintain. Changing one thing, that's easy! Small changes add up to huge results. When you log food, look back at your week and see what small changes you can make. Something as simple as switching to a lower calorie bread for sandwiches, only using 1/2 the Mayo, 1 slice of cheese instead of 2. Switching from chicken thighs to breasts. These are easy changes and are barely noticeable to you. Over time, small changes like this become habit.
4. Read labels!!!! OMG, this one!!! Just because a food claims to be "healthy" doesn't mean it is. Case in point: breakfast cereal, a 1 cup serving of raisin Bran has 210 calories, 1 cup serving of Fruit Loops has 110 calories. Small bag of almonds... 2.5 servings per container, no longer the better option.
5. Do not fear food. Unless you have a legitimate allergy, intolerance, or other medical issue: there are no "bad" foods. Just eat the high calorie/low nutrition stuff in moderation. This means that you can have fast food, just order a kids meal with water or a diet soda instead of a #3. I love candy!!! I buy Snickers, cut them in half, place them in individual baggies and freeze them. It takes a lot longer to gnaw through a frozen Snickers than a room temperature one, I eat 1/2 the calories and have my sugar craving satisfied.
6. Don't quit. Bad days and even weeks happen. We ALL have them. I've had more than I can count, but I didn't quit, so in the long run I succeeded. Whenever you start feeling overwhelmed with eating less, go back to eating at maintenance for a bit - regroup your brain, then go back to eating at a deficit.
7. Celebrate your success. What works for me is a poster board listing a bunch of goals. Goals can be everything from "lose 5lbs" to "eat below maintenance for a week" to "walk 20 minutes a day for a week". Then celebrate those successes. Not with food, but with small things you enjoy. I have a thing for weird socks, so when I accomplish something I get a new cute pair of socks.
8. Take pictures. Wear as little as you feel comfortable wearing and take a few full body pictures. Shove them in a drawer and wait a month, then retake those pictures wearing the same stuff. Every month look at the pictures side by side, that's when you'll see the changes in your body. Because we see ourselves every day, it's hard to notice changes month to month. But side by side pictures a month apart, that's where we'll see the difference.

Because you're doing this with your sister, you can make fun competitive goals. First one to lose 5% of thier starting weight wins, loser has to do something for the other one (wash thier car, 3 loads of laundry, sweep & mop the house, give a good foot rub and pedicure).

You can do this. It takes time. Just be patient, persistent, and committed and you will get there.

Jenna_2009 wrote: »

Hey @VUA21 thanks so much for the advice and encouragement. All we can do is never give up. I just have to keep in mind the every little pound lost Is a big deal. Even if I only lost 2.1lbs this week.

@Jenna_2009
What do you mean "ONLY" 2.1lbs. That's 2.1lbs that are gone. A carton of milk weighs approximately 2lbs, a bag of beans...2lbs.

Congratulations on losing 2lbs (also, 2 packages of butter for a really good visual of what 2 lbs of fat looks like)!

Feel free to add me. You can ask me anything, or vent, or just complain if you want to, or even just have a laugh about whatever - trust me, I have been there.