100 down, 100 to go!

pecabonitas wrote: »

Wow! What did you do at the very beginning? When you were at your heaviest? My SW was 280 and my CW is 249. My GW is 155. I’m so proud of you that you lost 180!!!! That’s so amazing and no easy task.... I have a ways to go and was feeling a little down but after seeing your post I have renewed hope. Thanks so much!

Thank you! At the very beginning, I started walking, just regular walking every once in a while. I didn't walk for very long or very far but I just did what I could. As far as dieting, at first I really just ate "normal foods" and stopped with the daily fast food and sweet tea (this was huge for me because it was 300 calories as day easy) and within my calories. At my heaviest, I was "able" to eat over 3k calories a day and still lose weight and because of what I was eating, I could ALOT! In fact, I probably ate more food during this time than I was already eating because of WHAT I was eating. More low calorie meals instead of less or equal high calorie meals. One of my biggest struggles was not feeling "content" so being able to eat a good amount of food, even if it wasn't the foods I wanted, was super helpful.

So I had a shake or some kind of breakfast/protein/granola bar for breakfast. For lunch, I would usually have tuna salad with bread, salad (with ranch, cheese, meat) or sandwich. I'd have baked chips with it. I'd eat string cheese, sugar free jello, fiber one bars, fruit and stuff like that for snacks. My dinners were almost always chicken breast (usually something like 12-16(!!) ounces) with BBQ sauce and baked potato with butter. So, I didn't go completely clean or anything and I'd have my weekend cheat meals but I always tried to keep it within my calories and if I went over, I made up for it during the week or by throwing in an extra walk or something to balance it out. My biggest things were giving up sweet tea and root beers, daily or multiple times a week fast food meals and just being somewhat active. Once I found out the whole calorie formula and saw progress, I knew what I needed to do and how to do it and it was just the mental struggle of wanting the foods and getting out of the old mindset. Like with most of us, I knew "diet and exercise" but people need it presented in different ways and for me, the fact that it was almost literally just a formula, made it click for me and I was like oh so I can eat whatever I want as long as I "hit" that number.

Now, I eat whatever I want as long as it is under my cals. I plan my meals for the day and even week(s) because it's easier for me not to go over my calories if I already know what I'm eating and I build in my snacks because I know I'm going to have them haha. It's easier to workout now so when, not if, I have a cheat meal, I burn it or some of it off by working out or I have lighter meals surrounding it. I definitely had times where I'd gain back up to 10-15+ pounds during some slumps or when I lost the motivation because I lost a good chunk but it's a journey.

Please keep the hope! It took me years and I still have a long way to go, it's just important not to stop if you mess up, just know that it won't completely destroy your progress, it might just set you back a meal or a day. That's how I look at it anyway. I know we all set dates that we want to meet and those are important but it's not the thing that determines whether or not you were successful. You've already made some really good progress which you wouldn't have made if you never started!

bendeka wrote: »

I can't tell you how much I needed to hear this this morning! The part where you talk about gaining ten pounds at times, I'm only 6 pounds up from my lowest weight (in years) and it gets so disheartening but I need to just remember how little and insignificant that number is in the big picture! I just need to push through! I've lost 50 so far and I have about 50-60 to go, I'm about half way and I need to be more thankful for that. Your post really helped, thank you.
And congratulations you are so impressive!! You look dang good!!

Oh also I have a question, have you noticed a difference in how people treat you? I'm really curious about that.. (I used to feel invisible and have already noticed people being much nicer)

Thank you! You've already accomplished so much yourself and you should definitely be proud of that! You're 100% correct, the fact that you're paying attention and noticing those 6 pounds means you have no intentions of allowing it to keep increasing and that's the biggest thing, just keep going. There have been times where I only lost 30 pounds in a year or something like that and I got mad at myself because I could have done so much more but then I think, I could have lost nothing at all or even gained. If you lose sight of what you've accomplished and focus on the negative, it is just too stressful and it can be discouraging. It was for me! That's the last thing we need. We're all in this for the long haul so like you said, big picture!

I've definitely noticed a difference! It's a weird thing. Mainly, I notice how I'm spoken or thought of. It's small but when people at work or in general are talking about big guys (not in a bad way), I'm not included anymore and I think its weird because I've always been the biggest or one of the biggest in the room or building for that matter. It's a mindset that I may always have though! People also don't seem to be as intimidated which is nice haha.