OBESE

And, hey. Lose the “maybe” and “hoping”. That’s not thinking positive. That’s hedging your bets.

Determine to do it.

You can either try your damndest, or wait for the Weight Fairy to wave her wand over you. Don’t hold your breath, though. Word has it she hangs out with the Lotto Fairy.

Much success to you.

mareyes3702 wrote: »

Hello I’m faaaht! I can’t loose their weight so I just intend on counting calories until I can change my health. Drop cholesterol and and blood pressure. Maybe I can work out and get stronger. Gain some muscle and flexibility. I quit snacks cold turkey. I hope I’m not diabetic by my next physical. This is depressing. But I’m thinking positive through the process.

I don't know your exact stats. But you somewhat sound like someone like me.... 8 years and 3 months ago.

I was more than 280lbs and Cat 3 obese at the time. And I had never met anyone who successfully lost weight AND MAINTAINED an appreciable portion of their weight loss.

Plus everyone, including my doctor, was suggesting that I should eat low carb to avoid diabetes and lose weight. But I had seen/lived though multiple examples of people who "did" Atkins. Almost all of them lost a considerable amount of weight... for less than a year or two. So what's was the point, right?

But... I was getting close to 50yo and I was already shaping my life around my limitations. And that was not where I wanted to be.

So I started with a simple goal: to become more active and not have a single day in a calendar month with less than 5000 steps. And that took a good three months to accomplish. And on month five I decided to try and lose some weight. In my typical fashion of the time. Eat healthy: No more egg mcmuffins in the morning... nope, switching to cranberry orange muffin with a strawberry jam and (sometimes) peanut butter **I'm gonna smack the stuffing out of the *kittens* among you who are laughing right now! 😹 That WAS my state of the art eat healthy and as little as you can attempt. And yes, I was aware of calories, as a general concept. But the whole thing had NOT yet clicked in. It took MFP for that to happen! 🤷🏻‍♂️.

Suffice it to say that dinner was more often than not a meatball sub from subway with some chips. So yes, easily 2000+ Cal days spent mostly hungry... but look at all the veggies in the sub! That was healthy, right??!?!?! And let's not forget salads with multiple tablespoons of healthy olive oil.

But, in spite of my less than stellar choices, i did manage to lose some weight. But fast forward to November and I am totally ready to give up. This is too hard for the results I'm driving and even if I do manage to get lower than my (then) 240lbs how the heck will I continue to live like this and maintain my loss? And if I don't maintain my loss, what's the point, right? (Again no laughing at the obvious fallacy of maintaining at deficit calories)

So I went looking for "something". And I discovered MFP. And the forums. And the sticky posts at the top of each forum. And I started reading! And went on to lose another 72.5 over the next year and another good 10+ the year after... and they have all stayed lost!

So you're on MFP eleven months ahead of me. That's not a bad start now is it?

Have a look at the success stories. Have a look more specifically (and it takes a bit of digging) at the LONG TERM success stories posting in year 2 and 3 and 5 and more post weight loss.

Are these the rule? Sadly no. I don't think they're the rule. Especially amongst people who think they can short-circuit the process to lose weight quickly and then go back to their lives.

But there is a heck of a lot more possibility of success and a heck of a lot more actual success than what I ever imagined when in May of 2014 (or so) I said to myself: "hey: it looks as if all this walking has led to me dropping a lb or two. Maybe I SHOULD make an effort to lose a little bit of weight this summer in addition to trying to increase my activity level"

Log your food to the best of your ability and accuracy.

Play a game: don't eat anything until you've actually logged what you're about to eat, by ingredient and by weight, before it crosses your mouth. <-- just this sentence is probably worth 20+lbs to a morbidly obese MFPer starting out.

DON'T try to create a large deficit. Just set MFP to maintenance or to try to lose a lb or so. And log and review your logs. In the context of your day was this food worth the calories you spent on it? Was it satiating? Satisfying? If it wasn't worth it replace it with something else that WAS worth it to you.

Weight yourself and plug the numbers in a weight trend app or website to help you ignore daily weight variations while focusing on the long term trend.

Don't fall in the trap of ratcheting and ratcheting the difficulty level to see faster and faster results... just get yourself in a groove that makes sense for the amount of weight you have to lose and for your daily activity level including deliberate exercise... and try to do things you see yourself doing for many years to come. (long term deficits that exceed 25% of TDEE... I have a hard time seeing them play out well. If morbidly obese, sure maybe a month or two at 30% but speed is not the most important consideration).

And you will be surprised, I think, with how far you will be able to go.

I fell into the obese category, actually still am. 5.5" and 189 lbs as of today. Started at 205 when joined MFP. I have been as high as 207.

Many years ago, (around 10 yrs) I lost 40+ lbs, Highest weight was 185lbs, On MFP for 1200 calorie daily allowance. I was not able to maintain this. As soon as I stopped, I gained weight and now 10yrs later, 10 years older, doing this all over again at a much higher weight.

The goal for losing 2 lbs a week, having 1200 calorie allowance doesn't work for me. Just to dang hungry and/or head game thinking it is to low for me. I now have it set for 1 lb week loss which allows me to have 1430 calorie allowance (plus exercise calories) and although there are days I might go over, it is not a constant struggle. I also have days were I might eat 1200 calories and I dont have to fight with my head of starving. I am still in a reasonable deficit and have the flexibility to eat more or less.

I guess what works for me, is to know I can eat more, but I can also eat less too if I dont need the additional calories for fuel. I am able to eat my "treat" to fit in my daily allowance and I don't have to always be hungry to meet a certain calorie goal. I have the flexability. I dont have to lose 2 lbs a week and I dont have to lose 1 lbs a week. You can lose weight and not have to be bound by a certain number by a certain amount of time. It is so much better mind wise of not beating yourself up because you went over the set daily amount. I have been losing at a great clip, eating at a deficit and exercising. The freedom of knowing I am not tied to HAVING to eat at a certain calorie deficit every day has helped me in this journey.

I still have a long ways to go, but I am not fighting with myself and/or head this time around. I guess, still a head game in a way, but working for me, knowing I can eat more calories than the 1200 calories and not having to meet a 2 lb a week loss is a game changer. Some weeks I lose 2 lbs, some weeks I lose 1 lb or less. It doesnt matter because my goal is to lose, keep it off, be healthy and stay healthy and happy. AND... hopefully be able to maintain my weight so I am not here again 10yrs later starting again.

Best of luck to you. Figure out what works for you and just do it.