I have 70lbs to lose!! It feels hopeless!!

The road up the mountain looks hard, but you can do it.
Like the old joke: what's the best way to eat a whale?

ANSWER: one bite at a time...And you must take your fitness program one day - maybe even 1 hour - at a time.
You can do this!

I felt that way and have lost 64 lbs - 13 more to go!

Thanks everyone. I feel like i've got some sort of addiction with food recently and it makes me feel so low and degraded for admitting it. Most of my waking hours are spent thinking about my next meal or snack. How do I break this?

I know exactly what you mean. I ALWAYS want to be eating something, and usually it's just out of boredom or because I like to be eating. What I found is that drinking something-- even water-- really fills up that need to eat when you know you're not hungry. Happened to me just the other night, actually. I was digging around my kitchen for stuff to eat, decided to fill up a water bottle instead, and that was it.

I also find chewing gum helps too, though that can be loud and unattractive and bad for your teeth :P Still, you can't eat if you're chewing gum.

awwww. Don't despair you have come to the right place. What do you need help with? meal planning, setting goals, motivation, exercise?

(Just a shot in the dark) I suggest instead of looking at 70 lbs look at 5 lbs or just one week of eating under 1400 cals. Make small attainable goals and work towards them. You'll start to get into a pattern of success and when you look back you won't believe how the time has flown. I for example also have 70 lbs more to lose (I originally had 98lbs) Instead of focusing on 70 lbs my goal is to lose 6 lbs before Jan. 1, 2012 :-) 6lbs will have me at 199lbs (one-derland) which is a reward in itself for me and a small very achievable goal. One site that has really helped me with my eating plan is skinnytaste.com I try to substitute my fatty favorites with something equally as good and filling. It doesn't even feel like I'm on my plan most of the time.

Break up your goal into mini goals that's what makes my journey easier

You can tell yourself you want to lose weight and be healthy. And you can really want it. But unless you get totally committed and into it, it's going to be hard. It's like when you try to quit smoking - you may try for a dozen or more times, and then all of a sudden the timing is right and you've got the willpower to follow it through. Anyways, that's how it was for me.

So if this is it - if you've had enough of being overweight and you really, really want to change your life, then it will happen. With a lot of hard work and support from your friends here on MFP. You can do it! Don't focus on 70 lbs. Set a small goal - 10 lbs! Celebrate that goal with some new slimmer clothes. Then onto the next goal...

My suggestions?
Log your food. Every day. Try logging what you plan to eat the day before so you know exactly what you can eat. All the experts agree this is the best way to lose weight. And thousands of us agree! It works!

Get rid of ALL refined sugar from your diet. Read the labels - foods are tricky, you have to be on guard for hidden sources. I don't even use artificial sugars. If you eliminated only sugar from your diet, and did nothing else, I bet you would lose weight. Sugar is horrible stuff. Think of it as poison and avoid it like the plague!

Go one step further and choose whole grains whenever possible.

Now reduce your sodium as much as possible. Again, watch the labels! Many products offer lower sodium options now. Or make your own without salt!

So, what's left? Whole, clean, healthy foods! And of those if you pick the ones with the most fibre you'll find yourself filling up and those inbetween meal cravings will stop.

Well, that's my rambling. Hope it helps. I didn't have 70 lbs to lose, but I did have 20. I have 1.5 lbs to go and I did it in 3 1/2 months. No sugar. No salt. No processed foods.

Good luck!

Nothing is hopeless, if you want it and surround yourself with people who will be supportive and also help motivate you to break your habit you can make it happen. (i.e. pretty much anyone here on MFP ). I used to be the exact same way and hated myself for it. Never believed I could ever actually get on the right path and stay there, always started something and quit after 2-3 months, but I also didn't have people around me who offered much support to motivate me. This site has been a great help for me, and not only just to log food and realize what I was putting in my body, but also because the people I have met on here are amazing for motivation and support, especially when you feel like quitting again. Good luck to you! You can do this!

Best advice I can likely give is that you should set small goes for yourself. Don't aim at that 70lbs right now. Aim at 10, and when you get there, aim at 10 more and keep going; Before you know it you will be past your 70 lb goal! Feel free to add me if you'd like.

Me too.. But I am well on my way to losing the 70 plus a few more. How? I just finally decided I wanted to be healthier, look better and happier more than I wanted that hamburger, ice cream or candy. I went on a 1200 calorie diet on 01-01-11 and 65 lbs later I am still fighting to get to my goal weight, but I feel good, I am looking better, and I am happy with my success of the hard work I have put out. I see the pay off.. Closet eaters, binge eaters, stress eaters, your talking about me.. I really just decided to find something else to release my stress on, I bought a punching bag, I get uptight I put my gloves on and go to punching. Boredom I started doing hand crafts -crocheting, binge eating, I got everything out of my cabinets and fridge that would be a threat to me. I had so much fruit, veggie's and such that my binge eating came ot a hault rather quickly. I had even got to point of sticking my finger down my throat after I ate something. I no longer worry about that. I eat healthy, and I go off of it every once in awhile and eat something outside my normal realm of food. And then I start back to following my normal regimen.

I've been heavy all my life, when I started this I was hitting 267.5.. I am 5"10' so I can carry some weight. But I am knocking on onederlands door now and I am so excited.. You can do this, it has to start in the mind first that you want to be healthier, thinner, and hot, MORE than you want that bread or candy or whatever. And you keep telling yourself that. I went thru Thanksgiving and stuck to my protocol and lost and added 2.5 lbs the day after.. It can be done and I am proof to it.. Just make that mind up and go for it...

Good luck to you all in your life changing goals...

Thanks everyone. I feel like i've got some sort of addiction with food recently and it makes me feel so low and degraded for admitting it. Most of my waking hours are spent thinking about my next meal or snack. How do I break this?

This was me in 2007 when I was at my life heaviest (172 pounds!). I have never been a big girl, always the skinny girl. Stress and Life somehow made me eat more than I ever have- and I would eat when I was stuffed. Eating excessively and over obsessing about food is an emotional and psychological behavior. You have to take a look at your life and what's going on. Seriously evaluating your life and what you want, what's going on in your life that you want/don't want anymore, and try to figure out what steps you need to take in order to change things around. There must be something you're avoiding or ignoring, and instead your focus is on food, or meal planning.

For me, It's been putting myself last in my life. I went through a period where I was living for "me" and then suddenly I had to begin living for someone else- my dad. I went from being in the 120s to the 170s because I had no time for me- and when i did, i didnt want to focus too much on me because i knew soon after i had to think about them. esp my dad who was sick with cancer. It was very hard to be in my early-mid 20s and be in that situation. Once I was able to refocus on myself and think about myself solely, I was able to go back down to 130. I have since rgained 25-30 pounds and i'm trying to get rid of that here on MFP. My issue now is having to refocus on "me" - i keep getting bored w/myself lol.. A part of me saw life as being perfect the minute i'd lose weight, and it wasnt. I'm still alone, my friends are still out of state, and I've made it worse by gaining weight again.

But, you know what? Life goes on.. and unless we sit around and mope all day we won't make any changes in our life. We have to think of the positive and hope we reach our goals successfully! We're in this together!