Question for all the Success Stories

I do that as well, especially while talking on the phone.

maintenance is difficult for me. I always seem to self sabotage myself right before I hit my goal weight and gain some of it back..then work on losing it again. I thought maybe it was because once I got to my goal weight, I wouldn't have anything to "obsess" about anymore. still working on that right now! trying to lose 10 that i gained back!

My primary hurdle was getting started, and I had to dig deep to find the motivation to want to do it. But the primary thing that helped me was finding a way to work out that I liked. I found a great boot camp class that I really enjoyed and I made friends there. It is hard to do it alone, and it is hard to do stuff continually that you don't enjoy. Find something that you do enjoy and find people you enjoy doing it with and it will make it much easier. And once I could see the progress (on my body and on the scale), how could I stop?

During and after the holidays I kind of plateaued, but I was happy with where I was at and I maintained. However, I set a new goal for myself and have been making progress towards that goal. I'm at my final weight, I have a little bit of redistribution I still want to do (more muscle, less fat), but at 9% body fat at 41, I've reached my final scale victory and I'm just looking for new NSVs to keep me on track. I think that is another way to do it, keep setting goals, make them small so that you can see the end and don't get discouraged, but immediately set a new goal once you reach one!

The mental aspect of it is the hardest. It stopped being so hard when I stopped being so hard on myself.... once I realize that all the pressure I felt was self-inflicted. It doesn't matter if I lose one pound a week or a half pound a week or no pounds a week... I'm still making better choices than I was when I was a couch potato eating an entire bag of Butterfingers in two days. It's not a race or a contest and there is no deadline.

In particular, I stopped getting hung up on weigh-in days. I used to make sure my sodium was low leading up to it, so I wouldn't retain fluid, and made sure I pooped before I weighed myself, and then I realized... I wasn't on a "reality" game show where they'd send me home if I didn't make my numbers. And now, a year later, it doesn't matter if I dropped five pounds last April or three.

Looking at the big picture helped. And doing the math. Realizing that it would take seven slices of pecan pie beyond my maintenance calories to gain a pound, so eating one slice that fits in my calories isn't going to hurt. And that enjoying life, even if it means the occasional caloric splurge on a weekend or holiday, isn't going to put me on a tailspin. At worst, it might have delayed the day I reached my goal weight by a week or so. Big effin' deal.

Mine was I didn't have to do killer work outs to lose it. Just change my way of eating and do more age related workouts.

Hi, Ive lost 40 lbs PRIOR to MFP and 30 lbs SINCE MFP..

My biggest struggle has been believing in myself. At 265 I had no self esteam. And thinking that I had 120 lbs to lose was something I never thought was possible. How I've over come that is I focused on 10 lbs at a time. I got the inital 10 lbs off then I would think ok im at 255, now just gotta get to 245, then Id get there then think ok now just get to 235 and so on and so on. Today I am 195!! I have 50 left to go but im just focused on getting to 185, then Ill change focus to the next set. When you tell yourself, "just lose this 10 lbs", it works out so well.

Im so gonna do that! THANKS....... on average how long did it take to lose 10 pounds?

what a great way to do it!!!

awsome job too btw

Hi, Ive lost 40 lbs PRIOR to MFP and 30 lbs SINCE MFP..

My biggest struggle has been believing in myself. At 265 I had no self esteam. And thinking that I had 120 lbs to lose was something I never thought was possible. How I've over come that is I focused on 10 lbs at a time. I got the inital 10 lbs off then I would think ok im at 255, now just gotta get to 245, then Id get there then think ok now just get to 235 and so on and so on. Today I am 195!! I have 50 left to go but im just focused on getting to 185, then Ill change focus to the next set. When you tell yourself, "just lose this 10 lbs", it works out so well.

I say I am on stage 2 of level 1. Level one being to get to the halfway point of what I should lose for my height. I'm nearly there. Had I thought "OMG I need to lose 100lbs!!" I would NEVER have done it. I'll have a break when I finish level 1 for a while (well, thats the plan) and then work on level 2. I'm sure that will be harder.

Still seeing myself as fat so not trying to loose weight in an appropriate way for my current weight and failing

Waking up to how low my weight should be ... 12 or 13 not 15 or 16

Just how little you need to eat to eat normally

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