Ladies in the 200+ range..how'd you stay motivated?

Don't ever give up. For me, I started two years ago around 290#. I lost to the low 200s, never went under 200# however. Went through many life changes, divorce, children leaving house, remarried a wonderful man, got breast cancer, surgery, infections...... Needless to say, I went back up to 252. I decided enough was enough. I know now, how precious life is, that you only have one chance. I am determined that I will do it this time. I have an amazing support with my new husband. We are on this journey together. I am looking at very little goals, hoping one day I can reach my goal of the 140s. Until then, I look at the smaller goals, log onto MFP daily, read the success stories and am amazed at how people can change in the course of a few short months. Not sure what a few months will do to me, but I have been given the chance to see. That in itself is a blessing and I will make the most of it. If you work hard, six months from now, you will look back and be amazed at the changes and accomplishments you have made.

Don't ever give up... Keep going. Feel free to friend me if you would like. I am always good for some motivation.

I agree about the smaller goals too. My first goal was 10, then 25, now 50. I am working hard to reach that one. Ultimately I would love to lose 100 but baby steps. Even if your goal is to just stay under calories one day. Keep at it

I started my weight loss at 287lbs and lost the first 37lbs in 6 mos and have lost the last 6lbs in the last 6 mos :frown: When I step on the scale to see no change even while eating at or under my calorie goal, exercising and drinking way more water than ever before in my life I ask myself: What's the alternative? Start eating unhealthy again and get back the inches I've lost? Stop exercising and lose the strength and endurance that I've gained? Basically am I going to quit and gain back the weight, back to 287?? No thank you I'd rather work hard and stay the same then to gain it all back.
I understand wanting to quit but ask yourself if that is really who you want to see in the mirror?

"A year from now you will have wished you started today" - I think this every day...

Started at 232 in November, I'm now 182.6. Sometimes I think about giving up. Then I remember that if I do give up, it will take me less than two months to regain every pound I've lost (I gain weight much faster than I lose it!). And that keeps me going when nothing else does.

I started at 233 in February and am now 197. What keeps me motivated? Lots of things - God, kids, husband, desire to be healthy, etc.

But I think what you might need to hear is another reason...... I am stronger and healthier than I have been in years! I started working out lightly and briefly and have built up to 5x a week for hard 45 mins each. I could go longer but I have time restraints. I have 22 pounds to my goal but I could hold my own with someone who weighs way less, because I have learned that it isn't ALL about the numbers. So I'm not in my skinniest clothes yet, but I'm getting there. "Feeling" stronger and healthier really keeps me going when the scale isn't cooperating.

Also, I realized that exercising can be like sex with my husband...... in a way. There might be times when I don't really feel like doing it, but I have NEVER once regretted it when I was done. :-)

Find what motivates YOU and just keep going!

Results are what motivates me. I'm a 100% result driven person.

Unfortunately for me I didn't see the difference till I reached 30 plus pounds.

What it comes down to is you have to want it from deep down inside. You have to want it badly enough to say no to that piece of cake, that fast food stop...or whatever it is that tempts you.

My fave motto that I read her is "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" It is so true and I repeat it in my head everytime I am tempted!

I started at 252 and am now down to 212. The scale has been rough on me since late May. I try to focus not on having to lose 100+ pounds, because that can feel overwhelming, but instead on each individual pound. I pretend I need to lose no other weight than that one pound and give it my all. I also never let myself get too cocky about having already lost 40lbs. I'm proud and happy about it, sure, but I refuse to allow myself to get complacent. If I congratulate myself too much, I'll start to soften up on my focus.

I've had some bad days, but I keep chugging! I figure time is going to pass no matter what. Might as well lose some weight while I'm at it.

Also, I'm buying myself treats as a reward. At the 6 month mark I get a pretty new purse! I react well to bribery, lol.

I'm on day 25 of truly taking responsibility for myself, my health and my fitness. It's a constant choice, as much as I've been reading from others and taking it consideration. It is a choice we make everyday, that we care for ourselves and we being honest and forgiving of our limitations. Whether they be mental, emotional or physical limitations we admit to them and find what works for us to overcome them.

I know logging everything is working for me, I see my choices and am already online (too much). I've also found a love for kickboxing, getting out of the house with my two sons and seeing how my choices now are affecting them. My 9 year old is sharing his own awareness for physical activity (he never had an issue before but he's verbalizing it now), his food choices ("I need more fruit because fruit is good for me! Okay, I'll try the sugar snap peas. Oh, they're not too bad!")

In the beginning of June I realized it will be 5 years this December since my mother died. Soon after she had passed I began making better choices because I did not want to put my own health at any more risk for cancer (she had breast cancer twice and fought pancreatic cancer the last 18 months of her life). I did really well for awhile but depression overcame me, I forgot how to cook dinners and ate out too much. So, realizing this, seeing my kids and wanting to one day see my own grandkids (my mother loved her grandbabies, any babies really she worked on a labor and delivery unit for 25 years). I digress.... I stand to lose a lot of weight, a lot of baggage but I stand to earn more self respect (I've had a pretty fabulous outlook on life and myself. I don't self hate or talk badly of my weight issue.), ability to feel stronger and accomplish even more in life when I shed these unnecessary pounds.

So, in turn I think each person has to really look inside themselves, set those goals, find those motivations of why you wanted to lose weight (maybe why you gained) in the first place. Find supports (on MFP or your friends and family (hopefully), plan out your days meals and get your booty up moving as much as possible.

I do hope that helps Friend me if you'd like

I just started (beginning of july) in this weightloss journey at 239 right now i am 228. my problem is that as soon as I start seeing the numbers on the scale drop... I starte feeling "all badass" i get sidetracked and let that small goal get to my head. This has happened to me before.... and its very annoying. I know I need to stay on track and focus on the bigger goal but sometimes i just cant help it.

I started at 262lbs and this morning I weighed in at 189.2! what keeps me motivated is remembering how miserable I was and how unhealthy I was. My kids keep me motivated because I want to be healthy for them, I want to be able to do stuff with them without being too tired all the time.
I am excited to see how my body is changing (I haven't been in the 180's in a decade at least) and just feeling "normal" is such a nice change.
I also always remind myself that i will never regret sticking to it.
I can recall quite easily all the times I'd calculate in my head how much weight I could have lost had I just started on x day, and feeling so down that another year had passed and I was bigger than the last.

As far as plateauing... I've had it happen a few times and this is largely due to eating 1200 calories or LESS a day... I upped my caloric intake (with whole unprocessed foods) to about 1400cal and I did go up a pound or two for about a week and a half and then the weight started to drop again. If you eat too few calories your body will become resistant to loss... and it isn't healthy!

It's a complete life change and I truly believe that you have to be really ready to make a permanent life and eating change or it wont work. It took me a long time to get there... I think I was mostly pissed off that I couldn't eat whatever I wanted to like my husband could lol. Once I got over that and really thought about the path I was headed and the likely health issues that would spring up sooner than later I knew I had to just do it!
I changed my thinking... instead of trying to lose weigh I was losing weight... saying you'll try allows you to fail. doing it is just doing it!
I also looked at it from a medical view instead of just a physical "thinner me" side.

and I can tell you almost 8 months in and I don't regret it at all.

My weight seems to come off in clumps... it's weird but I'll drop 2-3 or more lbs in a week or 2, but stay the same the rest of the time. I keep body measurements a lot and track my success that way instead. Even when my scale isn't moving all month I'll go down an inch there, a 1/2 inch there... it keeps me going. I also try to stay in touch with how my body and mind feel. I'm much more calm and usually in a better frame of mind than I was 6 mos ago. I don't get out of breath going up the stairs and I can walk for an hour without collapsing when I get home. Don't use the scale as your only guide.

I started at 231 back in January. Since then I've lost the same five pounds four or five times always getting excited about being under 230 only to end up back on the other side. After gaining a whopping six pounds while some friends were in town for a long weekend, I had had enough. Since they have left I lost all that i had put on plus an additional four pounds!! this time around i decided to set specific short term goals for myself. I start back to school at the end of August. My goal is to be down to 220 by then and im already over half way there. Other goals include birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and I am setting a realistic expectation for the given time frame to allow for slip-ups so i don't get discouraged if i gain a little. You also have to commit for the long haul. I've mapped out the next 18 months for weightloss. You cant just lose 100 pounds over night! Lasty, try to approach it as lifestyle change. After all, once you do reach your ultimate weight loss goal, you cant go back to what you were doing that made you gain all that weight in the first place. ive tried so many diets, exercise routines, and grand plans and they have all failed. however, keeping up with your calories and staying active are lifestyle choices. if you can change the way you think about losing weight it can make all the difference. as far as staying active, i have been quite a klutz this summer and hurt both my knee and ankle making it difficult to stick to a strict exercise routine so i just turn on my pandora disney station and dance around my house to it. seems to be working fine for now!! You can do this, just keep at it!

I started at 245 the end of Feb and now I'm at 196..just tell yourself you can do this,don't give up because a year or even 6 months from now just think how far you'll be,and if you don't keep at it you'll wish you had.Surround yourself with positive people and take full advantage of this website and the awesome people on here.Lots of times I felt that it was just to tough or I'm to hungry and just need that last snack for the night and I would get on here and start reading some of the success stories,knowing that soon I would be one of those.You can do this!!

I'm looking for some advice. I started trying to lose weight about 18 months ago and did great...at first. After I lost my first 20 lbs or so (I started at 227), I totally lost motivation and quit just about all of the good habits that I had started. No more exercise, eating bad foods ALL of the time, etc. I'm now back to where I started, around 227.

My question is, with having some much weight to lose, how did you stay motivated to succeed? When the scale stopped moving, I gave up and I have no idea how to work through it when it happens this time around... When I plan ahead and see that I won't possibly reach my final goal weight for quite some time, I start to doubt myself and give up.

Thanks so much for your advice!

Just keep pushing!! Plateaus are normal for everyone and just remember, your "weight" may not be changing but, your body is constantly changing. You could be losing inches but not weight (since a lb of fat takes up more space then a lb of muscle). SO, while you lose a lb of fat, you may gain it back in a lb of lean muscle. Try measuring yourself once every couple weeks or 1 a month and see if you notice more of a difference!

GOOD LUCK and KEEP PUSHING!!! YOU GOT THIS!!!!!