Anyone else tired?

[Diana Prince]

Tired of the way you look.
Tired of the way you feel.
Tired of failing at every weight loss plan you have tried.

I don't know what to do anymore. I have lost and gained hundreds of pounds in my life. I don't feel well physically and I am mentally down about it too. I start a new plan and within a week I use any and every excuse to drop it.

I was recently on a website that has one of those adds for losing belly fat and the person shrinks before your eyes. My 5 yr old said "Mommy, I need you to look like that. I think you would be better". How do you come back from that?

I want to be healthier and fitter but I honestly do not know where to start.

Does anyone have any sensible ideas or stories about how they have succeeded? I would love to hear them. I have to do something.

[NMDemDist2]

1. i just did it a day at a time

every day, i'd say 'i could skip tomorrow, but today i'll just do it' and i'd push play on the dvd player and work out

every day 6 days a week, i'll be at it a year on March 1st

i missed a few days, but not many

also helps if your partner (or even your kid) works out with you, they'll help motivate you and you help motivate them

i threw out all the junk food and started buying fresh food twice a week, i still kept my chocolate in the fridge, but i rigidly controlled portions of 'cheat' foods

do it now, it just gets harder the older you get. believe this 56 yo woman and start today, walk around the block and clean out your cupboards you'll feel so much better!

and I've lost 5 dress sizes, lost 40 pounds and feel so much better, still not at my goal, but sooooo much better!

[Diana Prince]

2. Thank you very much!

It means a lot to hear how you have done this and are succeeding.

My partner is very supportive and keeps telling me I did not put this on in a week so don't expect to lose it in a week.

[NMDemDist2]

3. that was us too, we (hubby and I) put on 5 pounds a year

for ten years!!! you do the math LOL it was easy to say "It's only 5 pounds and we're getting older what do you expect??" but when he topped 250 pounds and I had to buy size 18s we knew we had to make a change

and we told each other the same thing, we didn't put it on in a month so we didn't expect to lose it fast. the Docs and fitness gurus say if you can lose 1-2 pounds a week you're more likely to keep it off. anything faster and you'll end up putting it right back on and more!!

while I haven't lost a pound a week what i have done is traded blubber for muscle and still averaged 3/4 of a pound a week over the year, hubby did better, he's averaged 1 pound a week (he went from 250+ to yesterday he's at 203) but man o man, he's got guns and pecs and a sweet tight backside now :blush:

and I've got nice arms and no back fat and my thighs and legs look great!! just a few more pounds to go right in my tummy but I can feel the muscle under there, so they'll be showing soon.

it's a process and a lifestyle change. eat food, not too much and mostly vegetables. what helped me a lot was the 'take it in hand' method

eat fat, only the size of your thumb
eat protein the size of your palm
eat veggies the size of your fist

here's a link that explains it http://www.hearthealthyonline.com/fitness/weight-loss/hand-guide-portion-control_ss1.html be sure to scroll all 7 pages

do it!! you'll be so much happier (and a LOT healthier)

[yellerpup]

9. When I was losing weight I used to remind myself

that I didn't have to love every minute of the workout, all I HAD to do was go through the motions.

To maintain my weight loss, I never let myself go more than two days in a row without a workout. I got away from all that when I had to have surgery, but I miss having a stamina so I'm getting back into it.

[TuxedoKat]

4. I hear you

I feel the same way. I have tried some different ways of eating that work very well -- lost weight quickly, didn't feel hungry and felt great. It's hard when your family wants to eat foods that you need to avoid. If I don't have the "right" food around when I'm hungry it's easier just to eat pizza and what the rest of the family is eating although afterwards I know I won't feel happy about it and it will make me feel bad too. Last spring summer I did really well and lost a good 10-12 pounds but put it all back and then some. I feel like I'd have been better off not even dieting then though. It probably wasn't the best way of eating for me, because even though I lost weight, I didn't really believe in that diet. I had a better way of eating on my own.

I really want to do this though. I want to find a way to help myself want to make these changes permanently but I get sidetracked by doing things for me when I have to do things for my family. I am always last, everyone else's needs come first, there needs to be more of a balance.

I've had great success with the Fat Flush books by Anne Louise Gittelman. She's a nutritionist and had a website with a support forum too. When I did her programs I felt the best I ever had in my life and lost weight quickly. It's after you lose the weight when it is hard -- to keep up with a healthy way of eating and exercising regularly so the weight doesn't come back. I'm going to go back to that but also plan to read The Four Hour Body, which I've been reading reviews about on amazon.com I probably won't agree with all of it, but it sounds intriguing. One thing the author talks about is slow-carb eating, which is low-glycemic eating. That is eating foods that take longer to digest (high fiber foods) so you don't get spikes in blood sugar and do not feel hungry. Lots of diet plans are using this approach now.

My 8 year old said something similar to me about losing weight!

Well, if you would like a diet buddy to be accountable to, I'm game.

Just found this site today too:

www.myfitnesspal.com

It has a diet journal, forum, etc. Don't use your real name there though, because I friend had a link to her food journal on FB using her real name. I don't know if that is searchable. Good luck.

[Diana Prince]

5. I would love a diet buddy

I went to http://www.sparkpeople.com/ and signed up ages ago. They have a food, exercise and weight tracker. I never really gave it a shot, used every excuse to not do it. I think I may be able to do it this time. I can keep a notebook at work and then log in at night to track food. I like the articles they have and some of the recipes look like something I would actually fix.

I need to just do it!

It is time to remove the junk from the treadmill and start walking.

[NMDemDist2]

6. how did that treadmill feel??

if you haven't yet, go do it RIGHT NOW and let me know!

take lots of breaks, go slow but commit to at least 45 minutes holding the handles........

[Lisa0825]

12. I am on Spark People too...

I don't use the social part of it much though. But I did put together a small closed group on Facebook. Are you on FB? Let me know if you want me to add you.

[safeinOhio]

7. I'm 61 and have gone from

250 to 205 since last May.
At first I started out just to reduce my cholesterol. I had been taking a statin drug for 12 years and stopped taking it. So, low fat and only good carbs. Well the weight started coming off so I added exercise.
The big thing that worked was no more white foods, sugar, patatoes, rice, bread and pasta. Next, no more fast food. One to 2 bowls of old fashion oatmeal a day and no soda of any kind. I also eat 1 or 2 green salads every day. Tons of baked or broiled fish, chicken and a few eggs.
I'm shooting for another 10 pounds and that seems really hard, but doable.

[NMDemDist2]

8. good for you!!

:applause:

[myrna minx]

10. I suggest a pedometer to get you started.

You don't have to do anything other than to look at how much you walk around, pace while on the phone etc and once you see that you are a bit active during the day - you want to beat the day before by parking a little further away from the store, using the stairs etc. It's a start without really committing yourself - which can be the biggest hurtle when there's depression or deflated motivation involved. Beginning to pay attention to what you're doing is a very big step in motivating yourself.

I've gained quite a bit of weight since I quit smoking - so I decided that if I'm going to be overweight, I am going to make sure that I'm at least eating good cholesterol reducing fats like olive oil, almonds and avocados in lieu of all of the cheese I've indulged in (I am a cheese whore - I go to Costco to ogle the cheese LOL). It's my way of changing my psychology so that even thought I'm overweight, at least it's with good/better things than my forbidden cheese love. It's a gradual shift in thinking that is what's working for me with weight loss- rather than the guns blazing all or nothing approach that worked for my quitting smoking.

My best wishes to you.

[annabanana]

11. If you truly feel you have exhausted your options, there is

surgery. I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy in August of 2009. Since then I've lost over 150 lbs, and I'm kicking myself that I waited so long.

I would be happy to PM you pics & details.