The weight struggle

[davidpizzica]

For me it's a real struggle to lose weight especially being diabetic. I was up to a reord 293 pounds, but now that I'm working (and starting to work it off) I lost 20 pounnds. I have a physical job outside which is helping. (a groundskeeper on a golf course).

[catnapper]

Oh boy is weight a struggle for me. Or it used to be. One day I just realized I hated dieting, hated the constant feeling of hunger, the feeling of being shaky and lightheaded. One day I just decided to eat what I felt I needed - no counting calories, no worrying if it was too much fat. Count carbs? Whats that?

I gained a lot of weight over the year I was dating my husband (many meals out - all rich and yummy! ) I have stayed exactly steady the same weight for 4 years. I've NEVER in my adult life stayed one size more than a season. And here I am maintaining a steady weight! That said, I DID recently give up some favorites in the interest of cholestorol and lost about 20 pounds. Still I'm heavy, but I have to admit, HAPPIER than I've ever been in my life. I am active & energetic. I no longer ever feel light headed or shaky. I always HATED the saying "nothing feels as good as thin" because to me, thin felt shaky. Dizzy. Light headed. I HATED the feeling. Sure, I looked good, but felt terrible.

All that mumbo jumbo... basically to say that you should follow what feels right for your body. Yes, I should be many pounds thinnner... but my wieght isn't an issue with me. If someone else comes along and tries to make it one, then I will tell them to finaince my stomach surgery!

[chocolatepuppy]

I just lost 20 lbs! I need to lose more and am still trying. It's coming easy for me as I have a bottle of cholesterol pills sitting in my kitchen as my inspiration! I am not taking them, first I have to see for myself if I can lower my cholesterol on my own. I try to stay at around 2,000 calories a day and watch my fats. I've been out walking more. I've always been fairly active and feel my weight gain over recent years is like someone said, "it's not what you're eating it's what's eating you." Food had become a source of comfort.
I don't care if I'm ever as thin as I once was but I'm so glad to be a little smaller now and hopefully a little healthier too!

[RobiLee]

The dreaded weight subject

I am extrememly overweight....obese is the exact word. I look awful, feel awful, am always uncomfortable and never feel good about myself. Can you say low self-esteem? Thats me! I have been laughed at, pointed at, mooed at, oinked at and have had little kids point and say look at the fat lady mommy. Its not fun being me and being at this weight. Why don't I do something about it? I don't know. I have spent all kinds of money trying to lose weight, trying to feel better about myself. It never works. I know its mind over matter. Why am I not willing to do something about it? When will I be ready? What is my problem? I wish I could answer all these questions. I lost weight once. 125 pounds. I felt so much better. I was still considered overweight though...lol. I thought I looked good though. I starved myself to lose that weight. I worked out like crazy. I don't know what happened. I've almost gained it all back now. I am a loser. I am fat and ugly..lol. That is how I feel about myself most of the time. Can you say depressed?!...lol. Yeah, thats me! What is really worse for me is I was treated so much different after I lost that weight. Now its almost like people want nothing to do with me and they definitely don't care what I might have to say. Talking on here is easy but it is so much harder in real life.

Sorry for going on so much.

[chocolatepuppy]

RobiLee,

I'm sorry you feel so bad about your weight. That's just how I've felt for quite awhile. Everyday down on myself, but still doing nothing about it. Every occasion, feeling like I look like crap when I dressed up. But it can be so hard to lose weight so please don't be so hard on yourself! Like I said it took a health scare to really get me motivated.

[christa]

If you want to lose weight, you have to "get healthy" . . .

Loosing weight is more about making a lifestyle change than it is about dieting.

A year ago, hubby & I changed our lifestyles & so far, he's lost over 40 pounds & I've lost 25.

You HAVE to change the way you shop . . . spend most of your time at the grocery store around the outter edge of the store. Produce, meats & dairy! Avoid the aisles if at all possible . . . except the frozen vegetable aisle of course! And don't even stop at the bakery!!! It's evil!

You HAVE to change the way you cook . . . bake or sautee instead of fry . . . olive oil or Enova oil instead of Crisco . . . Fat Free or Skim Milk instead of Whole milk . . . the tiniest changes can make such a big difference . . . and the food is great!

You HAVE to move!!! . . . I excercise 5 days a week. Cardio & lift weights. There are plenty of days that I feel like crap & don't want to go . . . but once I get there, I feel so much better! And after I leave, I feel more confident about myself & it just snowballs!

And I think others have said it before . . . it's important that the weight comes off slow . . . I think about a pound a week is average. The slower it comes off, the longer it stays off!

Don't give up on "GETTING HEALTHY" . . . it's probably the most important thing you can do for yourself!

[sirrahbed]

Robin -I am sorry you feel this way I feel the same myself and it is awful. I guess I am probably "obese" too - having gained about 75 pounds in the past couple years - all stress related. My usual size is 12 and now my clothes all have X's instead of numbers.

PJ's Mom: I don't know how old you are - but if you are adult, then losing becomes harder and perhaps being a bit heavier than you want is healthy for you? For example - my adult weight is 150 pounds which is higher than the charts but good for me (I am 5'5") - at that point - it is good enough to quit trying to be 125 again. I had to starve to stay at that weight anyway plus being super-active. I got up to 225 at the first of the year then have gotten off 15 pounds but it is hard. Summer means nicer days for walking.

Hugs to you!! I do understand the "weight struggle" -

[PJ's Mom]

Robin, I'm sorry I brought up such a painful subject. I think you're a great person.

You have all taught me one thing today...I'm not alone in this battle. I've also learned that I really have no reason to complain since I have only about 30 lbs to lose. I'm blessed with being tall (5'9") so that hides a lot of the weight I've gained but I hate myself for not having more self control.

We should form a group...if not to lose weight than to be miserable together.

sirrahbed, I'm 38 and with every passing year my waistline seems to get a little bigger.

I wish I could find the peace that some of you have found. I would love to be able to realize that not everyone is a size 8 and that size 6 I wore a few years ago is probably a thing of the past.

(((hugs to all of you)))

[Uabassoon]

I was like that, but then a few months ago I joined weight watchers and LOVED it. I've lost 46 pounds so far and I'm now at a weight I'm comfortable with. One of things that I loved most about about it is that I didn't have to give anything up. I could still eat ice cream and all the sweets I liked but I learned how to deal with portion sizes and not to overdo anything. When you deprive yourself of something you are more likely to binge, kind of like when you are a kid and your parents say you can't have something it just makes you want it more. Really the key to losing weight is just moderation.

[PJ's Mom]

Originally posted by Uabassoon
Really the key to losing weight is just moderation.

That's where my problem is. I can't eat just a few chips, for exapmle. I have to eat half a bag.

[Uabassoon]

Originally posted by PJ's Mom
That's where my problem is. I can't eat just a few chips, for exapmle. I have to eat half a bag.

What I did was I measured out my sweets into plastic baggies, then I would just grab a bag and eat the whole thing. I know I can't be trusted with an entire bag of chips or cookies, so if I made the bag smaller then I was fine.

[buckner]

Originally posted by PJ's Mom
That's where my problem is. I can't eat just a few chips, for exapmle. I have to eat half a bag.

For things that come in a package, prepare it in the kitchen. For chips, pour a few on a plate or bowl, and close the chips back up. Then proceed to eat them. This way you're not given the opportunity to eat ALL the chips at one time. You're not just eating them because they're there. Same goes for pretzels, cookies, candies, etc. Moderation is easy if you know how to without depriving yourself.

You'd be surprised how much weight can be lost and how small you'll get by just cutting out soft drinks, chips, and sweets in large quanities. Same goes for breads and pastas. I'm not saying cut out all carbs. Still eating potatoes, corn, beans, fruits, breads, etc. Just not as much at every sitting.

Eat whole grain and cracked wheat breads. Eat fresh fruits and veggies. Cooked or frozen foods tend to lose some of their nutritional value. Stay away from fried foods and drink skim milk. If you want chicken, bake it in some brown rice in the oven with a few veggies. It's delicious, and very healthy.

However, if you want to lose weight quickly (which I don't recommend) eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My youth minister used to be seriously overweight, but it was affecting his health and his kidney failure/transplant. He ate nothing but cereal of his choice and skim milk, at every meal. He could have as much as he wanted, as long as that cereal didn't have any fat. That way, with skim milk, he was counting fat grams. And he biked everywhere and as much as possible. He lost like 150-200 lbs in a shorter amount of time than recommended.

I'm very good at preaching about weight loss, but if you looked at me you'd scream "hypocrite". I need to lose weight myself, but I've lost about 10-15 pounds since I've started. A tad bit more than recommended, but for the last 3 or 4 days, I've eaten what I've wanted, and I seem to have lost weight. When your body gets into a crunch mode of burning fat, it's hard to stop it.

Also, exercise is key. I have trouble with this. I have a gym membership that I don't use that often. I exercise everyday at my house, it's just not always convinient to head to the gym. Oh well, some day.

I wish you luck, Dawn. It'll hit you one day. You'll look at yourself and that'll be that. You'll know what you have to do, and you won't back down from your mind set. It's all about motivation.

[Corinna]

I have the same problem PJ"S mom , Thats why I started a weight support group this summer not one diet and if you feel like cheating you call or e-mail one of the members. Its been working for us not a lot of weightloss but not many gains either.
A more relaxed approch has helped us I have only 30LBS left , but the group has quite a few more but have made a lot of good Ways to keep from cheating . But best of all is not to beat ourselves up if we slip.

[Karen]

Originally posted by RobiLee
The dreaded weight subject

I am extrememly overweight....obese is the exact word. I look awful, feel awful, am always uncomfortable and never feel good about myself. Can you say low self-esteem?

But Robin! You are beautiful! And I'm not "just saying" that. Gosh, if I was as pretty as you ... the world'd be my oyster! (Weird saying, that one.) Seriously, you are every bit as beautiful as 9pick a supermodel - whoever you might think of). And in your case, it's not only physical, either. You are a good person who loves her family and her "girls," and when you talk about them, you smile, which makes you even prettier.

[elizabethann]

RobiLee, please don't feel so down on yourself. You're NOT a loser. Losers are people who abuse people & animals. Some of the things you mentioned in your post, I can relate to. It's unfortunate that overweight people are treated like third class citizens. If it was easy to lose weight, wouldn't we all be skinny? And if people don't pick on the fat folks, then who will they turn to next? Blacks? Hispanics? People in wheelchairs? People with blue eyes? We're just an easy target for all the losers out there. Please hang in there.

That's probably why I love animals so much. They don't care what you look like. They love you for who you are.

Regards,