150 pounds to lose

[Lissa82]

I need to lose about 150 pounds to get to my recommended body weight.  Anyone have success with this without surgery?  Any tips, tricks, motivations, or anyone wanting to join this journey are welcome!

[LBK65]

Hi Lisa:

My name is Lisa too.  I have been on the dieting roller coaster for decades. I applaud you willingness to join in and begin this important journey. Keep in mind that there is no one solution that fits all.  Different people have different metabolisms and react differently to various diet plans and exercise.  What is consistently helpful is support from others on the same journey.  There are many ups and downs along the way.  It is important not to get discouraged and when you do, to reach out to a buddy who can encourage you and help you through it. 

[LBK65]

Hi Lisa:

My name is Lisa too.  I have been on the dieting roller coaster for decades. I applaud you willingness to join in and begin this important journey. Keep in mind that there is no one solution that fits all.  Different people have different metabolisms and react differently to various diet plans and exercise.  What is consistently helpful is support from others on the same journey.  There are many ups and downs along the way.  It is important not to get discouraged and when you do, to reach out to a buddy who can encourage you and help you through it. I am happy to help any way that I can.

some of you have been responding to me.  I am not  Lisa82.  Please respond to the original poster,

[Bill_k]

Congrats on starting.

I guess to start with i will just say that you have to dump all the junk food,high sugar  and high carbohydrate foods you can stand and start slowly on an exercising program.

Walking or using an exercise bike is good to start .

Walking especially.

Don't be discouraged if you can only walk 20 feet without stopping and catching your breath at the start.Been there ,done that.

Just keep at it and the more you can do the more you'll be able to do .

Use your fitbit as encouragement as you go to see your resting heart rate dropping and your cardiovascular health getting better.

After awhile you'll feel better with more energy and you'll see your weight dropping off,your clothes needing to be replaced  and think that if you stop you will go back where you started and use that as encouragement to keep going.

People will likely tell you you look better and that helps too.

It's tough sledding doing a lifestyle change.

[misskrumms]

Hey, I've got 90 lbs to lose - I just started up again as well.  Maybe we can support each other?

I was having trouble

1) siting up to get out of bed

2) putting on pants!

3) Don't get me started on socks.

4) Walking up and down the stairs in my place - I often have to do 3 floors.

Anyway, I started about 3 weeks ago and them promptly sprained my ankle.

I am getting about 6000 steps a day at this point, which is much better than it was, but not yet up to where it needs to be.

I am trying to do pilates.  It's really hard and I used to do it.  Now I just feel like a beetle that rolled over, but I know it will get better if I do it often enough.  Right now I can't do the basic roll up.  But I KNOW that pilates will improve my flexibility and maybe i'l be able to do somethings that are difficult now.  I have done pilates 2x.  once for 20 minutes and once for 40, taking breaks when I needed to, and just accepting that there is some stuff I can't do.

I put my bathing suit on before going to the YMCA (I just joined) so that I don't feel embarrassed in the bathroom.  I do aqua jogging.  It really helps because I don't feel so heavy in the water.  Also I got sone underwater headphones so that it's not a complete bore.

I did weight lifting for the first time on Tuesday!  I'm sore.

Let me know how you are doing - I'm happy to keep in touch!

[Bill_k]

Grats on your weight loss program. If you're having trouble with the socks thing i discovered something while rehabbing from my operations 4  yrs ago that will help. If you go to a medical store where you get aids for living they might have something called a sock aid which is a plastic tube you put your sock around and it has 2 ropes on either side of it that you use to pull the sock on your foot without having to bend over. You can sit on the side of the bed and do it.

Makes life easier.

[Lissa82]

Thank you!!  I appreciate it!

[Hollydog2 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I am on a major lifestyle overhaul too. I have let my weight get to the point where I feel 30 years older than I am and can relate to what the others have said about difficulties managing tasks like putting on socks etc. It feels like it crept up on me and just happened all of a sudden but is really the result of me neglecting myself for the last 6 years.

I think that maybe changing no more than 3 new things in a week is a good idea so that it is not too overwhelming.

For example week one might be introducing gentle exercise if you are not doing any at the moment, removing an obvious bad habit (eg something calorie laden that doesn't have much nutritional value from your diet) and replacing it with a better option. And that might be enough for week 1 and then gradually make changes each week.

This journey is very individual but broadly what has worked for me is to think of this as a life change, not a temporary process until I can go back to 'normal', to not only remove things (habits, foods etc) but to also replace them with alternatives that I enjoy or make me happy and to not think of what I am 'missing out on' (food in particular lifestyle wise) but think of all that I am gaining by making these changes.

I also try to work on my mental/emotional self as well, reading books and listening to podcasts because I know for me that negative self talk, anxiety and feeling like it is all too hard and I will do it tomorrow have all contributed to where I am at physically at the moment.

Good Luck with your journey.

[Dominique]

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@Lissa82 wrote:

I need to lose about 150 pounds to get to my recommended body weight.  Anyone have success with this without surgery?  Any tips, tricks, motivations, or anyone wanting to join this journey are welcome!

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There has been some great success stories in the community. Here are a few that come to mind:

@AuroraKat, who went from 253 to 122 lbs.

@EmjayH , who went from 123 to 67 kg.

@tamado , who went from 265 to 161 lbs.

I’m not sure they have "tips", or resorted to "tricks", but they definitely all had a plan, which they executed very well. It would be nice if they could chime in, say hello and tell us what they are up to (hence my tagging them).

[AuroraKat]

Hi, Lissa82!

You can absolutely lose that amount of weight without surgery! It's been a while since I posted on this forum due to other things keeping me busy, but I have lost over 100 pounds and kept it off for over two years now. 

My biggest tip for you is to do some soul-searching and find meaningful wellness/health goals and aspirations that are not focused on scale weight.

With over 100 pounds to lose, I knew that I was in for the long haul. The amount of time, effort, discipline and dedication to achieve such an undertaking can be daunting. During my own journey, I discovered that I enjoy lifting weights and running. As I worked to achieve fat loss, I also worked on getting stronger. The days when the scale wasn't kind to me, since weight fluctuates even when you do everything right (especially for women - and that's perfectly normal!), I looked to my strength training and running progress for that extra boost of confidence and motivation. When the scale showed that I gained a few pounds, it didn't completely crush me because I knew that I was making progress elsewhere for my health. 

I will be back to post more when I have extra free time, but did want to drop by and offer the above piece of advice for your consideration!

@Dominique thank you for tagging me! It's been a while since I posted, but I am still lurking when I have free time. Aside from usual life stuff, I am currently training for Chicago Marathon, which I'm extremely excited about! It's a lot of work, but I can't wait to run it! 

[Dominique]

@AuroraKat : it’s great to see you again in the community, and thanks for updating us on your current life! A full marathon is coming, wow, I’m impressed! I found your first post in the weekly weigh-in topic here. That was back in November 2016. You said your journey started on May 18, 2016, i.e. almost exactly three years ago. Congrats again for your amazing achievement, including maintaining! I’m sure your story will be most inspiring to all of us. Hope to hear more from you soon!

[tamado]

@Dominique sorry for the delay in replying, it's been a while since I logged in here.
I will say, yes, it's more than possible to lose weight without surgery and what will get you there you will have to find for yourself.  Deeper than that, is where it's coming from.  I'll share something with you here I wrote a while ago and I hope it helps and makes some sense.

I was jotting down some thoughts recently, but I really was not planning on sharing them publicly.  In the time since then, I seem to be noticing more and more people posting about their weight and food struggles.  I do not have all of the answers, but this is a topic near and dear to me as I am going through this journey myself.  I hope some of you read this and find a nugget of wisdom in it that you can use to help yourself.

Around 11 years ago I decided to tackle a nasty nicotine addiction.  With the help of an online community I was able to string together a couple of years nicotine free but I still had not fully moved on.  I still resented not having it.  I was angry with myself for being addicted so I wanted to blame others for me being miserable.  I was holding on to being quit for dear life but I was terrified of failing and hating myself along the way.  Eventually, I realized something had to change.  Fear and anger cannot motivate long term, only love can do that.  I learned to love myself enough to honor my body and not use nicotine.  That was the turning point, a 180 degree shift in perspective from fear, anger and hate to love.  It set me free and staying quit has been easy ever since.

If you fast forward about 8 years I was once again at a crossroads.  I was quickly approaching 40 with a surgically repaired knee that refused to stop hurting.  I looked down at myself and knew the extra weight I was carrying, especially with an extremely physical job, was taking a tremendous toll on my body.  It was so tempting to turn to self-loathing for letting myself get this fat and fear of failure if I tried to lose and just hating myself for being this way but I knew what I needed to do.  I needed to love myself enough to set my body free.  I deserve a healthy, pain free life.  I deserve to be active with my wife and kids.  I deserve to not be up with acid reflux multiple nights a week.  I deserve good digestive health.  I set a mantra – “I will not be another old fat guy with bad knees”.  It sounds harsh but that is what I was becoming.  We see so many people with joint pain but our bodies were just not meant to carry what we are asking from them these days and it was time to let that go.

The actual “diet” doesn’t matter.  You can reduce calories, intermittent fast, go to the gym, run, avoid carbs, eat more fat, eat less fat, go vegetarian or a myriad of other choices but ultimately success is driven by motivation.  You cannot hate yourself enough to be healthy – whether that be weight or addiction or relationships or vocation.  Loving yourself enough to take care of yourself is the only sustainable motivation.

I have found yoga to be the perfect compliment to a self-loving strategy of health.  For me, going to the gym was like punishing myself for my sloth and gluttony.  It was like penance for sins against my body.  I was raised in a belief system that taught me that I was born bad – sinful.  I was only loved because of grace but not actually worthy of that love.  Somewhere along the way we lost the message of our bodies being temples and stewardship and just focused on self-loathing.  That taught me the only good I had was extrinsic and I was inherently flawed, finding intrinsic goodness has been much more motivating for me.  Until I could see myself as being worthy of love how could I love myself?

This is not a comprehensive weight loss guide but it is a nudge to a shift in mindset that can be the beginning of a new journey.  A journey met with success and patience and kindness – and love.

[Pandabare57]

Hi Lisa

I also need to lose alot of weight. 100 + , been very frustrating for me, as i have sever RA and lung issues, but i am slowing feeling better. I started to eat clean (basically everything i eat i make), have cut all surgar and dairy and gluten out of my diet. It was hard at first, but i feel so much better. I am in the gym 2x a week and doing Aquafit 2x aweek as well. I am also 58 yrs young, so alot harder to take off.

I am so glad to hear your doing this journey. Feel free to add me as a friend and we can cheer each other on.. I really love my fitbit, it keeps me honest. 

i look forward to sharing our journey together..

Cheers

Shelly

[Dominique]

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@Pandabare57 wrote:

I started to eat clean (basically everything i eat i make), have cut all sugar and dairy and gluten out of my diet. It was hard at first, but i feel so much better. 

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Kudos for preparing your own food! Have you established you’re intolerant to gluten? Only a tiny part of the population has celiac disease (though many of them ignore it), and also a relatively small part is gluten-intolerant. If you don’t belong to either group, there’s no particular reason to exclude gluten, as long as it comes from minimally processed sources. Same with dairy: unless you are intolerant, or won’t eat it for ethical reasons, there’s nothing unhealthy in minimally processed sources. The problem when making your diet too restrictive is sticking to it is going to be harder than it needs to be. 

I’m also 58, and I’ll say it’s possible to lose weight at any age!

[Pandabare57]

Hi Dominique

I was tested for Celiac, and biopsy done, i am borderline, meaning, i tested positive for the Dermatitis herpetiformis rash, but not for Celiac, .. i have tried a few times to eat gluten, as i love my toast and egg, but nope.. i have almost an instant reaction..and as for the dairy, i really never was a big dairy person, although i do miss my cottage cheese and yougurt, but i have found alternatives. 

And so far i have not really found i was restrictive, i have found that i am eating more different kinds of food, and doing alot of experimenting..

i have found healthy alternatives to my sweet tooth.. dark Chocolate. lol..

And it is fun to find new recipies for different foods.. we should have a recipe exchange in the weight loss group..

thanks for your reply

Cheers

Shelly

[Dominique]

@Pandabare57 : OK, it makes perfect sense to exclude gluten, given the test results. I can see how your diet can be more varied in spite of excluding items like gluten and diary, if you switched from a typical "junk food" diet consisting in highly processed food items to food you prepare yourself from raw ingredients. I also love dark chocolate, btw, and had a quasi-addiction to it, to the point I would eat a 100g bar every single day. I’ve managed to quit. I still eat chocolate, but only if/when offered to me (which fortunately does not happen too often), I no longer buy it / store it at home. 

[Pandabare57]

Hi Dominique

i still by choc, but i am able to control myself. I wasn't really a junk food eater, well did not eat candy pop, chips and so on, although when i started to read labels, i found the stuff that is being marketed as healthy such as Kellogs Nurish.. it was filled with so much crap..but i was addicted to cakes cookies and so on..that was hard to break. also learning what foods to eat and when, that is the trick to it as well, I also carb cycle. I also quit smoking after 4o yrs, and i tell you, i gained a few pounds back, but i did lose them again. Man food tastes so much better now,  my new go to snack is a rice thin and peanut butter, or with apple or celery.. I really enjoy trying new foods and getting so much energy back. 

[DavideFitbit]

It's great to see so many awesome tips. 

Staying motivated is very important to achieve our goals, and changing lifestyle completely would definitely have an impact. I've seen many great stories of different people in the forums that had a similar goal and were able to succeed with a combination of diet, exercise, motivation and determination. 

Thanks to everyone here for sharing all these suggestions! 

[Duffpic]

weigh, measure, log.  This is simply the key - when I realized I was fooling myself as to "why" I'm 85 pounds overweight, I had to simply admit - I'm eating way to much calories and larger than life portions for my body type.  So I committed for 1 week that I would log in everything I ate - no matter what - no changes in eating, just to see how many calories I'm REALLY eating.  I also allowed fitbit to calculate how many calories per day I should be eating in order to lose 85 pounds over a certain period of time.  What happened?  I found that in being "accountable" for what I'm REALLY eating, I was not eating as much.  I got a food scale and started measuring out "real" portions - I didn't eat certain things that I was mindlessly eating because I didn't want to have to log it in.   I lost 4 pounds the first week and pretty much ate what I wanted - just an actual portion instead of measuring with my eyes.  I found I wanted to not go over the calories allowed during the day.   I've since lost another 3 pounds - I have found when I don't measure I either plateau or gain.  So the commitment at this point is to measure, weight and log into fitbit.  

[Pandabare57]

Hi there

i also so relized when to eat certian foods. I carb cycle, meaning, i eat more carbs on the days that i have high activity, such as gym and aquafit, and low to no carbs on the days i am not doing activity. I still struggle with the timing of my foods i eat. I work till 11pm at night, and not always able to eat while working, so i get home and am starving..so i tend to eat something, .

I have to find/make the time at work to eat . I find i will lose 10 lbs, then will go up and down a few pounds, then will loose again 10lbs. can get a bit frustrating at time,

I have been logging my food for about 2 months now, and i also write how i am feeling when i am eating so i can go back and read , and try and figure out why i ate that at that time. i find it very informational for myself.

Cheers

Shelly 

from Canada!!