Sometimes I wonder if I'll always be overweight

I've lost 9 pounds since starting my cc, but still have 38 pounds to go by hopefully december of 2008. I have been walking about 2 miles every day, doing pilates & hip hop abs. I just feel depressed today, like I'm never going to get there.

Help!

Any words of wisdom?

how long have you been CC?

keep your eyes focused on the future and keep in mind how good you'll feel and look at Christmas time when you'll have parties to go to and what your family will say :-)

I;m so sorry you feel like this. Trust me when i say i understand. I am trying to loose 30 pounds and dispite my best efforfts the weight just isnt coming off. I always tell myself i rather keep trying then give up and know i did nothing to try to change. Just keep pushing and something is bound to happen.

Good luck !

my best advice is to drop the deadline - even though it's tentative.  it's just too easy to decide you're not going to make it and give up.

when i've been really struggling, i've looked at monthly highs and averages.  even if i'm only half a pound lower than last month--even if i have to go back six month or a year to see progress--that's what i do.  am i happy with the fact that i'm 8 pounds heavier than i was last september?  nope.  so i go back and look at where i was two years ago: yay!!

nine pounds is great.  just focus on what you know works ;)

I've been cc since july 11th. But have been overweight for 8 years now. This is really the first time that I have gotten really serious about my weight since I've had my 2 children. I know I need to have patience, but then I look in the mirror & just want to scream.

Words of wisdom: know your base rate of burned calories, know how much you're eating per day, know the calories you're burning.  Do the math to create a caloric deficit of 7000 calories per week.

I'm a guy so I don't know how to listen to problems without giving the solution.

thanks so much. It's so hard to lose weight when our lives are so busy these days.

 

I'm not sure if you started counting when you joined cc a week ago.  If you did, 9 lbs is awesome!  Mostly water weight, I'm guessing, but on average, people should not lose more than 2 lbs a week.  As much as we'd love this to go super quickly, it takes time.  And I think the longer it takes, the more consistent you get in your change of eating style.  Which means, you won't slip back into eating all the wrong things and the wrong amount of things like somebody who takes a bunch of pills and loses 30 lbs in 30 days.  There's no way they will keep that off!

I've been calorie counting for 2 months.  I'm using my start weight at a month before I started.  So, to date, I've lost 37 lbs.  Granted, I'm over 300 lbs, but nobody has noticed that I've lost weight.  No comments.  And that's a lot of weight gone! (although, it's only 10% of my starting weight)  But, it matters that we're losing and getting there.  Numbers are just numbers.  How do you feel?

Edit: Apparently, I type slower than your last post.  But yes, 9 lbs in a week is great!  Mostly water weight, but expect your loss to be between 1-2 lbs, especially as you get close to your goal weight.  You'll get there!

Hang in there! Nine pounds lost is a wonderful accomplishment. Thousands of others are not able to make it that far. The hardest part is making the decision to get in shape, and you seem to have made that choice. You can do this. It's hard work, but that's what makes it rewarding. Think of what a wonderful gift it is to give your children a healthier mom.

You have two options:

1. Give up and be the same or heavier in five months, or

2. Keep on keepin' on, even though you may have bad days, and be slimmer and more energetic and more healthy in five months.

Either way, December is going to happen. How do you want to live in it? Cut yourself some slack, have a depressed day, but tomorrow is for feeling strong. Tomorrow, be proud of how far you've come and be determined to finish the job. You deserve to feel good every step of the way.

Original Post by nazs:

I'm a guy so I don't know how to listen to problems without giving the solution.

 LOL!  Don't let the Lounge hear you say that.  They will freak at any implication that men and women are different.  ::)

OP, you can do this.  I, too, fought my way back after letting myself go during pregnancies.  It can be done.  I agree about dropping the deadline.  Just take it as it comes.  Stay focused.  You will get there.

9lbs is wonderful. It has taken me 4 months to lose that. I have 4 kids so I understand about time constraints. What I found is that I have my younger ones read to me while I bike. That way I spend time with them while accomplishing what I need to. Or I found a track I can walk down the way from me that has a play ground so we all walk and while I walk the track - they play ball or on the equipment.

Just keep in mind your progress and keep your eye focus on the future. I agree you shouldn't put a date on it b/c that will drive you insane. I myself have given myself a date b/c I am rewarding myself with a car and it will need to be bought in January or I will have to waite a whole year - long story to explain why.

 

Don't lose the hope!!!! I know how are you feel that happen to me sometimes. But be possitive you all ready lose 9 pounds, be proud of you!!!Remember this is a transition we don't put all that weigth in ours bodys in a day!!! so get away that fat it's time matter!!! live everyday at the time. You are making a change in your live and that's it's hard but you reward it's comming soon went you can use that tiny dress in the xsmas eve.

You can!!!!! hip hip hurra!!!!

One just has to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  When you fall, you get back up and keep going.  The longer you lie there feeling sorry for yourself before getting back up, the longer it will take to reach your goal.

 

I’ve been on my weightloss path for two years; counting calories for 16 months.  I’ve lost 55 pounds.  I have 25 more to go.  I’ve fallen a few times.  Stumbled and caught myself before a full-fledged fall, countless times. I fell and stayed down for a month once and regained 5 pounds, before getting back up and going again.  But as long as you keep going, however quickly or slowly it may be, you will get there.  Eventually.

If you create a deficit every day (or even just most days), you WILL eventually get there. That's just math.

The harder part I guess is sticking to that deficit, even when progress is slow. I committed myself to a healthier lifestyle, which including better eating habits, portion control, and exercise, back in January. And here it is, July, and I have lost over 50 lbs. I made it through a six-week plateau too. I am really proud of how far i have come, even though I have an even longer battle in front of me.

My boyfriend always says, the time will pass no matter how you choose to spend it or what decisions you make. December will come, and you will be able to look back on six months of making good decisions for yourself and likely be thinner too. Sometimes things take longer, I try not to give myself deadlines because that tends to set myself up for failure. Instead, I look at is as the journey is what's important. It's not about denying yourself of all treats to get to your goal weight as fast as you can...it's about creating a life for yourself that is enjoyable and healthy, and sustainable forever.

I absolutely agree with victoria girl!  Instead of viewing it as a diet consider it a lifestyle change that is, as victoriagirl said, "enjoyable and healthy, and sustainable forever".  I have tried "dieting" and until I got on calorie count plus I never really did much research on what it meant to loose weight.  I was doing diets where I wasn't eating enough and it was horrible!  Now I eat just enough for my activity level to maintain a 1000 calorie deficit every day.  I actually feel like I could keep going like this forever!  So now I have put away the scale that I have a tendency to overuse, and I am looking at it as I am doing right by me!  I am on my way to being fit, and even though I have set a goal date of June '09 am not so worried about it anymore.  I know that with time I will loose weight but I don't want to rush it because I want it to be healthy.  In the mean time while I am working on it I just think of how much fun it is going to be to be fit again!!  So don't focus so much on the weight loss think of the fact that you are making a healthy, sustainable, lifestyle change!

chrystal... this might sound like a really weird suggestion... but it helped me so maybe it can help you too!!

I notice you have really long hair in your photo... I had long hair for my whole life too, and I have been a bit overweight for my whole life (I am only 20, but still, it feels like a long time ahah). this summer I decided to get real and start exercising/eating right. I would say the one major thing that has motivated me to keep going is my new hair cut... sounds CRAZY right?

but seriously, I chopped off almost all of my hair at the beginning of the summer and it felt like a huge weight was lifted, like it was the start of a whole new me! I just felt lighter or something! Now everytime I look in the mirror at "the new me" it motivates me to want to change my body image too! Since I've cut my hair I have lost 7 lbs and have 10 more to go before I reach my goal! ...

again, I'm not expert on this, and this hair cutting thing is probably making me sound like a psycho... but it truly gave me a fresh start

Good luck, and keep going girl!!

Just know and be prepared that these days will come no matter what.  I am in week 6 of my weight loss and have lost every week fairly consistently but I still have these days.  Like lots of others have said, it helps to think about how you really want to spend your time.  If you don't do anything about it, you are GUARANTEED never to get there.  Unlike what others have said, goal dates help me.  I'm not super strict about it or anything but it motivates me to eat right and exercise knowing that each day I am getting closer to my goal and every decision counts.  Good luck hun!  You definitely have lots of support on this website.  Oh~and I think the haircut is a super idea!  It takes different things to motivate everyone...and there are healthy purges that can make us feel so much better!

I have to admit, I came into this thread, having read just the title, and thought "oh yeah, I feel pretty much the same way at the moment!"  and then read through a few of the replies here...

This site is great for moral support, just reach out on here when you are down, and you can get a lot of encouragement to just keep going.  Even if you have had a day or 2 where you feel you have really blown it, it does not mean you should give up, just think that no matter what has happened so far, from now you can make sure you are determined to stay on track, and eventually, you will get there.

Good luck.

My sister was previously a UK size 18. She managed to slim down to a UK 10-12 4 years ago and has kept if off despite still iving with our parents and their AWFUL eating habits.

It can be done, just don't pressure yourself too much :)

Take baby steps and eventually the changes you make will eventually seem like a normal part of your life.

I'm impressed. I have been using this CC+ site for 4 weeks and 6 days.  I weighed myself about a week ago and had only lost 1 lb over three weeks.  I am eating carefully and exercising almost every day.  So, I'm impressed that you have lost 9 lbs.  It seems to me that you are on a roll.  Everybody has "fall of the diet wagon" days.  I suffer from "diet amnesia."  I sometimes forget what I ate, or that I even ate anything at all.  Thanks to the encouragement of some of the CC+ members (I think of them as my cheering squad), I am getting better at this.  I love the tools here.  When I am feeling like I might want to give up, I just go to the Forums page and start reading motivational stories.  I realize other people are struggling just like me, and I start to have a tiny hope that I really can lose this weight and achieve my health goals.  Go, go, go girl.  I weigh myself on Jul. 23rd.  I am hoping I have lost a tiny bit more.  But, if not, I know I just need to keep going a day at a time.  Eventually, my effort will pay off, and I am sure yours will too.  Just think of the Wow !! factor when you reach your goal weight some day down the road. 

I have been overweight since the age of 10, it really sucks and really screws up your head and life bad.  I'm 26 now and I've been counting calories for about a whole week now and even though i don't weigh myself and it' been only a short amount of time i really feel in control this time. I think this is really going to work for me. So in my novice advice would be to put more effort into the counting of the calories that you eat than the exercise. that's my honest feelings on it.

I haven't made it yet myself but it seems you just have to want you weight under control a bit more than that extra slice of cherry pie. =)