For those who lost alot of weight....

At what point did you get motivated to start eating healthier and excersising? I used to work out and do weight watchers but at some point I just stopped doing it and gained 30lbs back. I feel like its a constant cycle. Please share your thoughts on this. I need to lose about 60lbs altogether but got so tired of counting the points and measuring all my food....

TIA

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

For me, it had to do with finding the type of exercise I enjoyed (yoga) to be able to make a committment and stick to it.

For eating healthy----that's always a challenge, however, I've started going to the farmer's markets on the weekends which really helps. I now make lots of sides with fresh fruits and veggies instead of heavy carbs too.

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

i find going to the WW meetings helps to refresh my motivation each week... especially having a friend go with you- that has helped me as well!

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

For me it just clicked one day. I woke up and decided I had enough with feeling overweight and bloated. I saw a flyer in my building for weight watchers at work and told DH that I was thinking of joining. About a week later before the new session began, we went pumpkin picking. After picking out the pumpkins DD told me that my pumpkin was the short and fat one because I was short and fat. This crushed me. I mean it seriously devastated me. I knew I needed to lose a ton of weight but hearing my 5 year old call me fat just crushed me. I never wanted my kids to view me as fat or unhealthy. And I made myself and secretly them many promises over the years that I would lose weight. Well I would lose 15 pounds and gain, and lose again and gain it again. Next thing I knew I was at a weight higher then throughout any pregnancy. So basically I had it. I knew I needed to make a change. I began a diet immediately while waiting for the new ww session to start and lost 3 pounds in my first week. Then I began weight watchers and lost 4.2 pounds in that first week. Within the first month I lost over 10 pounds. For me there has been no looking back.

I can't think of the overall number because when I do I get mad and frustrated and I feel so hopeless. But I take it a pound at a time. In total I need to lose about 95 pounds to get to a weight that I would be happy at. I am 58 pounds into my journey and I am still going strong. I know what you mean about getting tired of tracking and measuring, but it's what you have to do. I give myself breaks from time to time with measuring and writing everything down. I find that the weeks that I am really strict with it I will drop 2+ pounds usually. Other weeks I may only lose .4- 1 pound and some weeks I will gain. But I don't lose sight of my overall goal. I keep going at it knowing that I am so close at this point that I can't give up now. I owe it to myself and my kids. I feel so much better about myself and the food I'm eating and my kids are eating.

As far as the exercise goes, I lost the first 50 pounds without doing much exercise. I would work out maybe about 2-3 times a week for about 15-30 minutes each time. Nothing too crazy but just exercise to keep me moving. Now I work out every single day for 30 minutes to an hour. And I LOVE it. The days I can't get a workout in I feel like crap. I love getting up in the morning and getting those 4 miles in on the elliptical. Or meeting with my trainer.

My suggestion to you is set an overall goal but measure it in 5 pound increments. Don't think of the big picture because that number seems impossible to reach. But if you set mini goals throughout you will lose 20 pounds before you know it. Don't think of it as a diet but as a change of lifestyle. And one of my biggest things is don't start your change and start an exercise program at the same time. It's too much on your body and I feel it sets up failure. Get your diet under control first and then once you get a handle on that add in exercise slowly.

Feel free to ask me any questions. I am more then happy to help in anyway I can. And good luck with it!

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

i only had 15 lbs or so to lose recently but was 60 lbs heavier last summer b/c of being PG...then that extra weight stuck. for me it was trying on spring clothes that i could not button, zip, or pull on. i'd just had ENOUGH of being at my heaviest ever.
before getting pregnant 2x i used to run and run marathons and be in great shape. etc.
my personal dream was to do a marathon while i am a mom. it gave me extra incentive oto prove that i could do it. so i registered and got into the NYC marathon, started WW and over the past few weeks am finally able to wear those clothes that had frustrated me so. i think it's something that just clicks in you and you stop being afraid that losing weight is going to be too hard or too much work. good luck! i know how hard it is! patience is so important and is key and i found that losing 1 or 2 lbs a week was the best way to go even though slow.

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

After saying for 3 years that I needed to lose the baby weight I had gained in those 3 years all the weight back from my pregnancy with DS.

I got the message when I had to shop for clothes at Lane Bryant.

It was time!!!!!!

Re: For those who lost alot of weight....

I have 2 kids.

By the time I got pregnant with DS, I had gained back all the weight I had gained and lost during my first pregnancy such that very early in my 2nd pregnancy I weighed as much as I did when I was 9 months pregnancy with my first

This was a new all time high for me and I swore I would not go hog wild through the rest of that pregnancy and that I would join WW as soon as my initial post baby weight loss stopped.

I lost 25 pounds within 4 weeks of DS's birth. Within a couple weeks, I put back on 5 pounds. I knew where this was leading so I knew I needed to join WW ASAP.

So, I lost 20 pounds before joining WW and have lost 36.5 since I started WW. I have at least 10 more to lose to be the weight I was before I ever got pregnant in the first place. Then, I want to lose another 10-20 pounds to be my ideal weight.

I was just sick of myself and my body and I didn't want to be unhealthy (for me, for my kids, I felt like I was letting DH down, not that he ever would say that).