Weight loss gurus- wisdom please

[AmyM]

You girls that have reduced yourselves and significantly kept your face out of the potato chip bag when you really wanted to dig in - tell me your secrets oh wise ones!
I need some good ole' stick-to-itiveness about now. It has taken me 4 months to lose 13 pnds. Yeah, uh huh. 4 freakin' months. I should be motivated but the cloudy gripey old lady in me just says well crappola at this rate I'll be scrappin' in my wheel chair before my rear end shrinks to a normal non threatening size.

So whatta you do when you get frustrated? Go eat some ice cream? Please don't tell me to go exercise or something evil like that It ain't happening tonight. I will burn calories via mouse and keyboard for the rest of the weekend. Sweating and exercise will resume on Monday. Advice please oh skinny ones!

[Paula]

Not skinny, but I've lost 125 lbs. When I get frustrated, I give myself a treat and then hit the walking and sweating the next day.

So go ahead and eat the ice cream and resume on Monday.

[AmyM]

125 pnds! OH my gosh Paula that is awesome! Wow girl, that is so wonderful! You are my hero. And I like your advice heeeeheeee

[mrs_jb]

I'm not a guru by any means Amy, but I was very overweight in high school (weighed more than during ANY of my pregnancies) and I've picked up a few things that work for me over the years.

Give in to cravings, a little. I've learned that I'm better off eating 5 m&m's, than obsessing about them and ending up eating a whole bag. Eating the 5 reminds me that they aren't as good as my mind is making them out to be!

I've found things that I like to snack on, that are okay. I LOVE special K products, so I use those a lot. I also will eat pretzels, peanut butter, or Quakes. Of course it's not as good as chips, but it quenches my hunger for SOMETHING.

I've also really tried hard to train myself not to boredom eat. So I try to always eat at the table, while doing nothing else. I fail at this one often, but when I stay on top of it, it helps a lot. It helps me enjoy and pay attention to the food I am eating.

I "cheat". Meaning, there are times where I no I'm going to slip up, it's been a bad day or whatever, so I'll substitute a bad snack for a meal. Of course I don't do this often, but it helps me deal with the guilt I feel after a slip up. At least I feel like I wasn't snacking ON TOP of my meal. LOL!

Good Luck Amy! You can do it!!!

[cdvcreations]

I am 28 and not too long ago my cholesterol was 301.....which I guess is really high. I joined Weight Watchers online and lost 30 lbs in 3 months. I did not bother with the meetings, just did the program online (It seemed easier to me). I walked on a thread mill about 20-40 min a day 5 days a week but that was it. Since then I went threw a very hard time in life and went off the diet. Then I had a baby, and now that the baby is almost 5 months I am back at Weight Watchers.

A big problem I have is I do not drink enough water. I could go all day with out drinking but 2 glasses of ANY liquids. I know for me drinking more water seemed to help, and not totally limiting your self of the things you love. Just balancing them out. With such bad health problems on both my sides of the family, and me wanting to have another child I am hoping I can loss the weight I want and get my cholesterol down. Especially since it is so high this early on.

Good luck to you.

[ZaCola3]

I have lost 103 lbs in a little more less than 18 months.
I stopped all regular soda, use Splenda in my coffee and am very concious of portion control.
Gag-I'm still a fat cow, but I do feel better, and it is so awesome to fit into my clothes again...
No exercise really-cept for chasing after Landen

[chloe]

Originally Posted by mrs_jb

Give in to cravings, a little. I've learned that I'm better off eating 5 m&m's, than obsessing about them and ending up eating a whole bag. Eating the 5 reminds me that they aren't as good as my mind is making them out to be!

I've found things that I like to snack on, that are okay. I LOVE special K products, so I use those a lot. I also will eat pretzels, peanut butter, or Quakes. Of course it's not as good as chips, but it quenches my hunger for SOMETHING.

I'm doing the same! Aso, "failing" at one thing, one moment, doesn't mean that the day is "lost". And even if the day is ruined, that doesn't mean that the week has to be ruined too!! I tend to often have that all-or-nothing attitude, which is probably the worst thing ever, and what lead me to where I was (before I started my weight loss journey!)

Another tip is to eercise as early as possible in the morning, so that it is "out of the way".

You can do it, Amy!!! Keep up the great work and will reach your goal!!

[AmyM]

It's cool hearing all these success stories!
Shannon that is awesome girl!
I really want to lose for the health factor. I don't have weight related problems but I could in the future and that scares me. Hubby has lost about 40 pnds and no longer has to take his blood pressure meds. So he's a good encouragement. Never says a word about it, just offers to walk with me or eat some salads instead of going out, that sort of thing.
I would like to lose about 60 more pnds, would love to lose 100 but that's way down the road. I doubt I will ever see the high school size again but that is ok. I just wanna be able to go pick out regular size clothes not dig through the racks for the 22 because the 20 is too tight on the hips and the 24 is too big on my legs. That sort of thing.
Anyway, keep the success stories coming, and keep up the good work girls! It's so neat to hear people who have actually done it and not just see a commercial or advertisement.

[newfiemountiewife]

I also try to exercise first thing, it gets the day off to a good start. I am just getting back on the bandwagon after a terrible winter, I've gained 30 pounds. I had abdominal surgery, then not two months later, a car accident, so that did not help at all...I spent the winter until about March lying around eating.

I lost a lot of weight on Weight Watchers a couple of years ago. I have to reprogram myself again, that just because I blew one meal doesn't mean I blew the entire thing. I do boredom eat, and that is a huge problem.

Good luck to you, I am in the same boat, and hope that I can find the motivation to get back to where I was a year ago.

[Sarah8914]

I don't have tips for you, but I wanted to wish you good luck.

All the advice seems really great. I just realized I recently gained 5 pounds (in only a few weeks!) and that's a big deal for me so now I'm mad at myself because I don't know what happened!

[DawnMarch]

I try to really cut back during the day when my family is not around (I tend to eat more when I eat with other people!). My DH likes to eat big dinners, and we go out a lot, so I find that if I can really cut the calories early in the day (e.g., I'll have Slimfast for breakfast which is 200 calories and then a salad for lunch), then I can eat a bit more at dinner and still stay within a reasonable number for the day. I know that won't work for everybody because some people need to eat sort of evenly all day, but it works for me. And knowing I have a decent dinner coming up each night helps me stay on track during the day (as well as water and gum!).

[jaylensmom]

Great advice everyone...Glad to know there are success stories out there...I lost weight on Weight Watchers right before I had my son (the joke in my family is be careful when you lose weight because you may come up pregnant)...Exercise is key for me...I started walking this week with my sister and my aunt...It helps to have a buddy too...

[ColleenSwerb]

So not to derail the weight loss train, but don't forget that your goal shouldn't be to fit into a size 2. Or 6. Or whatever. I'm loving the new Jenny Craig approach that Queen Latifa is heading. Get to a size "healthy" and learn to love yourself at that point!

For a while in the beginning of the year, I did really awesome with portion control, and healthy snacking, and drinking water, and watching what I ate, etc etc. In 4 months I lost 5lbs. 5 flippin pounds. NOT WORTH IT! And then I said eff this, and now I couldn't care less. I still watch what I eat, and try not to eat horribly, but I want to enjoy eating too! I went wedding dress shopping today, and damn if I don't look drop dead effing gorgeous in the dress I picked out. In a size 10. I no longer care that I'm a size 10. I refuse to fight my body to try and lose 10 pounds, when I probably won't even notice the difference in losing 10. I barely noticed losing 5.

I know that there's a difference in what we're talking about it though. I just want to remind people to love themselves no matter what. THAT is the most important thing.

[Voodoo_Bryn]

I went from being one of "those" kind of dancers to working in an office and quickly packed on the weight, since I wasn't moving as much anymore. I lost 40lbs in 6 months on the South Beach diet, then I got pregnant with my first son. I gained 60 lbs with him!!! So, I was still about 20 lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight when I got pregnant with this little guy here and unfortunately, because of the gestational diabetes... I had to go back on the what?

You guessed it, the South Beach Diet. (I had to watch my carbs and sugars) Sadly, I've only gained 7lbs this pregnancy, but the doctor says it's fine, he's getting all of my nutrients and he's growing healthy, I just had some excess weight from the previous pregnancy.

So... the lesson here? Cut out your carbs and sugars.

And I'll send you my 16 month old to chase after.