Need support in losing weight

[pennyg]

I decided to start building my endurance for walking at DW and it didn't go so well. In 10 minutes I didn't even get 0.4 miles and I was out of breath along with being able to tell that my plantar fasciitis was acting up. I'm going to need a lot of people urging me on.

Here is what is going on:

We are going to DW in 113 days and at the way I feel now I will be sitting on a bench watching my family enjoy the parks. I need motivation to drop 50lbs before we go so 1) I won't feel like I'm going to die while walking there, 2) will be able to find clothes to fit me while there, and 3) won't be as embarrassed to be photographed with my family while there (and 4) so I become healthier and can stick around for my children).

Before you tell me I am crazy for wanting to lose 50lbs in just over 3 months, I know that is a goal to aim for and I would be happy with 30lbs, but would just like a higher goal set. I have the type of mindset where I try to meet goals so if I set them low I will meet them low (hope that makes sense), so I set them high and aim high but am happy if I truly have done my best.

I am 41 now. I need to lose 120lbs total. I do own a treadmill so I can walk on it. I have a Total Gym that was a gift from my MIL that is standing dusty in a corner, with not much room to put it in. We have a Kinnect so I thought I would do my kids Just Dance Disney (only active one I can do right now) to get a bit of cardio, too. I can't afford a gym, exercise games for Xbox or WW because we are saving for the Disney trip.

What I don't have is a lot of time. I have a full time job and two young children.

My monthly goals:
September 15 lbs
October 15 lbs
November 10 lbs
December 10 lbs

Although I cannot do WW meetings, I am going to follow that plan to the best of my ability. I just think my weekly accountability will be here.

 

[bumbershoot]

First step is good shoes. I've heard often that even if you are not running, running shoes are great. Go to a running shoe store and be properly fitted so that you have support from the ground up.

I know you can't do meetings but remember that WW tells us to expect an AVERAGE of .5 to 2 lbs of loss each week. Don't do anything you can't sustain.

And having been there and done that, I'll tell you that simply hitting the 10% goal (losing 10% of your original weight) feels amazing. They say that every pound lost is like 3 pounds from your knee joints. Goals are great but weight loss isn't always linear, so don't let any one weigh-in freak you out.

 

[pennyg]

First step is good shoes. I've heard often that even if you are not running, running shoes are great. Go to a running shoe store and be properly fitted so that you have support from the ground up.

I know you can't do meetings but remember that WW tells us to expect an AVERAGE of .5 to 2 lbs of loss each week. Don't do anything you can't sustain.

And having been there and done that, I'll tell you that simply hitting the 10% goal (losing 10% of your original weight) feels amazing. They say that every pound lost is like 3 pounds from your knee joints. Goals are great but weight loss isn't always linear, so don't let any one weigh-in freak you out.

Thanks! I hope to hit 10% by the end of October. And I know 10% is the magic number where it seems people first start saying "Have you lost weight?"

I have done WW before and I know that the more you weigh, the more you seem to drop in the beginning and it tapers off the closer you get to your goal weight. That is mostly why I think it could be possible to lose that much. I have done WW once before and lost 25 lbs in 5 weeks (definitely a results not typical event according to the leader but I was just determined to stick to the program). After that 5 weeks I saw a weekly drop off on how much I lost, down to 1-2 a week. I was younger then and had less to lose.

 

[detarica]

The message boards on ww's website are free and have awesome support. the 50+ pounds or more to lose board has always been a great resource.

the most important thing to remember is that diet is 80% of weight loss and exercise is the other 20%. But without that 20% you won't be able to keep up with your family.

I have a good friend who always says that in order to improve you have to change. What are you willing to change in your life? How will you live your life differently in the future to make room for the changes that you need to make? I would write a journal entry to yourself where you answer those questions.

 

[wiigirl]

The message boards on ww's website are free and have awesome support. the 50+ pounds or more to lose board has always been a great resource.

the most important thing to remember is that diet is 80% of weight loss and exercise is the other 20%. But without that 20% you won't be able to keep up with your family.

I have a good friend who always says that in order to improve you have to change. What are you willing to change in your life? How will you live your life differently in the future to make room for the changes that you need to make? I would write a journal entry to yourself where you answer those questions.

 

[lovedvc]

I am here to support you every step of the way. I am no fitness expert but have struggled all my life and have done every program out there. It's one step at a time or if you are walking or running, one mailbox at a time.

 

[dholmes1950]

One other "free" suggestion I might add. www.myfitnesspal.com is a free site which makes it super easy to keep track of calories and nutritional values of food, exercise, calories burned, etc. Plus they have a member forum for suggestions and support.

Good luck with your plans!

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks! I hope to hit 10% by the end of October. And I know 10% is the magic number where it seems people first start saying "Have you lost weight?"

For me it took 30 lbs for people to feel comfy asking me about my weight. I'm 5'3" and 85 lbs is going to be about my max loss, so that was quite a bit to lose before people started asking! I felt sad for awhile, but I know that people are very afraid of offending.

Even the running shoe store guy, the other day, got all quiet and whispered "so how much have you lost?", being afraid to mention out loud that I've lost, when he's seen me every few months all along.

It does *tend* to start off faster. My average for the first 6 months was around 2 lbs per week. By a year it was 1.6. At this point, I'm at an average of exactly 1 per week.

But there have been gains along the way and unexpected .2 loss weeks!


It's so hard to explain away a gain or slower loss when someone's in the middle of it, so I like to hit those highlights ahead of time.

 

[Frankiemack]

I decided to start building my endurance for walking at DW and it didn't go so well. In 10 minutes I didn't even get 0.4 miles and I was out of breath along with being able to tell that my plantar fasciitis was acting up. I'm going to need a lot of people urging me on.

Here is what is going on:

We are going to DW in 113 days and at the way I feel now I will be sitting on a bench watching my family enjoy the parks. I need motivation to drop 50lbs before we go so 1) I won't feel like I'm going to die while walking there, 2) will be able to find clothes to fit me while there, and 3) won't be as embarrassed to be photographed with my family while there (and 4) so I become healthier and can stick around for my children).

Before you tell me I am crazy for wanting to lose 50lbs in just over 3 months, I know that is a goal to aim for and I would be happy with 30lbs, but would just like a higher goal set. I have the type of mindset where I try to meet goals so if I set them low I will meet them low (hope that makes sense), so I set them high and aim high but am happy if I truly have done my best.

I am 41 now. I need to lose 120lbs total. I do own a treadmill so I can walk on it. I have a Total Gym that was a gift from my MIL that is standing dusty in a corner, with not much room to put it in. We have a Kinnect so I thought I would do my kids Just Dance Disney (only active one I can do right now) to get a bit of cardio, too. I can't afford a gym, exercise games for Xbox or WW because we are saving for the Disney trip.

What I don't have is a lot of time. I have a full time job and two young children.

My monthly goals:
September 15 lbs
October 15 lbs
November 10 lbs
December 10 lbs

Although I cannot do WW meetings, I am going to follow that plan to the best of my ability. I just think my weekly accountability will be here.

The first thing you have done is the most important - establish goals and decide you want to make a change for yourself. What you will find is that as you become more active, you'll be more energetic and want to do more, even after just a week or two.

Having those tools at home is great! I started my journey by walking 20 minutes on a treadmill, doing a variety of light weight training for 20 minutes and wrapping up with an extra 20 minutes of walking on the back end of each workout. On other days, I would do 30 minutes of walking only but I didn't feel as good at the end of my day. For me, I needed to get an hour in to make it work.

I think there are a lot of folks like us that can use some support, even if it is just via an online group...Maybe we can start our own DIS Weight Loss thread? Talk about progress, post results, get motivated and share our personal stories.

I will share a little bit about my journey/struggles as background:

Last August 2012, I started with a similar mission. I'm an active 30 yo male that is 5'10'' and at the time I started making a change I was 328.4 lbs. I have been over 300 lbs since I was 16 years old. I've always been active, but I have always eaten way too much and never "exercised" regularly. My goal was to reach 275, just over 50lbs.

I too have a tough schedule, I work full time and have a daughter. What makes matters worse is that I commute to work about 45 minutes. I leave our house at 7:15 am or so, after prepping everyone's lunch for the day and get home around 5-5:30. My wife goes to the gym during the evening hours while I prepare dinner and take care of our daughter so the only time I could devote to working out was early morning.

For 2 months, I went to the gym 4 days per week at 5am for an hour, and found myself at 306.8 after 8 weeks, losing 21.6 lbs, an average of 2.7lbs per week. I did this without dieting strictly...smarter choices, no strict restrictions.

Those 8 weeks were great. I felt more energetic and positive about working out. Then Hurricane Sandy hit NJ and my motivation was lost. I was thrown off by the loss of power and all else going on then the holiday season hit and completely killed the momentum.

I have since gained about half of that weight I lost back and am so mad at myself. It's hard to get back in to the routine because subconsciously I think I'm afraid to let myself down. I fear history repeating itself and don't give myself the chance. I've recently conquered that fear and am now ready to move forward and get back on track.

I've started slow at this point. I have started taking walks during my lunch break at work. Distance and speed aren't my concern, just getting up from my office and getting out there is better than nothing. The one thing that I've realized is needed on my part is sacrifice. I need to sacrifice some time with my family in the evening to get to bed earlier and allow myself to work out in the morning.

We're heading to Dis in 44 days and I would like to make that my celebration of being under 300 lbs for the first time in more than 14 years. I won't be done at that point, but it will be my first milestone!

I'm gaining the confidence back slowly and starting to push to get back on track but I don't know many people that deal with the same struggles and that's the support that we all need to motivate ourselves and each other.

I wish you luck on your journey and will join you here for support!

 

[1GR8DISNEYFAN]

I am right there with you. We are leaving in 68 days and I am trying to do the same thing. I know it will be a long time for me to reach my goal weight, but I am using this trip as an incentive to get started. I too want to have more energy and stamina to walk around the parks. And I also suffer from plantar fasciitis. To help my PF I make sure I am constantly stretching my heels by flexing my feet back as often as I can, several times a day, even before getting out of bed in the morning, and after walking I will ice my heels occasionally. Ibuprofen also helps. I try to walk every evening, I can't do the treadmill, 20 minutes feels like an eternity to me, so I walk my dog. I have done this before so I know it works, but as soon as I stop I just relaps. I started with a 20 minute walk, in your case it could be 10. I make sure I stretch and warm up before, especially my heels. I walk as vivoursly as possible, the same exact distance every day. I hate every second of it, but I try to think of our Disney vacation along the way and sometimes that helps. At the end of the 20 minutes I was pooped! Eventhough I hated the walk while I was doing it, I felt good afterward. After about 4 days I found it was getting easier so I added another block and another 5 minutes. Eventually I will add the hill by my house. Its amazing how fast you can build your endurance, although it is not easy. The problem I have is that if I don't keep it up, I loose it as fast as I gained it. I once heard a thin lady telling her story of her weight loss journey, she said that when she started, she was so obese and out of shape it was all she could do to walk around her car. But she kept walking circles around her car until it got easier and then increased it to a block, then eventually a mile and so on. I am up to 30 minutes and almost ready to start walking up my hill and am hoping to be down 20 pounds before November 16. Just hang in there and just think about getting through today. It really helps to read other peoples success stories, I hope to be reading yours. Good Luck!

 

[pennyg]

The message boards on ww's website are free and have awesome support. the 50+ pounds or more to lose board has always been a great resource.

the most important thing to remember is that diet is 80% of weight loss and exercise is the other 20%. But without that 20% you won't be able to keep up with your family.

I have a good friend who always says that in order to improve you have to change. What are you willing to change in your life? How will you live your life differently in the future to make room for the changes that you need to make? I would write a journal entry to yourself where you answer those questions.

Thank you!

My step towards change was to actually use the treadmill that is sitting in my house instead of letting it be storage space for things to collect.

I ate all but 2 of my points today and I am very satisfied. I was very happy that I was able to get close to my point limit, sometimes I try too hard to eat well to the point I don't get enough points, which I know is also bad.

My sweet DH stopped and bought an insert for my shoe to see if it will help with the walking tomorrow.

 

[pennyg]

I am here to support you every step of the way. I am no fitness expert but have struggled all my life and have done every program out there. It's one step at a time or if you are walking or running, one mailbox at a time.

Thank you for the support! I feel pretty good with how today went.

 

[pennyg]

One other "free" suggestion I might add. www.myfitnesspal.com is a free site which makes it super easy to keep track of calories and nutritional values of food, exercise, calories burned, etc. Plus they have a member forum for suggestions and support.

Good luck with your plans!

Oh thank you! I haven't heard of this one. I have Map My Fitness and was trying to use it, I will check that one out.

 

[pennyg]

For me it took 30 lbs for people to feel comfy asking me about my weight. I'm 5'3" and 85 lbs is going to be about my max loss, so that was quite a bit to lose before people started asking! I felt sad for awhile, but I know that people are very afraid of offending.

Even the running shoe store guy, the other day, got all quiet and whispered "so how much have you lost?", being afraid to mention out loud that I've lost, when he's seen me every few months all along.

It does *tend* to start off faster. My average for the first 6 months was around 2 lbs per week. By a year it was 1.6. At this point, I'm at an average of exactly 1 per week.

But there have been gains along the way and unexpected .2 loss weeks!


It's so hard to explain away a gain or slower loss when someone's in the middle of it, so I like to hit those highlights ahead of time.

The first time I lost people were a little shy about saying anything, but most comments did start at 10% and usually by people who knew me well.

I hope you loss continues to go well!

 

[pennyg]

The first thing you have done is the most important - establish goals and decide you want to make a change for yourself. What you will find is that as you become more active, you'll be more energetic and want to do more, even after just a week or two.

Having those tools at home is great! I started my journey by walking 20 minutes on a treadmill, doing a variety of light weight training for 20 minutes and wrapping up with an extra 20 minutes of walking on the back end of each workout. On other days, I would do 30 minutes of walking only but I didn't feel as good at the end of my day. For me, I needed to get an hour in to make it work.

I think there are a lot of folks like us that can use some support, even if it is just via an online group...Maybe we can start our own DIS Weight Loss thread? Talk about progress, post results, get motivated and share our personal stories.

I will share a little bit about my journey/struggles as background:

Last August 2012, I started with a similar mission. I'm an active 30 yo male that is 5'10'' and at the time I started making a change I was 328.4 lbs. I have been over 300 lbs since I was 16 years old. I've always been active, but I have always eaten way too much and never "exercised" regularly. My goal was to reach 275, just over 50lbs.

I too have a tough schedule, I work full time and have a daughter. What makes matters worse is that I commute to work about 45 minutes. I leave our house at 7:15 am or so, after prepping everyone's lunch for the day and get home around 5-5:30. My wife goes to the gym during the evening hours while I prepare dinner and take care of our daughter so the only time I could devote to working out was early morning.

For 2 months, I went to the gym 4 days per week at 5am for an hour, and found myself at 306.8 after 8 weeks, losing 21.6 lbs, an average of 2.7lbs per week. I did this without dieting strictly...smarter choices, no strict restrictions.

Those 8 weeks were great. I felt more energetic and positive about working out. Then Hurricane Sandy hit NJ and my motivation was lost. I was thrown off by the loss of power and all else going on then the holiday season hit and completely killed the momentum.

I have since gained about half of that weight I lost back and am so mad at myself. It's hard to get back in to the routine because subconsciously I think I'm afraid to let myself down. I fear history repeating itself and don't give myself the chance. I've recently conquered that fear and am now ready to move forward and get back on track.

I've started slow at this point. I have started taking walks during my lunch break at work. Distance and speed aren't my concern, just getting up from my office and getting out there is better than nothing. The one thing that I've realized is needed on my part is sacrifice. I need to sacrifice some time with my family in the evening to get to bed earlier and allow myself to work out in the morning.

We're heading to Dis in 44 days and I would like to make that my celebration of being under 300 lbs for the first time in more than 14 years. I won't be done at that point, but it will be my first milestone!

I'm gaining the confidence back slowly and starting to push to get back on track but I don't know many people that deal with the same struggles and that's the support that we all need to motivate ourselves and each other.

I wish you luck on your journey and will join you here for support!

Wow! I think you were off to a great start and I am so sorry you were sidetracked. Please keep me motivated and I will do the same for you! I get up early to make lunch for my girls before school. DH takes them and I lay back down for an hour before my day starts. I think that hour could be a good time for me to get a bit of exercise in. Maybe this will encourage you to get that little extra in where you can. Don't forget that you can take the long way to the restroom at work, or use a printer that is farther from your desk to get a few extra steps in. Maybe a pedometer with a goal of increasing your steps by 10% is something to do?

Please keep letting me know how you are doing and I can't wait to hear about your DW trip.

 

[pennyg]

I am right there with you. We are leaving in 68 days and I am trying to do the same thing. I know it will be a long time for me to reach my goal weight, but I am using this trip as an incentive to get started. I too want to have more energy and stamina to walk around the parks. And I also suffer from plantar fasciitis. To help my PF I make sure I am constantly stretching my heels by flexing my feet back as often as I can, several times a day, even before getting out of bed in the morning, and after walking I will ice my heels occasionally. Ibuprofen also helps. I try to walk every evening, I can't do the treadmill, 20 minutes feels like an eternity to me, so I walk my dog. I have done this before so I know it works, but as soon as I stop I just relaps. I started with a 20 minute walk, in your case it could be 10. I make sure I stretch and warm up before, especially my heels. I walk as vivoursly as possible, the same exact distance every day. I hate every second of it, but I try to think of our Disney vacation along the way and sometimes that helps. At the end of the 20 minutes I was pooped! Eventhough I hated the walk while I was doing it, I felt good afterward. After about 4 days I found it was getting easier so I added another block and another 5 minutes. Eventually I will add the hill by my house. Its amazing how fast you can build your endurance, although it is not easy. The problem I have is that if I don't keep it up, I loose it as fast as I gained it. I once heard a thin lady telling her story of her weight loss journey, she said that when she started, she was so obese and out of shape it was all she could do to walk around her car. But she kept walking circles around her car until it got easier and then increased it to a block, then eventually a mile and so on. I am up to 30 minutes and almost ready to start walking up my hill and am hoping to be down 20 pounds before November 16. Just hang in there and just think about getting through today. It really helps to read other peoples success stories, I hope to be reading yours. Good Luck!

How encouraging! I'm so glad you are increasing your walk length and I can't wait to hear when you conquer your hill. Right now it is so hot here I can barely walk to get the mail (I'm not in FL but our heat runs in the 90s with high humidity this time of the year) so the treadmill will have to do. I am listening to a book on tape right now, but I have one of those portable DVD players that I can use to watch videos. It helps the time pass. Tomorrow I am going to try to pass 10 minutes even if it is only 11.

I suffered terribly from my plantar fasciitis for three years and the only thing that ever made the pain go away was falling and breaking my leg and spraining the opposite ankle. I had to sleep with both feet in splints for a while and it kept my foot bent and stretched it out. While I am happy to be pain free for the most part, I wouldn't suggest breaking bones as a cure.

 

[pennyg]

Got a mile walk in today! Think I'm going to need a better pair of shoes.

Anyone else?

 

[1GR8DISNEYFAN]

A mile is great! I think I am doing just a little over a mile. I know good shoes can make a huge difference. I bought a comfortable pair of shoes last year at Marshalls that are great. In our area Marshalls has excellent deals on athletic shoes.

I feel really motivated right now so I must take advantage of it. I made a new play list to listen to on my ipod while I am walking and it really energizes me. I really want to loose that 20 pounds before Nov. 16. (I will still have 60 more after that). I decided to try something different. The other day on the news they had a story about a young woman who took a picture of herself once a month in the same outfit for a year while she lost 100 pounds. The pictures were amazing and so motivating. So even though I hate to be in pictures, I decided to do that myself. I chose a pair of bike shorts and fitted t-shirt to wear, something that I would never wear out in public because it shows every bump and bulge. I am going to take my photo every 2 weeks. I don't plan on seeing much of a change the first month, but hopefully after that I will start to see a difference. I hope to see all those bumps and bulges get smaller and eventually be gone. Sometimes it is hard to see the physical changes, so I think by documenting them in a photo it will help me stay motivated.

By the way, I feel like we have some things in common, 3 years ago I fell and fractured my knee and tore my ACL. It was so awful to be incapacitated. Since then am so fearful of falling, I am pretty sure that if I had not been so over weight I would not have sustained the injury I did. Here I am 3 years later and still trying to take the weight off. I am about 10 years older than you and I just want to stress to you to try to do this now, because the older you get, the harder it gets. Now is the time to do it!

Like you said, as uncomfortable or painful as may be to walk and exercise, it's not as bad as laying in bed with a fracture. That's what I am going to keep reminding myself.

Good Luck, I will be checking in on you.

 

[pennyg]

A mile is great! I think I am doing just a little over a mile. I know good shoes can make a huge difference. I bought a comfortable pair of shoes last year at Marshalls that are great. In our area Marshalls has excellent deals on athletic shoes.

I feel really motivated right now so I must take advantage of it. I made a new play list to listen to on my ipod while I am walking and it really energizes me. I really want to loose that 20 pounds before Nov. 16. (I will still have 60 more after that). I decided to try something different. The other day on the news they had a story about a young woman who took a picture of herself once a month in the same outfit for a year while she lost 100 pounds. The pictures were amazing and so motivating. So even though I hate to be in pictures, I decided to do that myself. I chose a pair of bike shorts and fitted t-shirt to wear, something that I would never wear out in public because it shows every bump and bulge. I am going to take my photo every 2 weeks. I don't plan on seeing much of a change the first month, but hopefully after that I will start to see a difference. I hope to see all those bumps and bulges get smaller and eventually be gone. Sometimes it is hard to see the physical changes, so I think by documenting them in a photo it will help me stay motivated.

By the way, I feel like we have some things in common, 3 years ago I fell and fractured my knee and tore my ACL. It was so awful to be incapacitated. Since then am so fearful of falling, I am pretty sure that if I had not been so over weight I would not have sustained the injury I did. Here I am 3 years later and still trying to take the weight off. I am about 10 years older than you and I just want to stress to you to try to do this now, because the older you get, the harder it gets. Now is the time to do it!

Like you said, as uncomfortable or painful as may be to walk and exercise, it's not as bad as laying in bed with a fracture. That's what I am going to keep reminding myself.

Good Luck, I will be checking in on you.

That picture thing sounds pretty good. I'm looking forward to you compilation when you reach your goal!

 

[pennyg]

Walked almost 30 minutes today and I'm down a little over 2lbs.

Anyone else?