Hi,

Can people who have lost weight recount the problems they faced such as finding the right diet, motivation to exercise and how they over came those problems.

I have always battled my weight, but a combination of some physical limitations (broke my ankle and wrist at the same time), some sadnesses in my life, some heavy work schedules, and menopause put me over the edge - and once my weight went over 200 pounds, the things that had worked for me before didn't work and I was actually feeling pretty hopeless.

I was unhappy for a long time, and I finally decided that I would try to accept that this was how I looked and be happy with it. But first I would make one last attempt to lose - join a gym (which I had never done) and work out three days a week for three months - and then, when I saw no results, I would accept that this was where I was and work on changing my head instead of my body.

I was so fortunate that two training sessions came with my gym membership, and the person who handled my membership linked my up with this trainer - who has pretty close to the perfect body and looks very intimidating...but is really sweet. He said 'When do you want to come in?' and I'm thinking 'Two weeks from Thursday' and he said 'Tomoorow at 6:00, OK?" and that was that.

After the two sessions of lifting with him, I was hooked. I had chosen the gym because it had a pool, and I actually liked to swim. My trainer showed my how to ride the stationary bike (not really that hard, but I needed to be shown). That gave me three things to do - swim, bike, pool. The bike gave me a calorie count, and after a few weeks it dawned on me that the little bag of chips I had with my lunch had more calories than I could burn off in 30 minutes on the bike and I thought 'Wouldn't it be easier to just not eat it?' I made that change...and I kept looking at my food and making small changes.

My trainer was a big part of my transformation - he asked about what I ate, made suggestions for changes, encouraged, challenged, praised, motivated, taught - everyhing that anyone could ever want.

At the end of the first three months, I could see small changes in my body and I was brave enough to step on the scale - the number was still horrifying to me, but at least I knew what it was. Every month, I made some change in my life - added exercise, changed my eating, something. And every week my weight dropped.

After six months, someone at the gym commented on how hard I worked and how much thinner I looked - and that carried me through for a while longer. And more and more people noticed and commented, especially as I was able to fit into clothes that I had packed away.

I have redefined how I think about myself - coming to this board (I used to post on a board for people with significant amounts of weight to lose) was part of that process - defining myself as someone who wants to be fit instead of someone who just doesn't want to be fat.

This is a long story....but at least it has a happy ending...

Great story! Good job Happy!!!

There were many struggles in weight loss.

My first was diet. At first I didn't really care about it, and when I lost my first 10 pounds, I thought I could do better. So I bought like tons of nutrition books and exercises book. I believe I got the correct diet plan now and not to mention, I think I can identify many good and bad things in food.

I also taken a liking to cooking. Never before in my life have I did this. I find it fun and I have several cook books that I go back to.

Also, in my struggle, I have fought diet coke. I drank so much of this crap, I can't believe it. 2-3-4 sometimes 6 liters of diet coke in a day. I knew it was going to kill me one day. I started at the young after of 15, 16 years old. My dad got me started on it. I remember riding my bike to the store and buying 2, 2 litters bottle of diet coke, and a can of beef ravoli. I couldn't wait to come back home and microwaver some, and drink diet coke while watching a movie. It was a dark time, and I didn't even know it. Slowly, my blood pressure went to the roof. In high school, I played some football, and I had fun, but I could have done so much better if it wasn't for that diet coke. Now I'm happy to say that I only drink water. Nothing else, ever. I lol every time I see someone drinking soda, and I say to myself never again.

The next problem I have is with my actual parents. They promote being "big." I think it's from the fact that my mom is Asian, and she grew up in a time when her country was in war. I believe due to food shortage and all that, having food was a big thing. So probably when she had me, she figured with all the food around, she might feed me till I was full. I remember as a child, when I was punished, I actually had to eat. She always joke about it too now, that when I was small, I barely ate anything and when I was in trouble, my punishment was to finish eating something. Up til now, she always tell me that I look too skiny and I should start eating more food and grow back to the weight I was. I try to ignore it, but it's kinda hard whenever I hear it from time to time.

As for the future, I hope I can make it with my weight loss. Thus far, it's 7 months, and I think I'm getting better each day. I went from 240 (245ish) to 170 (my weight this morning was 167). My pants went from 38 (nearly 40) to a size 32.

Only problems I faced where:
1. getting the the diet right in the beginning, first 2 weeks of abandoning processed food and sugar were hard. Body was going insane and i was suffering from sugar withdrawal. After the first several weeks my body and mind felt as clear as it has ever been without all that junk in my system.

2. Family and friends thinking I was going anorexic by eating healthy and losing so much weight, though my family now realizes i lost the weight healthy it was annoying for them to keep questioning me and everything.

3. Self control and will power to avoid all the junk food and sugar in my fridge and cabinets. In time my will power improved and I could easily say no the bad stuff in my house, though every now and theni do have something not so great.

god my mom was on my about the anorexic thing because i eat less at dinner its very annoying because she doesnt know i eat 7 meals a day

Its good to hear others struggle to be honest!!! My problem is dinner, I would also love to go out jogging but haven't got the confidence yet. Something Im aiming towards. There is a great park near me.

However I wore a shirt to work that has never fit me since I bought it!!!! Pretty good. Im exercising nearly everyday now and Im enjoying it. Ive also bought some vitamins. Its coming together, the hardest part is stopping the junk food!! And thats done.

Haha. Yea my mom actually scheduled a doctors appointment to make sure I wasn't losing the weight in a unhealthy manner.

Good for you. Keep at it and you will be happy you started this journey.

I started gaining weight when i was in about grade 7 and eventially hit 243 lbs. When I was young I was always a really skinny guy and then I somehow got obese. I was horrified that I let myself get that far so I decided it was time for a change.

Like many of the people here I took small steps. I gradually uped my exercise as well as my eating. Within about 6 moths I had completly cut all junk food as well as working out 5-6 days a week. Currently I weigh in at 176 lbs and have gained a substantial amount of strength. Just have a little more abdominal fat to lose and then Im going to build muscle hardcore.

Fitness and excersise is my life now. Just this month I ran my first half marathon in under 2 hours and next year i plan on running the full marathon. Long term I want to open my own gym but for now Im working towards a physiotherapy degree.

Congratulations on the weight loss !!