I'm new here, My weight loss journey

[Davidjunior93]

My journey with weight loss is a battle, a battle I've lost several times, both mentally and physically.

I went from an overweight childhood, to eating disorder adolescence, to putting on all ads of weight, to then lose it all with fad diets, to then gain it all back again when I stopped.

I've just started my new journey. As of Wednesday last week, I'm 24years old, 5"10 and 18st 10lbs at the start of the journey. I've had people approach me recently trying to get me to do fad diets again, but this time I'm approaching it differently, my whole relationship with food is wrong, and boils down to issues non-diet related. I'm trying to address how I approach food, and lose weight a more healthy and sustainable way.

I've joined a gym (again), and am using MyFitnessPal to track calories and monitor intake, I'm currently down around 6lbs from the start, which is likely water weight and the initial shock to the system, but it has me feeling positive and motivated to finally crack this thing called diet.

I can't wait until the day I can be confident with my body, and be confident with myself.

How do others keep motivated? What keeps you losing weight?

[Hidden]

I really want to stop feeling so tired and frumpy. My younger husband is a body builder and I'm tired of looking like his mother. We married and I was a hot size four and now am a size twelve. I want to look good for him but most of all I want to be around for my young daughter. I'm doing it this time and will never give up. I owe it to myself and I am worthy and so are you. Good luck to you on your journey!

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Hi and welcome, David

Take a look at the Pinned posts section to the right of your screen (bottom if you're using a mobile), or in the drop down on the 'Posts' page (it says 'arrange by'). Read the Welcome Newbie thread, then move through to the challenges, where we hope you'll find at least one that will appeal to you.

Move down to the Topics, to find a variety of threads, collated into specific topics for ease of access and we ask that you also 'file' your own threads, so that others won't miss your important news.

Take a look at the NHS 12 week plan, as a lot of people have been successful with it, making sure to enter your details into the NHS BMI calculator, to get a calorie allowance tailored to your personal requirements. Don't forget to take your starting measurements and a 'before' picture, as they can be very motivating on days that the scales refuse to co-operate.

To the right of the HOME page (bottom on a mobile), you'll find Events. In there, you'll find links to our daily Weigh-in's (you will choose just one day per week), our Daily Diary, where we post our menu and exercise plans, for accountability, advice and support and our “What's happening today” thread, where we pop in for a chat.

Be aware, that the HU app doesn't give you access to all of our important features, so we advise that you use the full website page.

We've found that to get the best out of this community, we need to be active on the forum, as it's where we exchange information, get motivation and inspiration and make friends. We hope that you'll join us here, regularly, too.

It's only left for me to wish you well on your journey

[matets]

Welcome Davidjunior93 to this awesome forum. You will get to learn so much from the members that will help you with you journey. Its great that you already know the root cause of your weight challenges and it really helps once you have the right mindset to battle on. I do challenge myself to eat clean on a daily basis, one day at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed and I try to eat well balanced nourishing meals at mealtimes and this has really helped me to curb ceaseless food cravings. If you could plan and prep your meals for a week you will find it easier to build on the healthy eating habit. I wish you the very best in your journey!

[Kenny25]

Hi David. Weight loss is so very difficult. For me it was about getting in the right frame of mind and you seem to be there. You want to lose weight and you know that to do that you basically need to eat less calories than you burn. Motivation comes initially from forums like this and as the weeks tick by and you see the weight fall off and your clothes become looser your own motivation and self confidence increases. The most difficult thing for me about losing weight first and foremost is that I'm a food addict so I need to rethink my whole relationship with food because it's that unhealthy addiction to the wrong foods that's put me where I am today, albeit that I've lost 81 pounds in the last year. I have been using a particular slimming plan but it's unrestrictive and as a result I'm always full. If I crave a bag of crisps or chocolate then I can have them freely. My advice to you would be to buy yourself a Fitbit or fitness tracker, walk, drink lots of water, be honest with your food weighing and tracking and set yourself small weight loss goals. You can do this.

Kenny

[elliebath Maintainer]

My motivation started with the initial elation of losing 2 lbs in week 1. The motivation continued with subsequent weekly losses, sometimes 1-2 lbs , often only a half /quarter pound, but at least it was moving downwards. But apart from the scales, I simply found I felt pleased with myself, felt more optimistic, my face looked brighter, my mood was brighter, even my libido returned.

For me it became sustainable because I stopped guessing at my foods, I used this NHS site for support and myfitnesspal to plan, measure and calorie count all meals and snacks [even that broken half a biscuit , or sneaky top up of wine]. I didn't totally ban anything, ate lots of vegetables, chicken, fish, eggs, greek yoghurt, and still had wine, the odd biscuit, cake etc . but just counted everything into my daily total. Once my clothes felt looser and people started to notice then I really did not want to turn back.

The amazing support on this forum really can help you along, on both good days and bad days (which we all have). Good luck on your fresh journey !

[HubbysMissMouse]

Hi Davidjunior93 i am so pleased for you starting this well done to you. I use MyFitnessPal as well but I use the NHS bmi calculator to work out how many calories to have as this one tends to give out personal amounts for everyone whereas the others mfp included tend to give out average amounts that are one amount for women and one amount for men unless you say you want to lose slightly more then you also get a different average amount again. The bmi calculator is different amounts for each person, depending on their details. I never used to eat enough amounts of calories every day and this caused me problems because my body thought I was starving it and turned what I did eat into body fat and this weighs more than eating the extra calories does so it stops me from losing weight and this always stopped me from losing weight and sometimes puts weight on instead. I only ate around 1000 Cals a day, but when I made sure I ate somewhere between the amount of calories advised by the bmi I started losing weight straight away and have now lost 2 1/2st. Hope all goes well for you too. Good luck with your journey.