So much weight to lose...

[FwL]

I've been cruising through all the old posts in the Before and After forum. Everybody looks so much better even with 10 or 20 pounds dropped.

But one thing I've found is that even with a bunch of weight off, it can be depressing to feel so much thinner, then you look in the mirror and still see a fat person with a long way to go.

I had that feeling just this morning. I was standing with a hand on my hip... and it struck me that I could feel the hip bone. That made me feel pretty good. It changed my self image. I felt like I was getting thin. I started thinking thin.

A little while later, I walked past a shop window and caught my reflection in the glass. How did I ever let myself get so fat? I look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in profile

I gotta get this weight off.

[chinadoll]

Forrest, we all have days when we "feel" thin or "feel" fat even if the scale says something else. Yesterday I wore a shirt to the gym because I felt confident and thin(ner). Today I put its twin on and looked in the mirror and thought "Omigod, how could I have been seen in this yesterday--I look horrible in this!"

Here's the thing. Your mental image will change a hundred times a week. But giving in and getting down on yourself is counterproductive. Tell yourself to remember that hip bone, because that is what will get you to the next lifeline. It may be one less fat roll, or a change in your double chin, doesn't matter what. Just hold onto these little victories and keep paddling. The far shore is a ways off but if you keep going you will get there!

[imagood1]

Forrest, I bet more than 90 percent of the people who frequent ADBB have the same feeling you had when you looked in the window. One of the reasons we look the way we do is because we have had no control over our emotions, our eating patterns, what and why we eat. Things are changing for you though....

We are bombarded by magazines, television, movies, etc. showing that if you aren't stick thin you need to be on some bizzare fad diet that doesn't work. We live from diet to diet (you can see that in the posts of newbies - WW, South Beach, Medifast, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, etc) punishing our bodies to loose then we go off and put the weight back on quickly. No wonder we don't loose weight and keep it off...these diets set us up to fail with their bland taste and strick foods we can eat. We all want overnight success, if we don't loose 10 pounds the first week and at least 5 pounds every week after something is wrong. It's totally unrealistic.

Dr Atkins found the key to the possibility that every person can eat satisfying tasty foods and loose weight. Because his ideas were out of the mainstream he was vilified in the press - but the success stories you read here prove he was right - these are real people who aren't being paid for their views or their time to moderate. They are here to help all of us who need hand holding and questions answered over and over - they are the saints and angels on this earth!

The first months, you need to let your you mind start re-adjusting to your new lifestyle - tell yourself you are feel better, look better, You deserve to feel good, to look better, to eat healthy, to not care what anyone thinks of you or the way you choose to eat. Remember, your reflection in a window isn't the true reflection of you ---- there is distortion in that pane of glass and the amount of distortion depends on the size of the pane. Also, that pane of glass is not going to make you look your best.

When you start feeling down, take a walk, exercise do something to get your mind off the damage you have already inflicted upon yourself. Do something that makes you feel good - the more times you feel good, the better you are going to do for the rest of your life.

Good luck Forrest you are going to do this! I have faith in you

[Keetje]

Hello FwL,

Try not to get downhearted, you are just at the beginning. When I first started I felt really grim because it seemed as though that goal weight was just so far away.

How about setting some mini-goals? I grabbed an idea off another woman on the board of setting mini-goals of 10% of the weight I have to lose (I am nearing my first mini-goal and no matter what the mirror tells me I am feeling bloody marvellous!).

All of us in the Century Club let ourselves get rather fat, but now we are all doing something about it - and every day brings you closer to being a 'normal' weight.

Looking at the figures you have posted, you are doing brilliantly - Marshmallow man no more!

Keetje
(shrinking Marshmallow Lady)

[EverLosing]

FwL,

I believe we ALL feel that way sometimes. Yesterday was my day. I went shopping for smaller jeans. I picked up a size I hoped would fit me and one size smaller also just to get an idea of how far I had to go before size 10's fit. The 12's fit okay. I tried on the 10's. Oh yeah, really tight....would only qualify as whore pants right now!!! Looked like I poured myself into them!! To get them off of me, I had to sit down...legs were tight. I looked in the huge mirror at my body. I saw all this ridiculous fat on my legs. I was slouching and saw a roll around the middle. I noticed my calves didn't look anything in that mirror like I thought they looked in real life. And those FOREVER THICK no matter what I weigh ankles, they looked like chunks. I was so p*ssed off!! I was beating myself up mentally and being uber critical!! I mean, I have lost over 40 lbs!! 40 lbs! That's the size of a big toddler. I've lost a little person! It was a wake up call to continue doing what I'm doing. Really, who the h*ll has a mirror that big in their house and sits half naked looking at the reflection?? I was being mean to me and I can't do that anymore because I'm rolling down the right track! And there are truly only 2 choices....we go back to our "comfort zone" and experience misery daily, unable to truly live and love our lives or we do something about it. We, my friend, are doing something about it and that's the only correct choice. Keep moving toward goal and don't let the self sabotage thoughts win, because when they win, you don't.

[IrishIrish]

I understand it can be overwhelming when you begin Atkins. Having tried and failed so many attempts at weight loss over my lifetime, while I understood how Atkins worked, educated myself and talked to others, I really wasn't sure whether this would be my answer. Happily, over five years later, I'm still doing Atkins and still having success.

It is about changing everything. We need to think differently how we view foods and not look for the opportunities to cheat or push the limits. One think I've grown to respect over my years here is that Dr. Atkins was a smart guy. While many come and go and try to second guess what he spells out for us in DANDR 2002, he knew what he was talking about.

So, count me in as someone who knows the feeling of having lots of weight to lose, but for me, I'm happy right where I am. Best wishes to you and drop by Century Club often. People here understand what it means to lose weight that is life changing. I'm not here to lose for a class reunion, a special vacation or to slide into a size 4. I'm here for my health and I couldn't be happier with the result!!

[ziggy]

nice post Carole and everyone nice posts too

dont worry Forrest its not your falt your so over weight high ammounts of carbohydrates are natures way of prepairing someone for winter basically for storeing fat and for lots of people it will do so for your body so intensely that theres no way someone could lose weight unless you starved yourself and lose all your muscle and become sick and thats no good

the Atkins diet is anti catabolic compaird to a high carb diet when it comes too muscle so you just lose fat and not muscle while on the Atkins diet and that will make you look very good

also i find that the more fat you have to lose the faster you will lose it for example

if you were 330 pounds and the goal was 230 pounds you would lose weight alot faster than if you were the same person but 260 pounds with the goal of being 230 pounds


but anyways dont give up i used to look and feel like a freakish half dead mutant ( i thought id be dead with in a few years) but now i feel great and i almost look like a male model xD

and all i had to do was this

over the last 4 years
starting weight about 315 pounds

first year , atkins diet, walking lots , lost 100 pounds or so , weight became 230 pounds , cured my horrible illnesses such as my gut problems

2nd year , walking lots , and started going to a gym and have been going almost daily to the gym ever since , weight 230 pounds but traded i think 20 pounds of fat for 20 pounds of muscle so i look even better

3rd year , walking lots , gym , excess skin removal surgery (tummy tuck & male breast reduction extremely easy and painless just make sure you have been going to the gym for atleast a year first and have lost all your weight)

4th year , traded even more fat in for muscle so i look even better, planning to get lower body excess skin removed no idea when though

current plans: to get even more muscle and to help people and show them the Atkins diet

[FwL]

Thanks for all the replies. This is one thing that I'm sure will make a huge difference for me this time around... having support and people I can talk to about this process.

I want to be one of the success stories this time.

[tuttifrutti]

Forrest,
It does seem so overwhelming at first. Just try to take this journey one day at a time and I find setting mini goals really helps alot. I know exactly how you feel. I have lost close to 40 lbs and I am so excited about that and that my pants are falling off me.....but then I look at myself in the mirror and I get upset. Then I remind myself how much better I feel and I see the weightloss with Atkins as just a great side effect. You will be feeling so much better with Atkins and everyday you will be closer to seeing yourself in a different way in that window reflextion. My biggest advice is to come to ADBB as often as you can...post as often as you can and let us give you all the support you need!!!

[FwL]

Thanks Tutti.

The wacky thing is that there is no good reason to not just continue to lose weight... and eventually look great in the window. But self pity rears its ugly head and next thing you know you're chomping on a Snickers bar and believing you were never meant to be thin.