How many lbs are you away from

[Magpie]

Five pounds!

No matter what my current weight is, I always wish I was five pounds lighter.

That's not to say I'm unhappy with the way I look! I'm generally quite content. It just got stuck in my brain at some point, so that if I look at the scale and see 140, I think, "Maybe I can get down to 135." And if I see 135, I think, "Maybe I can get down to 130." A bit of a mental tic.

It never goes any further than that, though. I don't diet. My weight simply fluctuates between about 130 and 140 depending on my level of physical activity, the season of the year, whatever I happen to be eating a lot of, and the time of the month.

 

[wenrob]

That's true, however, I don't think you realize how difficult it is unless you're obese. The difference in energy level, alone, can make things feel very impossible. And then if you throw in mobility issues, depression, etc, that could be going on, it's just very very difficult for some people.

The thing is when you are obese and depressed, and I was, you don't realize that even though it's really, REALLY hard to get started once you actually get started it gets easier and easier each day. I could not make it through a 7 minute walk with the Wii Fit without having to stop for a break and feeling like I was going to die in an AC cooled house. By the second week I was patting myself on the back for making 14mins and the third week, I was doing 30mins and had dropped 7lbs. That was enough to make me keep going and push harder. It IS hard but you have to try, kwim? Even if it's just one lap around your living room or whatever. And contrary to popular belief, excercise is not needed to lose weight. Excercise is for fitness, weight loss is just a matter of eating less than you burn. I've done it both ways. I keep up with excercise because it makes me feel good, not to lose weight. (well, okay, I do get extra laps in if I want more calories for the day)

 

[pigletto]

40.
And I'm on my way .

 

[Klayfish]

The thing is when you are obese and depressed, and I was, you don't realize that even though it's really, REALLY hard to get started once you actually get started it gets easier and easier each day. I could not make it through a 7 minute walk with the Wii Fit without having to stop for a break and feeling like I was going to die in an AC cooled house. By the second week I was patting myself on the back for making 14mins and the third week, I was doing 30mins and had dropped 7lbs. That was enough to make me keep going and push harder. It IS hard but you have to try, kwim? Even if it's just one lap around your living room or whatever. And contrary to popular belief, excercise is not needed to lose weight. Excercise is for fitness, weight loss is just a matter of eating less than you burn. I've done it both ways. I keep up with excercise because it makes me feel good, not to lose weight. (well, okay, I do get extra laps in if I want more calories for the day)

You are right, exercise isn't "needed" to lose weight. If calories burned > calories in, weight will be lost. However, your resting metabolism is typically not extraordinarily high. It would be quite a challenge to lose much weight with no exercise at all.

I also agree that it snowballs into positive. My workouts are 85% weight training and only 15% cardio, but I'll give a story about running. When I started working out about 10 years ago, I wasn't heavy, but was out of shape. I was probably only 160lbs, but no muscle. I hadn't run at all in 15+ years, with the excuse of "bad knees". I started very slowly. I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes and literally ran 30 seconds my first day. Day by day, it built up and I felt great about it, which motivated me even more. Before long, I was running a 5k. A few years later, I was training to run a half marathon (which got washed out because of a rare hurricane threat in PA). Point is, one step at a time. Let each little success build into the next.

 

[wenrob]

You are right, exercise isn't "needed" to lose weight. If calories burned > calories in, weight will be lost. However, your resting metabolism is typically not extraordinarily high. It would be quite a challenge to lose much weight with no exercise at all.

It's not hard at all really. I lost half my weight with excercise and half without. I knew I had to eat less of I wasn't moving and at the time that's the choice I made. I'd say the rate at which I lost was about the same with and without excercise. My sister is currently down 45lbs in the last four months and hasn't excercised one bit. I'm not discounting it at all, it can be a great help but it's not needed. I only point this out because people think they need to work out for hours in order to lose weight or they think if they *just* excercise they'll lose without decreasing their food intake. They will for a week or two but then they stall and don't understand why. MFP is chock full of threads with people wondering why they haven't lost and they're excercising their butts off. A combo of diet and excercise is best IMO but ultimately eating less is really all it takes.

 

[FINFAN]

12-18. 12 for sure, 18 to allow some room for "Happy fat"~ you know, the lbs you put on when you are enjoying yourself out eating, drinikng, snacking t the movies, you get the idea

 

[dclpluto]

35