Hi!  I'm new here to Alli! Just started taking the pills yesterday. I was a very active and attractive young girl in high school but ever since college and the end of a 6 year relationship my life has somewhat gone belly up. I've been fighting with my weight since and can't seem to put a dent into weight loss. I'm a graduate student in a medical related field so I KNOW what I'm supposed to be eating and I KNOW what I shouldn't be eating. I just have no will power when it comes to cravings. I can do really good for a week or two but when the stress comes ... and especially that certain time of the month ... I give in to all of my cravings. I have internal battles with my weight everyday ... I know I want this. I know I want to be skinner and be happier with myself. I try hanging old pictures everywhere as little reminders ... I clean my cabinets of unhealthy temptations but I just can't find that shove to push me over the edge and start with better eating habbits. Did anyone struggle like this before they were finally successful?  What helped change your train of though?  Any suggestions to get things going?  

Thanks for any suggestions! I look forward to my new life with Alli and meeting everyone here!

 Hi Elizabeth

i have struggled my whole adult life with diets, yo-yoing back and forth, giving in to temptation and cravings and letting my emotions take over by feeding myself when happy, sad, angry,lonely, stressed, you name it.

i could stick to a diet for a couple of weeks then id be bored and hungry and id feel deprived so i would lie to myself and pretend i hadnt eaten the cookies, or just blow the diet cos id eaten the whole packet.

and would you believe it im an intelligent proffesional working in healthcare and so  should know better.

then i discovered alli in october.

i feel so well, have consistently lost weight, dont feel hungry all the time, dont feel deprived, can eat what everyone else eats, even a little chocolate. best of all my cravings left after a couple of weeks.

if i can offer advice it would be to stick to the plan, use the tools, the nutrition log is great and log on often for help and support.if you get struck by cravings log on read the posts, offer some advice/support yourself and before you know it the cravings will be gone.

good luck, you can do it

Carole

Hello, Elizabeth and Welcome!

Like you, I was thin when I was younger, and like you, I know what is nutritious and healthy eating, in my case due to my mother who was a nurse and raised us with a very good diet and habits.  I gained weight in my 40s due to a lot of factors  ... injuries that made me have to quit my sports, moving to a new city and not joining a new gym (huge mistake), a bunch of health and mobility issues, and a bout of depression.  Like you, I was a snacker and craved a lot of food which was much more of a problem for me than what I ate at meals. 

Before alli, I tried not to eat after 9pm and exercise more and had only a little success.  I don't know exactly why I started alli or why I did it when I did, but I do know that somehow I was ready.  There were things like watching the beach volleyball players on the Olympics last summer and seeing them with the body I used to have (volleyball was my main sport).  And going on vacation later this month that I wanted to be ready for.  But both of those things had come up before in the 7 or 8 years that I have been overweight.  I also know that my depression has finally completely receded and I don't think I could have done this while depressed.  In any case, this seems to be the right time for me to make the changes I need to make. 

My mind-set is that it is the only diet I will ever be on.  I will stay on it until it works.  If I need to lose 52 pounds, then at a pound a week, it will take a year.  I can live without a lot of things for a year if it means I lose this weight.  When I have met my goal and need to maintain my new weight, I can have more treats as long as they are occasional and not every day.  One cookie, not the whole package.  With that mind-set, I really haven't felt deprived.  I had more cravings in the beginning but by now I hardly have any. 

I can't tell you what will work for you.  Take it one day at a time, make friends on this board, and be patient.  Good luck!

Caroline

Thank you so much Carole and Caroline. I guess it helps just knowing there are others out there who feel (or have felt) the same way I do. I've actually been telling myself the same thing ... "This is it. This is the diet that will finally help me loose weight." Thanks for responding and thanks for being supportive!

 

 

I think a lot of it has to do with commitment.  It's important to have witnesses, whether on this board or in real life. 

I have realized that those of us who have not tried every diet there is have an advantage.  When we tell our friends and family that this is it, we are making a change, we are believed.  We believe it ourselves.  It's really important to tell everyone who is important to us that we are doing this. 

I think if I fail at alli and try to diet again and again like so many on this board, people just aren't going to believe in me the same way.  So that has helped me think of this as a one time deal for me.  It's my only chance to do it and really be believed in by all of the important people in my life.  Maybe that will help you too, to have witnesses in order to make a real commitment to change. 

Best of luck to you!

Caroline

 Elizabeth 1022

I was 118 pounds when i finished high school.When i started All on 6/18/07 i was 303 pounds.For i am a very impulsive eater,but one day i went to sit down in a reataurant booth and couldnt get in. I had to move to a table.Then i thought about  my weight,and at almost 60 years old i dont want my death certificate to read died from obesity.( I know a little morbid).But it was my wake up call.I dont want to die because of FOOD.So am i good every day.,,NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!.i had lost 47 pounds and every day was a struggle for me and still is.But when i mess up i get back on and just keep at it.I have not been doing to good since Sept. but finally made up my mind when i saw on the scale i had gained 10 pounds to start again.For me this is a journey on the road to life and unfortuntately there are going to be bumps and detours.I want you to read my saying after my name and that how i feel.Where do i want to be in a year back at 303 or closer to 220.

Linda

You girls are amazing. Thank you so much!  This is my life and I can have control over it and my eating habbits .. I only get one chance. And I do love the saying at the end of your profile ... I read posts from other members who have lost 20 pounds since September/October ... now why the heck didn't I start watching what I eat back then?!?  I could be 20 pounds ahead of the game. In fact, I look back at the past 4 years in that same light. Why didn't I start back then?  And its so true, a year from today, (the old me) would look back and say "Why didn't I stick with it?"  But I have HOPE this time and instead, a year from now I'll be saying ... "Wow, I feel great and I look great. I'm glad I put in all that effort." 

Finding witnesses for me is a challenge because I have a hard time even admitting to myself that I am obese. But like I read in someone else's story ... my friends already know that. They see me everyday. It's no surprise to them that I need to lose weight. My best friend from high school is getting married next spring ... I have made a promise to her and to myself that I will lose weight for her wedding. 

The master's program I am in right now is extremely tough and very time consuming. I know that if I put my mind and effort and heart into it that I can stay on top of things!!  I can lose weight, I can stick with the program!! Thanks again for all of the encouragement!  

I had a hard time finding witnesses, too.  I also didn't want to admit to people that I had a weight problem, even though it was clearly obvious to the whole world.  I started with a few who I knew would be very supportive and with my husband since it meant a few changes for him, too.  Baby steps.  Even now that I have lost 20 pounds, I hesitate to tell people because it is admiting a problem, but I keep doing it because I believe it will help me succeed.  Just tonight I was on the phone with my rather judgemental and very thin brother and I told him that I had lost 20 pounds and he was sincerely impressed.  Then I told him I needed to lose 30 more and he was still supportive.  Failure is not an option. 

I added you to my circle, Elizabeth.  You are young and you can make a huge difference in your life.  I want to see you succeed.  :-)

Caroline

 I hope I am doing this right to post!  I am new to Alli having just started on Monday.  So far it is going great.  I have been following the menu plans fairly closely.  I haven't had any bad reactions yet.  I am so hopeful this will work for me as I have tried so many other things I couldn't begin to list them all.  I have a whole shelf on the bookcase full of diet books and programs.  I put on this weight about two years ago and haven't been able to get it off, although I have been able to maintain for the most part for awhile.  I have a whole closet full of clothes I can't wear and I feel so uncomfortable and miserable.  I had a friend I was talking to for support, but she is not very supportive of this so I am moving on from that.  I have a very supportive husband, though, which is the best ever! 

Elizabeth just wanted to agree with caroline about you starting this journey now while you are young. i too want to see you suceed so badly. dont wait dont put it off, i have tried half heartedly for years to lose weight and my life has been put on hold because of it. im 45 not ancient i know but ive wasted a lot of my life waiting to be slim, unable to do the stuff i wanted or too big to wear the clothes i wanted or uncomfortable and self concious because of my size. please do it now and enjoy your youth we are all here for you Carole

4 pounds down on my first weigh in. So now at least I know for sure that Alli can help me ... I just have to stick with it. Thanks for the motivation girls! Hope you have a great week! 

 Elizabeth

well done thats a great achievement

keep up the good work

Carole

Great Job. You will make it thru this. Once you get it started it free and easy down the road you go! Just take it one step at a time. Even one lb a week. It still losing, remember that. And if you have a bad week, run an extra ten minutes the next time you're at the gym, make sure that pound is off next week. My facebook status right now is "Just Do It Baby...Swoosh!" :). You just gotta do it!

My first official Weigh in is the 22nd, but i have, of course, already been checking, and have noticed that my abercrombie button down shirts fit me much better now. They don't bunch up badly when i sit now :). 229.9 at the start. 221.4 when i woke this morning. I am sure that a great deal of that is water weight, but none the less, i feel FANTASTIC!!! And it feels great to have the support of this community.I'm hoping to be down to 217, my lowest weight since 7th grade by Dec 29th-Jan 5 when i go to Miami for the orange bowl. That week is goign to take some serious will power, but i have no doubt that i can resist any temptation. That i can find the healthy items on the menu's at the restaurants that we go to and if a salad is all they have, then i'll tell them no cheese please and fat free is the key!!! :) My other goal is to be at 195 by March 1 for spring break in South Padre Island, and at 175-180 by summer time. Hopefully toned by then.

I mentioned this in another thread, but unlike many of you, I have chosen not to tell anyone of my best friends about my use of Alli, nor any of my family. The online community is the only community that gets to know that I am using it. I really haven't tried to go on all these different diet/exercise plans in the past, but i feel like I have made comments that I planned to lose weight so many times yet I never carreid thru and I just don't want my freinds and family to think it's just talk again. Because for once i do believe. And it's easy to me. I cannot believe some of the food that i used to put in my body. And i'm not just taking fast food here. Things like mac and cheese, rance dressing, sausage, fries, etc. I honestly do not need those things. They were just available. Sure I like to eat them, but i don't need them, nor do I in any way intensely crave them. It's truly a change in lifestyle. Now that final's are over I can go to the gym a little more, but i have a retail job and i get plenty of walking done in that, and also walking all over this gigantic campus. Not to mention that I have P90X just sitting around and Wii Fit too, plus 3 free gyms (2 from VT and one at my apt complex).

I do plan to tell all once i hit my goal though, but not until. Until then the secret stays in cyberspace. Thank goodness for you all. You are truly inspiring!!!!!

Pat

you are doing great.

like you i havent told any of my friends im taking alli, my husband and kids know but im not telling my friends and for the same reasons as you. in 8 weeks ive lost 17lb and dropped a dress size yet not one of my friends have noticed, or said anything.

like you i used to eat a load of stuff that was nice to eat but i can honestly say im not missing any of it, well maybe a little cheese, but hey Ill live!!

what i do know is that with the help of everyone on here i WILL get to goal

stay strong, stay motivated and have a great week.

oh and use that wii fit, ive asked santa for one so hope to be using it soon too

Carole 

 My first weigh in was Monday and I was down 3 pounds, I did get side tracked a couple times, but hey, down 3 is better than up especially this time of the year. I am going to do better this week, I have made my menu out and bought plenty of fruit & veggies to have on hand, Thursday we are having a Christmas luncheon so I pulled the menu off the web so I had time to check the calorie/fat info before getting there and ordering without a plan. Planning is one thing that helps me, if I write it on my calendar it is easier to make it happen, if it be working out or my menu.

Carole, I also asked Santa for a Wii Fit, can hardly wait!

~Michelle