udflyerem

So I have a question for anyone out there who can give me some feedback.  How do you really find out your true motivation to continue with this weight loss journey?  Its been almost exactly one year since I started, and I have lost about 33 pounds (from 198 –> 165.  I plateaued in April and haven’t lost since).  I was feeling pretty good about my progress and got lots of compliments from people at work, and my family really noticed a change whenever I would go home for holidays.  Someone even used the “S” word to describe me (yes, skinny!) which is totally absurd to me, but I pretended to believe it.  I guess this all came up when about a month ago when I was out with a friend, who although in a drunken state, told me I looked so much better, but how I should want to look really amazing on my wedding day (which is exactly 6 months from today!)  She was saying how every girl wants to be so beautiful and how I should keep trying to lose weight to feel even more beautiful on that day.  I was caught a little off guard by the comment wondering, is this what everyone else is thinking?  She looks good a little less fat than before, but she could look so much better?  I also struggle with the fact that my fiance has always been attracted to really thin women, a lot skinner than I think I can ever achieve.  So I go back and forth with my motivation to continue on - is this really for me, or just to make the people I love happy? I guess I don’t know if I think I want it because I like to please people (I’ve always been a people pleaser…) or it’s because I really want it for myself.  I have my good and bad days with my body, but everyone does.  I guess what I want to know is, how do you figure out how far is good enough for you in your weight loss journey when you have all this other input from people to sort out that might cloud your own feelings towards your body and your weight?

Well its been about 7 weeks since I’ve started this weight-loss goal, and I’ve lost almost 10 pounds.  It seems like it should be coming off faster than that, but I guess this is average.  I just always thought that it slows down at the end as you start reaching your goal; I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll slow down towards the end - then I won’t be anywhere near my goal by November!

 I’m still plugging away though - doing a 300 calorie burning elliptical workout and some ab stuff 5 days a week.  And I’m on an approximately 1,200 calorie diet.  I do have a question though if anyone knows - I read that you shouldn’t go below 1,200 calories or it’ll slow down you metabolism.  Is that calorie intake or calorie deficit?  If it is deficit I should start eating more, but if its total intake, then I don’t want to eat too much and slow down the weight loss. If anyone knows, I would appreciate it!

Well I think that’s about it today!  I hope everyone else is doing great and keeping up the hard work - it WILL pay off! :)