Pessimist Looking for Encouragement!

HaoKaren

I didn't realize this but being from Asia, when everyone is about 'famine thin', I've always thought I need to lose weight even if I didn't need to...until 5 years ago. Starting from then I've gained 10lbs a year and now I'm at the heaviest ever. I've been on and off of my fitness pal. The more I think about my situation the more desperate I feel, and being a pessimist, the more down I get. I understand I should be possitive but it proves to be harder than I thought when I'm the biggest among my friends. Please share with me with some stories and same experience. we're in this together! (I hope!) and I really need to lose weight so I can be happy again.

bennettinfinity

When you're just starting out, it can be fairly daunting when you think about the extent of change you're attempting to undertake. I'd recommend changing just one small behavior to get started. For example, I started by just logging my food for a couple of weeks, just so I'd have some data to see where I could start to cut some calories out of my day. That one simple change lead to other small changes that over time got me to my goal - kind of a snowball effect. The key is to see that you DO have the ability to effect change - that will feed on itself and before you know it, you're on your way.

The road wasn't/isn't always easy, but I felt that approach smoothed out quite a few of the bumps and helped me to succeed.

Good luck!

Breeticus87

You know the quote "Every journey begins with one step"? I think that could really help you The thing is I wouldn't call myself an optimist or a pessimist, but I do know what it feels like to look in the mirror and feel like my situation is hopeless. I feel like every time I have tried to lose weight in the past I focused on my final goal. What I want to look like, how i want to be perceived by others, what sort of things I want to be able to do. All of those things are great, and you probably should make goals like that, however for me whenever i set those goals and then took a look at myself i got overwhelmed and depressed and gave up.

This time is different for me though, I am focusing on smaller victories, and hoping that they will build into a larger one. This time 2 weeks ago I was sick laying on my couch considering calling an ambulance because I had been hurting my body for so long that when i got a small lil illness, it turned into my liver and kidneys not functioning right, my digestive tract giving me so much pain i thought i was gonna explode, and my heart pounding out of my chest. Its 2 weeks later now and all i have changed is what i eat, not how much i eat, and i feel amazing, better than i did even when i was at my optimal weight. All I did was research the right daily values of nutrients and have been trying to meet those goals everyday. I tell you it not only makes a difference in how your body feels, but how you feel emotionally too. I am still 70 lbs overweight, yet i feel happy after years of feeling depressed i feel just happy. There is no reason for it either, nothing has changed for me other than what I put in my body, and my overall mental health changed right along side the changes of how my body feels.

I hope you add me as a friend, sounds like we could offer each other some support along the way, and remember, don't look too far ahead, or wish for something that seems too far off, because another quote that comes to mind is "If you aren't where you are, then you are no place", which just means if you constantly keep your mind thinking of your distant goal, its gonna be harder to appreciate the ones that are right in front of you.