feeling discouraged

ladyinredflush

Hey guys.

I am trying to lose 15 pounds but I am getting discouraged. I live a sedentary lifestyle being a student. I eat as healthy as I can now by getting in an adequate amount of vegetables in my diet daily.

However, I really can't stop checking myself out in the mirror every day, hoping that I look skinnier. I never do, and I always waste time being pre occupied with how I look in the mirror.

I went shopping today for new work out clothes, but I was shocked at how I looked when trying on new clothes. I was got upset and had to quickly choose what items to buy and head home. Trying on clothes at the store was always an emotional struggle for me, even when I was skinnier because I am not exactly proportional.

Lastly, I went through a lot of emotional challenges throughout my last year of grad school, in terms of personal relationships, as well as grades. I turned to food as comfort from time to time, and enjoyed it. Now, setting a daily calorie goal of only 1200 calories per day is very hard for me to achieve, exactly, every day, and it's disheartening to not be able to snack on an extra chocolate here and there when I am feeling down. I feel like I am putting myself in a jail cell not being able to eat whatever I want to. And it sucks not seeing any progress. This is especially hard when I am stressing during exam time, or if a relationship is not going as I had hoped.

I have been avoiding the scale, actually, hoping that the pounds would eventually drop, but it looks like since February to April, I have actually gained 6 pounds.

I will make it a habit to weigh myself twice a week just to make sure I don't get off track.

I am not the happiest person, yet I am not the saddest. I am neutral, but eating surely does improve my mood and my happiness, and it sucks to not have anything else to lift me up.

kenziberry

Ladyinredflush-

We have all been there and can get really down on ourselves and feel discouraged over the smallest of things. I am here to tell you that IT GETS BETTTER if you put in the work. At my heaviest I weighed 219 lbs. I knew I was overweight (understatement) but I didn't do anything about it. I pretended that going to the gym and getting on the elliptical for 30 minutes 3 times a week would solve the problem (as I went back to my house and ate pizza and last night fried food). Obviously my 90 minutes of moderate exercise could not make up for the junk I was putting into my body.

It wasn't until I was diagnosed with Psuedo Tumor Cerabri in 2011 with the risk that I was going blind due to being overweight (YES, GOING BLIND BECAUSE I WAS SO OVERWEIGHT).

I finally realized that I needed to lose weight. With that being said, I made it a rule to only weigh myself once a week, generally on Friday. I also made sure I bought a fabric tape measurer because the scale is definitely not the only place you will see loss!!!

My advise to you is not to focus on the scale, especially not twice a week as your weight can fluctuate so frequently due to water and other factors.

Be honest with yourself and the process. Log everything you eat, every bite, every like, every chomp, every sugary drink, literally EVERYTHING. That is the only way you will be honest with yourself and with the process.

I am sure you have heard that a "diet" is 80% what you eat and 20% what you do in the gym. I believe this is absolutely true. Stick to a clean diet, give yourself 4 weeks, 4 solid weeks of being true to a clean diet and you will most likely see results.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!

ladyinredflush

^^ Thank you kenziberry for the awesome encouragement.

I am eating cleaner now, with salads and vegetables. I baked an awesome artichoke today.

But I get disapointed in myself for not wanting to run when it is too windy, like right now. It is just so uncomfortable and I feel like nature is just forcing me to go back into the house, and so I do. I lasted like 20 minutes today. But when it is nice and warm outside, with no wind, I tend to run harder and put more effort. I am not a fan of gyms because I feel like a hamster on a wheel.