I Just Lost 50lbs!

mzsierra528

Hi my name is Sierra.. Last year I was 250lbs. Today I am 195! The road has not been easy. And the challenges have been very difficult.

This year June of 2016 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, along with a few mental illnesses. [Major depressive disorder, social anxiety] Over the course of my life I've endured much abuse & completely lost my self-esteem due to a very controlling boyfriend.

Since then I have developed an eating disorder [which I'm sure stems from my depression]. My longing to be thin has taken over my life. And my depression is out of control. I can hardly go anywhere without feeling like I'm about to have a breakdown.

I'm pretty sure this was designed to help people who are struggling. Whether it be weight loss, eating right or simply gaining the confidence we need to survive. Please help.

[Edited by MFP Mods]

z4oslo

Im gonna respond here, as I dont use social media (yes im weird, but im totally ok with beeing that)

Sounds like you had/have a rough time.
I'm not equipped to cure your mental illnesses, but I will still give you some advices.

Happiness is not something you will automatically gain by losing weight. After all, there is many poeple out there that are thin, but with mental illnesses, so you will have to take steps to resolve your problems seperatly.

One thing that you should do, every single day, is to say positive things about yourself. Many people.. no most people is judging themself way to harshly. We look into the mirror and tell ourself how ugly we are. "my nose is too big, My skin is terrible" etc etc

If you are doing this, just STOP. Be kind to yourself, and say good things about yourself.

As for the weight loss, I guess we all have different methods to lose weight.
Me? Im telling myself that it was easy to gain weight, its easy to lose weight.

Willpower is a limited resource. Spending all your willpower to lose weight will make it very hard to succeed.
Find a system you can live it for a long time. To me that meant not banning any types of food. I eat what I want, just less of it. Thats something that works for me.

Good luck Sierra, hope you will resolve your problems.

Regads, Roy.

mzsierra528

I'm new to this so im not sure how to properly respond. . But thank u so much! I definitely will take your advice starting TODAY! @z4oslo

mihai_vuurwerk

First of all, congratulations.

Second, I agree with Roy on everything except the part about willpower. There is still a debate going on about this topic. A study I find particularly interesting shows that:

"The volunteers who had been led to believe that willpower was a limited resource showed signs of ego depletion, while those who had been led to believe that willpower was not limited showed no signs of dwindling self- control." (Job, V. Et al. (2010) Ego depletion --is it all your head? )

A different studies shows that:

"Restoring glucose appears to help reboot run-down willpower" (Gailliot, M. Et al. (2007), Self control relies on glucose as limited energy source). Which could be useful to keep in mind if you find yourself lacking willpower at some point.

For me personally, willpower has a self-enforcing effect, if I indulge once, I'm more likely to do it again or completely off track (which is why i recommend tracking every single meal with MFP). If, hower I exert willpower and see that it pays off (granted with losing weight that takes time and patience). I find myself more likely to reach for even more goals.

You'll have to see how it affects you. Either way good luck on your journey!