Living the Lifestyle (LTL) - Monday, April 3rd

RedSassyPants

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- RedSassyPants
Tuesday -- 88olds
Wednesday -- goldenfrisbee
Thursday -- imastar2
Friday -- Al_Howard

Today's topic: Barriers

Many of you know that I currently work for a GYM. Although I wear many hats, I spend most of my time connecting with members and helping them achieve their goals. One thing I am constantly encountering are the Barriers people have.
Some Barriers keep them from starting
Some derail them once they have started
they effect Motivation
They effect results
Some are physical but most are psychological.

So...my question.
Do you know what barriers you have?
If so, have mastered overcoming them?

RedSassyPants

As I am sure it is true with most people, I am my own worse enemy.
So I have several Barriers

Barrier 1) I am an emotional eater. When things are good and I am happy, I am in control. When stress and anxiety kick in, I can't control myself.

Barrier 2) The new one I just started to use is the AGE card. They "I'm going to be 50 in two years, so what's the point"

Barrier 3) I am always a little insecure and REALLY insecure when I am heavy and out of shape. That leads to thoughts of 1) I can't do this 2) Why should I bother 3) It wont' change anything anyway.

It is a constant struggle for me, but I have gotten good and pulling myself out of the funk. I focus on exercise and mini accomplishments. It seems to be working. I still stumble, but my recovery is much faster

goldenfrisbee

My biggest barrier is myself. I start out strong and then get bored/tired of being mindful and just want to eat whatever I want.
Second barrier is time. It's going to take soooo long to get down to a healthy weight.

What I have realized is that mindful eating is a necessity now as I age. It wasn't hard to carry so much extra weight when I was younger, but now it is very difficult and dramatically reduces my quality of life. So I really have no choice but to keep on keepin' on, unless I want to live a miserable life..

Since there is no finish line, as I've learned here, what is my hurry? As long as I remain mindful I'll get there. And all along the way there will be little NSV's to help me along.

RedSassyPants

Getting bored is HUGE!!! I force people to change their workout routine on a regular basis before they have a chance to get bored with it.

mcbluesky

Boredom, especially at night, is a major barrier for me as it can lead to mindless eating of junk food. Gets worse when I am under stress, just sitting in front of the TV wasting time. Fear of failure is another barrier for me. Can I really do this forever? Am I in control or on the verge of another binge.

Jimb376mfp

Good topic. I just thought about it while out walking Sadie (dog).

Came home and saw @RedSassyPants took one of mine...AGE!
But I'm 69 yo, Oh to be ONLY 50! LoL

I started this WL journey at age 65 and know that after a lifetime of gaining weight (got up to 376# on 5'8" frame) I will never have a trim tight body.

It's amazing how human skin will stretch and stretch to allow a person to just keep stuffing their face! Definite design flaw, the manufacturer should have had a ten or twenty pound MAXIMUM stretchability and when that was met you skin would not allow anymore to be eaten!

Knowing what it took to lose 155# and now seeing and feeling my belly fat/flab/loose skin is a reminder of what I did to myself. It's not a Barrier because I keep telling myself that my inside health is so much more important than how I look. When I get to "ideal" weight I will be satisfied.

Psychological barriers are few but the old adage "If it feels good, do it!" Still plays in my head occasionally when I want a unhealthy snack.
(Boomer here, child of the Sixties!)

RedSassyPants

Sorry @Jimb376mfp! Didn't mean to rip you off

88olds

I look at my physical issues, left shoulder, feet, upper back as limitations. I suppose I could insist I have to run marathons if I'm going to exercise and then use my feet as an excuse to do nothing.

The barrier I keep fighting is the barrier of the new. I'm going to look foolish, do it wrong, etc. I'm 66. I find this difficult, but I keep pushing.

So tomorrow I'm playing pickleball and going to the gym. The only real barriers to stop me from doing both of these things would be, well, barriers. A flood at the pickleball courts, a fire at the gym. The things you refer to as barriers are just bad ideas. I can't- It won't work- I'm not doing it good enough.

I push back against this stuff with a couple of positive affirmations I've picked up-

Something is better than nothing.

Perfection is the enemy of the good.

And a sort of counter intuitive idea- I don't have to do more today than I did yesterday. A lot of people run their new exercise programs into the ground by telling themselves the always have to work harder and harder. Something is better than nothing.

gadgetgirlIL

@RedSassyPants - when I was turning 50, I was back in the obese BMI and my knee hurt all the time. I felt like I was turning 80. Now approaching 56, I'm at a normal weight and much more active. Knees feel good most of the time. Today has been a rough day with my back, though. Lingering issue from a crash on my bike last September. Certainly was a barrier to normal activity today much less a formal workout.

My point, though, is 99% of the time I don't feel my age and my workouts will allow me to keep my physical independence much longer than my sedentary peers.

My love of sweets is a barrier to getting back to my personal goal weight. I can certainly out eat my legs!

Rachel0778

My barrier is emotional eating too. I eat when I'm lonely, sad, tired, etc. My rational brain takes a back seat and my emotional brain takes over and tells me to numb my feelings with food. It's a self soothing mechanism I've never fully been able to kick.

I also fall into the "if everyone else is eating it, I will too" trap. Example A: Friday night I already had dinner but I went over to a friends house and ended up having pizza and cake because everyone else was too. No one was pressuring me to, yet I still did it because everyone else was. Same goes for alcoholic beveridges. I've gotten better at this one but it still happens.

Al_Howard

Hedonistic eating and drinking are my downfall. I enjoy good beer, nachos, nuts, etc. and often (too often) enjoy them on the weekends. Working on cutting down, not out, this.

minimyzeme

Hmmm, great question @RedSassyPants !

Pre-WW, my barrier was I 'thought about losing weight' but never really considered or made a plan for doing it. My barrier was me and my procrastination. I finally overcame that and appreciated the structure WW provided for me to move beyond some amorphous concept to an actual, implementable plan.

I have a barrier with old memories. I remember attempting to run as a teen. We lived on a hill and since I wasn't of driving age, often my first runs were uphill. I still remember feeling defeated barely getting out the driveway. Of course, I could go the other way, starting on the downhill. I often did but what I remember most is the defeat I felt on the uphill portion. I guess old memories can be replaced by new ones but I haven't made those yet.

Oddly enough, even though I'm generally pretty good with time management, another barrier is making time for exercise in my day. This isn't the case all the time; there are several days when I get a good amount. However, it's common for me not to set time aside specifically for that purpose.

GavinFlynn1

I have a number of barriers.

First, I have the "I can't do it" barrier. Despite all my personal success in many areas of my life, I have a subconscious voice that is convinced that I cannot do anything that is difficult, especially over the long haul.

Second, I am there with Al on the hedonistic eating barrier. When I dying out, I almost never make healthy choices. At least I have not been doing that lately. (Refer back to barrier number one)

I feel like I have been making some consistent success with both of those lately. I derailed a little bit recently, but have gotten back on track and I'm tracking what I eat, making better choices, and keeping active.

spospo1

Second Al Howard but without the 'Headonistic" reason. My reason seems to be work related. Crazy hours seems to mean eating poorly or something good happens means stop for a beer & burger, haven't seen a friend for a while means....ETC. I manage it sometimes and sometimes I am unable. I'm planning to retire in about 6 months & I will get better control of things. I will get a less demanding or part time job however for the moment it is MTBC....

susan092907

My biggest barrier is denying facts. As in - overeating won't cause me to gain weight or not lose weight.

podkey

I think in the past that my biggest barrier was letting it slip away. I sorta had a barrier that I thought my body had a heavy weight that it liked as a "set point" (remember the ole "set point" theory).
I do have some some barriers in the gym as there are some activities I choose not to do. True.
Overall with WW I had a brain transplant and maybe in part by staying active with all you peeps too. I haven't had any big barriers to weight loss or maintenance and have stayed more or less within bounds. I am not "cured" but heck who is. I am mindful about it and that helps me.

I did not enjoy early morning runs so I stopped doing them. I did find riding my bike to work strangely was OK so I did that. I have figured out how to make it work for ME ME ME and that is all the difference. I don't do as much core stuff as I "should" but I don't "should" on myself so much. I do get core work pulling up on my handlebars biking and also some in yoga too.

I was so glad when I went past my "set point" without thinking about it so much. Surprised after the fact but glad just the same.

My dad was big on the the [insert your surname here] "Smiths don't say 'can't' " when we kids use to express doubts about doing something we hadn't done before. Doesn't mean you necessarily will accomplish everything but you don't start out saying "I can't".

My barrier was more just lost interest or too restrictive diet scheme. Glad I found you guys and WW.

podkey

PS Jim I was 62 when I started this journey.

Jimb376mfp

podkey wrote: »

PS Jim I was 62 when I started this journey.

We can truly say:
We're not getting older, we're getting BETTER!

MurpleCat

All the things I thought were barriers have melted away. It certainly took effort on my part, I'm not saying it was easy. But all the mental barriers -- all the things my lizard brain was whispering to me -- have been dealt with. Some took therapy, some just took time & age to accept. Right, its not fair, but that's reality.

Making time for exercise isn't my favorite thing, but the sports I play require a court (and thus a reservation), so its pre-arranged. That takes away the mental barrier of "I don't wanna!"

On the eating side... well there are obstacles but they're not really barriers. Really, they have more of the whiff of excuses. Some very honest self-talk takes care of those pretty quickly these days.

"Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours."

misterhub

I am an emotional eater. I have worked hard at substituting something physical instead.

imastar2

1. I love food. I love the way it taste and yes that's a barrier but I had to get past and currently change my way of thinking.
2. Thinking about food, This is one that has been consistently a plaque for me but I am working on getting that changed as well.
3. My moods sometimes have been a mess. I really don't think I'm an emotional or stress eater but I am sure my moods probably effect the appetite.
4. In the beginning I didn't realize it but sleep was a major barrier and I had to have a sleep study and get on a bi-pap machine before I realized this was a huge barrier.
5. Finally eating the right things and eating the correct or allowable portions has been a huge barrier. Breaking through the portion barrier still today is a work in progress.
6. So overall I have and am currently working on these barrier's everyday one at a time concentrating as much as possible.