Things that are holding me back from loosing weight and what to do?
All_Exits_Lead_Within
Posts: 47 Member
First off, my 5'5 frame has been stuck between 225 and 230 pounds for a long time. I have plantar fasciitis and I'm always tired. I love baking for people and keep eating the treats I bake. I love potato chips and have to fight hard not to buy them when I'm at the supermarket (I'm seriously trying to break an addiction of eating a big bag every second day). I am extremely insecure about going to the gym that I joined, so I don't go. Basically, I am most people who are struggling to lose a lot of weight. Keeping organised is another huge problem that gets in the way of me doing what needs to be done.
Any advice, motivation or tips from people who are currently succeeding or have succeeded is truly welcomed.
*edit*
If you'd like to add me, that's cool.
Any advice, motivation or tips from people who are currently succeeding or have succeeded is truly welcomed.
*edit*
If you'd like to add me, that's cool.
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Replies
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Can you make some healthier options for other people? It seems likely that many of the people you bake for don't need high calorie treats any more than you do. But there are so many delicious possibilities.
You can work out at home. I'm not a gym person, so I rely heavily on YouTube videos and a home weight bench. If you don't have a weight bench you can start out with bottles of water. When you feel more confident in your own skin, you may find yourself wanting to go to the gym.8 -
You are holding yourself back. It starts with the food. Stop baking treats and buying chips. The biggest problem is not not going to the gym it is making excuses for staying fat.35
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Stop making excuses. Start logging your food as accurately as possible. That's all there really is to it. No gym needed.20
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I love baking.....so I get that. But, baking treats is a once in awhile thing now. Party, holiday potluck, etc. I'm more inclined to bake if I can drop it off.....and not eat any of it. My nephew is a teenager, so he can eat, and eat (right now).
Potato chips - cold turkey for awhile. Then buy ONLY a six pack of lunch size bags. If the single serve packs don't work for chips, try a different salty snack. I love 100 calorie microwave popcorn bags.
I like doing Leslie Sansone Walk At Home videos. These are on YouTube and DVD
https://www.youtube.com/user/walkathomemedia13 -
I do make some excuses, I won't deny that, but I believe there is more to it than just making excuses; some bad habits are hard to break. And I do log my food, I actually just made my food diary viewable to friends to keep myself honest.
I know Teabea - baking is such fun. I think part of the problem with baking is that people are always complimenting me on it and asking me to bake them stuff and since I enjoy it, I agree.
Perhaps my only real issue that I struggle with is no motivation because I am ALWAYS tired.
**to those that lost weight** Were you tired when you began and did you get less tired as you lost weight?1 -
OK, I get it. You have excuses. So do we all. If you're always tired, it could be because (1) you're not drinking enough water, (2) you're eating too many calories, and (3) you're not moving around enough. Pick one of those and change what you're doing. Then come back and tackle the other two.
Hard to stay organized? Do you have a calendar? Get one. Pick an activity and put it on your calendar as an appointment with yourself. Example: Monday evening at 7:00 p.m., take a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. Do not skip this appointment for anything. If someone wants your attention, invite them to go along with you. And how about this one: Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m., drive to the gym and walk in like you deserve to be there. Because you do. You paid for it. It's easy to be self-conscious because we're big girls, but you'll find there are a lot of us in the gym. Walk up to that front desk and ask them to have a trainer meet with you to show you the equipment. They are there to help you. Guess what? Nobody is looking at you and thinking you're ugly. That's all on you. And if you need motivation, put shiny gold stars on the calendar for every time you actually take action and finish something. I am not kidding, I used to do this.
I love to bake. I make pies and GIVE THEM AWAY. They look bad as gifts if there's a piece missing. There's no rule that says if you make something you're required to eat it. It's fun, it's like creating floral arrangements but you'd never eat one of those, right? Pies and cakes can be the art you make instead of your diet downfall. If you make cookies and eat the batch, stop making cookies. Find another hobby.
I'm sorry to hear about the plantar's fasciitis. If that's what is keeping you from walking and going to the gym, know this: you don't have to exercise to lose weight. Just plug in your goals to MFP, and start counting your daily calories. Buy a food scale, measure out portions by the cup. If you want this badly enough, you will be successful.
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Here's the scoop. If nothing changes you will get the same result. Try changing one thing and keeping with it.
I highly recommend Habit by Duhigg. Read that and see if you get any insights.13 -
DebLaBounty wrote: »OK, I get it. You have excuses. So do we all. If you're always tired, it could be because (1) you're not drinking enough water, (2) you're eating too many calories, and (3) you're not moving around enough. Pick one of those and change what you're doing. Then come back and tackle the other two.
Hard to stay organized? Do you have a calendar? Get one. Pick an activity and put it on your calendar as an appointment with yourself. Example: Monday evening at 7:00 p.m., take a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. Do not skip this appointment for anything. If someone wants your attention, invite them to go along with you. And how about this one: Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m., drive to the gym and walk in like you deserve to be there. Because you do. You paid for it. It's easy to be self-conscious because we're big girls, but you'll find there are a lot of us in the gym. Walk up to that front desk and ask them to have a trainer meet with you to show you the equipment. They are there to help you. Guess what? Nobody is looking at you and thinking you're ugly. That's all on you. And if you need motivation, put shiny gold stars on the calendar for every time you actually take action and finish something. I am not kidding, I used to do this.
I love to bake. I make pies and GIVE THEM AWAY. They look bad as gifts if there's a piece missing. There's no rule that says if you make something you're required to eat it. It's fun, it's like creating floral arrangements but you'd never eat one of those, right? Pies and cakes can be the art you make instead of your diet downfall. If you make cookies and eat the batch, stop making cookies. Find another hobby.
I'm sorry to hear about the plantar's fasciitis. If that's what is keeping you from walking and going to the gym, know this: you don't have to exercise to lose weight. Just plug in your goals to MFP, and start counting your daily calories. Buy a food scale, measure out portions by the cup. If you want this badly enough, you will be successful."
I appreciate the sincerity you put into writing this -honest and kind. Thank you!7 -
Yes, sometimes I feel exhausted. Sixty pounds down and still going, and I still get exhausted sometimes.
Eating more protein and fat helps, for me anyway, as does making sure to get enough sleep. The main thing though is that Nike has it right: JUST DO IT. Ninety percent of the time when I feel like crying and begging not to work out, I actually feel better physically afterwards than before. If you do it, then it will be done. Yay!5 -
Start experimenting with baking low cal desserts.
Go to the gym- nobody cares what you look like or what you're doing. We're too busy with ourselves.
Weight loss will almost entirely eliminate your PF- I'm proof of it!
Don't buy anymore potato chips. Seriously.
Start changing one small thing every month. Don't fall into black or white thought patterns; Bad days happen. Just don't let them turn into bad weeks.
Go read all the stickies. All of them. Really.
Good luck
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If it helps, I find exercising gives me more energy. Even if I am tired when I start, by the end of 30 min I feel rejuvenated. You can do it!3
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[quote="All_Exits_Lead_Within;c-40079249"
**to those that lost weight** Were you tired when you began and did you get less tired as you lost weight?[/quote]
Oh my goodness, yes! I'm a fairly young (48) SAHM & homeschool my kids, and I couldn't count on doing anything after about 2-3 in the afternoon and needed to nap almost every day. One night my hubby & the kids were talking about going to see a movie and I realized I was up to going with them (me, going out after 7 at night... crazy
) Another time, I had to go back for something in the store and *ran* to get it without thinking about it (I was in the middle of checking out) and when I got back, I wasn't even winded. Of course, there could be other things (depression, a medical issue) making you feel tired, but you have no idea the impact getting the weight off will have on your quality of life!
BTW, when I started on MFP I was also struggling with plantar fasciitis as well as joint issues. Bought a recumbent stationary bike to help me get moving and good quality shoes (Vionic & New Balance). 20-30 lbs later, it was no longer an issue. You can do this. But if you keep telling yourself you can't, you wont.6 -
For me it came down to really wanting it. I've tried countless times to lose weight only to gain it all back and then some. I'm lazy and I like to eat and even though I was unhappy it wasn't enough to get me going. In April I really looked at myself and my future and what I want and something clicked. I set myself a strict calorie goal per mfp rec and decided to eat whatever I want as long as it's within my calories. No more fad diets, no more restrictions. I remember wanting a bag of chips really bad, I bought it, ate the whole thing and logged it. It used up all my calories for the day and that was that. I was miserable and hungry for the rest of the day. It thaught me an important lesson. Yes I can eat whatever I want but eating healthier food generally goes much further in making you feel full and satisfied.
It's been almost four months now and I'm eating much healthier and I've dropped 25 pounds. For the first three months that was all I did - just stayed within my calories. Now I've added the gym and while I was self-conscious as well the loss has gone a long way to feel more confident. I wanted to make slow and sustainable changes.
So I say don't try to avoid chips and baked goods cold turkey to break the habit. As soon as you restrict something you want it even more. I have a coworker who bakes a lot and if she offers something and I have say 400 calories left for the day I decide what I want. I can have that or I can have dinner. And I've gone either way, sometimes if I'm really craving something it's worth the sacrifice.
However as I said above, I believe you have to really want it. I've been overweight most of my life, I hated it and I felt bad about myself and it wasn't enough to really make changes. You have to find something for yourself that is worth the trouble of making big changes. Nobody can do that for you, but I wish you all the best. Imagine a healthy body weight on yourself, it's absolutely worth it.13 -
Of course your going to be tired, your body is having to do work rather then laze around and get fat. I was tired the first three weeks, its because my body went from doing nothing to being active. It gets easier. It's actually more exhausting to stay heavy and be in active then it is to get fit. It seems hard, because success is all in the attitude. You have plenty of self motivation to get healthy....
1. Your heart attack risk decreases
2. Setting healthy example for family
3. You will feel and look better
4. You will gain energy
5. You will improve your health
Not being able to stay motivated is a choice, look for the positive and shoot for that everyday. I have over 50 pounds to lose....I lost 18 I'm on week 8. My first day was so hard, I was so exhausted I could barely finish ten minutes of cardio. Second day I puked after seven minutes....that is how out of shape I was. Train your mind to stay positive, don't let yourself have the option! I can now go 60mn on elliptical. If I can do it, you can!! Don't give up, recharge your attitude. You can do it!!!!5 -
Do something about your feet. Look on YouTube for stretches. Get some orthotics. There are a lot of options. Don't live with pain unnecessarily.
Going to the gym isn't necessary to lose weight. In fact, exercise is overrated as a weight loss strategy. There are many benefits to exercise though.
Quit telling yourself you love baked goods and potato chips. It's an exaggeration and not helpful.
This is just my own observation. I've lost 100 lbs and it's been gone 10 yrs. After staying stuck at about 2/3 to goal, in desperation, I joined Weight Watcher. No, I'm not recommending it. But unlike most WWers after I made Lifetime, I kept attending meetings. I've been to 400+ WW meetings. Observation- if you want to eat baked goods and lose weight, you are going to travel a difficult path.
If you want to lose weight, calculate a calorie deficit, keep a food journal, and figure out how you are going to live with it. Try to plan in advance how you will cope when discouraged.1 -
A lot of snacking is the main cause of gaining weight. It's all the cookies, crackers, chips, dips, etc that we sneak here and there and think it isn't a big deal. If you have problems going to the gym consider doing some home-based work out programs like the ones offered by Beachbody. I've had success with a few of them. And all that is needed in most cases is a set of dumbells.3
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Its all in your mind and you can control it . Bake and share it with everyone . Go to gym and dnt eat any potato chips or bake dish for 1 week. After that eat small packet once in a while ,decrease the quantity then decrease the frequency and when u loose give urself a treat .go shopping .try making new reciepes i am sure you cook and bake pretty well so everyone will love it . Eat small proportions of food .you can bake and eat after 6 months without worrying about your weight. Its never too late .dnt set a day or date and think i will do it later. No ,even if your minds says no, go to gym , walk, run do anything go against your mind. You can do it.1
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OP- you are me 2 years ago, except I have a few inches on you and suck at baking. Here's my 2 cents.....
1. Get a cortisone shot in your foot and the PF will feel 95% better
2. Cancel your gym membership (for now) and use that money for a great pair of walking shoes ( I like Hoka) and use them to get 10k steps a day. If you can, set up a thrifty home gym and get started on SL5x5
3. If you MUST bake, do something drastic like only bake vegan. This is purely for educational purposes so you start to really analyze the calorie counts and search out interesting new ingredients
5. STOP eating chips and replace them with vegetables. Start with salt or dips as needed and gradually learn to love them
That's it. You don't need motivation, you need better habits. I have lost 76# in about 2 years by making a series of tiny changes. It's possible.7 -
Try some at-home workouts
Also, eat something healthy before you bake, then brush your teeth and then pop a stick of gum in your mouth and/or drink some flavored water while you bake!2 -
buffalogal42 wrote: »If it helps, I find exercising gives me more energy. Even if I am tired when I start, by the end of 30 min I feel rejuvenated. You can do it!
This. Before I started trying to make changes, I was always tired. I was VERY sedentary. Now, I'm still tired sometimes and I have days where I just want to sit on the couch, but if I get up and make myself move a bit, I usually feel better and have more energy.
You don't need to go to the gym to lose weight. If you don't have one already, get a step tracker. (The old school Fitbit Ones are probably cheaper than the gym membership and definitely a better investment if you're not actually going to the gym.) Try to beat your step record every day. I know you have some foot issues, but you don't have to run, just MOVE. I jog in place while I'm brushing my teeth, washing dishes, watching tv, etc. It may sound silly and you may not think it accomplishes much, but every little bit helps, and getting up and moving for one minute usually gives me the energy to turn that one active minute into 10 or 20.
I also agree about cold turkey on the chips. If you can't do portion control with them, don't buy them. If you feel like you can't stop yourself from buying them, don't even walk down the chip aisle. There's not really any other special tip, at some point you just have to decide not to self-sabotage.
As for the organizing, I'm not sure what you mean. You don't need much organization to lose weight. You can make tremendous progress with only a food scale, the MFP app, and a commitment to sticking to your MFP calorie goal.2 -
Im not able to offer anything more than above, other than my PF was bad when i was around the same weight (im 5ft10). I saw a physiotherapist a couple of times, and i had stretches i had to do multiple times a day. I did the stretches religiously and it gradually eased. I havent had it return like that since, and that was almost 10 years ago.
Google 'stretches for plantar fasciitis' ... youre basically stretching your calf muscles and all up the back of your leg. Use a towel or strap and stretch it, warm it up, before you get out of bed. Ice it through the day when its sore if you can - i had a desk job so i kept a water bottle in the freezer at work and rollef it under my heel.
Everyone is different but this worked for me. Good luck!
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OP- you are me 2 years ago, except I have a few inches on you and suck at baking. Here's my 2 cents.....
1. Get a cortisone shot in your foot and the PF will feel 95% better
2. Cancel your gym membership (for now) and use that money for a great pair of walking shoes ( I like Hoka) and use them to get 10k steps a day. If you can, set up a thrifty home gym and get started on SL5x5
3. If you MUST bake, do something drastic like only bake vegan. This is purely for educational purposes so you start to really analyze the calorie counts and search out interesting new ingredients
5. STOP eating chips and replace them with vegetables. Start with salt or dips as needed and gradually learn to love them
That's it. You don't need motivation, you need better habits. I have lost 76# in about 2 years by making a series of tiny changes. It's possible.
This was really helpful. I like the idea of baking new things (I have been thinking of going vegetarian for a while because, well, I don't really like meat). I never actually thought about keeping my baking hobby while also testing new recipes - I generally don't bake things I don't know off the top of my head (which is a lot). Thank you a million and congratulations on your success!2 -
rachelsambrown8 wrote: »Try some at-home workouts
Also, eat something healthy before you bake, then brush your teeth and then pop a stick of gum in your mouth and/or drink some flavored water while you bake!
I genuinely never thought of brushing my teeth so I wouldn't eat. Great idea! Thank you. 1 -
buffalogal42 wrote: »If it helps, I find exercising gives me more energy. Even if I am tired when I start, by the end of 30 min I feel rejuvenated. You can do it!
This. Before I started trying to make changes, I was always tired. I was VERY sedentary. Now, I'm still tired sometimes and I have days where I just want to sit on the couch, but if I get up and make myself move a bit, I usually feel better and have more energy.
You don't need to go to the gym to lose weight. If you don't have one already, get a step tracker. (The old school Fitbit Ones are probably cheaper than the gym membership and definitely a better investment if you're not actually going to the gym.) Try to beat your step record every day. I know you have some foot issues, but you don't have to run, just MOVE. I jog in place while I'm brushing my teeth, washing dishes, watching tv, etc. It may sound silly and you may not think it accomplishes much, but every little bit helps, and getting up and moving for one minute usually gives me the energy to turn that one active minute into 10 or 20.
I also agree about cold turkey on the chips. If you can't do portion control with them, don't buy them. If you feel like you can't stop yourself from buying them, don't even walk down the chip aisle. There's not really any other special tip, at some point you just have to decide not to self-sabotage.
As for the organizing, I'm not sure what you mean. You don't need much organization to lose weight. You can make tremendous progress with only a food scale, the MFP app, and a commitment to sticking to your MFP calorie goal.
Yeah, I have a fitbit charge hr. I only started wearing it again recently. This is all good advice.
I mostly just mean meal planning and fitting exercise into my schedule. I'm sort of all over the place and I find it overwhelming, so when I get home I just want to do NOTHING. After reading some of these comments this afternoon though, I just got up and went to the gym. I felt good afterwards.
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If you always feel tired then maybe worth going to your GP and having a blood test done? Check for ferritin, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin D, and a thyroid panel at least. There might be an underlying reason. Don't just take vitamins before you had any test done as those can hide real deficiencies but might be too low dosed to be of any help. Thus if you're taking anything with B12 in it a blood test might hide a deficiency for at least 4 months.
Also think of what you do with your free time. Maybe cooking and baking for other people is too much for you and you really need a bit more time to do nothing at all. Is your bedroom perfect for you? Noise levels, light, uncomfy pillows? Also look at those things.3 -
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I have cognitive issues and other things that prevent me from doing much in the way of meal planning so I don't. Beyond picking up enough meat and veg for the week and even then I can fail miserably. Can meal planning help? Sure but it really is an excuse when you say you can't/struggle to do it. I just check calorie counts of what i buy mentally noting how to make it and if it will fit into my calories. Then I just log as I go.
You can do all sorts of exercising at home. I have never set foot in a gym in the two years I've been losing weight.
Don't eat the things you bake. I used to do quite a lot of baking. I'd bake it, box it, take it work and then only have a small serving. This was even before I started losing. I was well aware I couldn't just eat all I wanted and it not have consequences.
Stop buying crisps/chips. Just don't even go down the aisle.
I was on majorly sedating medication when I started and still suffer a lot with fatigue but I can still fit in a minimum of 30 minutes a few times a week to working out. But it isn't necessary to weight loss and you can figure out how to be more active once you're into the swing of things if necessary.
But mostly. You just need to commit. Good, bad or ugly, log those days you go way over, confront them, see the reality of how much you're eating and the impact that will have on your progress. Celebrate the small victories. Logged for a week without going over maintenance? (not even loss goal, just maintenance is a victory) Brilliant! Didn't go down the snack aisles? Pat on the back. Didn't eat a full serving of what you baked? Celebratory shuffle.
It's not easy, things will challenge you unexpectedly but you just need to be consistent. Don't let a few weeks or a few months even throw you off completely. Sometimes the daily logging is the only thing I seem to have control of and it's grounding.7 -
I've you dieted for almost a 2 decades gain then lose back n forth then I got serious weight related health issues n decided enough was enough n changed my lifestyle u have to want to change bad enough1
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Eating a lot of simple carbs can make you feel tired. It might be worth experimenting with cutting down added sugar as much as possible for three or four weeks and see how your energy levels are.3
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First go see a doctor. There might be a reason why you're so tired.
About baking.. I have the same problem. I KNOW that if I bake something, I'll end up eating a lot of it... so I just bake for parties or when we have friends over (some of them don't mind taking the stuff off my hands afterwards either). I have basically no interest in making something and not trying it, unfortunately, so giving it all away is just not worth my time and money.
The chips? Easier to say no at the store than when you're at home and it's there. But the bottom line is that you have to want it enough to make that choice, and nobody can do it for you.
Also nobody cares about you at the gym. I just bought a treadmill and I'm planning on cancelling my membership, personally, after 4 years (I would have saved a lot of money actually if I had done that 3 years ago, but I also have dumbbells at home). I used to be on my exercise bike a lot until I figured out that it burns a very sad amount of calories and just figured it wasn't worth my time.2
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