The Hard Parts

saltysparkle

So, friends, what do you find challenging about your fitness or weight-loss journeys? Got any sticking-points? Weaknesses? Frustrations? Practical, psychological, what-have-you. What makes this hard?

Skyler103

I think just like most people, patience is the hardest part for me. I want to do slow, steady loss because I want to eat more. I still want to see fast results, though.

TwistedSassette

I think the hardest part for me is giving up old habits. And one of those more difficult ones is that I've learned I should not eat food directly from the package, or I just end up eating the lot of it. I learned this lesson again last night when I ate far too many chocolate-coated peanuts, but if I'd just put a serve in a container I could have stopped myself from eating the lot! Some habits I have changed, this one I'm still working on.

saltysparkle

Where I trip up most often is not prepping enough food ahead of time for dinners. If I don't have something I've made ahead, many days I'm just too exhausted by dinnertime to make anything at all, much less good choices! I'm very consistent about eating healthy breakfasts, and I'm pretty consistent with lunch, too. Dinners are my bugaboo.

Skyler103

I always try to keep something around that's easy for dinner. I'm not sure how many calories you normally have for dinner, but it might be easier for me since I save a lot of calories for dinner.

Have you ever made pizza out of pita bread? That's pretty easy. I use pita bread as the crust, classico pizza sauce, 1.5 servings of mozzarella cheese, Canadian bacon, onion, and mushrooms. Works out to a little over 400 cals. The pita bread they sell at my Kroger is 160 cals. It works better to bake the pita bread for a bit first before putting on the toppings. Keeps it from getting soggy from the sauce.

Skyler103

Oh, and if you want to eat more calories a nice side salad goes well with it!

goal06082021

I'm a 5'2" lady who married a 6'0" man. Throughout our relationship it's been a challenge to remember that his calorie requirements are different from mine. I love good food and good beer, and it's taken me almost ten years to accept that I Simply Cannot eat/drink as much as he can and still expect to reach my goals. I had this problem all throughout college; besides not wanting to Other myself or draw more attention to being The Chick when hanging out with my largely-male friend group by ordering, like, a salad and water when everyone else is getting burgers...I wanted the burger, too, I didn't want no ding-dang salad!

TwistedSassette

@goal06082021 Ohhhh yep I am with you on that! I am 5'3" and hubby is 6'4". He's normal weight (though T2 diabetic) and I am...not that. I have been working on my portion control for a while now and finally realising that I don't NEED to eat as much as he does! I have definite FOMO though, I cannot endure eating a salad when he is having a burger - but I can eat just part of the burger and be happy with that.

saltysparkle

Aaaaah! @goal06082021 and @TwistedSassette, I feel you.

I am 5'1" and my husband is 6'6". Here I am busting my *kitten* to try to lose weight/not have cancer come back, and there he is...just...doing what he has always done. And I am constantly teetering on the edge of gaining, and he never seems to gain anything.

My breakfast: One carefully measured smoothie with healthy ingredients and one cup of coffee with minimal healthy sweetener added and oat milk. Approx 360 calories. Every day.
His breakfast: A cup of coffee with TWO+ TABLESPOONS of sugar, and whatever he wants like a bagel and cream cheese or eggs and toast, or pancakes. And then he has more coffee with more sugar...
My lunch: 1/2 Cup or less of a whole grain something and lots of vegetables and maybe some fruit for dessert, and water -- under 400 cal
His lunch: McDonalds, or...McDonalds, or...occasionally Subway, and their junky lemonade or soda or sweet tea
My dinner: Something under 400 calories. Usually with whole grains, vegetables, etc. Even if I "fail" and have a frozen meal, usually under 500 cal. With water.
His dinner: Five Guys burger plus two hot dogs and friends and likely soda or a milkshake or both. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this is never, ever, ever under 1200 cal. (Taylor Swift voice: Like, ever.)

And I'm doing a long walk every morning, 40 minutes of PT multiple times a week, yoga several times a week, and trying hard to get other workouts in.

And he's...walking the dog for max 20 minutes per night. And doing the occasional hike on weekends.

On good days, I'm over here, like, "That's okay, I'm just doing what I gotta do. It's okay." On bad days, I'm like, "Okay, clearly I was MEANT TO BE fat in my middle age, and get cancer again and maybe that's just how my life is supposed to be?"

TwistedSassette

@saltysparkle Ooooh yep it's hard to watch isn't it?!! I take comfort in the fact that I KNOW I am doing good things for my health (even if the scale doesn't show it at that point), meanwhile he is causing untold damage inside. One day it will probably catch up with them, but meanwhile I just try to encourage him to eat more like me! Like I said, my hubby is type 2 diabetic despite having always been a healthy weight - his mother is also diabetic so there is some heredity at play but I daresay his extremely poor diet and lack of regular exercise has been a bigger factor. He is now forced to learn some healthier habits!