This lifestyle change is murdering me mentally

Soccermavrick

Ok, 9 lbs in 7 days - one word - AWESOME!!! But I will tell you that the numbers are in the extreme category, meaning MOST people lose only 1 or 2 lbs a week. This is a marathon, called life, not a sprint, so pat yourself on the back and be happy.

Now many people who take this serious stress for the first few weeks, we are learning that we are making hundreds of decisions about what we put in our bodies everyday. There is nothing wrong with you, but one trick I learned is try to sit down and plan out every meal and snack, for everyday for the next week. That way you have an idea ahead of time what works and what does not. Not that you have to follow the plan everyday exactly, it might help you to relax, already having an idea ahead of time what you intake ahead of time. Plus after a few weeks you will start to know about where this meal or that is going to range. I will also say, while you should not starve yourself, most people in America over eat, because we get used to large portions, so most people on a strict diets at first are hungry between meals for a week or two.

But overall it sounds like you are doing a great job!! Keep up the good work, and hopefully it gets easier.

DawnieB1977

Also, talk to your doc about the sodium stuff--perhaps you just need some good, go-to meals that aren't high in sodium so you don't have to think about it so much.

Good advice. In the USA, this is difficult because a lot of our pre-packaged foods, restaurant fare, and convenience foods are loaded with sodium.

I find myself checking the sodium in my American friends' food diaries now! I'm shocked at it. I manage low sodium all the time, without trying. Yay England lol. I find the thing I eat with the most sodium is ham. I expect if I went somewhere like Subway it would be high sodium. So it's best to avoid convenience, junk and food in a tin/jar!

tony56pr

Got to say, I understand, I started off at 295 pounds, 57" waist, god knows bf %, and at the least borderline high blood pressure (135/85 at best, lots of times was 150/90 ish) and pulse was running 90+ all the time. That was August 15th 2013, now, at 162.8 pounds, 33" waist (2 feet smaller LOL) blood pressure of 110/65 at high end of resting and resting pulse of 48 I've made great progress. It was a struggle and like you I obsessed about everything. Honestly, this taught me to PAY attention to what I eat. See the problem was I didn't before and that is why I got so big. Eating huge plates of pasta, potatoes, bread, etc. which was loaded with calories (along with cake/junk/pop) is why I got as fat as I did.

Daily weigh ins, worrying about EVERTHING I put into my body, how many carbs, fat, protein, salt, etc. all the time. Take my eye off of one and it would be high for that day. At some point, I just ate the best I could, tried to get my protein and fat along with carbs, tried to keep salt within reason, tried to avoid processed foods as much as I could (no easy meals everyday, salt is really high in them along with other things), but biggest thing is that it isn't one meal or even one day, it is the pattern over time. Relax, do the best you can, but don't let yourself over think it (you got to think, but don't worry about every little thing ALL the time)... Like it has already been said, you didn't get where you are over night, so stop expecting to get out of it over night.

Exercise is great, however, you don't need it to lose weight, and if you lose weight it will be easier for you to walk/ride bike/do whatever. Anything is better than nothing, do what you can, don't worry about what you can't. Diet is almost everything, get that right and weight will come off. Do you need to worry about it right now, IMHO no. So remove that from your stress list. Get your diet in check, lose some weight and you will be well on your way to being healthier. Later after you accomplish some weight loss you will find it easier to do workouts (whatever you can do, there is all kinds, upper body only sitting in a chair, lung capacity can be increased, even with a damaged lung--guess certain diseases could make this false, in this regard do what Dr tells you to be sure)

Lilly_the_Hillbilly

This will feel like obsessing at first because it's new and you are not used to watching everything. It's gonna suck at first... but eventually you will get used to it. You will get better at sorting out your food and planning. Then it will be much easier. You just have to get through that initially sucky learning part. Or at least this is how it was for me.
Keep going .. you're doing great.. and if it feel overwhelming... seek professional advice (as in a dietician or a nutritionist). Or talk with your doctor. They might help you get through the difficult times.