How Did You Overcome Your Biggest Challenge?

ariana1990

I am just beginning my weight loss and lifestyle change experience. I see so many successful folks on here that dedicated months and years to achieving their goals. I'm really curious to know:

A) What was your biggest challenge, bump in the road, disappointment, etc. in your journey?

AND

When you were standing at your personal fork in the road, what kept you going? How did you overcome?

I LOVE pictures of weight loss success, but I also really appreciate success in the mental realm of things. I am not only trying to change my weight and eating habits, but also my mentality about work and life. Please share!!!

Bobby__Clerici

My biggest challenge was after losing the first 30 lbs just exercising with no concerns for nutrition and food intake. All was well, and I just knew getting fit would be a cinch.
My weekly weight loss was 8 lbs week one, 5 lbs weeks two, three and four and then 2 lbs week 6.
AND THEN
All progress halted, and I had to join MFP and start the process all over addressing food intake as well as exercise.
Suddenly, things got tough.
I lost an average of ,75 lbs per week over the next 2 years, slowly creeping toward my goal of 199lbs...
Having to restrict food was the most challenging aspect, and I was starving myself eating 4000 calories per day...poor baby...:sad:
That first 3 months was hell, but I got through it and reached my weight goal and am now working on higher fitness achievements.

I look back on that now and laugh.

newcs

My biggest challenge has been and still is underestimating myself. I'm so timid when it comes to diet and fitness and think I'm not capable of certain things. But I took it a day at a time, made small goals that I felt I could achieve and those have snowballed into great progress.

Some things I always said "I'm just not built for that" that I can do now:

Pushups - I can do 8 consecutive real pushups on a good day (6 on a not so good day)
Part of a pullup - still working toward my first pull up but at first I could barely even hang on the bar. Now I can pull myself a third of the way up.
Run - I could run for about 15 seconds and then would be out of breath, nauseous and my legs would ache. I ran 3.11 miles on the treadmill today, sometimes going 7.5mph (I started out walking at 4mph in October). Bonus: I can now run without my thighs rubbing together like sticks trying to start a campfire.
Have a flat tummy - never ever ever thought this was possible but I got my eating habits in check and got my butt to the gym and now about 90% of the time, my tummy is pretty awesome looking
Ab defition - I still want a 4 pack...but I'm happy with the 2 pack and the outline I've got.
Say no to baked goods - I can't do this all the time but I can most of the time

It's been almost 2 years since I decided to eat healthier. Since then I've learned to keep my calories in check, exercise regularly and be a lot more confident in my abilities. I still doubt myself sometimes but I set high goals and make them happen.

3foldchord

My biggest challenges are chronic migraines and a latent virus. There really is no "overcoming" them, but I am learning to succeed despite them. It is a long slow road some days, but as long as I don't let it defeat me, I guess that is as close as I get to overcoming.
Eating the right foods in the right amount is important to my fitness journey. Some people are healthy enough to just have "Calories in -Calories Out" approach. I have to watch my macros, vitamins, etc.

slboling

My first challenge was portion control. Smaller plates, actually measuring a cup, and literally telling myself to eat slower and only 1 plate. No refills. Drink more water.

Recently I have had to overcome falling off the wagon and regaining. This was personal. I had to remind myself why I started this journey and I have to be able to visualize my goal daily. Good luck.

RobinvdM

Lame but true...
My first weighin scale was an older scale that had been accumulating cobwebs for a LONG time. When I started this adventure last year I had been using it for weighins (long before I knew about consistent weighin times) but it was giving me different read outs every time I stepped on it. So we figured it was broken and ordered a newer, cooler one that had all kinds of bells and whistles right around week 3 of my trek.

I knew the scale would have a different number readout, and thought I was prepared for it. However, when it came in I instantly hopped on and the number was about 5lbs heavier than expected. My head exploded. I know, ONLY 5 lbs get a grip, but I felt I had been working so much harder than that. It was pretty devastating for me at THAT point in time.

Im an emotional food addict. I was so upset I wanted to eat chocolate cake until my head exploded. Instead, I made a promise to myself that if I went for a walk FIRST and still wanted the cake when I got back then have at it. So out for a walk I went. Got halfway on my walk, found the ONLY patch of ice around - slipped and fell. Hard.

I really felt like this was life saying GIVE UP. SO I sat there, frustrated, humiliated, hurt. Said, "Self..we can either give up and go home right now, have that cake... or we can finish this stupid walk, go home and have that cake - the only catch is we have to go back UP that icy hill." So, I continued my walk without much more incident. Got home. Realised I didn't need the cake, the walk despite the fall- actually helped.

I have had a few moments since then, some much more serious than this but this one was THE critical fork in my road. A year later here I still am, going strong- obstacles are just speed bumps that I like to drive really fast over :P