I don't mean to beat this issue to death, but ...

For me, it was a combination of laziness, excuses, and not having the tools and the knowledge to do it. I'm not saying losing weight and getting fit is easy... but it's not as difficult or as complicated as I used to think. Maybe if I had known that, I would have gotten on the right track a long time ago. Or maybe not. Sometimes the hardest part of making a change is flipping that mental switch.

I'm not saying losing weight and getting fit is easy... but it's not as difficult or as complicated as I used to think. Maybe if I had known that, I would have gotten on the right track a long time ago.

I definitely think this is true for me. My mom has been a yo-yo dieter as long as I've been a part of her life. She's a lifelong Atkins believer--as few carbs as possible, meat and vegetables all the time. My aunt does crazy things to lose weight like only eating lettuce and yogurt for months or, (waaay worse), messing around with her thyroid medication to increase her metabolism. That ended up with her in the hospital and on intense medication for the rest of her life.

I guess I always thought it had to be super painful and hard and you had to give up all the things you loved about food to make it work. Sooo glad to find out that's not the case.

Laziness, feelings of being powerless, being overwhelmed with how far you might have to go, being comfortable in your situation, lack of eduction, being parlyzed by indecision, not feeling like you deserve to change/feeling like you're not worth it, not knowing any different...

I think there are a lot of reasons why people fail to act or put off making their health a priority, it doesn't just come down to pure laziness although I think that plays a major part for most people

I am wondering if anyone has had the experience of recognizing a specific thought that is preventing them from gaining weight, and then dealing with that specific thought through a lot of hard work, and once that thought is eliminated, and then been able to release weight easily?

If limiting thoughts can be said to be excuses, why do people have so many excuses for losing weight? I know it is hard work, but is that really all it is? Is it just laziness and a desire for instant gratification that keeps so many people trapped? I just don't know.

I'm not a fan of magical thinking, that a thought or an idea is controlling my body. So I'm not going to agree that overcoming an idea will magically allow my body to "release" weight, "easily." But sure, a negative idea can be very sticky in the mind, and lead to a frame of mind that's defeatist, and that influences motivation which influences behavior. It's the behavior that matters ultimately, yes?

The most helpful frame of mind, for me, for ANYTHING challenging but achievable, is to see examples of other people in situations similar to mine who have achieved the same goal I want to achieve, and for me to remind myself "well, if those other people can do it, there's no reason I can't too." It's how I learned to speak (and read and write) Chinese!

Bear in mind, it doesn't make achieving any challenging goal "easy," but it makes keeping motivation up and controlling my own behavior better. You still have to work at it, and it still takes some sacrifice or another: time, flexibility, pleasure, whatever. You have to believe the sacrifice is worth it, and you can't think of yourself as somehow less able than other people, unendowed with some gift or another that's the self-defeating thought. That combination, not "laziness," is how excuses are born in my opinion. "I have X handicap compared to other people who have achieved this goal" suggests to you that your sacrifice would be greater (harder work, more time, more pain) and unendurable.

I wish I could say there was a guaranteed way to inoculate ourselves from that, and that I know I won't succumb to it myself. Generally when I find myself feeling hopeless about long-term achievements, I will focus on short-term goals for a while. "Just keep at it one more week, and see how you feel then" is just as powerful a motivating thought as "I'll start eating healthy next week" is a de-motivating one.

A combination of circumstances and the depression that resulted kept me thinking that I didn't deserve to look or feel good. Several years of "12 step therapy" helped change that. Quit smoking (well, switched to e-cig), started eating mostly clean... felt so good I felt like exercising. Now I feel so good I don't want to stop.

There is no such thing as a "neutral" thought. All thoughts are either negative (TOXIC) or positive (UPLIFTING). I really can't remember all my thoughts that I had to conquer to make this change in my life but here is an example of some of them:

"I am eating for two"

"I just had a baby"

"I'm already fat! I might as well enjoy this (insert some disgusting fast food way in huge proportions)"

"My whole family is overweight, its genetics"

" no time to exercise"

etc....

The funny thing is, once I learned to take control of my thought patterns and my life in general, I learned a lot of problem solving skills and creative thinking that had not been in use!! I learned to take ANY obstacle, defeat it first in my thoughts (visualization of completed task) and this would merge into actual physical manifestation within my life.

Sociology has the "looking glass theory" and many other theories that can put the power of the mind into perspective.

I like the king james philosophy myself... " as a man thinketh, so is he"

Enjoy the journey to becoming who you were created to be!

For me, I simply didn't realize the calories that were going into my body daily.

Using MFP provided that knowledge and from that point losing weight was easy.