What Has Been Your Biggest Issue Losing Weight?

For me the problem isn't weight loss, I have that on lock and have never had issue with it when I set my mind to it...no, the problem is keeping the weight off after my mind decides to wander off to some other issue in my life. So my biggest issue with losing weight is maintenance.

This is me. But not this time. This time I'm keeping it off.

Trying to figure out how many calories I'm actually supposed to be eating for "healthy" weight loss.

I finally just decided to eat at my BMR # and then eat (if I want) any calories I burn during exercise rather than try to figure my activity level.

I kept my weight pretty even, but have always had to fight so hard! I haven't been eating enough, but killing myself to loose weight. My whole life has been resisting food. I gained 65lbs being on bed rest with my daughter and gained a bit after she was born. I thought if I just didn't eat I would go back to my slightly overweight self. NOPE! I gained a few more pounds. I started going to the gym busting my butt and didn't loose a pound. I was finally ready to listen and heard the truth. I have to eat! To me 1200 calories is so, so much and I am on day 7 and most days I am pretty close or on the button. However, I go to the gym at least 4 days a week and burn 400-600 calories a workout. So I am now told I need to be eating even more. By the way I am not loosing weight. Food is my issue! Food!!!

Finding the correct numbers. I think that my metabolism must be slow or something...when I use the numbers from MFP or from any TDEE calculator, I don't lose weight. I use a food scale, I use a heart rate monitor to record cardio, I know I'm logging accurately, and I keep lowering my goal, but I have yet to hit the magic number for consistent results.

I just purchased a Bodymedia Fit Link to hopefully fix this.

You and me both....except I've gone FROM the the BodyMedia Fit Link to a Jawbone Up24, in the last couple of weeks. So far the Jawbone is telling me I'm NOT as active as my armband said I was. I wore the armband pretty much 24/7 for the last 2.5 years...

emtjmac:

Being OK with not eating until I am in pain.

^This. To do that I had to learn to accept my emotions and not try to fight them off or stuff them down. Also, finally caring enough about myself (and in a future) to take care of the body I live in.

and what Velum_cado said:

I didn't care enough about myself. I had always been fat, I had it in my mind that I would always be fat. Really low self-esteem. Bullied relentlessly. I literally just accepted, by the age of 21, that I would die young. At my heaviest of 400 lbs, I was still getting around and doing things for myself - I never saw myself as becoming bed-bound or anything like that, because I assumed I'd die long before I ever got that big. I just didn't see myself as worth fighting for.

dpearson2012:

For me the hardest part has been the emotional side of extreme weight loss, figuring out who you are now that the old you is gone. It's like I am meeting this person I am for the first time..

^This is a scary scary thought for me but luckily I'm also determined to take the chance.

Probably cravings. There are so many things (fast food and restaurant items of course pfft lol) that I used to eat sooo much that just do not fit anymore. I'm talking food that is like 1,500-2,000+ calories and as much as I crave that food, it just never fits into my day. The only solution I've thought of is splitting it with someone. I've been craving this lasagna I used to eat from this Italian restaurant around here and it's over 1,000 calories and the sodium in it is more than my sodium intake is supposed to be for an entire day!

Fighting the urge to rocket a General Tso's chicken dinner combo, an order of crab rangoon, a spring roll, half a cup of duck sauce and a liter of coke into my stomach at the first pang of hunger has definitely hampered my weight loss over the years.

My struggle has been discouragement. I get personal trainers. I work really hard and eat right for a couple of months and see no change besides that little water weight that comes off in the beginning. Then I think "what the hell, why work so hard and see no change? Screw this, I am not torturing myself for NOTHING".
Later, I realized that it had to do with stress. Lots of personal stressors, one right after another, in my life and my choice in handling was not eating. My calorie intake was low because I wasn't eating. That was something I could control. When I did eat, I ate healthy. I still struggle with that today.

What a great thread!

My biggest issue is shame. Shame about my weight, which doesn't inspire me to lose but actually convinces me it's impossible to be anything but obese. Shame about the kinds of foods I like, which makes me want to hide when I eat. Shame over overeating, describing my eating as "shoveling" food, "hoovering" it or eating "the world" which is dehumanizing and catastrophic thinking. Shame when I stop losing, or heaven forfend, gain a bit, because now that I've lost so much I don't want to lose face.

The only effective counter I've found is taking a scientific, observational, mindful approach. If I'm overeating, like a scientist I can investigate the root causes. If my weight fluctuates, I can observe what might trigger it and decide if it's something normal or a concern. Separating emotional responses from physiological by using mindfulness to discern the difference and accepting emotions without either fighting them or diving into them, always keeping a part of myself separate from how I feel in the moment. And as for body shame, I try to have a lot more going on than just trying to lose weight, other ways to be proud of my body that aren't tied to a scale or BMI chart, whether it's fitness, trying new strategies to cope with fibro and pcos, getting a new hairstyle or fly outfit etc. Finally, keep myself mentally and spiritually engaged.

Prior to really reading posts on MFP and doing things the MFP way, I'd have to say it was thinking weight loss meant any or all of the following:

1200 calories
Chicken breasts and veggies all the time
No treats, no sugar. If you're serious about your health, why eat this stuff?!
Possible intermittent fasting
Possible appetite suppressants, because who the hell eats that little?

I did have internal conversations with myself to the tune of, if this is what it takes to be thin, I'd probably just rather be fat

Now that I realize I couldn't be more wrong about what it takes to lose weight, my issue now would be that food tastes damn good and towards the middle or end of the week I'm still negotiating with myself on how to balance the numbers. I'm losing my steady 1/2 lb per week but it continues to be hard work, man... Nothing's just "falling" off of me here. I have to whack it down and stomp its head with the biggest stick on a consistent basis

THIS!!!!!:flowerforyou: