Helpless and Hopeless.

Start with small changes- they feel less overwhelming at the time. I weigh and measure all of my food because my eyes always wants more than my stomach needs. you can do this

DON'T GIVE UP!! I have struggled all my life with my weight, and finally have got to the point that I need to do something about it. I won't lie, it's hard. Especially when the family goes to Dairy Queen and I just have to sit there and watch. But it's about me this time, too bad if there are no chips or cookies in the house. I found that I need to have those 100 calorie snack packs around, so when I get in a mood, there's something to grab that won't totally destroy my goals for the day. And up your fruit and veggies, basically can eat all the veggies you want. as for portion control, take what you're going to eat. no seconds. I find if I dish out the meal, then immediately pack up the rest and put it away, it's alot easier to say I'm done at the end of the meal. It's work to bring it all out again. Hope that helps, good luck !!!

First - and probably most importantly - realize that if you get to be "Skinny Tonya" you will probably still have the same emotional unhappiness and unhealthy relationships you do now. Being skinny isn't the magic pill to being happy - despite what those commericals on TV tell you.

About 2 - 3 years ago, I was big - like BIG at almost 70% BF. I was unhappy, grouchy all the time, fighting with my SO constantly and so on. But then we broke up and I had all this time on my hands to devote to me. And I did - one day at a time. This isn't about a 6 month, 8 month, 2 year project . . . it's the rest of your life to make these changes and they will not happen over night. Start with small things - like reducing your soda intake. My SO and I used to eat out 4 - 6 times/week. When I start this journey we were still broken up but when we started talking again and trying to work things out I made it very, unmistakedly clear that I do not eat that crap any more. I am not saying you shouldn't - but for me, it's my weakness and I had to cut it out of my life at first in order to stay on track. Slowly but surely I can eat out now without being thrown right back into it but it took 2 years to do that.

I work out at least 4, usually 5 days/week. I feel great when I'm done and remembering how great I felt last time is my motivation to get up the next morning and go. Bottom line, you have to want to do it. Do you want to be able to run a 5K? Power lift? Whatever your goals are, set one big one (whatever it may be for you) and then work backwards to set those little goals. In my experience setting one BIG goal is good, but not having little ones along the way makes that big one seem so much further away. Like one of my big goals is 20% BF, I am not there yet but I set goals to hit 50 and then 45 and then 40 and so on. It's also important to measure NSV such as having to buy smaller pants or being able to fit into jeans you previously couldn't or whatever.

It's not an easy journey, if you'd like to add me please feel free because I know what it's like but you definitely have to be happy and love you before, during and post-weight loss because being "skinny" won't make you happy!

Good Luck!

I just hang out here and log even when I'm not feeling it.

Than sometimes I just totally snap into it.

I don't know.

You need to find another way to deal with your emotional issues outside of food. Therapy, spirituality, exercising whatever you need to try to find a way to deal with those issues. It will be an uphill battle if you dont.

i feel the same way every time i dress to leave the house and my pants don't button. I have resorted to wearing leggings that way it fits and i don't feel like hiding in the house. My kid now refer to me as fat lady, i get depressed and start the old habit again. I don't have any support just friends who ask why am i getting fat... I usually start of well and then end up at square one and i think its making me gain more weight. I have joined here yesterday and i am hopeful that i can find people who understand what i'm going through. Hopeful i can motivate someone and find motivation myself.

I agree with all the people who have made an effort to kick out the sugar it will help your overall cravings and honestly, if emotional eating is your issue you need to really sit down and consider what your triggers are and avoid them if you cannot avoid them you need to learn some healthy alternatives to eating. easier said then done I realize, have you considered yoga?

I've never felt helpless or hopeless...but I have felt overwhelmed.

Do you feel overwhelmed and that feeling has you confused about where to start or how to renew?

If that's what is happening, pick one thing. Maybe it's increase your water. Or giving up that pop. Maybe it's taking a walk every day. Just pick one thing and do it regularly, until it becomes part of your routine.

Then pick something else.

You might pick something to try and find it isn't for you. That's ok - if it's not sustainable, you're probably going to give it up eventually anyway. Pick something else. Do that instead.

One thing at a time. At the end of a month, look at the changes and feel good.

And empowered.

And in control.

And full of hope.

You can do it...if you want to.

I know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. The best way I deal with all of those feelings is by truly loving myself and appreciating everything I am as a woman. Once I began to love myself, it became a second nature to only want the best for myself which means a healthy lifestyle. Even by loving myself and being positive, I have started to go tired of toxic relationships and men and they are on the way out of my life next.

Also, I started a food journal and writing down everything I eat and how I feel when I am eating. So when my emotions get the best of me and I binge, I can later go back and see what I was feeling and what triggered the emotion. It truly helps to put a cap on it. I also found friends that I can talk to who pass no judgement... we go for walks and get spill all of our emotions. So we are getting a little exercise in and negative feelings out!

I am still a work in process but I believe that I am now fighting my own personal war with the best armor!! Good Luck! Feel free to write me if you just want to talk! I am a good listener.

emotional eating is what caused many of us to become overweight... you need to have veggie trays on hand at all times, make them yourself or buy them but have them ready to use when you are wanting to eat and know you shouldn't. Also sugar free/low calorie candies have them on hand... I use Werther's Original Sugar Free Caramel Chocolate... 5 pieces = 40 calories I put them out on my desk in the morning and that's all the goodies I can have that day... some days I don't even eat them anymore and I was a sugar freak!

Soda pop... OK I happen to rarely drink regular but even Zero's/Max/Diet are triggers and I use to drink a 2 liter of those a day!... so my rule is simple I cannot have any soda pop unless I am out getting a to-go meal. If I'm inside sitting I get a water. My soda pop at first I'd buy 1 - 2 liter bottle of soda pop and it had to last me 2 days, then 3 days then all week. At home I buy sparkling water, they come in all flavors and they give the feeling of drinking soda pop and studies have found sometimes that is all you are craving, the sparkle/bubbles. Those have now become something I rarely drink too, maybe a glass with dinner otherwise I stick to my plain water although I do add flavors often.

Don't beat yourself up, just take baby steps and remember you will find what works for YOU, we are all different and different things work great for one group and not for another, hence why there are so many diets out there, they work- just not for everyone.

Oh sweety its ok! that happens to the best of us! remember, ROMA WASN'T BUILD IN A DAY!! you are going to need time and LOTS OF PATIENCE! internet can be a good friend! there are trillions of tips to make a soft change on your habits that makes the process a lil less shocking, you love soda? ok then grab some sprinkilng water and frozen fruits and drink that! or orange juice and sprinkling water, there are ways, you just have to search for your own!
again: PATIENCE AND CONSISTENCY ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS

I really feel for what you're going through and I'm very sorry you feel that way. I have felt that way so much and most of my life have been an emotional eater too. It's a constant battle and you feel like you're in your own prison. I'm on my way though, to figuring things out in my head, which is helping with my emotional eating. I know all the the right things you're supposed to do--so much I could write a book--but my brain was never connecting with my heart. That is, until I got counseling and started talking things out, and keeping not only a food diary, but also a diary of my emotions and what was happening in my life. Until I started doing those things I kept hitting brick walls. Now I do have hope and I am able to see the value I have in myself. Maybe doing those things would help you, too. I hope so.

First off you need to discover a way to begin liking and loving yourself because the only way you are going to establish a long term healthy lifestyle is to believe the person you see staring back in the mirror deserves that kind of love and affection from you. AT that point you should be ready to take control of your life and begin accepting that, no one makes you feel anything but YOU... THAT the only person in your way.. IS YOU... there's no if, or buts... NO excuse, no barriers.. except for those you impose upon yourself... I can't.. will disappear from the dialogue going on between your ears... THEN you have ot learn to forgive... yourself... for NOT understanding this earlier in your life... and EVERYONE you thought was holding you back... the forgiveness part.. is probably the toughest thing toconfront because it is so much easier to pin your situation on someone else....

anyway... in a nut shell the world you see from behind your eyeballs, IS in fact the world you created for yourself... the only person out of the 7+Billion currently wandering this world capable of making the changes you want... stares back at you in every reflective surface you can find... learn to like that person.. then learn to love that person and there will be NOTHING stopping you from becoming who you want to be.

Agree with most everything everyone else has intoned, going to throw my two cents out there as well.

Here is what has worked for me:

1. Taking it slow. I cut back 100 calories each week until I hit that -1000 mark. So it took me roughly 2 1/2 months to get there, but it made eating that way SO much easier for me. I think it allowed my stomach to gradually shrink down so I've never felt like I was starving this whole time.

2. I didn't give up anything I wasn't willing to never go back to, for me it was smoking and drinking regular soda. I don't do those things anymore. I never plan on doing so again. I still eat my favorite foods, but I make sure that if it's going out to eat I try to order half portions and avoid things I know are unhealthy, I ask for things prepared healthier - most restaurants don't have a problem doing this, (like no salt, or could they just put the toppings on the side) especially if you just tell them it's an allergy thing, lol.

3. I log everything. Cooking at home has been way easier for me, because it allows me to weigh everything more accurately. I do my own shopping separate from the rest of the family. That way I can make sure I have healthier snack foods in the house, and not be tempted to give in to little debbie.

4. I gave up on the scale. I will let the weight fall off as it will, the thing I am more concerned about is FAT loss, not weight loss per se. I was amazed at how I really started to shed the lb's once I adopted this mentality. I think before weighing in I was stressing myself out, my cortisol would go through the roof, and no weight would come off.

5. Speaking of weighing in, I do so every two weeks now rather than daily. I was obsessed before, and it was unhealthy, as simple as that.

6. Drink more water. I could drink a few two liters of soda a day, when I first started this lifestyle change, I hadn't replaced that with water. I started drinking more, and my whole world changed. My digestive system is healthier, the weight comes off easier, I just feel better.

7. I do it for me. I'm not trying to please or displease anyone, if they have good advice I listen, if they try to discourage me I simply walk away. I have things I want to do with my life, and those things would make me much happier if I were skinnier and healthier to enjoy them. Simple as that.

That's about it, I'm sure I could go on and on, but hopefully some of what I typed hits home a little and helps.

I agree you have to take one step at a time. Start with 1 meal. For me I start with a healthy lunch. After it becomes a routine, add another meal or a workout. Finally if you have a bad day, or weekend DON”T LOOK BACK! That is the hardest part for me. One bad weekend doesn’t have to turn into a bad month. Think about healthy habits not diet.