What has been your biggest obstacle to losing weight?

Me. I get in my own way sometimes.

I've met my weight-loss goal now, but my biggest obstacle used to be the strangely "good" feeling I got from abusing myself with food in the name of "comfort". I was trapped in a cycle of pain and pleasure - the pain of life was all mixed up with the (very) temporary pleasure of bingeing on my favorite sweet treats and then lumped in again with the shame and discomfort of how much I ate - which then needed to be numbed again with sugary food.

I could not stop the cycle because it all mashed together in my head under a huge umbrella of denial that anything was actually wrong. Once I admitted I had an addiction (or at least addictive tendencies), got real honest with myself about how I was destroying my own life with food, and surrendered to the process of what it *really* took to be healthy (from the inside out), everything started to flow freely and I pretty much waltzed down the path to a near 70-lb loss in one year.

Not paying attention to myself. When I pay attention to myself and realize that I'm huffing and puffing up the stairs, that my blood pressure is high I realized that I had totally not been doing any self-care. I think I was on auto-pilot or something.

Now that I'm paying attention to what goes in my mouth, that no one is taking care of me but me so I have to do that well because I like who I am then I have to be aware. I like being gentle on myself, and learning about myself when I loose weight it feels different this time, like I've stopped being my own worst enemy no more Dammit :sad: I am obese and single and have problems with my blood pressure, might as well stuff my face.
Now I'm like I'm obese, I'm single and I have problems with my blood pressure, what can I do about that? Well I can do something about two of them but now that I've started focusing more on me and getting to know what I'm capable of, I don't really dwell on the single thing.
I'm also not beating myself up for stuff anymore. I guess it's accountability to myself. So I pay attention to what makes me feel good, and remember what made me feel good in the past about my health. That's eating enough calories every day and not way under or way over, being active in some way everyday, drinking water water water and paying attention to myself.

oh yea and I figured out I can't buy ice cream, gelato or frozen yogurt for my home. I can have a cone or a little bit out but if I bring it home it's gone.

It was a non-functioning thyroid. Now there really isn't anything.

Summer has kind of sucked because I don't walk in the summer. It's just too hot. I can't carry all that water. Plus, can't go far in the afternoon because you never know when the storms will start. But in a month I'll be able to start walking gain.

At first, getting motivated to workout.

After that was down pat ( which btw took me 6 months to get serious about and committed to), myself.
Sometimes I struggle with how far I have come and forget it when I look in the mirror.

Thankfully, I have progress pictures, and on a bad day I pull them out and I notice it again and I bounce back now

My muscles, I don't want to lose too much weight too fast or I could lose a lot of muscle I gained. Which is kind of holding me back from losing too much weight too fast. Oh and people underestimate the power of strength training (specifically women) because they think they could turn into the hulk if they did the bench press or something.

In the past, it's been my relationship to food and my unwillingness to admit it. I would be sick of being fat, then I'd eat better, then I'd over restrict, then I'd binge, and then I'd shame-quit and resign myself to being fat. I had to face *why* I do that and that was hard.

But I've been successful this go-around because I don't feel the need for that compulsion. So now my hardest obstacle is the limitations of what I can eat. I've got a finicky stomach (eating something I don't like = insta-vomit) plus some allergies (tree nuts & shellfish) which force me to be careful.

I'm working with it though. I probably have the most boring food diary...it's mostly like 6 different foods just rearranged :laugh: but that works for me, so whatever.

Constantly putting myself down. I work out 5 days a week for 30-60 minutes each day depending on how much time I have and I have eaten the same thing every single day for almost a year now so that I don't eat too many calories because I'm scared to death of gaining weight back. I still can't see anything good when I look at myself and because my stupid stomach won't flatten out I still see myself as disgusting. It's been an uphill battle because of how much I hate myself. I try my hardest to not do crazy things like work out for hours or drop my calories super low in hopes of fixing myself.

food. it tastes so good

My biggest obstacle is battling my depression/anxiety on top of wanting to live a healthier lifestyle. So I'd say overall the biggest thing in the way, is frankly me. I think when you sum it up that's what everyone's obstacle is regardless of what it is about them - binge eating - seeing themselves negatively - that holds them back. You hold yourself back and no one else is there to do it for you. So you do it or you don't. and that's that.

My biggest obstacle is the way my mind blares the *amount* I have to lose...like a megaphone in an empty room. I've lost 50 lb, which is a piddle-fart amount to me, considering I have at least another 120 to go. A few people have said to just take it one pound at a time, but it's very difficult for me to have that mindset when I see that massive number on the scale and the massive number on my ticker. Soooo...in a word, I guess my biggest obstacle is my mind.

Myself and being consistent. Logically I know what I need to be doing. I struggle with doing it long term. I start out great, see some results and then I sort of let things slide a bit.

I've been my own biggest obstacle. Because I didn't have any health problems, I have always been like "I'm big but I'm active and I don't have any problems." Basically, I was an ostrich sticking my head in the ground. You don't get to be 300+ lbs forever and not develop health problems. So I had an extremely unexpected health scare and had to decide if donuts and double quarter pounders with cheese were better than living a long, happy life. They aren't and that was that.

I'm a stress eater with a sweet tooth. I procrastinate when it comes to working out. A workout buddy would help but now I take my son for walks, so he's my buddy.

Knowing that to reach my goal weight in a healthy way, I still have over 2 years of work to go... and that's without any more major health issues. Since I started losing, I have had to have 3 abdominal surgeries, which resulted in a lot of bedrest and long stretches of medical restriction to my exercise. Most people assume that I had weight loss surgery but NOPE.