SO Sad

Oh yes, you are not alone! *hugs*

Humans are either running away from pain or gravitating towards pleasure - simple - you are always focused on the pain of the process
1- Hunger
2- Physical pain from exercising
3- Frustration
4- Discipline
5- Fear of Failure
6- Loss of comfort anti depressant binges food
7- The length of the journey
8- Restriction from nightly activities involving food
9- Lack of excessive alcohol consumption
10- Facing the truth

The amazing thing is that the mind is incapable of focusing or thinking about more than one thought at a time
so train your mind to master your thoughts
always and I truly mean always focus on the pleasure of the journey - when ever one of the 10 thoughts above manifest, switch to these thoughts
& use visualization

1- Your awesome body at the pool
2- Attraction of the other sex
3- Easy to put your shoes in the morning
4- your pants very loose while driving
5- All those who ever bet against you crushed in jealousy
6- Healthier relationship
7- Becoming a role model to your children/friends/family/ work coleagues
8- Healthy functioning body
9- Slow down aging
10- Think at 60 people think you are 40
11- Enhanced self confidence
12- Thinner will built people are more recognized for career promotions
13- One accomplishment promotes another

or build your own list
I have never ever seen my 6 pack despite many trials - a friend of mine once said: Loay, you will never ever get a 6 pack -
I am now on a journey - the difference is, I no longer want to achieve it in a week, a month or 6 month - I simply want to achieve it no matter how long, how hard and regardless of how many failures along the way - if for some reason my friend was right, I want to know I did everything within my will power to accomplish it and that is enough.

Good Luck

My avatar is a picture from back then. At least I lost 20 pounds since then.

I've stopped taking pictures of myself because I don't like the way I look right now so I completely understand where you are coming from. I keep thinking, when my daughter gets older, she is going to wonder why there are so many pictures of her alone and none of her with her mommy!

You are on the right track to"happier with yourself" vacation pictures in the future. Keep up the great work!! :flowerforyou:

Shauna

Absolutely - I actually had difficulty finding a "before" picture until recently, because I also avoided pictures. Those few I found made me on one hand feel ashamed of what I let myself become, and on the other hand motivated me to this day to distance myself as far as I can from that person I no longer recognize. Accept the reality that is who you were, and accept the thought of who you want to be. I did it in 5 short months. You can do it too.

In time, you will come to an understanding about who that woman in the vacation photos is, and you will feel compassion and empathy for her—not shame, loathing, or embarrassment. If you are lucky, that will come long before you reach your goal weight, because being smaller has nothing to do with the amount of compassion we have for ourselves.

Remember that you are not your body. There is a you—an authentic, beautiful you—who is lovable and worthy. Your body has fat, your body is transforming, but you, right now, are Enough.

There is nothing shameful about how our bodies look. They are masses of cells. And they can be changed. But You are so much bigger, so much greater, than the mass of cells that happen house you.