Struggling

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I fell off the horse over a week ago when I was on a holiday. Since I came back I have no motivation to exercise, log or eat right. Once again I've wasted a lot of hard work. Im stuck in this cycle and I can't see how I'll get out of it. I'm so unfit that exercise feels like an unproductive ordeal. It'll take years to get to my goal weight and I just don't know how to sustain the effort. Food has too tight a grip on me.

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  • cdavis1511
    cdavis1511 Posts: 22 Member
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    Baby steps. Don't think about the total amount of weight you want to lose. Make mini goals, like try for 3 or 4 days of logging your meals this week or going for at least 3 walks this week. You don't have make your goals weight related. Start with healthier choices, and soon you'll see the weight loss follow. Also - noticed you don't have many MFP friends - get a support group around you and interact with them daily. For me just talking to people on here keeps me motivated. Best of luck - friend request sent.
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    1: Exercise is more than simply weight loss. It has a host of other benefits. You haven't undone all of those benefits just because you ate a bunch of food.

    2: Food and exercise both create endorphins in the body. Usually when you crave food, what you actually want is the endorphin. Exercise cuts down food cravings. So just move.

    3: Believe it or not, you can actually get to the point where you are burning over 1000 calories a day in exercise alone and it doesn't take years. You can still eat quite a bit of food with that kind of burn. So, uh, exercise mkay?
  • lilmisfit1987
    lilmisfit1987 Posts: 183 Member
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    Trying doing an exercise that you can see yourself staying with...like speed walking. I don't even jog and I can break a sweat just by speed walking and it's much easier for me to keep up the pace.
  • JessieGii
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    vorgas wrote: »
    1: Exercise is more than simply weight loss. It has a host of other benefits. You haven't undone all of those benefits just because you ate a bunch of food.

    2: Food and exercise both create endorphins in the body. Usually when you crave food, what you actually want is the endorphin. Exercise cuts down food cravings. So just move.

    3: Believe it or not, you can actually get to the point where you are burning over 1000 calories a day in exercise alone and it doesn't take years. You can still eat quite a bit of food with that kind of burn. So, uh, exercise mkay?

    what they said!!!
  • mrparadisemfp
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    Thanks for the advice but Ive decided to quit for a while. I may try again but not right now.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    Is it not better to rumble along, making some small healthy changes, than to simply quit altogether and have a load more to lose at a future date? Time will pass anyway, and you have to live life anyway, so why not at least try and some small changes? It is possible you are expecting too much, too quickly and just seeing how far you have to go, rather than living your life and making manageable changes. Losing weight does not have to be all consuming and all encompassing.
  • brightsideofpink
    brightsideofpink Posts: 1,018 Member
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    The very fact that you came back here to say thanks and share your decisions speaks that you are not committed to quitting. Good! As already stated, time will pass anyway. Where do you want to be a year from now? Looking back wishing you'd had a year of change under your belt? Or glad for that year of change?

    What helped me when I was starting was to not think of the whole task ahead, but focus on the advantages you already have. Pardon the assumptions, but based on how daunted you feel by the whole task, I'll assume you have a lot to lose, and are obese. That can work to your advantage! 15 minutes of walking for you burns more calories than 15 minutes of walking for somebody slimmer. You will burn significant calories just doing your daily chores. You can eat more calories than somebody smaller than you, and still lose weight if you keep them under what you burn.

    I do believe people need to be ready to make changes. But I also think you're more ready than you let yourself believe. Think about Halloween 2015. Where are you going to be?
  • Tammy_1971
    Tammy_1971 Posts: 93 Member
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    Suggest you search and add "Tannun" as a friend. He has a lot of weight to lose and I look forward everyday to see what he has done. He is quite the inspiration!!!
  • Cobourg
    Cobourg Posts: 54 Member
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    I've been there. Go to the gym and don't worry about the weight. Yes it is easy to say but I've been there an still working on it. Just do it.
  • agbmom556
    agbmom556 Posts: 694 Member
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    nicely said brightsideofpink !
    Only you can decide how much you are worth. Don't give up now.
  • PixieMidoriKitten
    PixieMidoriKitten Posts: 21 Member
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    Aw, c'mon, don't quit!
    Life isn't all or nothing, regardless what the 80s power-speakers sold you, taking some healthier steps in your life doesn't have to mean you must eat lettuce, run marathons and measure your calorie burn to the nearest 10th of a cal all day, every day.

    go for some walks in the Northern hemisphere Autumn/Southern hemisphere Spring countryside, save pudding for Sundays and Wednesdays or take whatever small steps you know you can maintain without even really thinking about it, then maybe get back to logging more routinely and upping the exercise

    I think health is worth making some adjustments for, but I manage to fit cake, chocolate and puddings into my calories with only the odd jog (for 30 mins) here and there. I think you should give yourself another chance, make the baby steps that you think you can

    I know it's hard to go through a period of poor cardio fitness and feel you'll never get back to where you were (I know from bitter experience) but all that matters it that you imrove on your immediate past - I can't be the Ballerina teen ever again and I'm finally ok with that, but it doesn't mean I can't be fitter than I was last month every single month for the rest of my life.

    Look forward, take it slow and keep going - slow progress is better than no progress!
  • radimage
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    Don't let "I'll try again later" be too late.
  • bennettinfinity
    bennettinfinity Posts: 865 Member
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    It's up to you whether you give up or not, but note that as hard as it is for you right now, this is as easy as it's ever going to be. It'll only get more difficult as time passes. This is your last best chance. Good luck.