So frustrated with myself

So do it just today. Just for one day, do what you know you need to do. It's just one day, right?

One day at a time. Make sure you log everything you eat in the diary. You would be surprised how many calories everything is. That is what helped me. Feel free to add me!

I had to hit rockbottom to get started on my journey. A little whining is good as long as you don't wallow in self-pity. Only you can do this; no one else can. I ignored my weight for two years and gained 80lbs while injured and stuffing my face with complete crap. I avoided the scale because I knew it would make me stop what I was doing. Then, without going into detail, something happened in September that left me completely humiliated and it was all due to the weight I gained. That was all I needed. Everything has been crystal clear since that time. I never gained that much weight when I yo-yo'd before. The amount of weight I put on literally changed my life. I couldn't do thing I enjoyed, couldn't fit any clothes, felt unattractive, was totally out of shape. But somehow I thought this was MY secret. Like other people around me didn't notice. Like all the health issues I had (GERD, hiatal hernnia, fatigue, insomnia, etc.) weren't because I was fat. Total denial. I have no idea what I was thinking during those two years. I'm off the GERD meds and getting back into shape. I workout like demon and LOVE it and the way it makes me feel and look.

It's hard to know what to say to you other than "you have to really want it". Refuse to give up. Take it slow and one day at a time and just don't give up. I'm looking back now and time has flown by. I'm still far from my ultimate goal of awesomeness but I know, before I know it, 35lbs will be 50lbs,75lbs, etc. I'm enjoying the ride. I'm not a different person than before but I just took control of my life and am having a positive attitude about being fit, eating healthy and looking great. I am committed to doing what I need to do for the rest of my life so I can enjoy all the things I love to do.

Good luck.

great advise here.
but i spent YEARS fighting the same battle your describe. yo-yoing through my 20s. devil v. angel conversations in my head trying to stay on yet another diet. beating myself on WHY i can't just stick with it! i know what to do why can't i just do it!

the answers lied much deeper. there are emotional reasons why we sabotage and don't "take care of ourselves" the real journey is finding out the why. the food "plan" and weightloss will be a by product of that journey. its take effort, lots of self reflection and really really paying attention.
don't know where to start? start with geneen roth's breaking free from emotional/compulsive eating. its a short read and packed with great stuff. don't let the title scare you off. think you're not an emotional eater? read it anyway... game changer.

Hi Julie- I'm in the same boat. Ive been driving around for the last 2 months with my gym bag in my car. I used to love going to the gym and would go 5 or 6 days a week and somewhere and somehow I stopped years ago. Every so often I'd get on the boat and go a week or two then stop...How to end the cycle I think is an individual thing and you'll get there when the time is right. Or at least I like to think so. Until then I restart every day.
I know this isnt much help but really just wanted you to know that you are not alone in feeling this way.

I spent the last year on MFP gaining/losing the same weight over and over. Finally, I decided to give the "friend" thing a try. It has made an ENORMOUS difference in my motivation and success. I love all of the positive comments, likes and encouragement we give each other. I CAN'T WAIT to log in every morning and see my log-in streak go up a day! And another trick I play on myself is when I just can't find the motivation to work out, I go ahead and log my exercise. Then it shows up on my wall, my friends all congratulate me for a job well done, and then I HAVE to do it so I'm not a liar! lol I encourage you to do the friend thing. You can post in 'Introduce Yourself' or 'Getting Started', and feel free to add me. There are some really amazing people on MFP!

Julie, All I can say is that I had to forgive myself for my past failures and then decide to do this for me and for my family. It's then that I found teh courage to make this work. It takes alot of self assessment to stick to MFP. There's alot of flexibility in the process to make it work for a large number of people. Probably the only critical common aspect of MFP is the need to follow the process daily, even hourly.

I understand where you are coming from. I moved across the country away from all of my friends and the weather was totally different here and I just felt lost. I gained 60 lbs in less that one year making me a total of 90 lbs overweight. I joined a gym thinking "oh I will meet people and get out of my funk." Yeah, that would have helped if I had gone. HA!

I finally saw a picture of myself and had to do a double take because I really didn't think it was me. I wanted to make a change but it was not until a month later that I finally acted. I added up all of the money I was spending on crappy food, drinks and bigger size clothes and found out that with that money I could get a trainer twice a week at my gym. I needed someone to be accountable to. She told me about MFP and that I needed to use it as part of the program. She said "give me 3-4 days of work outs per week of 45 minutes." That was two with her and then one to two on my own. That seemed doable and not overwhelming.

I made logging my food into MFP like a game. I know strange. I also make a game out of it when we are eating out. I like to pick the most over the top food on the menu and plug it in just to see how many calories are in it. Of course I never order it but I has helped me to see what I can eat to be successful.

My advise is to take it one day at a time. Plan your meals and put them in MFP each morning and you are less likely to go over since you have to go back and add. Good luck!

Roxiegirl2008 wrote: »

I finally saw a picture of myself and had to do a double take because I really didn't think it was me. I wanted to make a change but it was not until a month later that I finally acted.

Yep, this happened to me too, and it also took me about a month to really act. NOT a good feeling.

For me, a big hurdle was the fear that I would be hungry ALL THE TIME. I really, really, really do not like feeling hungry (my mom used to say that I was malnourished in another life lol). I had tried MFP before, but I was eating wayyyyyy too many carbs (for hunger reasons, I don't think there's anything wrong with carbs) and feeling hungry and lightheaded, unable to work out and just generally miserable.

So this time, I did some research into foods that are filling and sustaining. I use IIFYM with a high protein & fat concentration and comparatively lower carbs. I also switched to TDEE instead of BMR so that I can consistently eat more calories and don't treat wroking out as a way to "earn" calories--working out is just part of my lifestyle.

Anyway, long story short, is there a fear that is stopping you? Is there some way that you can tackle it?