"It's hard!"

I feel that often, when people say it's hard, it's because they are making things a heck of a lot more difficult for themselves than it needs to be. For example crash dieting and the like then wondering why they can't sustain it.

While "calories in vs calories out" really is simple to get your head around and do, I still think it can be difficult sometimes for some people. For myself, getting out of the cycle of binging is a big battle and trying to get rid of my emotional issues with food. That is hard, no doubt about it. The calories side of it is a piece of cake, it's the rest of it that is challenging for me.

Losing weight (or any life change for that matter) is "hard" when you're not ready, or you lack the knowledge to lose sustainably. After that, it's easy. But there's no sense in getting frustrated with people that are mentally in a different place than you.

It's easy, but only after you learn how. Until then, of course it's hard.

My roommate had Type II diabetes. She smoked. She over ate. She ate lots of carbs and didn't monitor her blood sugar. She had her gall bladder removed, three heart attacks, developed a MRSA in the hospital, almost lost her leg, and died of inhalation pneumonia.

Weight loss hard?

Heck no. After learning I had Type II diabetes, the last three years of Dana's life was all the motivation I needed. If I need reminding, I look at the container of her ashes next to my television and do better the next day.

On paper weight loss is quite simple. All you have to do is eat less then you burn in a day. You literally don't need to do anything else. In practice however, there are many, many different ways to accomplish that. There are some methods that work better then others and not the same thing works as easily for everyone. There might be a considerable amount of trial and error involved in finding a method that isn't "hard" for a particular person. The real struggle is simply finding which method is easiest for the individual. That period of weight loss can be "hard". You are giving lots of effort and yielding small results. That can become tiring both physically and mentally. Once you find a method that allows you more results with less of a "struggle" you begin to see the process as easier, or manageable. People often refer to this as the moment things "clicked". It's different for everyone what will cause this but I really think most people who haven't had things "click" will talk about how hard weight loss is, while most people who have tend to describe it as easy, or at least tolerable and sustainable.

vismal wrote: »

On paper weight loss is quite simple. All you have to do is eat less then you burn in a day. You literally don't need to do anything else. In practice however, there are many, many different ways to accomplish that. There are some methods that work better then others and not the same thing works as easily for everyone. There might be a considerable amount of trial and error involved in finding a method that isn't "hard" for a particular person. The real struggle is simply finding which method is easiest for the individual. That period of weight loss can be "hard". You are giving lots of effort and yielding small results. That can become tiring both physically and mentally. Once you find a method that allows you more results with less of a "struggle" you begin to see the process as easier, or manageable. People often refer to this as the moment things "clicked". It's different for everyone what will cause this but I really think most people who haven't had things "click" will talk about how hard weight loss is, while most people who have tend to describe it as easy, or at least tolerable and sustainable.

This x10000. Weight loss is simple, but that does not make it easy all the time.

vismal wrote: »

That can become tiring both physically and mentally. Once you find a method that allows you more results with less of a "struggle" you begin to see the process as easier, or manageable. People often refer to this as the moment things "clicked". It's different for everyone what will cause this but I really think most people who haven't had things "click" will talk about how hard weight loss is, while most people who have tend to describe it as easy, or at least tolerable and sustainable.

This bit is so true. I have dieted on and off for the last five years, and the last two of those I was doing everything 'right' - I was even on MFP last year doing well and talking on these forums like I had it sorted and that I got this.. But really, things only 'clicked' these last couple of months for me.

Fact of the matter is, weight loss IS hard for most individuals… Especially for those who have medical conditions.

If it were easy, everyone would be skinny.

Days like today I used to stress about and quit hun! But now I made a post to poke fun at me and show I am human (I ate aaall the things!). My mind set changed a few months ago... Every day is different. Not hard. Just different x

FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »

Fact of the matter is, weight loss IS hard for most individuals… Especially for those who have medical conditions.

If it were easy, everyone would be skinny.

This. I'd argue that most of it's mental, but that still doesn't mean it's "easy." It takes considerable effort to change one's mindsets and habits. Doable-- and many people will falter-- but still hard.