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What is your biggest obstacle to weight loss?

cherries12345
cherries12345 Posts: 70 Member
edited November 22 in Social Groups
I thought it would be a good idea to share our greatest challenges as part of this group to maybe advise and support each other. My greatest obstacle would have to be binge eating. I end up justifying such self sabotage atleast once a week. It's also the reason I've had to "restart" several times-sometimes my eating just bounces back to normal for enough time that I decide to give up all together. No matter how much motivation and ambition, I some how always end up having binge days. So what is your greatest obstacle and how do you try and tackle it?
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Replies

  • lynnsmith312
    lynnsmith312 Posts: 34 Member
    I'm just getting started again but my biggest obstacle so far is eating/drinking Refined Sugar. When I started tracking my food in MFP I didn't realize how much refined sugar I was eating/drinking. So I guess the way I start to tackle it is to make sure I log it everyday and monitor it weekly, and one of the worst offenders is Soda Pop so I have started cutting back to only have pop on one day during the week, usually Sunday.
  • rjneeley
    rjneeley Posts: 59 Member
    Great discussion subject! For me, right now, my obstacles are my kids and my husband. My 2 sons are 12 and 15 and they run cross country. They come home from practice and will spend the rest of the night eating. Not all at once, but at some point they'll have dinner, then dessert, then snacks, and drinks. My daughter does marching band and while she doesn't eat at much as the boys, she doesn't make the best choices. She has a job at a fast food restaurant and brings that home for dinner or dessert. Then there's hubby who likes to eat anything and a lot of it. Oh, and we're camping this weekend which means LOTS of meat cooked over a fire, and lots of adult beverages.

    So, all in all, it's the family around me that makes me want to give up, but also they are what make me want to get and stay healthy so I can run with them, and be active and enjoy them! I counter their eating feasts by trying to stick to my plan, and if I simply can't ignore them eating, I try to have tiny portions or fruits and veggies. To me, it's all things in moderation so my plan for this weekend is to have a small serving of the caveman meats, then have plenty of fruits and veggies, and a single adult beverage with lots of bottled water otherwise. And move as much as I can. This doesn't always work but that's my plan anyway!
  • rdtalon
    rdtalon Posts: 42 Member
    Dine in restaurants. Not only do I usually cheat on my calories, but I have a difficult time logging the foods into my diary. Just the other day I had some Sarku Japan at the mall food court, and I had no idea how many calories it was (just that it was delicious). I tried my best as far as logging it in, but it was rough, lol.
  • ewoksrule3
    ewoksrule3 Posts: 230 Member
    Binge eating is mine, too...I used to go out to eat with friends and not want to look like a pig, so I would eat a reasonable amount and then be sitting there planning what l could pick up on my way home...and go home and eat until I felt like I was going to burst. I just wanted to eat everything and would have craving after craving. It's gotten a little better since I've been sticking to my plan pretty well for a few months now, but it's still a huge struggle some days. Some days it's all I can do not to run to the corner store and pick up a frozen pizza and some chips and dip...and then eat all of it. I've been trying to keep the cravings at bay by buying things that I genuinely like as a treat, and having a reasonable serving of it - instead of chips and dip, I'm getting chex mix or cheezits, because I like them, but don't get out of control with them. Instead of a whole digiorno pizza, I'll get Red Baron singles, or pizza rolls, because I can eat those in more reasonable portions. If I deprive myself completely, I tend to end up binging, where if I let myself have a little of things I can keep reasonable, I tend to stay under control better.
  • cherries12345
    cherries12345 Posts: 70 Member
    ewoksrule3 wrote: »
    Binge eating is mine, too...I used to go out to eat with friends and not want to look like a pig, so I would eat a reasonable amount and then be sitting there planning what l could pick up on my way home...and go home and eat until I felt like I was going to burst. I just wanted to eat everything and would have craving after craving. It's gotten a little better since I've been sticking to my plan pretty well for a few months now, but it's still a huge struggle some days. Some days it's all I can do not to run to the corner store and pick up a frozen pizza and some chips and dip...and then eat all of it. I've been trying to keep the cravings at bay by buying things that I genuinely like as a treat, and having a reasonable serving of it - instead of chips and dip, I'm getting chex mix or cheezits, because I like them, but don't get out of control with them. Instead of a whole digiorno pizza, I'll get Red Baron singles, or pizza rolls, because I can eat those in more reasonable portions. If I deprive myself completely, I tend to end up binging, where if I let myself have a little of things I can keep reasonable, I tend to stay under control better.
    This is exactly how it is for me. I just want to eat all of my options at once for some reason, as if I'll never see them or have access to them again. Some of the items are not even that good and they are things I would've been able to fit into my daily calories in moderation if I wanted to anyway. I don't eat a lot of the same item but a "serving size" of everything I see. Good for you for sticking with it for a few months. I just "restarted" on MFP a couple weeks ago and have had 2 binge days since, but hopefully I'll do better this week.

  • cherries12345
    cherries12345 Posts: 70 Member
    rjneeley wrote: »
    Great discussion subject! For me, right now, my obstacles are my kids and my husband. My 2 sons are 12 and 15 and they run cross country. They come home from practice and will spend the rest of the night eating. Not all at once, but at some point they'll have dinner, then dessert, then snacks, and drinks. My daughter does marching band and while she doesn't eat at much as the boys, she doesn't make the best choices. She has a job at a fast food restaurant and brings that home for dinner or dessert. Then there's hubby who likes to eat anything and a lot of it. Oh, and we're camping this weekend which means LOTS of meat cooked over a fire, and lots of adult beverages.

    So, all in all, it's the family around me that makes me want to give up, but also they are what make me want to get and stay healthy so I can run with them, and be active and enjoy them! I counter their eating feasts by trying to stick to my plan, and if I simply can't ignore them eating, I try to have tiny portions or fruits and veggies. To me, it's all things in moderation so my plan for this weekend is to have a small serving of the caveman meats, then have plenty of fruits and veggies, and a single adult beverage with lots of bottled water otherwise. And move as much as I can. This doesn't always work but that's my plan anyway!
    Staying on track at social events is pretty hard, especially at "foody" events. I know this will be tested in the upcoming months for me, so I'll try to be like you and just have tiny portions of a few good items. I applaud for resisting all the extra food in your family. If someone brings something home that I like, I try to resist it for a few hours, but when it seems like no one else is eating it, I just go for it.
  • ewoksrule3
    ewoksrule3 Posts: 230 Member
    The advice I've read for social food events (especially ones where there's a buffet or table of food) is that you should walk around and see everything available first, and pick one or two items that you absolutely want, then take reasonable sized portions of those, and fill up the rest of the way on healthy items. That might be tough camping, but easier if you're helping pack the food for the trip! :)
  • rjneeley
    rjneeley Posts: 59 Member
    ewoksrule3 wrote: »
    The advice I've read for social food events (especially ones where there's a buffet or table of food) is that you should walk around and see everything available first, and pick one or two items that you absolutely want, then take reasonable sized portions of those, and fill up the rest of the way on healthy items. That might be tough camping, but easier if you're helping pack the food for the trip! :)

    I'm not only packing all the food, but cooking and serving it! That will definitely help because I have lots of good stuff to pack -- grapes, carrots, and fresh peaches. Another big obstacle I have is eating out -- that's why I'm trying to avoid it at all costs right now.
  • kldickison
    kldickison Posts: 9 Member
    My biggest obstacle is fatigue eating. The more tired I get the more I put in my mouth and it is usually sweets.
  • aamundsoncpa
    aamundsoncpa Posts: 77 Member
    kldickison wrote: »
    My biggest obstacle is fatigue eating. The more tired I get the more I put in my mouth and it is usually sweets.

    I have this issue also.....the busier I am, seems the more tired I am. I make poor food choices and then just give up too easily. If I can just plan out my meals for the week and prepare them over the weekend, I have better success.

    Of course, then there's the lack of willpower that happens when someone says "let's go out for lunch" or someone brings delicious goodies into the work breakroom!
  • dontgiveup2319
    dontgiveup2319 Posts: 145 Member
    My biggest obstacle is eating enough calories a day lol. When its super humid and hot here, I don't eat as much as I'm supposed to. I need to eat more meals a day to keep my body satisfied and lose fat instead of muscle too.

    I also have a problem with sleep. I've had sleeping issues my whole life. It is hard for me to fall asleep. Most of the time I can't fall asleep until around 1-5 am. This is a problem because for half the week I go to gym classes that are in the mornings lol.

    I guess my obstacles are a lot different.
  • busymomma7
    busymomma7 Posts: 11 Member
    My biggest problem is when we have busy days. I'm often out with my husband and my kids at an amusement park which doesn't allow us to bring food, at the zoo, the science centre, friends, family... It's hard to eat healthy on the go. Today we bribed the kids to leave the zoo and offered them sundaes... Ah.

    My other problem is when I don't see a change on the scale for a while. I put in all this hard work, I feel homicidal from hunger sometimes (I freaked out on my sister and my husband the other day because I was hungry and irritable) and then I don't even see a payoff for it.

    Oh ya, and I have a toddler who has begun waking 5-6 times a night. I'm exhausted.
  • simquilts2
    simquilts2 Posts: 34 Member
    kldickison wrote: »
    My biggest obstacle is fatigue eating. The more tired I get the more I put in my mouth and it is usually sweets.

    I agree, I tend to do a lot of pre-bedtime work and I of course that's when I am on the tired-side, so I find myself eating to get the energy to finish everything I want to get done. I'm working on getting the evening chores done earlier so I can just go to bed. Night time eating is so challenging!

  • kldickison
    kldickison Posts: 9 Member
    Night time eating is the hardest. If you are working, you snack to keep up energy and if you are not working, snacking while relaxing is too easy. I am going to just try to tell myself to not put anything in my mouth period after 7:00!! (except water or no calorie liquid...sometimes a cup of coffee helps the craving for something to eat.)
  • SpicyBaconCake
    SpicyBaconCake Posts: 96 Member
    I guess my biggest obstacle would be my husband lol. Pretty sure he doesn't do it on purpose, but everytime I'm doing good, lost a bit and feeling good, he comes home with pizza for dinner, or a favorite ice cream, or decides its a restaurant kind of night. Used to be real bad with Dr Pepper, I would want just a 20 Oz fountain, and he would come home with a 12 pack. Of course, I'm the only one in the house that liked it, and there was no moderation once it was here. I'm Dr Pepper clean a month now, and he's stopped bringing it home, yay!
    I'm trying to be more accountable and recognize that he's just trying to be nice. But it's ultimately up to me to keep my moderation in check.
  • metcastillon
    metcastillon Posts: 44 Member
    edited August 2015
    My biggest obstacle is separating food from my feelings. I need to learn how to not go straight to binge eating eating whenever I'm feeling stressed.
  • iwillbeslim513365
    iwillbeslim513365 Posts: 73 Member
    Rycbar_123 wrote: »
    I guess my biggest obstacle would be my husband lol. Pretty sure he doesn't do it on purpose, but everytime I'm doing good, lost a bit and feeling good, he comes home with pizza for dinner, or a favorite ice cream, or decides its a restaurant kind of night. Used to be real bad with Dr Pepper, I would want just a 20 Oz fountain, and he would come home with a 12 pack. Of course, I'm the only one in the house that liked it, and there was no moderation once it was here. I'm Dr Pepper clean a month now, and he's stopped bringing it home, yay!
    I'm trying to be more accountable and recognize that he's just trying to be nice. But it's ultimately up to me to keep my moderation in check.
    Rycbar_123 wrote: »
    I guess my biggest obstacle would be my husband lol. Pretty sure he doesn't do it on purpose, but everytime I'm doing good, lost a bit and feeling good, he comes home with pizza for dinner, or a favorite ice cream, or decides its a restaurant kind of night. Used to be real bad with Dr Pepper, I would want just a 20 Oz fountain, and he would come home with a 12 pack. Of course, I'm the only one in the house that liked it, and there was no moderation once it was here. I'm Dr Pepper clean a month now, and he's stopped bringing it home, yay!
    I'm trying to be more accountable and recognize that he's just trying to be nice. But it's ultimately up to me to keep my moderation in check.

    I agree one of my big obstacles is my hubbie who wants to eat things which aren't that healthy. He has had weight issues but can deal with them quickly go back to eating more or less what he likes puts a bit back on cuts down a little again and so on whereas I only have to look at bread or not scuits etc and will balloon out. Oh well not blaming hubbie but he does find it easy to lose weight whereas I definitely don't.
  • maximumcutie
    maximumcutie Posts: 33 Member
    Laziness. Lol. I have a big problem getting exercise in. Another problem that makes this one worse is that I get very sore the day after I exercise. This makes me not want to do it that day, and then I end up putting it off for a while. I feel like if I could do it every day I would be able to stick with it, but having to take rest days throws me off and brings out the laziness.
  • mylifeasoliveoil
    mylifeasoliveoil Posts: 151 Member
    I guess I just have a problem with starting. Once I get in a routine it is fine, but I have a lot of problems getting started and staying motivated. I also have a problem with eating SO much sugar. It has always been a problem, but I feel it has gotten worse especially in the last year or so. I am hoping that this time around I change my habits and really improve my health!
  • WicklowWanderer
    WicklowWanderer Posts: 247 Member
    Biggest obstacle for me is dealing with paradox. I want instant results for all my hard work but at the same time I know full well that weight loss should be slow and steady, with plenty of time to develop new and better habits and to work out the psychological kinks that will ultimately lead to a brand new lifestyle! When I don't see results on the scale after a hard week of dedication, it makes me want to pack in the towel and bury myself in chips and dip. Today I bought a tape measure- I need to be prepared to accept non-scale victories as wins!
  • caranais
    caranais Posts: 101 Member
    Myself!!! I can't lay blame on anyone else, I am in charge and in control of what goes in my mouth and how much I move. Ok, there are factors, mainly to do with moving as I have some health issues that slow me down, but eating and drinking - I'm in control. When my children were growing up I taught them that they controlled what they did and not to give in to peer pressure, and fair play to them on the whole they didn't. On occasion, when "everyone else was doing it/going" etc, they were made to take responsibility for their own actions. - "If your friend put their finger in the fire - would you?" etc. I never thought to relate it to myself, it's only when I read the heading about the biggest obstacle, that I related it to this and I feel rather ashamed. I have blamed being busy, tired, stressed, not sleeping well, getting older - all sorts really, but what I have to do is take stock again, revise and look at my food intake, weigh everything again (I've been eying it for about a year and gained a stone), and most of all take responsibility for myself. Hopefully I'll see some success from now on if I take my own advice!!! By the way - Good luck to everyone that is at least trying to do something about their situation to make life better, whatever it may be. xxx
  • nannersp61
    nannersp61 Posts: 2,315 Member
    my biggest issue is slow weight loss, and impatience. It goes hand in hand. Even though I am exercising and busy each day, usually 2 hour workouts and I stay under calorie goal, I only lose between a half to one pound per week. Many times during the week my weight rebounds for 2 or 3 days due to water fluctuation.
  • ewoksrule3
    ewoksrule3 Posts: 230 Member
    2 hour workouts, wow, I'm impressed! I don't know how you guys have time for that! Between work and taking care of the horses and just plain wanting a little downtime, I don't think I could fit in two hours on weekdays. That's awesome, though! You're very motivated. :) I have the same problem with weight fluctuation due to water retention. I just record on the low day, and am happy the next time a low day rolls around...it does get frustrating, though.
  • nannersp61
    nannersp61 Posts: 2,315 Member
    Me, I am my own saboteur.
  • danielaica
    danielaica Posts: 28 Member
    edited August 2015
    I'm having a bit of an issue with time management. I have crazy hours at uni so I'm basically there from 9:30 to 19:00. I have to plan a day before, make all my meals and drag everything with me everyday. Also, some days I've not had enough meat or sallad and gone a bit crazy trying to find healthy snacks on campus. It's been quite time consuming. I'm going to try to make a couple of meals during the weekend so I don't have to cook during the week, maybe that will help a bit. I'm also packing some low calorie crackers and fruit with me now.

    I do get frustrated when I don't see results on a weekly basis.

    Some friends kind of have a strange attitude towards me because I'm trying to eat healthy and make it seem like I'm obsessed about it or something. Sometimes they make me feel strange, but I'm 17 kg from my ideal weight and just trying to become healthy.
  • mmebouchon
    mmebouchon Posts: 855 Member
    Ice cream, chocolate and wine!
  • mmebouchon
    mmebouchon Posts: 855 Member
    caranais wrote: »
    Myself!!! I can't lay blame on anyone else, I am in charge and in control of what goes in my mouth and how much I move. Ok, there are factors, mainly to do with moving as I have some health issues that slow me down, but eating and drinking - I'm in control. When my children were growing up I taught them that they controlled what they did and not to give in to peer pressure, and fair play to them on the whole they didn't. On occasion, when "everyone else was doing it/going" etc, they were made to take responsibility for their own actions. - "If your friend put their finger in the fire - would you?" etc. I never thought to relate it to myself, it's only when I read the heading about the biggest obstacle, that I related it to this and I feel rather ashamed. I have blamed being busy, tired, stressed, not sleeping well, getting older - all sorts really, but what I have to do is take stock again, revise and look at my food intake, weigh everything again (I've been eying it for about a year and gained a stone), and most of all take responsibility for myself. Hopefully I'll see some success from now on if I take my own advice!!! By the way - Good luck to everyone that is at least trying to do something about their situation to make life better, whatever it may be. xxx

    Great insight. I know I have played the excuss game with myself many times. I remember my daughter asking me 'how do you stop yourself from eating all the cookies in the tin when your grown up if you don't have a Mom there to make you?' I told her it was part of growing up and being responsible. That being said it sure would be nice to have my mom here to limit how many treats I eat. <3
  • jenlarz
    jenlarz Posts: 813 Member
    Eating in my car on the way home from work. I grab sweet or salty junk snacks :(
  • SarahJurina
    SarahJurina Posts: 38 Member
    Binge or fatigue eating are my biggest enemies. Usually I binge if my kids made a cake or cookies and I just keep eating them (I wish they didn't bake so well) which goes with being tired by 4pm. And finally, if I have no healthy food in the house because I haven't gone to the grocery store that makes it all the worse.

    I've been trying to get more sleep. But my husband goes to bed by 11:30pm and I'd rather get to bed at 10. So some days I feel bad for not having any couple time and I stay up/pay for it the next day. Should I just be going to bed when I want? Not sure yet how to solve this problem.....
  • Hthfamily
    Hthfamily Posts: 123 Member
    My biggest problem is stress. I have a lot going on right now and am doing the best I can. The past few days I have been eating past beyond fullness which makese sick. I am still doing my plexus and that is keeping me away from a lot of bad things and cravings. I'm also not sleeping like I should and my emotions are out of control. All of these things combined are not good but I have to work through them.
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