I was once in great shape - Mid Life Crisis has been FOOD

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So my mid-life crisis has been food! A lot of reasons to stress, I now realize I am a stress eater who is not a physically active as I was in previous jobs. Day by Day I hope to use my fitness pal and it's support systems to help me regain control.

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  • susb
    susb Posts: 90 Member
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    I've been there and you can do it. Recognize that you have past habits of stress eating. We can't eat to momentarily make us feel better. As you already know, this leads to feeling powerless and hopeless.

    You have to find other areas of life in order to switch focus and think of food as great fuel for your body, everyday of your life.

    One of the most important things you can do is to start writing down everything you put in your mouth throughout he day no matter what. Then use this site to calculate your calories.

    You would be shocked to see how things add up.

    I would not attempt to focus on both eating properly and starting to excercise at the same time. I would prepare healthy items and create a deficit to lose weight and focus on that healthy eating plan for six weeks until you get that down.

    It's like surrendering to a food battle that you can't win and making the decision to set up a healthy eating pattern that will lead to you losing every last pound and maintaining it for life.

    Susan

  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    I agree with Susan but would add that if you have an exercise activity that you like, this would be a perfect time to get started again with it, be it swimming, biking, walking the dog or whatever. Exercise probably won't help in the weight loss arena but it will make feel mentally and physically better. So, no time like the present!!
  • susb
    susb Posts: 90 Member
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    That's true. Exercise does make you feel good!

    I didn't attempt that at first because I had to put all of my efforts and concentration towards breaking bad habits I had for a couple of decades. Once I had a system going with the food, I began to walk, right outside my door and around my neighborhood. The weight began to fall of because I stuck to the healthy eating pattern and used this site daily to computer my calories. I really belief my weight loss had so much to download with my consistent reduced intake.

    I later added Pilates and by the time I finished, a few months later, I had lost 40 lbs and I was back to the size I was at 20 and I was toned from doing just a half hour of Pilates and conditioning, from my home, on tapes, most every day. I shot for everyday and got it in 6 days a week.

    I am saying this not to brag but to let you know you can do it too.

    Susan