To all those trying to lose weight, do you fear change?

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  • RoseTheWarrior
    RoseTheWarrior Posts: 2,035 Member
    I fear getting heart disease and Type 2 diabetes (my mom has both at the age of 69) way more than changing my diet and working out.
  • MynameisChester
    MynameisChester Posts: 107 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Changing my lifestyle isn't scary, I do it all the time. There's a song lyric: "To say that I've stopped changing, is to say that I've stopped growing. To say that I've stopped growing, is to admit that I am dead." And I'm kind of a novelty junkie, besides.

    Before I retired, I spent 30 years in IT, and one of its attractions was the constant change. In my 30s, I started studying Chinese martial arts. In my 40s, I became a widow, a survivor of stage III breast cancer, and a serious rower. At 51, I retired. Later in my 50s, I took up mixed-media art, and started learning to play bluegrass banjo. At 59/60, I lost nearly 65 pounds and became a lightweight rower.

    Change is fun (well, except the widowhood & cancer - coulda skipped those, frankly).

    The only thing that scares me is whether I can truly beat the odds & successfully maintain the weight loss . . . but I intend to do so. In all other respects, it's just plain excellent. Yay, change! :)

    Truly amazing and inspirational AnnPT77! About 15 years ago, my dad had passed away right around the same time my mother was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer. Fortunately she's also a cancer survivor and is still around. Thank you for sharing this information about yourself. I really appreciate it!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,445 Member
    MynameisChester wrote: »
    The common pattern I've noticed among people who lose and sustain weight loss are adopting lifestyle changes. Some people define that as eating things in moderation or completely giving up foods they love. Is the notion of changing your lifestyle scary to you? Please share your thoughts.

    A year ago, when I started losing weight, I just returned to my previous lifestyle ... the lifestyle I had as recently as 2008. OK, that's probably not really recent to some of you, but when you get to my age, 7 years is recent. :grin:

    So no, it's not scary.

    Especially not when compared with ...
    -- marrying someone from another country and spending 10 days together before he returned to his country.
    -- watching from a distance while his area, and his house, were destroyed in a massive bushfire ... while doing my final teaching practicum for my Bachelor of Education. He narrowly escaped with his life ... many people weren't so lucky.
    -- moving to his country ... and living in one of the last remaining buildings in the area, a very rustic cabin 2 km from "the grid".
    -- living completely off the grid for a year ... I learned to bake using a dutch oven and fireplace.
    -- going through the whole process of being allowed to remain in the country.
    -- going through the whole process of finding work in a new country and assisting with the rebuilding process in the area.
    -- and then, after a couple years, setting off on a 8-month round the world tour.
    -- returning and finding a new place to live ... finding work ...


    If I could go through all that over the past 8 years ... I can lose weight. And well, I did, and have been keeping it off for a while now. :)


  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It took me 14 years to be ready to make a lifestyle change, so yeah, obviously I didn't want to have to eat less.

    And 3 years later, not going to lie, it still sucks. I don't deprive myself by any means and have plenty of treats, but I will always want more. In the end though, you just have to decide what's important to you...

    That being said, that's the diet part... I used to sit on my butt all day playing video games. Now I go crazy if I spend more than 2 hours not being active.
  • jarablue
    jarablue Posts: 127 Member
    edited March 2016
    There are more times than I'd like to admit when I go out for a jog/walk, a part of me really really really doesn't want to do it. Almost like turn around right now feeling. When I feel like that I try to just push on. Almost blindingly inside without thinking about it. Then once I am doing it for about 20 min the good feeling comes back and I am glad I am doing it. Just that initial DONT DO IT phase I have to get by. Also I love eating good food. The self control to not eat whatever you want is hard, very hard at times. The cravings for white cheddar cheezits mmmm....I struggle with it now and will always.

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