Fears of Starting

You're not the only one. My fear of starting to try to lose weight amounted to me believing my excuses. "I can't afford a gym and I can't afford the time in a gym". OK, the truth is I still can't afford a gym and I still don't have time to workout as I imagined I would have to workout to lose weight. I learned that I don't have to pay for gym memberships and spend chunks of time traveling to and fro and spending chunks of time getting sweaty and getting clean. Counting calories and managing my relationship with food was the easy thing. Convincing myself that starting to try was possible was the hard thing.

I have been losing for over a year and have lost about 90 lb so far.

FEAR- False Evidence Appearing Real

Fear paralysizes many from trying to do WHAT THEY NEED TO. You'll always fear something. There are people who are in great shape that fear putting on a swimsuit.
Whatever your fear, it can be overcome. It takes wanting to do it, and consistently trying to overcome it, that will give you confidence to see it's nothing you really have to fear.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kerr2010 wrote: »

It seems weird for me to say that I have fears about losing weight, but I do! I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who has (or had) these fears.

I'm afraid that I will start and give up again like so many times before.

I'm afraid that I won't reach my goal and that I will get stuck before I see real results.

I'm afraid that if I do reach my goals that it will be short lived like in the past and I will slip into bad habits and gain it back.

I'm worried that I will never be happy or satisfied with my body.

I'm worried that it will take too long and I will get frustrated.

The rational side of me can combat these fears in theory, but they have a tendency to creep back into my mind.

Has anyone experienced this? Ie did you put these fears or others you had to rest?

I use to have those same exact fears. Then I realized I was allowing fears to keep me from what I want. If you have a kid who is afraid of falling, it's hard to get them back on the bike. Same can go for us, but just like you tell the kid to keep trying, that they will get it, you need to tell yourself that too. Keep trying. Not trying is automatic failure. At least if you try (and keep trying daily) something is bound to happen.

Don't stop once you reach your goal. Change your goals maybe to become more fit or to maintain. I bet before you just stopped (and because you stopped, you gained).

Maybe you wont be totally happy or satisfied, but at least you'll be closer to it. Can you live with just being a little happier about it? Which do you want more? To try and maybe be a bit happier, or not try and stay upset?

It will take time! I'm learning that the hard way, too. There will be frustrations. Maybe you can make yourself a motivational notebook with fun memes or quotes to help keep you focused or to find humor while in the struggle. I am thinking that after a while, if you stick to it, it will become more natural. Make it a life long change, not a temp. diet change.
Find your reasons why you want to do this and let those reasons be your motivator.

You may also be looking at a too big picture. That terrified me. Break it up and look at the small pieces and little things you would like to change forever. Smaller steps like drinking more water and logging your water. Then maybe in a week or two log your food without worrying about calories or MACROS or anything like that. Baby steps may make a start easier.

Ok small change then. Something so easy no fear involved. Change one habit. This month eat and exercise as normal just log your food every day. Make it a small habit change. Then next month pick a small habit change again to add. Maybe replace high calorie beverages with water.