Good topic. I just thought about it while out walking Sadie (dog).

Came home and saw @RedSassyPants took one of mine...AGE!
But I'm 69 yo, Oh to be ONLY 50! LoL

I started this WL journey at age 65 and know that after a lifetime of gaining weight (got up to 376# on 5'8" frame) I will never have a trim tight body.

It's amazing how human skin will stretch and stretch to allow a person to just keep stuffing their face! Definite design flaw, the manufacturer should have had a ten or twenty pound MAXIMUM stretchability and when that was met you skin would not allow anymore to be eaten!

Knowing what it took to lose 155# and now seeing and feeling my belly fat/flab/loose skin is a reminder of what I did to myself. It's not a Barrier because I keep telling myself that my inside health is so much more important than how I look. When I get to "ideal" weight I will be satisfied.

Psychological barriers are few but the old adage "If it feels good, do it!" Still plays in my head occasionally when I want a unhealthy snack.
(Boomer here, child of the Sixties!)

I look at my physical issues, left shoulder, feet, upper back as limitations. I suppose I could insist I have to run marathons if I'm going to exercise and then use my feet as an excuse to do nothing.

The barrier I keep fighting is the barrier of the new. I'm going to look foolish, do it wrong, etc. I'm 66. I find this difficult, but I keep pushing.

So tomorrow I'm playing pickleball and going to the gym. The only real barriers to stop me from doing both of these things would be, well, barriers. A flood at the pickleball courts, a fire at the gym. The things you refer to as barriers are just bad ideas. I can't- It won't work- I'm not doing it good enough.

I push back against this stuff with a couple of positive affirmations I've picked up-

Something is better than nothing.

Perfection is the enemy of the good.

And a sort of counter intuitive idea- I don't have to do more today than I did yesterday. A lot of people run their new exercise programs into the ground by telling themselves the always have to work harder and harder. Something is better than nothing.

My barrier is emotional eating too. I eat when I'm lonely, sad, tired, etc. My rational brain takes a back seat and my emotional brain takes over and tells me to numb my feelings with food. It's a self soothing mechanism I've never fully been able to kick.

I also fall into the "if everyone else is eating it, I will too" trap. Example A: Friday night I already had dinner but I went over to a friends house and ended up having pizza and cake because everyone else was too. No one was pressuring me to, yet I still did it because everyone else was. Same goes for alcoholic beveridges. I've gotten better at this one but it still happens.

Hmmm, great question @RedSassyPants !

Pre-WW, my barrier was I 'thought about losing weight' but never really considered or made a plan for doing it. My barrier was me and my procrastination. I finally overcame that and appreciated the structure WW provided for me to move beyond some amorphous concept to an actual, implementable plan.

I have a barrier with old memories. I remember attempting to run as a teen. We lived on a hill and since I wasn't of driving age, often my first runs were uphill. I still remember feeling defeated barely getting out the driveway. Of course, I could go the other way, starting on the downhill. I often did but what I remember most is the defeat I felt on the uphill portion. I guess old memories can be replaced by new ones but I haven't made those yet.

Oddly enough, even though I'm generally pretty good with time management, another barrier is making time for exercise in my day. This isn't the case all the time; there are several days when I get a good amount. However, it's common for me not to set time aside specifically for that purpose.

Second Al Howard but without the 'Headonistic" reason. My reason seems to be work related. Crazy hours seems to mean eating poorly or something good happens means stop for a beer & burger, haven't seen a friend for a while means....ETC. I manage it sometimes and sometimes I am unable. I'm planning to retire in about 6 months & I will get better control of things. I will get a less demanding or part time job however for the moment it is MTBC....

I think in the past that my biggest barrier was letting it slip away. I sorta had a barrier that I thought my body had a heavy weight that it liked as a "set point" (remember the ole "set point" theory).
I do have some some barriers in the gym as there are some activities I choose not to do. True.
Overall with WW I had a brain transplant and maybe in part by staying active with all you peeps too. I haven't had any big barriers to weight loss or maintenance and have stayed more or less within bounds. I am not "cured" but heck who is. I am mindful about it and that helps me.

I did not enjoy early morning runs so I stopped doing them. I did find riding my bike to work strangely was OK so I did that. I have figured out how to make it work for ME ME ME and that is all the difference. I don't do as much core stuff as I "should" but I don't "should" on myself so much. I do get core work pulling up on my handlebars biking and also some in yoga too.

I was so glad when I went past my "set point" without thinking about it so much. Surprised after the fact but glad just the same.

My dad was big on the the [insert your surname here] "Smiths don't say 'can't' " when we kids use to express doubts about doing something we hadn't done before. Doesn't mean you necessarily will accomplish everything but you don't start out saying "I can't".

My barrier was more just lost interest or too restrictive diet scheme. Glad I found you guys and WW.

podkey wrote: »

PS Jim I was 62 when I started this journey.

We can truly say:
We're not getting older, we're getting BETTER!

I am an emotional eater. I have worked hard at substituting something physical instead.