How did you get through the beginning?

It's not just the beginning, you have to "restart" every time you fall into bad habits. Bad habits are comfortable, hard work and dedication feel a bit uncomfortable.

I am all about momentum. If you can power through just ONE good day, you can push yourself through to another. Eventually you have so many good days under your belt that the thought of letting yourself down becomes unthinkable. Eventually it becomes habit.

But bad habits are ALWAYS lurking. We all have to stay strong. Balance our lives, find enjoyment, but we must always battle our inner demons. Doesn't matter if it's the beginning or the middle, because there is no real "end". One day you'll have to maintain and still fight the same inner demons. It just gets easier with time as you learn yourself and your body.

I’ll “weigh in” on this topic. I would step on the scale. I am a daily weigher. When I am home I weigh in every morning, naked, first thing after using the potty. If I am not at home I don’t worry about it. I know I am making progress because of the weight loss.

But if you would get hung up on the numbers I don’t advise this. Some people get fixated on the numbers and can’t handle the daily ups and downs.

I also took measurements at one point. I need to find the measuring tape and check those again. I’m 20+ pounds down and surely have lost some inches. Also my clothes are loose, some too loose.

Sometimes we just have bad days or weeks. This last week I have had a horrible need to eat. Eat everything. I just wanted to eat. Eat, eat, eat. Today I think I am finally over that, but I had several days where I ate well over my daily calories – including the exercise I did. I controlled it as best I could, but you know the urges overcome us sometimes. It's important that we get back on track when we have rough days.

I’m taking it nice and easy. I am trying to lose a pound a week this year. If I didn’t know my starting weight I wouldn’t know how I am doing. Of course, I have a lot of weight to lose; Fifty two pounds will just get me to the point where I try to pick an ultimate goal.

When I started this time around (30 days ago) I was TERRIFIED to step on the scale. I was positive. POS-IT-IVE that I was 10-30lbs higher than when I tried to lose weight but bombed last September. (My birthday was in the second week and I fell off the wagon and never got back on). Turns out I was almost the exact same weight as last year, but fear of the scale and stress made me feel so much bigger. I had planned on trying to eat at a deficit for three months before stepping on a scale but it kept calling me and calling me and after about 4 days of deficit I screwed up my courage and stepped on the scale. I almost cried with relief when I saw the number. I jumped around and danced and laughed my @$$ off because fear had almost kept my perception completely skewed.
After that I had the confidence to take all my measurements and then I was able to really kick off my weight loss with a vengeance.

I'm eating at slightly higher calories than I did the last few times I tried to lose weight and the scale is moving at half the speed so here are a few things I do to stay motivated and not get discouraged.

1) This is probably the most important one for me. ALWAYS remember that the science is sound. Calories In vs Calories Out. CICO. Eat fewer calories than you burn and you WILL lose weight. Whether you do that by IIFYM, paleo, vegan, keto, whatever, doesn't matter. Find whatever is sustainable for you, but the END GAME is eating fewer calories than you burn. Carbs can bloat you, salt can bloat you, TOM can bloat you, water retention from weight lifting can bloat you. So when the scale doesn't move for weeks on end, just remember that if you are tracking your food intake closely and you are sure you are in a deficit then you ARE losing weight.
I can go 3 weeks out of the month showing no weight loss or even a 3lb gain just because I hold onto water weight like crazy.

2) Measure EVERYTHING. Neck, shoulders, bust, underbust, biceps, forearm, waist, tummy, hips, upper thigh, main thigh, calfs.
Why? Because when the scale doesn't move you can still be smaller than you were before. I thought measuring your neck was excessive until the day I saw mine was a quarter inch smaller and I took it as a win. You just never know what part of you might be shifting.

3) Eat and workout sustainably. Eat things you like. Exercise by doing things you enjoy, because if you're miserable the whole time then you'll probably be desperate for "cheat meals/days" and won't want to continue on when you fall off the wagon because weightloss will be a painful and unhappy experience for you. We instinctively want to stay away from things that cause us discomfort.

Don't wait for other people to comment or notice your body. Do it for YOU. Notice your own changes. Take progress photos and see how you change. Examine your body in the mirror and enjoy the minor teeny tiny changes. They will eventually be big changes.

And most importantly, don't give up. A bad day or week or even month isn't a failure. It's just life. And life goes on, so refocus and keep on keeping on!