Struggle you’ve faced when starting healthy behavior change

KeannaSullivan
KeannaSullivan Posts: 1 Member
edited October 2018 in Getting Started
What challenges have you guys been facing when starting the first stage of your fitness journey?
Are you having trouble with diet?
Trouble with finding the time to exercise?
What struggles have you faced this week?
What are your successes?

What do you plan on doing differently for next week?

Replies

  • jondspen
    jondspen Posts: 253 Member
    At first, the biggest problems were avoiding injuries when exercising and breaking food habits (junk, late night snacks, etc). Finding the time can be a challenge, but there are ways around that (morning/night routines, during commercials, on lunch break, after work, etc). I would say staying with the habit (healthy scheduled meals, exercise) is more difficult mentally than finding time for it.

    I am down almost 30 lbs. I am shooting to be under 160 before the new year, and hit my goal weight of 155 sometime next year.
  • ebert5150
    ebert5150 Posts: 135 Member
    The hardest thing for me is snacking in the evening. We basically got rid of all the junk food in the house, and that helped quite a bit. I've lost just over 40 pounds and I guess keeping in mind that this has to be a life long change, not a diet. Differently? Hmmm....adding more exercise to go with the healthy eating.
  • sam1993higgins
    sam1993higgins Posts: 4 Member
    I feel like the toughest part is maintaining regular exercise habits. That’s why I am a massive advocate of group training. There is no better motivation than finding a group of like-minded people who support, encourage and push you to keep improving. A support network is key and being accountable to one another can also play an important role in my opinion.
  • FitnTrimSteve
    FitnTrimSteve Posts: 664 Member
    The first struggle is getting time to exercise. But my biggest struggle is staying on plan because I'm the only one in the family trying to lose weight so the meals aren't the best for me, we eat out a lot, and my mother and mother-in-law only seem to know how to cook high fat foods. I'd almost rather not eat when we go visit either side of the family.
  • ata1anta
    ata1anta Posts: 115 Member
    I don't have trouble finding the TIME to exercise, more like ACTUALLY DOING IT. It's much easier on work days, we have a gym at work and I park at that entrance. I go in in sweats and have to walk through the gym to get to my section so that means I have no excuse. The days I don't go into the office, it's much easier to put it off and off and off....

    Resting the snackerings at work is hard. In the kitchenette right now is a tray of danish from this morning's meetings, I expect there will be a plate of cookies from the lunch session. But since I am within kissing distance of 80 lbs down (almost half way!!), it's a little easier to just say no.
  • lolly2414
    lolly2414 Posts: 186 Member
    I struggle with late night snacking. I'm not opposed to having a late night snack if I'm hungry, but for some reason late at night I want to grab higher calorie "junk" food instead of a healthier snack. Also, most of my exercise is walking outside and now that the weather is getting colder I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to actually go outside and walk. I've went from walking almost everyday to walking about 3 days per week.

    My biggest success is that I don't feel the need to snack much during the day anymore. So I can eat higher calorie lunches and dinners and don't feel so limited for meals.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    I have to keep reminding myself that I can never return to my unhealthy habits
  • adamwatt305
    adamwatt305 Posts: 35 Member
    I had to completely overhaul my diet and start actually thinking about what I’m consuming and not just shovelling any old rubbish in.

    Also I had to find a gym which suited me and could offer good advice and not just take my money and leave me alone.

    Then as everyone I suspect had a battle with myself to stop reaching for sugary snacks and start eating healthy nutritious food and also fit in exercise.

    It annoys me when people say just stop eating rubbish and start moving more when you have to fit all this in to your life. Which I have done but it is definitely not easy to begin with until it becomes routine.
  • Lukdbestucan16
    Lukdbestucan16 Posts: 168 Member
    My biggest problem is not giving in into Cravings.
    I just feel miserable (lol) when the cravings torment me till I get it and mind you never in moderation.
    As for exercise some days it's soo hard to get to the gym, and some days one feels really lazy at the gym.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    Too many tomorrows; I kept putting off the start. I made this time work because there are less of them; I wanted to turn 60 in good shape or I feared I never would. I started while I was 58. I turn 60 in a couple of months. I lost ~65 pounds and got into "I can't believe that's me" physical shape. I should have turned 50 like this or even 40. But there were too many tomorrows. I did make some runs at it and yoyo'ed; I didn't always fail to start. Sometimes I failed to finish. It has to be important enough.
  • poole8686
    poole8686 Posts: 3 Member
    I agree with ‘CarvedTones’, it has to be important enough. Loosing weight has to be important enough for me to shop with a list and prepare all my food weekly so I don’t have to think about what to eat at mealtimes. It has to be important enough for me to ignore those voices in my head: “You’ve worked hard, grab a candy bar.” Or “Hey that’s the Dairy Queen, let’s get a peanut buster parfait.” It has to be important enough to compel me to the gym knowing that once I get there, I’ll love it. So, yeah, the most difficult thing about the behavior change is deciding it’s important enough, I’m important enough.

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