Losing weight when you don’t live alone

Cj833
Cj833 Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So long story short, I got out of a not healthy ending relationship and for a short time was living by myself and lost 25-30 pounds. My mom was diagnosed with cancer and couldn’t work during treatments and I’ve moved in with her. It’s been about a year and a half. The first six months I maintained my weight mostly. She was doing radiation and I had to take care of her a lot. She doing better now and has regained quite an appetite. I’ve gained back almost all the weight in this last year. It’s hard to avoid temptation when there’s always junk food that I love around, or taking food that my mom makes with lots of bread butter and salt etc. And I feel stuck and don’t know how to motivate myself again to start losing weight. I can’t just get rid of the food in the house that isn’t good for me because I share the house with my mom and two teenage siblings. I feel like I don’t have any self control - I love food! Especially salty savory foods. Sweet foods aren’t even my problem.

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,261 Member
    That's such a personal journey. During covid lockdowns especially in the beginning I put on 25 lbs and what helped me was the reopening of the local gym and just getting out back into something I enjoyed spurred on my engagement into other activities mostly outdoors. The sun, fresh air and contact with the earth elevated my mood and got be out of that twilight zone, and now back to the weight I like and with some added muscle. Cheers and hope you get a handle on your funk.
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    I'm glad your mom is doing better. Doesn't mean you have to eat food that you don't want to.

    After years, even decades of trying to get my bride to stop preparing meals that were heavy on dough, potatoes, pasta and rice, I started cooking my own meals just for me when I decided to try to lower my carbs again. After 48 years together, she didn't care for sharing 'her' kitchen one little bit. Complained over and over about the space in the fridge being taken up by my junk (broccoli, spinach, etc.), and whoa be it to me if I left the new digital food scale out on the counter. Now that I've lost over 80 lbs, she has stopped her complaining. There is still a half gallon of ice cream and frozen pizza in the freezer, 11 different types of high carb crackers in the pantry sitting by 15 different kinds of chips (I just went and counted) for her snacks in between the OMAD she does. Doesn't mean I have to eat any of it, and as long as I'm getting enough healthy food daily, I don't desire to eat any of it. (To be honest, those peanut M&Ms on the counter are hard to stay away from. I do the best I can though.)

    That's just part of the package of living with others. Its great if everyone eats the same healthy foods, but as an adult, you can decide what and when you will eat.
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    You are an adult and in charge of what you put in your mouth. My elderly mother lived with me the last 4 1/2 years of her life, which was good for both of us. I cooked the evening meal, generally with a shared meat/protein entree, large salad for me and small for her, and she got the potato or other starch. She bought her own cookies/treats, and I didn't eat them because they weren't mine. After she was gone, it was harder, because I no longer had someone to cook for and share a proper sit-down meal. When it's just one, it's so much easier to just pick something out of the fridge or cupboard, instead of a preparing something balanced. I hope you find a solution to your situation.

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Just eat less of it. Count your calories and stay within your goal. I eat junk food everyday (chips, dried fruit, fast food of some sort) but account for the calories so I don't gain.

    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
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