Anxiety

HKHill15 · January 2023

I know losing the weight is the best think and the right thing. I hate how I get so excited and am motivated for a few days and then it’s like someone shuts off my confidence and turns on the dread. Today I’ve been struggling to stay confident in my determination, but it’s so hard fighting with yourself… here’s my gratitude for the day, I am admitting that I am an emotional eater… thanks for reading.

HKHill15 · January 2023

It’s late, let the grammatical errors be.

Sinisterbarbie1 · January 2023

What is it that you dread? You might find that it is possible to lose the weight you want to lose without anything to dread if you are willing to go about the process methodically, patiently, and just weigh and record everything you eat keeping within the calorie limit suggested by mfp. If you don’t try to lose too fast or make changes to your lifestyle too extremely too quickly it can work. I lost79 lbs in about 2 years (part of it before joining mfp, part after) just doing the above. You might be excited and confident for a few days only to run out of steam because you are subscribing to a lose 20 lbs in 2 weeks mindset which is unsustainable.

snowflake954 · January 2023

Exactly what @Sinisterbarbie1 said. When newbies are all motivated and gungho, they tend to run out of steam and then are disappointed. You will have more success creating new habits (like brushing your teeth, showering, etc..). First off get your daily calorie goal and a digital food scale. Start weighing and measuring all your food and drink. Stay within that daily goal. Be patient and persistent. It's not glamorous--but it works. Look at your food diary after a week. Are there some changes you could make? Maybe substitute a lower calorie food for something else? However, I believe in eating good and tasty food. Cutting calories should not be a punishment. Eat well, but less.

After a while you'll just naturally go towards fruit and veggies to fill, because they're lower calorie. Try to do some movement. Walking is great to start. Movement is for health and will burn a few more calories. You don't have to be a gym-rat to lose.

Good luck to you and never give up.

LiveOnceBeHappy · January 2023

Do you turn to alcohol to help with your anxiety? That’s been a go-to for me, and it always causes me to gain weight. I drink to calm myself and then I eat way too much and then I don’t sleep well and then I’m more stressed and anxious. I find when I stop drinking, life is actually a lot calmer. Oh, and bring in control of my body helps me with my anxiety too. I can control what I put into it. I also find a little movement, riding a bike or walking intentionally, helps too.

88olds · January 2023

Great thread. There’s this thing that happens where folks want to avoid emotional eating but embrace emotional weight loss. But weight loss is really mostly about problem solving.

A couple of thoughts- there’s every reason to have confidence in what you’re doing. Calorie counting works. It has to work, it’s how our bodies are designed. Actually we’re designed to store extra calories as fat to help survive hard times. Fortunately the hard times have not arrived for most of us.

But just like consuming excess calories puts on weight, eating in a calorie deficit will draw down what we’ve stored. Folks sometimes come on here insisting that they just can’t lose weight. But that would mean they are immune to starvation. Can’t happen.

So what’s the problem? Either the numbers aren’t right or they can’t find a way to live with the process. Both of those things can take time. Weight loss involves a lot of trial and error. The resulting frustration drives a lot (most?) people to quit. Don’t quit. You are doing the right thing.

Give yourself plenty of time to tinker with the numbers and adjust to the process. There’s a fairly long calorie counting learning curve. Keep your food diary going no matter what. Over your number? Log it. Even crazy over, log that too. No throwing up your hands and quitting. No vows to start over tomorrow. Everything gets logged. Over your number is a problem to solve for next time. Try to fix it. You’ll probably find that certain problems repeat. Keep working. Solve enough problems problems and you’ll get to goal.

And beware of your own brain. You can already see that the voice in your head is trying to undermine your efforts. Don’t be distressed. Everyone has negative thoughts. Unfortunately there’s no way to stop them. But you don’t need to give in to negativity. Push back. Give yourself credit for your successes. Every single .2 lbs lost is a positive step. Every day you keep your food diary is a good day. You’ll see, motivation comes and goes. Determination will see you through.

HKHill15 · January 2023

Thank you so much for the kind words and advice. I love the planning part of being healthy, it’s implementing it that stays to make me nervous. I have always had a hard time being flexible and I feel hunk that is what I need to just tell myself to get over is an pick up the damn weights or sit on the bike.

BainD7 · January 2023

I'm an emotional eater too. I have a hard time when I don't count my calories. I was on here once before and lost 30 pounds. I was so excited that I quit the program and thought I can do this on my own. I was wrong. I gained back 10 pounds of fat. Ugh!! Now I'm back and trying to keep focus on my calories. I need to stick to the program. Maybe we can help each other to stay focused if you would like?

Anxiety

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