I Feel Fat and I'm Not Sure Why

lisakatz2 wrote: »

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

Corina1143 wrote: »

My very wise dietitian told me:
Take 100 calories a day for what you WANT, rather than need. Your soul needs it. It can be a mini candy bar or bite of ice cream if you're a sweets person. Or it can be full fat milk instead of skim(my personal choice).

lol @ a BITE of ice cream that’s like saying have only 1 chip…….

I concur about the ice cream thing. I find it difficult to portion out ice cream. One spoonful isn't satisfying to me. One thing I think I can do is go to my local gelato shop and get the "kiddie" size cup,
which is quite small, much smaller than the adult small. It's been hotter than hell here in L.A. and I've been craving a cold dessert.

Update, I'm down to 183.5. Tomcustombuilder said I should feel better and better as I lose weight, but I don't feel it yet. My hips and stomach have stayed the same, and I'm still very much overweight........I can scarcely believe that I used to be 120 (110 at one point in my life). 63.5 lbs is a lot of weight. On some days I still feel low, but staying consistent with my calorie intake keeps me going both mentally and physically.

I kind of agree with Tom about feeling better along the way, but I also kind of don't.

Clarifying: I think it happens. I think there can be many NSVs (non-scale victories) along the way to goal, if we have our antennas up for them, too - and they can be motivating or encouraging.

But: I think the true overall "feeling better" sinking in (beyond some smaller NSVs) is going to take a decent chunk of pounds before it happens. Ten pounds, 20 pounds, maybe 25 pounds for serious overall feelings, maybe? And that takes a while.

Plus, I think for some of us there is that "need to tune in" thing. It's easy to turn one's attention to the discouragement side, the amount left to go, or similar. It can take consciously focusing on the positives to notice them.

You're down 13 pounds from March to when you started this thread, and another 3.5 since then, so 16.5. That's wonderful, significant . . . but honestly probably not life-changing all by itself. The initial honeymoon is maybe over, and revolutionary quality of life improvement hasn't happened.

This is maybe the "how committed are you?" phase. How to push through that is pretty individual. A few things I can think of are:

* Focusing on sustainability, the learning and practicing new habits part. If that involves losing even more slowly, that's potentially OK. (I think I said something similar earlier in the thread. )
* If you haven't already, maybe read the whole NSVs thread from the beginning (chip away at it). See what other people noticed and liked en route. Maybe that'll help.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv/p1
* Maybe consider a gratitude bullet journal. That's taking a tiny number of minutes every day to think of and write down 3 or 5 positive things - maybe accomplishments or results that flow from your health-improvement efforts, but really anything you're grateful for or feel good about.

That's kind of lame, but it's what I've got. At some point(s), long term gradual improvement efforts of any nature are likely to feel like a bit of a slog . . . at least that's been my experience. IMO, character arises (or reveals itself) from how we respond in those circumstances. Keep going. Find ways to keep going.

Best wishes, sincerely.

I use cocoa powder, Ghiradelli dark chocolate or rxbar minis (chocolate sea salt & peanut butter chocolate) when I get a hankerin for chocolate. I will be 63 in November and also sometimes get caught up in the coulda, woulda, shoulda game. I hope you enjoy your trip!