Starting my journey

gwenpagano · October 25

Started about a month ago this is harder than I thought it was gonna be looking for advice

wm3796 · October 25

Try few small changes each week then add another one or two changes after your first few stick. Example, try to cut out or decrease drinks with sugar or added calories for water, flavored water etc. Try to increase your vegetables at most meals which can crowd out room for higher calorie foods. Look at your snacking habits and see if you could reduce snacks between meals. Those are just examples. Start with small doable steps and just keep adding as you start to manage those habits. I found trying to do it all at once was difficult and much more likely to fail.
Come up with your own list and try couple and then keep adding. Best wishes for success!

cmriverside · October 25

It was hard for me in the beginning because:

I was used to eating whatever I wanted whenever I thought of it
I knew next to nothing about actual nutrition and what I needed (not what I WANTED)
I had to come up with strategies for social events
I had to start making most of my meals from scratch, with whole foods
I had to get some kind of exercise regularly

During all this, I was angry at myself for letting myself get so out of control that I had 80 pounds to lose. It seemed like a mountain.

Like all mountains, I climbed it one step at a time.

:flowerforyou: you can too. It's worth it, you're worth it.

Log your food - the good and the not-as-good days. Don't stop doing that.

AnnPT77 · October 25

Can you be more specific about what your personal challenges are now? That might help us help you.

Most people find weight loss hard, at some times and in some ways. Weight loss - especially if a person wants to keep excess weight off - is about finding new, reasonably achievable/happy new habits. That's going to be hard, because change IS hard. But the exact "hard" can differ from one person to the next.

Others above have give you good advice.

The only generic thing I'd add to that: Don't make the process any harder than it absolutely needs to be. Making it harder increases risk of failure.

What do I mean?

It seems like a lot of people arrive here believing that fast weight loss is successful weight loss, so they cut calories aggressively.

They may've read all the clickbait trendy nonsense out in the blogosphere or tabloids, and think they need extreme restrictive eating rules, so they eat all superfoods (even the ones they find yucky), permanently eliminate treats, fast food, junk food, etc. Maybe they think they must restrict eating hours to lose weight (fasting), cut out all carbs, etc. (Some people benefit from those strategies, or need to go there for health conditions, but more people jump on those bandwagons than need to do so if their only goal is weight loss.)

On top of that, many people will add some kind of punitively intense, miserable daily exercise schedule, falling for the "no pain, no gain" nonsense.

Misery is optional. Misery-triggering strategies make success more difficult for most people.

Think about how to make it easier: Gradual loss; practical, tasty foods that add up to reasonable calories and average to overall good nutrition; enjoyable (at least tolerable/practical) ways of moving more in daily life (not just exercise).

Will it be easy? Nope, probably not. But harder isn't better. Having gained excess weight isn't a sin we need to expiate by suffering.

We just need different (better) long term habits, tolerable ones. Details will differ individually.

Starting my journey

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