I have been eating well and exercising, but I have a nagging worry that maybe I'm just not meant to lose weight and reading all the statistics that cite the failure of diets, I feel like I will never be able to get the body I want. Sometimes I feel like no matter how hard I try, I will always be a blob. Does anybody else have this problem? Has anybody found a way to overcome it?
If you burn more calories than you consume, you can't help but lose weight. It's so very frustrating and scary at the beginning, but maybe try to frame it as being a healthier you rather than reaching the body you want. The road is long, so just focus on the first mile for right now rather than your destination. Pick a small goal and just work on that. For example 10 pounds, or 5% of your current body weight or 10%. Whatever feels manageable for you. Don't look up until you get there. Once you do, stop and take a look around at how far you've come! Think about how much better you feel already, how your clothes are a bit looser, how your face is a little thinner in the mirror, how you spring up from a chair rather than it taking more effort. Be proud of yourself and what you have accomplished. Then set your sights on another manageable chunk and just focus on that. Baby steps...
I used to think that way too. Positive thinking is so important to weight loss. Don't let yourself give into the negative thoughts, they will sabotage your weight loss efforts. The previous poster gave you some great advise about taking it in smaller chunks. I did that and it really helped. I knew it would take some time to get the weight off so I tried to take it ten pounds at a time. I was very determined to stick with it no matter how long it might take. Patience is so important when you have a large amount to lose. Just keep thinking positive, keep telling yourself that you can do it. It makes a huge difference.
Don't worry! I have no doubt you will be able to lose weight, it will absolutely happen if you consume less than you burn. But, I'd just like to point out that the statistics on the "failure" of diets is generally about maintenance of the weight loss, and not the "diet" itself. The problem with diets is that the general population expects there to be a beginning and and end to it, and when they "end" the diet, the weight comes back on as they resume their normal way of life, thus the "failure" of the diet. This is why we generally place so much emphasis on changing the way we live. In order to be successful you have to change your mindset from "diet" to way of life, something that you can live with for the rest of your life because it will never ever end. It took me a long time to wrap my head around that. Check out the maintenance forum, it is a wealth of information on the hard-work of maintenance and life after weight-loss. I wish you much success on your journey!
I too used to think that maybe I wasn't really capable of losing weight. Then I searched deep down, woke up and realized that losing weight IS a doable thing. It's not some hare-brained, crazy, wacky scheme. I mean - it's a proven fact. And anyone and everyone CAN do it.
Diet's DON'T work. That's why we read about them - NOT working. Diets don't work because they have a beginning and an END. We need something that continues - on and on. A whole lifestyle OVERHAUL. Not some temporary, short term "fix". Sounds corny, the whole "lifestyle bit", but it's true. It really is all about changing what we eat and how we exercise - permanently - creating a NEW normal. Throwing the old one out the window. People who are WILLING to change beat the statistics. They rise above it. Because they CHOOSE to. It is ALWAYS our own choice.
Know for sure that you too can DO this. It IS within your power. It is something that you CAN control.
I agree with rockinrobin. It is absolutely a permanent lifestyle change. It is always hard at first, but the more we achieve we realize how important it was to stay on plan both for us, and our health. I'm just starting my journey but I know exactly how you are feeling Peachykeen. I felt the same way at first. Things will get better if you keep at your plan.
but I have a nagging worry that maybe I'm just not meant to lose weight and reading all the statistics that cite the failure of diets, I feel like I will never be able to get the body I want.
This reminded me of a saying that really stuck home with me. It says "argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours". In other words, if you think or believe you can't or won't then that will be your end result. First you have to believe you CAN. Then add action to that belief (continue to eat right and exercise) and you WILL be successful!
I completely understand, it's why I jump on and off the scales as often as I do. But most diets fail not because of biochemistry, but because of psychology.
My plan, should the biochemistry ever fail, is to collect lots of data, i.e. log my food, log my exercise, calculate my calorie deficit, and then go to an expert, i.e. a doctor, give them the data and ask them to work out what's going on. So far, the weight has come off as predicted by the calories I've consumed and the exercise I've done, and probably will for you too.
You have my sympathy and my support. It is so easy to see the weight (apparently) just sliding off everyone else and wonder if it will ever happen to us.
As the others have said, it really is a simple matter of science ~ eat less, burn more and the weight will come off.
Off course there are variables in that - age, height, amount to lose, even (rarely) health conditions that hamper weightloss. There are things to remember like not to eat Too Few calories - but that's a matter of science too.
IMHO, it's a question of taking a first step - mine was a week of logging what I did eat into a tracker software, just to remind myself how far off my estimates of 'healthy eating' had become, then over the next few days bringing it back into line. Then it's just a matter of plodding on, day after day. Sorry if that sounds a bit joyless, I have lots of good days when I find clothes from 2 or 5 years ago that haven't fitted since then, but the actual healthy eating for weightloss has just had to become completely detached from feelings, even feelings of 'commitment', it's just something I do.
And yes, the more I do it, the more it works: the more it works, the more I want to do it.
Robin is so correct! Stop thinking of it as a 'diet' will help! This, for everyone here is a Lifestyle Change. Most people that talk about how diets don't work - well when you 'diet' and go back to your old habits - how can it work?
This might sound harsh and I don't mean it that way -- but that sounds a bit like an excuse in the making! I say this because I USED IT FOR YEARS "i'll always be fat, i was meant to be fat, so why bother" You'll never get anywhere thinking that -- the laws of physics DO apply to you too!!!! You eat less and exercise more, and there's no way you can't lose!! if you do it consistently and as a new way of life of course. Sure there will be ups and downs and slow periods, but it WILL eventually get you where you want to go. The defeatist mentality helps no one shine, no one!! It's true, you might not get the body you WANT (try as i might, i don't think cindy crawford is lurking in here) but you will get a body that's BETTER and STRONGER and HEALTHIER and SEXIER!!! When you feel the "blah why bother" coming on, put on some gloves and PUNCH something, it's very satisfying
I too used to think that maybe I wasn't really capable of losing weight. Then I searched deep down, woke up and realized that losing weight IS a doable thing. It's not some hare-brained, crazy, wacky scheme. I mean - it's a proven fact. And anyone and everyone CAN do it.
Diet's DON'T work. That's why we read about them - NOT working. Diets don't work because they have a beginning and an END. We need something that continues - on and on. A whole lifestyle OVERHAUL. Not some temporary, short term "fix". Sounds corny, the whole "lifestyle bit", but it's true. It really is all about changing what we eat and how we exercise - permanently - creating a NEW normal. Throwing the old one out the window. People who are WILLING to change beat the statistics. They rise above it. Because they CHOOSE to. It is ALWAYS our own choice.
Know for sure that you too can DO this. It IS within your power. It is something that you CAN control.
Worried about not being able to lose
I'm just starting my journey but I know exactly how you are feeling Peachykeen. I felt the same way at first. Things will get better if you keep at your plan.
