I've noticed, in myself at least, that more often than not, the problems I have with my weight loss is more mental than it is physical. Even with being clinically obese, I'm in pretty good shape physically. I can keep up with my skinny friends/don't get tired very often. I enjoy exercise. I hate sitting around the house and I love to go out and do things. I always have energy.

But mentally, I have a problem controlling the quantity of what I eat and the unhealthy food I eat. I have tried dieting several times before, but I failed. The reason for this, I believe, is because I was mentally looking at it wrong. I was looking for a quick fix, so I could lose the weight and then go back to eating whatever I wanted. To me, eating healthy was a temporary thing. But this time, I've finally broken through my mental blocks and admitted that I'm not dieting, I'm making a lifestyle change. If I want to lose weight, and keep it off, I am going to have to have a healthy mind frame for the rest of my life. I don't get to quit eventually. Living healthy is a til death sort of thing.

I have a food addiction. I love food, a little too much. If I don't keep my self in check mentally it is so easy to fall back into old habits. It's a struggle at times, but I constantly remind myself that the end result will be more than worth it.

Does anyone have any mental struggles like me? Same or different?

I have the same problem. I love food, I love the way it tastes, and most of the time my idea in my head of being able to relax is eating, and smoking cigarettes. I have two really bad mental addictions that I'm trying to work on.

I've also found that when I'm stressed out I go and buy Taco Bell or big bag of junk food from the gas station and I sit down and watch TV and I feel better. Except in the end this piled 30 pounds on my petite frame.

I feel your pain! It's a struggle, but we can get through it one day at a time!

It's definitely a difficult process to start viewing food as a fuel rather than a drug. The "mental" struggle is still largely physical, though, in my opinion. The flush of happy brain chemicals one gets from sweet /fattening/calorie dense foods is extremely habit forming for some. There is an immediate positive feedback response for eating unhealthy foods and an uncomfortable craving shortly after.

The amazing thing that I didn't realize when I started this process is that once you taper off the binge eating, cut out the excess sugar, and eat whole foods, it gets way simpler within a few weeks. The cravings diminish for me as I cheat less.

However, in my experience it's still really easy to fall off the wagon if I'm not strict with myself and let pleasure eating start to creep back up on me. Making an exception to your rules is all well and good (moderation in all things), but it's also the time when you are most at risk. I've had that one day cheat meal for a holiday turn into a cheat weekend turn into "just one more of x before I get back to normal", which is the mindset of addiction.

One thing that helped me a lot is eating very slowly and really trying to focus on the taste and experience of food as much as possible. When you are aware of yourself when you eat, you not only enjoy the food more (if it's actually good), you are satisfied with less and are not likely to want to overindulge.

I think that this might be the case because quickly and mindlessly binging is the most effective way to alter your brain chemistry to happy. It doesn't even matter if the food is good when it's used this way. I got morbidly obese as a child eating Tony's frozen pizzas and loaves of plain dry bread and the like, neither of which are particularly appetizing when not abused. If I tried to slowly indulge on a Tony's now I would probably not eat more than a small slice, because I'd actually taste it

Taco Bell is a weakness of mine too. Lately I've taken to trying to only have 'one' of whatever I'm eating. If I go to Taco Bell, I get one soft taco and that's it. If I want a Kolache, I can have one, and that's it. It's a very hard thing to do especially when I used to get four soft tacos and three Kolaches.

It's like reteaching myself to eat correctly, haha.

But you're absolutely right! One day at a time!

I came to the exact same conclusion! Things have gotten much easier now I've realised this, I doubt I will ever be one of those people who can maintain their weight with no effort (calorie counting, regular exercise) but rather than letting it get me down it has made me realise at least it IS in my control. It's not 'genes' or 'big bones' it's choices.
I still struggle, I battle my greed and desire for fast unhealthy food in large quantities lol I win and lose battles every day, but I will win the war!! <-- lol epic cheesiness

I also do that! Especially if it is something that I know has a lot of calories in it, so I have to eat less of it. Eating it slowly helps me enjoy it more and stomp down my want for more.

I still have trigger foods I struggle with, like muffins, cookies and anything overly sugary. So for the mean time I am avoiding them like the plague until I am mentally strong enough to only have one. Right now, I don't think I could. It's still even hard to refuse people when they offer it to me. But with time comes progress.

Exactly! The hardest part of starting my weight loss journey was admitting to myself that I am where I am because of my lack of self control. I let myself become this way, and only I can fix it.

We all need a little epic cheesiness in our lives, haha!!

This is the right way to do it I think. The best way to set-up a weight loss failure is to start permanently forbidding things. While I've heard before that people who struggle with food have it more difficult than other "addicts" because obviously you still have to eat daily, but I also look at the positive which is the fact that you know you can enjoy the things that make you feel good in moderation in the future.

Also, during weight loss it's really easy to stunt your progress with a few ill-placed cheat meals or desserts, because shedding fat is no easy task. During maintenance, I think the moderation thing works easier/comes more naturally as long as you continue exercising a decent amount. I'm not implying that maint. is easy or anything, but I still don't intend to be quite as strict as I am right now.

That is SO true! I never tell myself I can't have something because it makes me want it more. I always tell myself, if I'm out of points for the day (I do Weight Watchers) I can always have it tomorrow. It's not going anywhere. And, when I wait, it always tastes so much better because it has a side of accomplishment.

Not only was it bad for me, but I spent all my extra money on it. I would spend like 8-10 dollars on myself alone. Now I just spend up my money before I get a chance to get it. No worries, I put it towards good things like I'm getting an oil change this week, and buying a new bulb for my right turn signal. It helps me become more responsible and it also helps me lose weight.

I'm loving re-teaching myself to eat. I break down.. but I just dust myself up and pick back up. I try not to be too strict so I don't give up. So right now I've cut out fast food, and next is anything besides water, coffee, and tea for drinks.


But whats worse: exercising! I'm so lazy, and its really hard to push myself to do it if I don't want to. As much as I love food, I can work around the stuff I like for the most part, and it gets easier and easier but finding time and stopping myself from making excuses for exercising I'm pretty ashamed.

I made excuses for the exercise front FOREVER. Even after I had done it off and on a bit. If you take a weekend to psych yourself up about it, do some stretches, and then commit to going to the gym for all 5 weekdays no matter what, you may be surprised at how much easier it becomes to go to the gym from that point on.

Going to the gym at the beginning of a routine is TORTURE when you are overweight. However, the body adapts way more quickly than you would expect. The exercise becomes less miserable as your cardio fitness increases, and it increase really quickly at the beginning.

When you first start, it can feel miserable even after you are done with the workout. However, when you are into a routine a bit and not so fatigued from being out of shape, you will feel such an energy boost after the gym and be very clearheaded. The more you exercise, the easier it becomes to do more exercise. If it stayed as difficult as it was for beginners, everybody would be coming up with some kind of excuse to keep themselves away from it

I actually have a treadmill, and stationary bike at home (even worse, the stationary bike is sitting in my room) and I never get on them. I have weights for strength training, yet I never use them! It's a pretty sad affair. My treadmill is actually serving as a catch all right now, but I plan to clean that up today and get on it. What would you recommend for starting out cardio? I don't want to push myself too far but even so I'm not that far off on being out of shape, as I do get on it occassionally.

My main excuses are "I worked too long today and didn't have a chance." Even though I stay up 3+ hours after work. Or I have to much to do if I get off at a decent time (4-5pm). Honestly, I need to get it in gear. I could avoid all these excuses by planning my routine, goodness I have my schedule for the next two weeks already!! I know that once I get it going as a routine and get used to it, it won't be nearly so hard. I did this once when I was in high school, and got down to 98lbs!! I was a fitness obsessed! I think I did 500-750 crunches every single day and 30 minutes of cardio every single day not mention countless sqauts, weights, and push ups. I never let myself skip a single day and I really saw some results. Maybe I should just keep that in mind

Haha yeah once you get going and see results it motivates you further. I am a firm believer in the run/walk approach to cardio, even when you are very fit.

What I have done since I was 320lb and still do is actually relatively simple: Run faster than you can actually sustain but slower than a full sprint. Doing a workout based on distance instead of time simplifies it. The 5k(3.12mi) is a pretty good starting distance. Simply run at a good pace that pushes your heart rate to 80% or more of its maximum, and when you simply cannot sustain it anymore, slow to a walk (2.5-3.5mph). Once you have recovered back to a reasonable heart rate, resume running and raise the HR right back up. As you get into your routine, the running intervals naturally get longer so that there is less walking. Likewise, as you get more fit, your HR will lower during your runs until you need to increase the speed to push yourself. I like to jump right into 4-5x+ a week cardio routines cause I find it to be less difficult that way.

Another thing I found with cardio that may just be a personal thing is that when beginning a cardio routine, it feels terrible right around the .3 to .4 mile mark, despite being early in the run. If you push through it and don't lower the speed, your legs stop aching so much by the .6-.7 mark and you are likely to get those flushes of good tingly feelings associated with the "runners high" as you continue longer.

I think run/walk is ideal because you can always push yourself harder simply by trying to sustain your pace for just a little bit longer. The long, aerobic cardio routines of maintaining a pace and a medium heart rate for long periods of time to me is boring, stressful, and doesn't produce the same results as the anaerobic, high heart rate intervals that I run.

I can certainly relate to all of this. Never give up!

Make sure you're letting yourself eat healthy foods that you actually enjoy! After a while you'll be craving a bowl of blueberries or a skim milk and banana smoothie!