Hi everyone,

I am back on the bandwagon, and I am serious this time! I only lasted a week last time, which I know is pathetic, however I went too hard at the gym and really hurt myself. I tore the muscles in my back really badly after surgery and it has taken months for me to not feel pain in simple little movements.

Following my accident in the gym, the people who owned the gym denied all knowledge and liability, despite seeing me injure myself during a PT session. This left me feeling really negative about everything; food, exercise, weight loss, the gym, my life in general. I was in a real rut.

It has taken me a few months to get out of this rut, and I used Christmas to be my last hurrah with regard to binge eating. Today is my first day back on the bandwagon. I am following a great food program originally devised by the gym, I have done 30 minutes of pilates and I am feeling ok physically, but mentally I am struggling already I sort of feel like I am going to fail, because it is what I have always done.

I guess the reason I am posting is because I need the motivation, support, inspiration and education on how to lose weight and master the negative self talk. I am only young, I would love to lose 20kg, I want to learn healthy habits and pass this onto my partner and future children. I am newly engaged, I want to look good for my wedding and just be healthy for once in my life.

Medically I am fine, no diabetes or anything, my cholesterol is a little high, but nothing to panic about at this stage. Any words of advice would be great. As I said, I followed the diet plan to a T, and which means eating 6 small meals a day, which is more food than I am used to, but I can feel my mind trying to trick me into being hungry, making me want to binge

Sorry for the essay, if you feel like you have any words of wisdom, please share!

Thanks for reading

Hi, welcome back on the Wagon. the good news I think is that there is always room! I am on week 3 of the Ideal Protein Protocol and I find the urges not to overeat very challenging, so I completely understand where you are coming from. What is helping me these days is the constant (and it needs to be constant) reminder that if I want my life to be better, it needs to start from me. The fear of failure is always there in the back of my mind, but every minute that goes by that I don't cheat on my plan it is minute of victory! I have been carrying a water bottle everywhere, taking a sip every few minutes is helping me to keep my mouth occupied with things other than food!

The reality is... you know it well... you can do it and your brain is playing tricks with you. Tell your brain to switch teams and get on the winning caldawg89 team!!! Keep posting on this thread if you can to show your victories of the hour! Best, Tee

Hello and welcome! I battle with negative self speak too, and have been battling it for years now (most likely most of my life though). That stuff is not easy! But there's one thing your intro made me remember from a discussion with a childcare specialist I know. He said something like: No, you don't "always ---". "Always" is a crappy word to use about humans, because humans don't really "always" anything. It's a word that lazy parents use to criticize their children and probably mess them up in the process. So no, you "don't always ---". And you probably never did.

Good luck!