JohnP. Thinking about it helped me greatly. You are very much missing the forest for the trees.

They are BOTH important goals that many people want to accomplish. That critical, essential, fundamental similarity is where I drew strength. It helped VERY much to draw on the one success to help my weight loss.

Accomplishing something important in and of itself is the thing you can draw strength from. Then you figure out how to do it. Of course the details are going to differ.

I get what you're saying that you can draw strength from succuss in one area and apply it to another. I agree. This is completely different from the point I was trying to make.

I am in no way diminishing the goal or difficulty involved in getting an advanced degree.

I wasn't trying to compare getting a degree to losing weight. Obviously they are 2 different things. But both take a long time, require daily focused attention and are difficult to achieve without proper commitment and follow through. The reason I brought it up is because when I ask myself the question "why can't I do this?" I'm liable to feel down on myself, like I can't accomplish what I really want. It's easy to think of yourself like a failure when you've failed at everything. But I'm not a failure, I've achieved much, including starting and running my own business as you say. Surely I don't lack skills of committment, perseverence, motivation, focus, and intelligence. Did you watch the Ted talk of Dan Ariely?

I haven't but I will. I enjoy Ted talks quite a bit.

I see what you're saying I thought you were implying they were comparable.

The deadline aspect of weight loss seems to be a confounding factor. There is none.

I've seen many people on these boards with total motivation due to a special event like a reunion or wedding only to regain after the event. Before this it was probably "I'll get started tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow ... "

People are motivated by pain and pleasure, short term. Obviously you already know this.

This is why I want someone to invent the Diet Pleasurenator 3000 (TM)! The Pleasurenator would give you incredibly intense and immediate pleasure whenever you eat on-plan foods. It would be wired directly into the pleasure centers of the brain and welded onto the head like a tiara. Now with Swarovski crystals!

Mrs Snark, although these are wonderful inventions, would you instead consider a machine that would allow a person to eat their body weight in pizza and peanut butter and not gain an ounce?

This actually brought me to tears! I'm not an emotional person typically, but this was a very comforting thing to read when I'm feeling so defeated.


Everyone's comments were so encouraging and positive, I really felt so supported from everyone, thank you all so much.

My baby will be 4 months the weekend after Thanksgiving. And like so many of you said, I really need to remember that before being so hard on myself. I feel like since dieting requires not eating that in a way its not something I have to *do* but rather something I *don't* have to do, and therefore should be easy and require no extra effort.

But as was so accurately pointed out, not only does it take extra thought to diet (count measure etc) but there is an instant reward when going off plan, meanwhile the reward for staying on plan is off in the distant future.

I, too, am driven in other areas of my life. I'm a type A personality, organized and efficent...accpet with eating. Food is my place where chaos ensues...

Whoever invents this will be an incredibly intense success and immediate billionaire.

...and the inventor of THIS machine will be a trillionaire.

F.

Why would people think that they have complete control over what they eat? There are social, financial, cultural and personal factors that restrict our dietary availability and options.

I mean, do we have complete control over anything in our lives?

I am currently maintaining, but my dietary vices still exist within me and I have to tailor how I eat by those vices. I know what all the healthy foods are--but if I don't like some of it (or a lot of it), I am not going to force my self to consume it.

It's the same as the Masters degree. You might be able to get a degree in one subject, but not in another subject because you lack the requisite skillset, interest, etc.

The pleasurenator haha! We can all use a little more pleasure why not.

The problem with dieting is that gratification is delayed. Not only that but dieting also causes instant ungratification in the form of hunger/moodiness/deprivation.

Overeating is not good but why you are not eating. Its a kind of mental situation that you are passing from. Remember health and fitness is part of our lives.

I disagree on a lot of the viewpoints in the last dozen posts. People are not all motivated by short term pleasure and pain. Humans very much have the ability to plan long-term and be motivated by it. Of course this varies person to person and probably within an individual at various times.

But having adopted our daughter and realizing I might not be around for her in 15-20 years that was a huge motivation.

I also disagree with what you eat and exercise not having immediate benefits. I feel AWESOME, just AWESOME right after I work out and sometimes and increasingly during it. I also used to feel bloated, sick, and nauseous after fast food meals.

I am a bit over half way to my goal weight and I don't need to get there to be reaping the benefits. I feel so much better each moment of each day, it has been worth it a thousand times over changing my bad habits.

People are motivated long-term. Or at least I am, but I know I am not unique. And lifestyle changes can and do feel good AS you are doing them. Eating healthy can feel good, even great. I think it is a very bad, and untrue trap, that only 'bad' food tastes 'good'.

I have found this to be not my case at all. In fact exactly the opposite.

When I was eating badly I was hungry all the time. Now that I have better habits I am truly free of that hunger. Especially the INTENSE hunger after a fast food meal.

My mood has improved a million times. Much better mood, MUCH clearer thinking. No sense of deprivation at all. And the energy? Oh the energy. No more three o'clock blahs.

I had to bridge a month to two month period of gradually going from bad habits to good. That wasn't always fun. But once you get pass that....Oh my goodness, among the best things I ever did.

While we are capable of long term motivation, dieting for some people is harder. diamondgeog, while I applaud you for your upbeat attitude I also think that you are in a eureka state of mind. Your past several posts (not just here but all around the forum) are the "life is great, I'm doing great, I feel awesome, carbs are evil, I found the secret to happiness" type. I'm not criticizing, but not everyone is at that point. And I'm sure that if you could take a moment to remember the vicious cycle you were once in you'd understand that it's not always possible to feel that way. Adjusting to new habits isn't a smooth process sometimes. And unless you've actually suffered from an eating disorder like some of us have then you wouldn't understand that it is difficult to exude control over something that has been controlling you all your life.

You have to accept that your way is not the only way or the "right way" to go about nutrition and health. If all carbs were evil then all Italians would be fat from pasta. All Asians would be obese from rice. It's obvious that some people are not affected by food the same way others are. So I can understand that by eating certain foods or avoiding others has given you a sense of accomplishment and control and energy. But doing that alone is not enough to empower someone else.