Hi Steph!
Weight loss is hard work, and I think that to really do it successfully we all need to be a lot more nurturing of ourselves! We need to put effort into our own selves just like we put effort into our jobs and our families. Too often we end up putting our own needs at the very bottom of the list. More often that not we never GET to the bottom of that list!
I'm finding that successful weight loss requires me to be kind of selfish in many ways. Taking time FOR ME is a relatively new thing. I have had to learn that I deserve time for myself to do what makes me happy. I have spent a lifetime helping everyone else to be happy and have found that I really needed to learn about myself! I needed to learn what I really needed and what things made me happy and successful. I needed to take time for myself.
For a whole year I woke up at 4:30AM so that I could walk for a couple hours before work. I did this so that MY SCHEDULE wouldn't get in the way of anyone else's in my family. I was getting only four hours of sleep a night, burning the candle on both ends! I was NOT losing any weight and wondered why. I read an article that said that to lose weight you need to give your body the rest that it needs. Not getting enough rest stresses out the body, and it goes into the same survival mode as when you don't eat enough calories each day! Needless to say I felt REALLY DUMB and started trying a different plan!
My point is, we have to be kind of selfish (or SELF-CARING!) in order to make this happen -particularly if we have a lot of weight to lose.
We can all do this. We just need to get our heads straightened out and not be so tough on ourselves!
Take care!
Cheryl