3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - Need of some support... argh

Heh there kid! Keep the ol' chin up, will ya!

Now, I may sound like one sick fish for saying this so don't get me wrong but I just saw your message and it has now encouraged me to get my butt off this chair (right after I write this to you) and get it to the gym again.

You know why? Because I was feeling the exact same way you were and reading you saying it and the others' replies to you really did bring it home that this is struggle so many of us our doing together and it CAN be done. I don't think it was easy for anyone. Sure, some people are just clicking along it seems or maybe their breakthroughs have come after years, yes years, of trying and finally they're getting it all together but it IS hard, but it CAN be done.

I've tried all sorts of things. I've starved myself and lost weight and then wasn't happy with the miniaturized saggy version of the bigger me or I've lifted weights and worked out like an athlete in training and then didn't like the big scary looking woman I saw. I did see results but they weren't the results I wanted so it all seemed such a waste of effort. But you know, really it wasn't at all. Because I do know how to do both, just I haven't done them both together. So I can do them. I just have to do them together.

Even today I've been eating way too much and then thinking I'll go to the gym and wear it off. Fine, I'll have worn it off but I want to wear not only that off but what's been sitting on my body for years. So if I do double at the gym I'll really wear myself out and around and around it goes.

Ok, I'm getting a little off track here but the thing is, you've got to experiment with getting all the pieces together. Your exercise is changing you but maybe it's not changing your fat stores. So what?!! It's doing other things, good things, to your mind and body.

Say you see this awesome female athlete and you want to look like her. And you think, I want to look like her, be like her. So you ask her how she got that way and she tells you, "Well, you gotta do this and this and this and this." And you think, Wow, that sounds so hard. But you'd believe it, wouldn't you, because why would she lie to you. And she LOOKS like someone who does something difficult to get that way.

So, when you think of losing weight why do we always think it's easy! Why do we think if we do a little watching the food here and a little exercising there that things are suddenly going to start changing big time. They're not. It takes a lot more effort and a whole lot more vigilance. But, that all is what takes time. If you could do it all perfect from the start you wouldn't be overweight in the first place. And who does it perfect from the start? Not many, not many at all. We're just all doing things differently. I mean, what makes a slop shop cook different from a world-famous chef? It starts with the choice of ingredients and then goes to the combination, the timing, the preparation, so many seemingly little things that add up into this one beautiful result. And that is what you've got to do.

It's a START to be doing the things you're doing now and don't belittle that start. Everyone has to start where you're starting now. But try to polish and polish and refine as you go along. Like RavenToy said you've got to start looking further. I know this is hard because the steps you're taking now are hard and they're beautiful but don't be discouraged. Love the changes that are going on inside you, the changes that allowed you to take those first steps. Let them grow and grow through your nurturing of them. It's you doing it. All YOU! So don't be discouraged. Laugh and think! and give it time as you're thinking and experimenting! Take it to the next step. It's a big recipe. Make it a recipe for success!

Like Angel26 said, maybe you're just not seeing the changes. Maybe they are there. Take measurements, write down how your clothes feel, take photos. And remember we get so hung up on bodies when we're trying to change them that we seeing a lot more than we used to see, which can make it seem like we've gotten even fatter. I know I'm like that. Since I got serious about getting the fat off again I've felt fatter than I ever did when I was chugging along stuffing my face with my eyes tight shut.

OK, now that I've said that to you I've said it to myself and I'm out of here. I feel sick and annoyed with myself for sabotaging my efforts by eating too much and I'm tired of the workouts and I'm tired of thinking about how I look and how I want to look but then again . . . do I give it up, do I balloon up again so I'm busting out of my clothes. Do I allow people to look at me with disgust, what a slob, what a sad sight they think as they see me, such a pretty face, but what a body? Do I give up on this cool, intelligent, confident, so together me that is shouting to be given a voice, who wants desperately to be heard so I don't have to be bothered ever again by the loser looks I'd get if I were fat again.? No, h@ll no, I'm going to give her a chance at it again.

I'm going to the gym again and I'm going kick some A! Come on X, you CAN do it. If I can do it, you can! Don't give up! Don't think in circles, round and round and round. Think outward. Think HOW can I make changes. How can I see results? And do something till you see them, not till you burn out because you've been running in circles.

You are doing so well with your challenge. When I see you check in on the other thread I'm really happy to see you haven't given up. Don't be down. We all are down at times. We just don't always say it. You had the courage to say it. Good for you!