Is Doubt the Enemy?
 

I'm having another overwhelming bee in my bonnet again this morning. Some of you know that I'm a 3fc addict. I get up in the morning and click new posts. There is hardly a post on here that I don't skim through or read. So this morning as I was reading, I saw an on going notion of 'doubt'.
I doubt that I can do what you do.
I doubt that I can figure this all out.
I doubt that I can find time to exercise.
I doubt that I can stomach some of the things you all eat.
I doubt this will work for me.
I doubt that I will be able to follow thru with my plan.
I doubt it's worth it because I'll always have a big butt.

Is doubt the 'big' sin?
What did/do you doubt?

I used to doubt I could get through a day without bread when I first read a south beach diet book a year ago. I used to think that low carb was the only way. Now I can go a week without bread, but I'd just rather not... ;)

I doubt that I would ever learn to love cottage cheese, but the other day I had a craving for it :crazy:

I doubt I will ever have supermodel legs, but I doubt that I will really care as long as they kick people :lol:

Perhaps I have a nagging doubt in my head. I doubt that I really WILL ever get to goal... Maybe that's what's holding me back. I need to believe. Clap your hands if you believe in fairies :cp:

It seems to me, for those of us who have to work at weight management (as opposed to those who are naturally. genetically slender), mental attitude is very much a part of the puzzle. I'm trying to replace "I doubt" with "I hope" or "I'm trying".

I hope I can do what you've done.
I hope I can figure this all out (I'm learning somehting new every day!).
I'm trying to make time to exercise (and so far, I'm succeeding!).
Etc.

I'm trying right now to replace some of my less constructive habits (tendancy toward couch-potato, for example) with more constructive ones (more physical activity). And that includes re-thinking some of the thought process involved. So much to wrap one's arms around, but I'm taking it one step at a time.

Hehe I think I, too, am becoming a 3FC addict! I love it here!

Susan you got me to thinking again......

My doudt has got me to change my April 1st goal......Now I am not so sure if I should have done it....hmmmmm

why do you have doubt because you have done well so far. when you have a bad day start over again. other you wont make it. good luck :) glen
ps make time for you, because no one will do it for you.

Glen made an excellent point! It's never finished. There's always tomorrow. If you jump in your car and head to Florida ... does it really matter how many times you take a wrong turn? stop to 'rest' etc.? You'll still get to Florida, right? The only way you won't, is if you abandon the journey altogether.

BTW ... my biggest doubt is that I'll actually be able to stay at goal. I've quite effectively screwed it up a couple times now!

My biggest doubt is that I will ever be socially acceptably thin. I have NEVER been thin, and I think not being able to picture myself thin is a major hindrance. When I look in the mirror, I can only see fat, and I'm afraid that's all I will ever see since I've never known any different.

Now, before I get all the responses about how it doesn't matter what society thinks or what others think of me and yadda yadda yadda, I can honestly say that I am NOT doing this just for my health. I have never had a weight-related health problem, so that's not really a motivator for me (yes, I know I can still develop weight-related problems in the future, but right now, that is not my primary concern). I don't want to sound completely shallow or superficial, but having lived my entire life as "the fat kid" really has made me care about how I look to others (no matter what a great person I know I am inside!).

Ditto here. It's very hard for me to believe that I will ever get there. But at least this process is helping me keep the hope alive. :)

Oh Jilly! No matter what altruistic blah we all speak here, there is at least some component of vanity in this for most of us. It's nice to have people envy your figure, it's nice to buy cute little clothing ....

Think of it as an adventure. I had no idea what I looked like under those 30 or 40 lbs. You're unwrapping a mysterious gift. Oooo let's see what's under there!

I used to doubt that too... Check out the "weekend pictures" thread in UK chicks. :D

I feel your pain jillybean.
I too have never had any medical problems due to my weight so that has not been a motivating factor.
I too wonder how people will treat me once the weight is gone. My hubby gets so frustrated because I always worry that people are judging me by the way that I look. Maybe their not, but thats how I feel.
I know longer want to be the fat mom,the fat wife, the fat friend, daughter, coworker, etc.
Regardless of the fact that everyone tells me that they look beyond my weight, I often wonder if thats the truth.
I look forward to the confidence that I will gain and how my relationships will change.
Thanks for sharing. You're not in this alone.

Leec

I doubt that I can keep this up forever
I doubt that I can run 10k without making a complete fool of myself
I doubt that I can get to a "reasonable weight" i.e. not be obese anymore

But I know I can cast doubt aside, and "just do it", the "fake it til you make it" strategy has worked thus far!!!

Kykaree, I'm doubting my 10K performance too... But as long as it's my best shot then I'm more than happy with it! :D

I doubt anyone can keep this up forever... Will I still be eating porridge with an egg for lunch when I'm 75? No probably not. Routines change and you'll find it easier to fit into your lifestyle.

:yes: Just do it, really is the greatest slogan!

Great analogy Susan. I never thought of myself as a gift waiting to be unwrapped.
It's final because my goal is to hit my goal weight by Christmas of this year.
I can't wait to get that present.

thanks
Leec

I doubt that losing weight will really make me feel better about myself. I think it's like when you are single and you think "if only I had a boyfriend" and you think(hope) that suddenly you will be much more confident, feel loved, and every void of your life will be filled by one man. Ha! Than you wake up and remember you have to love yourself first. I think I'm already starting to feel prettier and in some ways more confident, but in other ways that just shines a brighter light and aspects of myself that I don't love. Obviously being technically "thinner" isn't going to make everything better for me, but I'm just hoping I can lose a little doubt in myself and not let all my hard work go to waste just because I'm not perfect.

This was my friend, Anette. Big German girl (I'm German, too, we've been friends since high school) All her life she was heavy. Even as a child. She topped her weight off just a few years ago at 340 pounds.

Through her doctor's advice, counting calories and getting exercise, she now weighs less than ME.

Imagine that. A girl that's been heavy all of her life and now I'm jealous of her, lol!

So nothing is impossible.

I've had many doubts...

I doubted that I'd be able to exercise regularly. I've had problems with vertigo (doctor doesn't know what caused it) for a couple years now, so it's often a struggle just to keep going in normal everyday activities, let alone cardio! The vertigo coupled with laziness made me a complete couch potato. But I dunno... I started out a little bit a few times a week. I started out doing about 10 minutes a day, three days a week. Now I'm up to more than 4 hours a week, easy. I do a little bit every day, sometimes more than a little bit :P

I doubted I could stick to the diet changes. But here I am three months in, and I'm doing really well! I've only gone outside my limit once or twice and Most of my carbs come from fruits, veggies, and whole grains rather than soda, candy, chips, and white bread. My body has really adapted to this change in lifestyle. It's adapted so much that last week when I wasn't eating my veggies because I was too busy, my body vigorously protested for four days. I felt physically ill because my body NEEDED veggies badly!

There was a time that I honestly doubted that I'd ever truely love myself... but you know what? I do. I really really do. I love my body, big as it is. I know I'm beautiful, even if there were no one else around to tell me that. My boyfriend told me a few weeks ago "I really don't see why you think you need to lose weight... you look so beautiful already. But then again, I know you're not really doing it for your appearance so I understand. I want you to be happy and healthy."

I doubted I'd ever be strong enough to help my brother move furniture. This last week has been my biggest test yet! My brother and I were the primary movers of the household this last week, and I was able to keep up nearly the entire time. Not the whole time, mind you, but most of it :P I was so proud of the fact that I was lifting 50-70lb boxes/furniture BY MYSELF! My mother was also proud of the fact that I never complained even once. I tend to be a big complainer, so this was a great victory for me.

I always doubted that I could weight, and those doubts led me to never even try. I just assumed that I was fat, and that was the end of it. I stayed fat.

The only time that I really believed that I could lose weight was once I started doing it because of things I'd changed in my life without having a weight loss motivation. I wanted to get fit, but assumed that I'd end up being fit and fat rather than thin. But as I got fitter I started to lose weight and wondered whether my doubts had been misplaced all the time.

Since then I've never doubted that I could do anything on this journey, even things that seemed really stupid when I first thought of them. The old me would have doubted that I could train up for a half marathon in eight weeks, the new me decided to try and deal with failure if it happened. It didn't, and I found it surprisingly easy.

There have been times when I've doubted that I could do this for life. Once I started losing I never really doubted whether I'd get to goal, but I did doubt whether I'd stay there. I've not put this theory to the test yet, but I'm getting more and more confident that I can do it, and that I'm not the sort of person that needs to doubt anything. If I want to do it and try to do it I can, the only key is remembering those first two steps!

I doubt that meeting my goal weight will make me happy on the inside. But I am beginning to hope that if I keep working on myself, inside and out, that maybe happiness and thinness will coincide.

I doubt that I will ever consider myself "thin." After all these years of being a "big girl", I wonder if I'll ever feel like anything else, even as my clothes get smaller in size and my weight decreases.

I doubt that I will ever have a really comfortable relationship with food. After many years of overeating, I think that I will always need to remain conscious of what I'm putting into my mouth.

I doubt that most of my friends will ever appreciate just how tough it is to do what I am doing. For someone who is genetically thin, it's probably very hard to relate to anyone who is struggling with their weight.

Ditto!! *clap clap* :cp: