The war against weight gain

[skittledoo]

Does anyone else have serious issues with battling their weight? I'm not talking a couple pounds in my situation... I'm talking straight up obesity.

I have to admit it. I have to come to terms with it. I am obese according to my Dr that I saw back when I was in NM. That was over a year ago and I've gained at least 20-30 more pounds since then.

I love watching shows like the biggest loser, etc. I love watching these people pushed to stand up and fight that battle against their weight, but when it comes to my own weight I feel so unmotivated and defeated most of the time.

I'll go through temporary spurts where I'm pumped up to lose weight. Heck I may even lose a few pounds. But... The motivation is short lived and I end up gaining the weight back and then some.

I love myself, don't get me wrong. I really do love myself and who I am, but I am just so unhappy with the way I look and with how unhealthy I am. I want to be able to wear cute little dresses sometimes or hell venture out in a bikini one day... But dear god if I attempted that right now I would surely scare people hahaha.

I so wish sometimes I could just quit my job for a little while and hire someone to follow me around and bootcamp my ass into shape and good health. I almost feel like I need someone coaching me constantly to push me harder to lose the weight.

So here's my point to this thread. How do you find that motivation and keep it consistent? How do you completely change your lifestyle so that you are constantly working towards being fit and healthy? What natural supplements would be good for boosting energy, metabolism, etc? How do you stay on top of it? Who here is fighting this battle with me? How do you take charge and fight that battle without constantly falling back into old ways?

[Romy]

I find it hard to believe you're not active enough, with your dogs and working with dogs.

Figure out where your weak points are. Do you eat food for comfort? Or do you eat convenient unhealthy food because of time/motivation constraints? Etc.

Once you figure out the underlying behaviors behind the unhealthy lifestyle, you can make a plan to change them with goals and stuff.

[skittledoo]

Haha ya I do a TON of walking all day long, but still manage to gain weight instead of lose. Any walking that is on an incline, stairs etc puts me out of breath although walking on flat surfaces I'm fine.

Eating... I know that's a weak point. I definitely eat out of comfort and boredom. My work is inbetween a papa johns and dunkin donuts which is a bit lethal. I'll go to the store to try and find something healthy and still filling to eat for lunches, but I get there and I'm clueless on what to get sometimes that will be a healthy balanced meal and not leave me still hungry.

[MericoX]

Yes, been overweight since forever, started January 1st of last year working towards it, lost 30 lbs last year, but then due to becoming unemployed and being stressed out I gained about 8 back. This year working at it on/off, last week I was back to losing 39 lbs, but this week I've just gone to hell with it and flip flopping between losing and gaining weight (though shark week is approaching).

I use myfitnesspal to track calories. Haven't done a whole lot of exercising due to the weather (too hot) but now that it's cooler I'll hopefully be going on more walks and stuff.

[JacksonsMom]

*sigh* I'm right there with you. I can't get myself motivated... well I do, but then like you said, I get de-motivated quickly.


I have no advice but just wanted to sympathize with you. We need to work on it together! We're close enough to meet up at least once a month, and we can go for hikes, etc.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Walking, a lot, has helping me as silly and simple as that is.

I suck at dieting, it stresses me into bingeing. I suck at forcing myself to work out (I pay 20 a month to a gym I literally never go to - f contracts), it stresses me again. I find the less I push it the better it goes.

Try hiking? Try a fun exercise class? Try taking morning walks? Evening walks? Walk each dog one at a time, forcing you to move more? I have found the more i guilt myself after running agility with the mals the more likely I am to walk the pit bulls at night, which helps both of us.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Originally Posted by skittledoo

Haha ya I do a TON of walking all day long, but still manage to gain weight instead of lose. Any walking that is on an incline, stairs etc puts me out of breath although walking on flat surfaces I'm fine.

Eating... I know that's a weak point. I definitely eat out of comfort and boredom. My work is inbetween a papa johns and dunkin donuts which is a bit lethal. I'll go to the store to try and find something healthy and still filling to eat for lunches, but I get there and I'm clueless on what to get sometimes that will be a healthy balanced meal and not leave me still hungry.

Rationalizing your money helps a lot too, ime. I used to get a LOT of delivery for lunches, now I am too broke to do that. I make a point to reallocate that money. Keeping myself busy on my days off helps that too, obsessively cleaning, playing the dogs, psyching myself out about interacting with strangers (lol), etc.

[Renee750il]

MyFitnessPal.com really has helped me, tracking carbs and calories.

The weight workouts have helped a lot more since I drastically revamped them and started working at near max, doing VERY slow reps, concentrating on the negative end of the motion. Bellydancing has helped more than anything with those trouble areas. Since my teacher moved away I've had to revert to using DVDs, but it works, and she told me that's how she started anyway. The bellydancing will kick my ass when nothing else will, and since I've changed my weight workout methods, I actually get a little soreness -- something that NEVER happens to me.

[Greenmagick]

Make sure you check your health as well....thyroid, adrenal function, vitamin and hormone levels etc.

[thehoundgirl]

I have actually had no problem with weight gain until I was 19 and I will be 27 next month. I was thin and I don't think I was fit because I had a high metabolism I rarely exercised and could eat anything that would not make me gain weight.

I go to zumba class twice a week, I try to eat healthy but I don't always eat like I should but lately I have been. I try not to snack when I am bored, I do once in awhile but I have been getting where I just don't like to any more. I'm pretty fit now thanks to doing zumba as I have been doing it since February but I am not where I would like to be weight wise. I'll get there some day. I'm sorry you are struggling with it. It's no fun!

Have you had your thyroid checked?