The war against weight gain

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?

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.

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.

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.

*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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

For me it's more about small changes vs. a lifestyle overhaul - that would be too extreme for me.

What did work (but is expensive) is the isagenix program, shakes/bars (that are loaded with vitamins), drinks too and then a simple dinner. The key though is every week you have one day where you just have their drinks and not much else, so your average calories are really low. You don't feel bad though because you're taking in a ton of vitamins and such. I just can't afford the $300 a month for that stuff though.

Right now I'm doing a modified thing, eating within reason, and on work days I have coffee, bring an apple or a fiber bar and slam back lots of tea and water. I come home and have a small dinner and that's it. Also taking vitamins (b complex) and some other supplements and it seems to be going ok.

I still have chocolate, cookies and such but I'm more aware and do like one oreo instead of six. If I can. Had one of those days so chocolate will be required..

I had my thyroid checked at my last physical about a year ago. Due for another full on checkup. Don't have health insurance currently since I just turned 26 and lost it which I'm stupid for not getting a checkup done before my birthday. There are places around here that are relatively affordable out of pocket though so I definitely need to have a checkup.

Adrenal fatigue is a big issue, especially if stressed....check out stopthethyroidmadness.com for info on that AND thyroid stuff.

I haven't gained in a long time but am struggling to lose. It's rough for sure and I have hormone problems on top of that that make things more difficult.

But yeah, I am overweight and it sucks. Been walking a lot more lately and have a gym membership. I go in spurts- will work out for weeks in a row then stop for weeks and blah.

Are you guys still trying to eat gluten free? People always ask me how I'm this thin after two kids and I just tell them to try being allergic to food. :rofl1:

If you find that you're a boredom eater, try keeping something small and snacky with you at all times. Like sunflower seeds, or even better, pumpkin seeds. They're not just filler, they're high protein and have a lot of vitamins and minerals your body needs. If you feel like stopping in for a donut, shove a handful in your mouth and keep walking by. lol.

I make up weird arbitrary rules too. Like, if I'm eating seeds or nuts of any kind, they must be chewed to a smooth paste before swallowing.

And drink lots of water!

I've been making dinners in bulk and freezing them, then I'm waaaay less likely to pick something up. Even if the dinner isn't super healthy, at least it's portioned correctly and not overly processed.

Even though they contain a lot of sugar, I eat a banana every morning (usually with oatmeal or something like that) and that takes care of my sweet tooth so that I'm not tempted to stop for donuts!! Plus bananas are super cheap!

Also I just made an account at MyFitnessPal, SO COOL!!

I'm in the process of trying to get healthy. Weight loss would be nice and has been happening slowly but it's not my main motivator.

One day I was sitting eating a McMuffin for breakfast for the second time in a week and just thought to myself how gross that is. So, I started adding more vegetables to everything I ate and made a few veggie/fruit smoothies. Noticed my low grade to migraine level headaches I would get almost daily have gone down to a bad migraine maybe once every two weeks.

Then I decided to try and make my food rather than by it. Not cut out the things I love like eggs and Macaroni but instead stop eating everything from a box. I made super delicious baked Mac and cheese the other night using greek yogurt. I made a lot of hardboiled eggs to keep in the fridge for those times I want to eat something but I'm not starving.

I was hitting shark week last week so I made a super rich peanut butter fudge cake bar thing instead of getting the store bought cookies. I could eat ten store bought cookies but a small slice of that home made desert was enough.

I've started to really try to figure out when I'm hungry and when I'm bored. I've tried to find things I really enjoy, are easy to make and are good for me. Like Sweet Potato fries or carrot fries. I bake them all and they are SO good. I also make a lot of wraps and try to have protein in every meal.

I count calories on and off, I tend to have trouble doing it when I'm making all my food but I try to do it every couple days just to have an idea of how much I'm eating. I have almost a harder time eating enough each day rather than too much when I'm paying attention.

But one of the biggest things that's helped me is not feeling guilty or ragging on myself if I eat something not good for me or more than I should. I can't live like that and I'll end up not keeping this up. I'm trying to make it a life rather than a diet. I'm trying to train myself how to eat a varied and healthy diet and that won't happen if I think about it as a diet or as something I need to do to get to a certain point or if I beat myself up when I don't have a spot on day.

One of the biggest issues I have is laziness. It's so much easier to get home and make a box of Max and Cheese instead of bark some chicken. But I feel better and fuller after the Chicken. I also try to always make enough for leftovers.

Pinterest has been great for food, some awesome creative ideas and keeps me motivated or brings me out of my funk.

I'm with you... it's not easy. And I love eating, which really doesn't help. And I can't find time to exercise (should change soon with the kids in school though). Not sure about motivation though...

The things that have really spurred me on has been Pintrest (recipes and pictures of what I want to look like along with the workouts) and then getting on Evolv84. Or you could try Isagenix, Vemma, whatever. Something that is structured and has a built-in support system is good. I like Evolv84 because the shakes taste good and aren't straight whey and they give you a custom-built exercise program.

You can do it!