Originally Posted by
College3.0
Dear All,
Hello.
I've always enjoyed being physical, and I've never loved the idea of dieting or having specific weight goals. My weight has gone way up and way down several times over my lifetime, for mainly depression-related reasons. Because of this, generally speaking, as long as my weight is stable and not rocketing up or sliding down, I count that a win and don't worry about it too much.
Or, at least that was true until now. I think I want to change my perspective, and have a weight-loss goal, and achieve it. I could probably stand to lose between 40 and 65 lbs in order to be at a more healthful weight. That seems like a huge undertaking when I've always tried to not put much stock in my weight being a specific number.
I think my biggest obstacle to weight loss is lack of emotional/familial support. I've had a couple of good experiences with personal training over the past 4 years, but it's expensive to "hire" emotional support like that. I would've loved to continue with a trainer, but both times I quit when my cash ran low.
I'm single and live alone, and don't have much family to speak of. I think that has an influence on my motivation to lose weight. I do talk to a counselor about my emotional health, and I do have his support with respect to my desire for healthy diet and exercise. But it's not like I could say, "I'm doing this for my kids" or something. I think I have to lose weight "for me".
What made you first care about losing weight? I mean, really care enough to do it for yourself and not some external reason? Or, was an external reason enough for you? If so, that's fine, I just don't think I can count on having an external reason to motivate me to do this.
Curious....
Thanks.
For as long as I can remember, weight has been an issue. Don't get me wrong. It isn't as if I mope around depressed about it, but it is always something I think about at least a few times a week, if not daily. So if you are someone who shares this concern, you are not alone.
1. The motivation to lose weight is something internal, but external things might play a part. Maybe you had to buy a new suit and found you went up a size. Or maybe you had to get weighed and found you gained a lot of weight, or went past big milestone (200, 250, 275, or 300 lbs) Or maybe you had a health scare or diagnosis, like diabetes or high blood pressure and resolved to do something about it. Or finally, maybe you saw a recent picture of yourself and couldn't believe that obese guy was you.
2. Not having a lot of family support is no excuse. If you live alone, it should be easier to make big changes to your diet since you have no reason to keep diet wrecking foods like chips, candy, soda, snack cakes, ice cream, french fries, or processed lunch meats. (if you are married or have kids, it isn't really fair to expect them to adhere to your dietary goals, which makes it hard to stick to a diet when everybody else in the house is eating whatever they want.)
3. Though I always care about losing weight or maintaining weight lose, I have failed as often as I have succeeded. I am 53, and the first time I really cared about weight loss was when I turned 15. In about 10 weeks, I lost almost 40 lbs with a regimen that included riding my bike, training martial arts 5 days/week, and cutting out all sweets, refined sugar, french fries, and soda, and replacing it with fresh fruit, and salad. Kept most of the weight off for a few years, but eventually put it all back on plus a few lbs when I went off to college.
Fast forward a few years to my senior year of college, and I dropped 50 lbs in 4 months by taking up jogging, and, you guessed it, cutting out all sweets, refined sugar, french fries, soda and beer. Kept if off for about a year, after which the weight came back when I went to grad school, and long hours of hitting the books, not exercising, and poor eating habits took its toll.
Anyway, this pattern has repeated itself over the decades. I have lost over 40 lbs 5 times over the years, and obviously, gained it back as many times. I have kept the weight off for as long as 5 years, and as short as 8 months. Unlike an alcoholic or drug addict, who can focus on abstaining completely, we have to eat every single day and high calorie foods are everywhere. That said, I do ride regularly, and I am back doing martial arts 3 times/week to stay in shape through the winter months, though I am still probably the biggest adult at the school.
So in a nutshell, losing and maintaining weight is a lifetime commitment.