20 Pounds of Hell!

C

carrie20

New member
Hello Everyone,

I am a 28-year-old massage therapy student and I've gained 20 pounds over the last year or so and it just won't come off!!
I used to be very active; running and yoga mostly but I found that being in school full-time, I was always too tired or busy and I stopped exercising for a good long while. Also, my eating habits went seriously downhill. I used to maintain a very healthy diet...although I have always been an emotional eater. During the school year, my will power was no match for the stress I was feeling and I ate and ate and ate...
Whenever I start eating out of emotional stress, I have a terrible habit of writing off the rest of the day, binging on whatever I want and then I vow to maintain a perfect diet and exercise program for the rest of my life starting tomorrow. How do I break this cycle? (I'm doing it right now...just ate a whole bunch of ice cream) The more it happens, the worse I feel...the worse I feel, the more I want to eat.
I have always been self-conscious about my body and I have low self-esteem, which contributes greatly to the problem. I want to be able to go to the beach this summer and feel good about myself. I haven't felt good about my body in a long time.
I've joined this forum because I need somewhere to put my thoughts, I need someone, anyone to hear me and know what I'm talking about. I've tried doing it on my own...that's not working. I want to be held accountable to someone other than myself; I just keep letting myself down.
 
Seriously.. could some of you guys please try to be a little more sensitive?
I'm sorry you're so frustrated about this, but you could EASILY lose this within 2 months of exercise and healthy eating.
There's people here that need to lose 100 or 200 lbs!!!!
There is no such thing as "20 lbs of hell"
IMO.... this is awfully melodramatic, and very insensitive.
Thank you.
 
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Woah overreaction much?

It's harder for some more than others, I'm a large guy with a lot to lose and I find it's coming off easy right now, but I have friends who only need to lose a bit and finding it very hard, the closer you are to your healthy weight the harder it is to lose weight.

Just because someone has less to lose doesn't mean their journey is easier, if you're losing weight at a steady rate, it doesn't matter how large you are, it's really just a matter of time before you hit your ideal weight. If you're not losing anything despite your effort, that's actually much harder problem to overcome.

How about trying to be sensitive yourself?
 
Carrie, watching your calories is the easiest way to ensure weight loss.

Google search for a calories calculator and put in your stats and work out your daily maintenance limit, then subtract 500 cals from that (which is 1lb weight loss per week).

You then need to keep track of your daily amount you can do that on your own or you can use an online tool to help you, I personally use a feature called myplate on which you can sign up for free.
 
Hi Carrie,

Hope your well! Don't pay any attention to the comments above. It doesn't matter if you have 20lbs or 200lbs losing any amount of weight is difficult.

Start a diary if you want to have a place to go to write down your thoughts etc.

I am exactly the same..it only takes for me to eat like 1 tiny biscuit and then I decide to write the rest of the day off. I tend to be a binge eater and sometimes i struggle to control it like right now I've given up on my diet and returned to my old ways. I will try again harder tomorrow. I'm going to stop taking my purse to work so I can't buy anything and have no choice but to eat the healthy stuff I take with me.

Good luck and I look forward to reading how your progressing x
 
Thanks to Ski Bunny30 and Frosteh for your warm welcome and suggestions. I'm going to try keeping track of my calories, because I do tend to have little bits of things throughout the day which probably add up to a lot. I've started a diary and I think that will be a useful tool for me.
As for Monster, I was a little shocked at being called "insensitive", as I was under the impression that this forum was a place people could go to for help, support and encouragement while struggling to lose weight...any amount of weight. It is not for you to determine the significance of my problem. My problem is significant because it affects my life and my happiness.
 
carrie20 said:
As for Monster, I was a little shocked at being called "insensitive", as I was under the impression that this forum was a place people could go to for help, support and encouragement
Click to expand...

I think Monster was simply pointing out that he felt the title was overly dramatic.
 
I have always been self-conscious about my body and I have low self-esteem, which contributes greatly to the problem
Click to expand...
You may wish to to focus on perception of your weight and image as well.
Even the smallest problems can seem insurmountable when seen as such.
 
Monster said:
You may wish to to focus on perception of your weight and image as well.
Even the smallest problems can seem insurmountable when seen as such.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. This has been a problem for quite awhile. I know it is a much bigger problem than the weight itself, and a much more difficult problem to solve. I think that every time I resolve to get back to a regular routine of healthy diet and exercise, I avoid dealing with the body image and emotional stuff because it is painful. So, it's like shooting myself in the foot every time.
I've had lots of trouble with an eating disorder in my past, and although everything appears normal on the outside, it's still there. A little weight gain seems exponentially bigger than it is. What some may call an overly dramatic title is actually how I feel, and so, I did not even think it could be construed as insensitive to others. I did not wish to offend you or anyone else in this forum, I sincerely apologize if that is the case. I hope your own weight loss journey is going well and that we can help each other out in the future.
 
When you focus so much on the weight being a problem it becomes bigger than it needs to be. With a positive self image, 20 lbs is not much of an issue.

1-2;bs a week and you could hit your goal in 3 months. That's just in October.
 
carrie20 said:
Thanks to Ski Bunny30 and Frosteh for your warm welcome and suggestions. I'm going to try keeping track of my calories, because I do tend to have little bits of things throughout the day which probably add up to a lot. I've started a diary and I think that will be a useful tool for me.
As for Monster, I was a little shocked at being called "insensitive", as I was under the impression that this forum was a place people could go to for help, support and encouragement while struggling to lose weight...any amount of weight. It is not for you to determine the significance of my problem. My problem is significant because it affects my life and my happiness.
Click to expand...

You're welcome, be careful who you listen to, some people are going to spread negativity. People struggle with weight loss to different degrees so it doesn't really matter how much you have to lose, if losing even a little bit is hard then it's hard, some people can't understand that, they have problems putting themselves in other peoples shoes and lash out.

Keeping track of your calories is a pain but it does let you know what to expect, it also lets you know exactly how much of an impact cheating has, so you're less inclined to do it once you know.

Hope it goes well.
 
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