Weight loss support thread

My best advice would be to stick it out and admire yourself a month or two down the line. It may be worth cataloguing your process to drill the positives into your brain.
Thank you, I did have a happy accident where I got my passport before starting my weight loss then having to get a new license photo and the difference in my face is night and day. That's helped somewhat, I think I will keep cataloging just to keep seeing the progress
 
At the end of high school I weighed 230lbs (6'1), and throughout college I managed to get that down to 180ish, walking regularly and eating less. But a major medical issue saw the trend reverse, and then COVID fucked everything up. My city got a lot more dangerous, and I could no longer walk a mile or two to get lunch every day. My highest measured weight since was 270.

I've finally started walking regularly again, for the first time in five years. I try to do at least five miles a day and have averaged around that for the last three weeks. I'm now at 260, which is the first time I've lost any weight at all since 2018.

But I'm finding it really hard to find the motivation to eat better. I have a lot of health issues (which are almost certainly exacerbated by weight, but some are also unrelated) and a fucked-up relationship with food, having been put on pointless restrictive diets since I was a kid; and without good food, I feel like I have absolutely nothing to look forward to every day. I'm at a point where getting fit won't solve most of my physical problems anyway. So what's the point? I'm not sure how to get motivated to stay healthy when healthiness is literally unobtainable for me, at least at any "normal" level.
 
Thank you, I did have a happy accident where I got my passport before starting my weight loss then having to get a new license photo and the difference in my face is night and day. That's helped somewhat, I think I will keep cataloging just to keep seeing the progress
Class - honestly, it's a great way to stay motivated. It should be about yourself after all.
But I'm finding it really hard to find the motivation to eat better. I have a lot of health issues (which are almost certainly exacerbated by weight, but some are also unrelated) and a fucked-up relationship with food, having been put on pointless restrictive diets since I was a kid; and without good food, I feel like I have absolutely nothing to look forward to every day.
For me, I have always ate like shit. My mother never knew how to cook and I had access to snacks from a really young age. So I just ended up not learning restraint until I was like 19. I can't speak from a viewpoint that is exactly the same (if anything likely the opposite in regard to the restrictive diets). But instead of worrying about eating healthy, I just focused on calories in vs calories out. That helped me reduce my intake while still enjoying the food I ate. I don't know what your tastes are like, but maybe try to start eating more protein/fibre to feel more full. Meals with protein/fibre can be very tasty and easy (air fried broccoli, chicken, boiled and poached eggs, chickpea or quinoa dishes, fish and veg, oats). I don't eat anything ready-made at this point apart from an occasional pizza and cutting out any sugary drinks really helped me too (started to feel better too).

I have a hiatus hernia which makes me feel ill when I havn't eaten in a while so I do resort to snacks but I try to keep them healthy or at least have something nutritional. I don't know if this will help but snacks that have worked for me are:
  • Popcorn,
  • Frozen Blueberries,
  • Fibre Bars (I don't know if you have Fibre One Bars in the USA but they are good),
  • Greek Yogurt (sometimes I will substitute this for a meal if I have eaten enough Protein in a day),
  • Hard boiled eggs,
  • Kale or Lentil snacks,
  • And just a piece of fruit.
Best of luck though finding what is right for you, for me getting healthy now won't fix all my health issues but instead I am doing it to have pride in myself.
 
I just wish I had a place to do them. I tried getting a pull-up bar and I nearly tore the doorframe off the wall when I tried to use it.
Maybe a calisthenics park? There are directories online that cover multiple countries, and I've never been without one within acceptable distance, even in the most rural parts I've lived. They're not usually adjacent to children's parks either, which is great since you'll at most have to share a pretty spaced out environment with some older Greek, Chinese, or Russian guy. You could also, I guess, just go to a regular park and make use of the equipment in the very early morning before the kids come out and play, but I understand why that might feel embarrassing.
 
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So what's the point? I'm not sure how to get motivated to stay healthy when healthiness is literally unobtainable for me, at least at any "normal" level.
You're overthinking this.
There is no normal level of healthiness, only degrees. We decay as we age anyway, but that is rather irrelevant, cause the idea is that you fight it.
I will never run a 2:30 marathon for example and I will likely no longer be able to dunk a basketball. My knees are kinda messed up. I can't recover my muscles in full with just one night of sleep as I used to. It takes me 2-4 weeks to recover lost performance when I get a flu or w/e COVID variant runs these days, used to be able to do that in 3-4 days.
But, again, all this is irrelevant, as it could be far, FAR worse if I stopped training and adopted couch potato lifestyle. I know it cause I tried it. Gained insane weight very fast (like 10kgs in 2 months) cause I am used to eating a lot, as I also consume a lot energy. My blood pressure and heart rate went up. My back started to ache. My energy fell through the floor. Returning to activity was horrendous.
TL;DR "normal" healthiness is irrelevant, what you need to pursue is slightly better healthiness than what you have now, and keep that pursuit going. As you make progress, you will gain motivation and confidence, self-respect.
Best of luck!
 
If you're like me and you enjoy snacking and sweets, then I beg you try out frozen blueberries
I decided to give this a try, and they're not bad, but for some reason I keep wanting them to be chocolate-covered.

I tried freezing raspberries too, and they're actually a little better but they're harder to eat because they freeze to the container and become hard to remove without breaking them.
 
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I just want to encourage everybody. I had a big health scare this year and have since lost 40 pounds in 7 months (basically all the extra weight I had to lose). I can lose seven more, then I'll just be maintaining by continuing my healthy diet and walking regiment.

It is possible, guys!

I'm so much happier with myself and more confident in my appearance now.

I'm in the process of writing a pamphlet explaining what worked for me so other people can try the diet I was taught. It's totally normal and sustainable, no fad nonsense. Just normal eating.
 
Recently got back into attempting to lose weight, previously in 2019 I was able to get myself to lose about 70 lbs, but then Covid hit and I bot stuck at home without a job and backslid alll the way and just lost all motivation. I’ve tried a couple times since but had a recent health scare that’s really convinced me to do it seriously again.

I was at 310 before I started and I’ve since been able to cut out a bunch of the water weight and am down to 290 now. I’ve been focusing on slowly reducing my calories in and trying to keep from too many carbs or meat, and I’ve recently got myself to do about 5 miles on a treadmill a day, which took about a month and a half to work my way up to.

Right now my goal is to maintain the 5 miles a day walking pace and slowly move it over to an attempt at jogging at least part of it to really get the fat burning. What’s really helped before and helps now is using one of the various calorie counter apps that have a barcode scanner,, really helps counteract the laziness since it’s so easy to do and really helps keep track of just what you’re really eating.

Gonna try and get down to the 270’s by thanksgiving, wish me luck.
 
I'm at the worst point I've been in years. I'm not a kid, but I'm not old either (I turned 32 this year), yet I wanted to be fit and healthier at this point in my life instead of worse than ever. Add to that I don't have the best mental health and I find myself just bitching and moaning more than actually doing about it, being aware of it, and still not doing anything about it and I hate it...
 
I'm at the worst point I've been in years. I'm not a kid, but I'm not old either (I turned 32 this year), yet I wanted to be fit and healthier at this point in my life instead of worse than ever. Add to that I don't have the best mental health and I find myself just bitching and moaning more than actually doing about it, being aware of it, and still not doing anything about it and I hate it...
All you have to do is stop thinking for like 5 mins until you put on some sport clothes and shoes and hit the road, start with walking, but if you can run, try it
No point thinking too hard about it. If fat and ashamed, wait for evening. It'll suck some, but when you get home drenched in sweat you'll feel way better
 
I'm at the worst point I've been in years. I'm not a kid, but I'm not old either (I turned 32 this year), yet I wanted to be fit and healthier at this point in my life instead of worse than ever. Add to that I don't have the best mental health and I find myself just bitching and moaning more than actually doing about it, being aware of it, and still not doing anything about it and I hate it...
I find the best thing to do is just go on walks or jogs at night. I do it every day just to clear my mind and get some exercise. I can't know everything about your situation or what could work or not, but as a 27 year old dude, I've come to realize overthinking things is detriment to life. Sometimes you have to start somewhere. Also, I'd advise getting a gym membership to start lifting weights as well.
 
I'm at the worst point I've been in years. I'm not a kid, but I'm not old either (I turned 32 this year), yet I wanted to be fit and healthier at this point in my life instead of worse than ever. Add to that I don't have the best mental health and I find myself just bitching and moaning more than actually doing about it, being aware of it, and still not doing anything about it and I hate it...
As others have said you need to just get yourself to stop thinking about it as much, try and start slow and do like a short 10 minute walk every day for a while and get used to doing so as part of your routine. Once you find you dont have to force yourself or complain in your mind, start extending how long and the effort you put in.

As I said above, it took me about two months to get myself to do 5 miles a day, split that up to free time you otherwise would be online or the like, and if you get a gym membership for one really close to you, you can use a treadmill at the same time as you browse or the like so you don't even really think about it or get too bored.
 
As others have said you need to just get yourself to stop thinking about it as much, try and start slow and do like a short 10 minute walk every day for a while and get used to doing so as part of your routine. Once you find you dont have to force yourself or complain in your mind, start extending how long and the effort you put in.

As I said above, it took me about two months to get myself to do 5 miles a day, split that up to free time you otherwise would be online or the like, and if you get a gym membership for one really close to you, you can use a treadmill at the same time as you browse or the like so you don't even really think about it or get too bored.
To add to this it only takes 30 days to develop a habit and 7 days is about when it starts getting easier to make the right choices. Pretty quickly you start craving healthy meals and exercising if you’re heads in the right place. But you gotta think of it as a daily thing, don’t worry about your future too much, just make the right choices today. And it’s a good idea to introduce things slowly. If eating healthy and exercising is too much all at once, just introduce healthy meals and exercise later on because it’ll only take 30 days to get there.
 
To add to this it only takes 30 days to develop a habit and 7 days is about when it starts getting easier to make the right choices. Pretty quickly you start craving healthy meals and exercising if you’re heads in the right place. But you gotta think of it as a daily thing, don’t worry about your future too much, just make the right choices today. And it’s a good idea to introduce things slowly. If eating healthy and exercising is too much all at once, just introduce healthy meals and exercise later on because it’ll only take 30 days to get there.

Just to add on to this, if you eat something really caloric or with lots of sodium once a week, it's a special treat. Anything more than that is a bad habit.
 
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Suppose I could add to this thread. Currently sitting at about 220.
Started losing weight seriously on the 8th of May. Ironically after seeing the hambeast on Fishtank in less-than-glamorous surveillance cameras made me realize I probably look like that too. I hated that thought. Currently I've lost 66 pounds total. Still got about 55 pounds to go before I'm satisfied.
I stick to a 800 calorie diet. Always cook shit myself, no takeout (which I lived on before starting this). Only time I have anything with sugar in it might be an occasional once a month treat, if that. I also walk daily and exercise at home every evening.

It has been very rewarding. Nothing really beats the feeling of fitting into smaller sizes of shit, or hell, being able to do physical activities without fucking dying.
 
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