Thank you for teaching me how to succeed.

Hey! This is my second post on this sub, and in my previous post 2 days ago I described my unhealthy relationship with food and my struggles with exercise. I have a deep love for rowing, but accidents have stopped me from training several times and I keep falling of the bandwagon. I was ready to re-start a strict 5 workouts a week regime from nothing again and was looking for support. However, the comments were tough love and told me I was setting unrealistic expectations for myself. A bit sulky I logged off and didn't read any more comments.

The next day I started reading more posts on this sub, and it drastically changed my viewpoint. I already knew weight loss was mostly food, but I realized that being a perfectionist over and over again, expecting myself to go from nothing to heavy workouts again and wanting myself to just quit all junk food the same day, is setting myself up for failure. I read how many people lost 100s of pounds by "just" doing cico and allowing cheat days and meals, as long as they fit in the calorie amount of that day/week. I read about people who started with light cardio and did not yet move to strength training, and still reached their goal weight. I read how being so hard on yourself is just setting yourself up for failure, and allowing yourself to have bad days and just eat better the next days works way better. I learned a lot.

The things I'm taking from this sub are:

• It's better to do cardio instead of nothing if weights are too intimidating. I was dreading going to the gym because I had high expectations for myself in terms of a lifting routine, which meant I wouldn't go at all. Reading a book on the stationary bike is better than not going at all, even if it doesn't meet my perfectionist expectations.
• Starting with little works better in the long run. If I were to go through with the heavy workouts my rowing club provides, I'd most likely burn out within a month and then quit working out alltogether. If I start small, I can build at my own pace and stick with it.
• Calorie counting is key. I knew it was important, but didn't think it'd be possible to lose weight without exercising. I now know this is possible, and won't beat myself up as hard if I miss a workout, as long as my calorie intake is still in check for the day.
• You don't have to eat clean 100% of the time. It's not sustainable, and if a snack every once in a while can keep me from binging, it's better in the long run.
• This community rocks! I'm super happy to have found this sub, and I'll keep lurking here for a long time. Seeing other people's accomplishments and reading how they did it greatly helped me set up my own list of things I think will work for me, and I'm convinced I finally have a good shot to reach my goals.

Thanks to everyone who posted or commented here, the stories I read convinced me I, too, can turn my life around and get where I want to be.

submitted by /u/Jintje
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/33eu7cR