Thoughts on getting your mental health in check before attempting weight loss?

This is a piece of advice I've seen often on this sub, possibly even parroted it myself at some point. That you should work on your mental health before even attempting to lose weight, lest you never succeed.

But I kind of disagree. Sure you have to be ready to lose weight and aware of how your mental health can make things harder But I know for myself if I'd waited until I had a handle on my mental health, I would never have started losing. my attitude is 'my mental illness has been and probably always will be here, I have to live life in spite of that' rather than 'I have to fix my mental health before I can work on my physical body'.

Mental health issues make things harder, and seeking therapy etc. would likely make things (including weight loss) easier for the vast majority of people, but I don't accept that seeking mental health help can't be done concurrently with weight loss. It's like those people who say you have to love yourself before anyone else can love you, just seems defeatist to me. Not to mention losing weight and especially increasing activity can somewhat help a fair few mental health issues, it doesn't solve anything but it helps.

I dunno, what do y'all think?

^{(Another issue is people assuming that getting skinny will fix their mental health issues in which case, maybe an assessment of goals is in order and they should definitely seek concurrent mental health assistance but that's kind of separate to the general depression/anxiety/trauma is making it hard to stay on track that often garners the advice to take a 'maintenance break' or such.})

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I have so many more clothes now

[30/F 5’10 SW:300 CW:238 GW:155]

I’m a long time lurker here, but I wanted to share a success of my weight loss that is pretty neat and not at all anticipated. During my weight gain starting at about 250 lbs onward to 316 lbs as my heaviest, I lived in about 2-3 pairs of pants. I didn’t want to buy clothes, I didn’t want to feel feminine or uplifted by what I wore, so I fell into a slump, though I kept all of my clothes as I gained. I have a habit of yo-yo-ing so I knew I’d lose it again.

Fast forward to today, where I’ve lost about 60 pounds and I just folded a whole load of pants from the dryer equaling out to 10 pair! I have 10 pair of pants, whereas just yesterday I thought I only had 3. Apparently I dropped another size. From all the clothes hoarding I’ve done, I probably had 6-7 big bags of old clothes. Well, today there’s 2 gone! I can fit into 2 frickin bags, I’m so stoked.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with people that might understand. My circle wasn’t nearly as thrilled as I am.

TL;DR: I had 3 pairs of pants yesterday and had went down in a size so now I have 10 pairs!

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Hi r/loseit. This is me!

Hi all. I'm trying get serious about weight loss but I'm too self-conscious to talk to friends etc. about it in IRL. I've seen the amazing community spirit here and want to join in! (There's a TL;DR!)

So, I've never been skinny... ever! I was a chubby kid and I've been a fat adult, and now I'm an obese adult. I'm 34, about 5ft 5in and I peaked recently at 245lb. I hate the mirror.

I quit smoking about a year and a half ago and I let emotional eating taking over. This year I need to quit that!

I started excercising about 3 weeks ago - just low-impact, high-energy cardio sessions at home (see self-consciousness) at least 4 times a week, but aiming for 6. I am really trying to make being active the first habit I latch on to. Aside from being more careful and curbing my late-night emotional munchies, I hadn't been worrying too much about food and dieting, I didn't want to take on too much too fast, but I've found because I'm being so active that I don't want to fuck it all with crap food - so I'm definitely making more and more better choices as the weeks go on.

Carbs and coffee were my downfall. I have 2 young kids and breads are so quick and easy to just grab and go. I would also drink maybe 6 sweet milky coffees a day, 2 of them might be lattes if I'm out or at work. I was grocery shopping one day and came across coconut green tea. It has changed my life! It's completely replaced my coffees and I don't miss it at all. I'm sure my body doesn't miss all that sugar either - I feel so much "cleaner" physically and clearer mentally already, so I'm excited to see how much better I can feel!

So that's me, in a long and rambly nutshell. Hopefully in 6 or 12 months I'm still here and posting a progress pic!

All advice is appreciated :D

TL;DR: I quit smoking, I handled it badly and now I'm obese and kind of addicted to late-night snacking. Started excercising 3 weeks ago, eating better so I don't undo my all my effort, quit my 6-a-day coffee habit (happy accident) and now I feel great!

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Here’s to starting all over again...

2015 was my year. I started my weight loss journey as a 5’9” F at 307 pounds. I went to the gym everyday, got into powerlifting, was counting macros. I finally felt like I had it under control. I was thriving, working hard and got down to 220 pounds. I was in the best shape of my life.

Then.. I was involved in a car accident. Rear ended.. ended the life of my car and my powerlifting career. I lost ALL motivation. No insurance to cover PT and as a broke college student I had no way of covering the cost. So I turned to food and video games. I gained all the weight back plus more. I’m currently sitting at 337 pounds.

I have a successful job. I got myself some insurance, and I just started physical therapy.

Here’s to starting over. It sucks.. really badly. But, it will be so worth it.

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Slow progression over 6 years—down 85 lbs! A brief summary.

https://imgur.com/gallery/0AQLxxB

While the photo album (forgive the potato quality) spans 6 years (for the sake of highlighting my most out of shape to my most in shape), it is a little bit misleading; the real weight loss journey began 7 months ago. I weigh 175 lbs now, weighed 205 lbs 7 months ago, and 260 lbs in 2013. For my whole life I could either work out without regard to diet, or diet without regard to working out—never both at the same time. I won’t expand too much on the personal details of the story primarily because that’s the part I normally skip over in these posts. Here’s what got me my results:

• Workout at least 3 days a week: push, pull, leg+ab days (4th day would be some cardio or miscellaneous exercises if I ever did a 4th day per week). Preworkout, creatine, and protein are the only things I take.

• Low carb diet: eliminate breads, rice, pastas, sugary anything, etc. for 6/7 days per week. One cheat meal per week. A lot of salads and low carb smoothies. An article in the NYT inspired me to do low carb. Low carb also reduces chances of excess skin after weight loss, which is an important factor for me.

• Intermittent fasting really tied everything together. The linked video is all it took for me to jump on board for a week and after I got through the first 3-5 days I never looked back. The benefits for me cannot be stated enough so much so that I’ll likely never not be doing intermittent fasting. I have one cheat day per week and I usually make it the night I take my low carb cheat meal (in case I want to go out with friends for an evening).

The biggest thing for me was getting my mind right since everything else flowed from there. It took years of trial and error to finally get in the zone but my persistence paid off. Feels good to finally be making this post after years of lurking. :)

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Small rant on people who are anti-alternatives when it comes to treats such as low cal packs/low calorie alternatives. What do you guys think? What has been your experiences on the subject? I have a really hard time with satisfaction and getting sugar to a normal intake.

I was looking up low calorie ice cream brands and came across comments in which were frustratingly anti-non-natural one, but worse was the idea that eating just a little be of the regular stuff was better. The entire point of being able to polish off a 310 cal tub ala breyers for instance is because that same person is likely to polish off a Ben and Jerry's half baked tub as well. People who often choose these options is because they have addiction/sugar based issues and are trying to find something to mitigate the damage. Is it optimal? Of course not, but for many it's more than just a physical craving. When I grew up I was given treats as a reward for being good or just normal. I was actively punished with lack of treats when my behavior was perceived as bad. My psyche is totally damaged from this thought process (among other things from childhood that were outright abusive, but that's neither here nor there) and it makes it that much harder.

I also read a study on the theory that some people have a lowered pleasure response to stimuli. Meaning in a simplified way, 1 cupcake will make most people happy and satisfied, but for someone with the lowered response/receptors 3+ cupcakes are needed for the same level. This explains why some people can eat a whole tub of ice cream and then finally feel temporarily happy/satisfied where others would balk or feel sick doing half that or even less. it's also possible that this is genetic, not even always learned in the same way any addiction works in the diminishing returns fashion. Which makes it even more imperative to figure out and explains why some people have a harder time going cold turkey than others.

If this is correct, then it's not a matter of will power if one is satisfied with a piece of chocolate and another needs a row of cookies to feel the same thing.

What has been your guys experience in choosing alternatives or even going cold turkey? I am having a absolute hell of a time cutting out desserts. I'm trying fruit with the tiniest bit of honey or just fruit outright, which I love, but it doesn't satisfy that mental component at all. Cutting cold turkey is really hard and I relapse if I break for some small thing. I've figured out a few trigger foods and brands that set off a chain of inability to stop, but it's definitely the biggest hurdle I face in weight loss.
I'm debating on getting a breyers delights tonight.

There is another factor too, though this might be partial desperate excuse, but stress causes the body to hang on to more weight and I get really stressed out being unable to have treats. I feel worthless and like I did something wrong, so it's really hard to find a balance to make myself not stressed out (I stress about other things too, so it's just a cherry on the cake so to speak to) So having these lower calorie options is a viable option to me, so long as it fits in the caloric intake as my diet is CICO and my body is REALLY stingy with sugars and fats. It just will not lose almost anything unless I am 1300 or lower.

So it's like sitting in a rock and a hard place, at least that's how it feels. I hope I am not alone on this front because it's something I definitely struggle (cry in a corner for real) about.

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Going on a cruise and wigging out a bit that I’ll lose progress.

I have lost 52 pounds since having a baby last April. I went from being between a size 16 to being in between a 10 and 12 at present. Getting all that weight off was a lot of work but totally necessary for me because of some back pain I was suffering from and being a mom and preschool teacher I just really need to be able to move fast, have high energy, and stand/crouch throughout the day. It’s made me a better mom and a better educator to my little students. Before losing all that weight I’d have hesitated to do messy art projects and sensory bins in class out of dread for the mess and chaos I’d have to manage. Now my kids go home exhausted from all the fun they have. Several of my students parents commented on my weight loss success after we put on a Spring Recital at the school this week and it felt so good to be on stage in front of a crowd and feel completely comfortable in my skin.

Next week I’m going on a cruise with my husband and two kids and I just want to relax after this year full of hard work and changes and not count calories and then just hit it hard when I get back home. Am I setting myself up for failure? Part of my success was breaking a bad sugar addiction by going cold turkey and treating it like a drug. I really would like to get to my goal weight and size 8 by the time I travel to Japan in September (don’t want to feel insecure at the onsens and would like to clothes shop some and stuff is capital-T Tiny there!). Thoughts? It’s my first cruise. Is all the food unhealthy on Carnival? Anyone have experience with that?

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