hondahunny18k's Journal, 22 Aug 22

I sometimes feel as you do, counting my blessings often helps me through and faking it till I make it because those feelings always lift. We all have our own way through those days, and you'll get through, lifting you in prayer for God's grace to cover you. Sending you a big bear hug and lots of love🙏🏽💕💕. 

It's a struggle. I honestly am not sure how people maintain without counting or weighing unless they have a super active lifestyle 🤔 I'm with you! 

Right on JC 

sometimes looking at the feelings under the feelings helps. I realize that might sound odd, but the sponsoring feeling is what I am talking about. what is it that you need? money stress, affection, hobbies, connection with others, structure? look at what causes the blah feeling and be gentle with yourself. 💗 

Stay the course. You will regret not doing so. There will be challenges. Keep them temporary and move on. Enjoy your social events and remember it's not all about the food.  

Losing weight is a huge challenge and commitment!! The only advice I can give is to keep moving forward, even if you have a bad day or week, it's repairable. Don't give up! Start fresh everyday if you have to until good eating becomes a habit. Yes you will mess up from time to time but you can recover!👍💜 

You got this! See discouragement as the opportunity. When it gets really hard, that means you are getting close to a break through. Just pick one thing to get done. Clean one room. You will feel better once you start. Momentum is everything. If you give into the lazy, it will win. If you get up and just get one small thing done you will feel better. Don't think, just do. GET UP!!!  

time to refocus but not time to give up! we all stumble from time to time and eat far more than we know we should but we get back at it and are happy we did ... dont give up 

I know how you to feel it’s like naturally my body teeters in the 160s-170s …. I am watching seed oils, watch that and sugar ofc 

You CAN do this! Make a plan, take one day at a time. If you step off the path, don't look back, just step back on and make better choices. You can do social events, just plan ahead. I eat lightly that day so that I can splurge a little at the event and I follow the three bite rule: if it's something delicious but high calorie, I restrict it to three bites, eaten slowly and savored. When you can, weigh everything (I do grams, more accurate), when you can't, estimate, but log EVERYTHING! The only way you can fail is it you give up. We're pulling for you!! 💖💖💖 

OK, sounds like there's a lot more going on in your head than you think. You might have a LOT on your plate right now, and you are thinking that with all of these social events coming up, you will have to "punish" yourself by not eating the food you want so you can lose the pounds you want. I don't think you should beat yourself up if you don't feel you're "perfect" in your mind. You have to remember...the ONLY person in this journey of being/looking the person you want to be is YOU. It's not a contest. There is no time limit. Being 180 lbs. also doesn't necessarily mean you are unhealthy either. You SHOULD have some activity in your day and you should have more protein in your diet, with complex carbs and a moderate amount of fat. That doesn't mean that eating healthy is just salads and plain chicken! LOL! I season up my meals and make my own sauces to them as well! Just because you are trying to lose a few pounds, it doesn't mean that you have to not ENJOY your food!!! AU CONTRAIRE! I have slacked a little bit with my exercise lately, but I'm trying to get through some hip issues. I'm slowly fixing that, but I still eat tasty food. I just try to stay in a caloric deficit. THAT is what matters! Every single trainer out there preaches the same thing...CALORIC DEFICIT. This just means you eat less than your body is using per day. I try not to go above 2000 calories a day. Believe me, it's a LOT...and it saves room for some glasses of wine, too! LOL! You don't have to kill yourself at the gym or starve yourself to death to make a difference in your body. It will come off gradually if you are good to yourself and give yourself the right nourishment. You may not even be mentally ready to go at it right now. You know what? That is PERFECTLY OK! If you are not feeling it, don't force yourself. You will just build MOUNDS of resentment up and then you'll really go off the rails because you won't care anymore. What should you do? Well, sit down, write out a plan of foods you love, record everything you do eat, count the calories and weigh your food. Make sure you truly know EXACTLY what a portion/serving size is. Eat what you want in moderation. Then, develop an exercise plan. I love weight training, but I'm not big on cardio, yet I know I NEED to do that. So, I find things I LIKE to do to get my heartrate up, and I vary it up a bit. There are people out there who say you don't need cardio. I say they are wrong. You need to sweat a bit and build that heartrate because your heart is an EXTREMELY important muscle that you don't see everyday, but it needs a workout as well because you need it to keep functioning. The stronger your heart is, the better you are. OK, I'm off my soapbox now. LOL! Except one more thing...mental clarity. I go to a salt room and just "be" for 45 minutes. It's the BEST thing I can do for my mental health! Meditation or just getting away from technology for a few minutes a day can also help clear your mind and focus to what you want to do. I think you need some "me" time LOL! We ALL do! Good luck on whatever you decide to do!  

Thanks for sharing your struggles as well as your victories. You are NOT alone, ever, on this site. I agree with Todd...just get going with 1 small thing. I pledge to do the same as soon as I send you this comment, ok?! 

don't be so hard on yourself it's just one dinner out with your husband you're doing wonderful hang in there you got this. 

All of you and I really mean all of you who commented really touched me. Thank you so much for your kind words, advice and support. I truly felt loved reading each comment and I’m taking everything to heart. You all had something wonderful to say and I’m going to keep at it. Thank you so much.  

I'm so glad that you are going to keep at it, that's great news.