Over the last few years I’ve allowed myself to gain 40 pounds. I often feel uncomfortable and unattractive in my own body, and I fear that the extra weight puts me at greater risk if I were to catch Covid (though I am vaccinated). Despite all this, I struggle to find the motivation to change. I have lost weight before, but it all came creeping back. I feel very cynical about trying to lose it again. I guess I am just not unhappy enough to try again. Has anyone been in the same boat? 

Make lifestyle changes, not fad diets, not extreme workouts. Find what works for you. And see a therapist about your relationship with food and a dietician to teach you about healthy choices.

Stop buying junk food. Stop having it in your house. Snack on unprocessed and simple fresh fruit and veggies

Start by walking 15 mins a day, it’s simple and easy on your joints

I’m order to lose weight and KEEP it off for good, don’t try fads, such as cutting carbs, cutting sugar, IF, Keto, etc.. I say this because the MINUTE you reintroduce these things you cut, you gain the weight back

It’s a slow and steady game, it will take a while.. you didn’t put the weight on overnight so you won’t lose it overnight. Watch your calorie intake and don’t cut everything off, when I began to lose weight, if I wanted a cookie, I had a cookie. But made sure I didn’t eat 20 cookies. Your relationship with food is important and going cold turkey with anything will only last so long.

Keep your head up, if you want some motivation or help DM me. I’ve lost 22% body fat and kept it off for 7 years now (I say body fat and not weight because the scale doesn’t show progress when you gain muscle back 🤗❤️)

I was literally thinking this same thing this weekend!! I know the health risks, I feel so breathless after short bouts of activity, I feel uncomfortable in my skin, I also know what I need to do to lose the weight. But for some reason, I just cannot get myself to begin 😭😭😭

I struggled with this for years and finally lost all the weight / got in shape when I started working remotely and moved to a ski town. Now I’m active daily (hiking, skiing, fishing, canoeing, trail running, etc.) whereas before I didn’t even go to the gym—it’s been a total lifestyle overhaul. Not sure if relocation is a possibility for you but it’s changed my life.

Realize that there is no moral element to weight gain (unless you are eating people, in which case you should stop ASAP).

Obesity is a chronic condition, like diabetes. Once you become obese, your body’s systems work as hard as possible to keep you obese. Material problems have material causes.

Luckily, they also have material solutions. Hire a trainer, either meal prep or have someone else prep them for you. Quit drinking, if you haven’t already. And so on.

Obesity can’t be cured, but it can be managed. The first step is cutting yourself a break. You’re not fat because you’re weak or dumb.

Source: US minority who was obese in childhood and has lost (and gained) 100+ pounds multiple times as an adult.

Have always been fit and very active, the pandemic destroyed this (well, I did or at least I let it happen). Gained 30 pounds, feel uncomfortable in my own skin and subject to the judgement of others (such as "oh wow what happened to you") to the point that sometimes I avoid socialising due to this. Starting just now to reboot my exercise habits but it is so hard as I perform so much worse.. and don't get me started on the food. But we will manage, you just have to make one good choice per day, and then two good choices, and so on.

I’m in the same boat. To make things worse, I’ve gained an extra 15 pounds since the pandemic. I tried Noom but after a few weeks the content just wasn’t as engaging 😭. Going sugar free for two weeks starting today and hoping this will help kickstart my weight loss.

Same situation like others, gained 40 lbs over COVID. Used to be a high performance athlete in university, I would be on average 10 lbs overweight in my working life but it was easy to shed if I focused. I was laid off a couple of months before Covid and it took me a year and a half to get another full-time job (part-time gigs in between). It was emotionally hard to think about staying fit while not having a sustained income for living expenses. Now in my mid-30s I cannot lose the weight with the easy eating healthy food habits that used to work before and short 30 min exercise drills. I realized I need an overhaul to reset my body. Sometimes you have to acknowledge you’re in state of emergency and act accordingly.

Losing weight is about putting yourself in a caloric deficit for an extended period of time. The best way to do this is to weigh and log every single thing that you eat or drink that has calories. You have to want to change and commit to the lifestyle though. I started macro counting and lost 10% of my body weight in 12 weeks. I didn’t give up the foods I love, nor the alcohol, but realized I can’t eat/drink them all at once. It’s about picking and choosing what’s important to you that day. There are lots of online coaches that can help figure out what your macros are and help you be accountable. Don’t try any of the fad diets, they aren’t sustainable. Weighing and logging my food has helped me understand portion sizes and I can eyeball them most of the time now after doing it for so long. That is what makes it sustainable. Good luck!

The challenge is that you’ve already mentioned the downside of your current weight, but you seem to be accepting that the downside of giving up the foods you eat, in the portions that you do and moving more frequently to be a bigger downside. If you’ve made that rationalization in your head....it will be very difficult to make the shift.

There are small tweaks you can do to your diet and lifestyle that have a huge impact. It’s the mental and emotional aspect that is harder to overcome. Many times people want to undo in 12 weeks of 4-5 months what took years. Realistic goals, and viewing this as something positive vs punishment will go a long way. Learn to love yourself - really love yourself no matter where ypu are and because of this self love, you’ll want to be your best you.

But staying stick in dissatisfaction with current state and the self limiting beliefs that it’s hard, you won’t be successful, it won’t stick, etc., is going to create ongoing resistance.

Do you want to become healthy and STAY healthy for you or for what you think other people think of you? I’d start there. Of ypu ate on this quest for a standard that you feel is imposed on you then you aren’t committed in your heart. If you do it for yourself, you’ll get better results.

No matter what, love yourself and be happy. I know you can do that! 😊

You need to lift 3 times a week, maintain a caloric deficit of 500 calories everyday, consume 120gms of protein everyday, eat a lot of veggies, cutout sugar, carbs and unhealthy food for 4 months. No one is coming to save you, you have to do this by yourself.

I’m in a similar boat. Have tried Noom (x3) keto, low carb, low calorie, and medically assisted (hormone injection) weight loss. They all worked initially, but I would inevitably gain the same weight or more back.

This time around I’m playing the longer lifestyle change game and progress is slow, but steady. Some of the things I’m doing that seem to help:
- got a simple fitbit and use to help me hit 7,500-10,000 steps/day & 7-8 hours of sleep daily as far as possible
- intermittent fasting and less refined/processed food
- managing my stress and workload better and saying no to work after hours as much as possible
- pilates 2x/week for a month to get me started and now moving onto small group HIIT classes to get most bang for my buck
- therapy… trying to find and deal with what is really going on with me and to find better ways to cope with it than “eating” my feelings
- got some workout clothes and work clothes that fit well so I feel as good as possible to be out and working out
-promising myself a nice capsule wardrobe and a new suit or two when I get back to my healthy weight and size
- weighing myself weekly to keep things real

Not an easy road, but don’t wait for the motivation to hit. Choose something that helps with weight loss but that you would enjoy anyway: like the 15-min walk suggested above, getting outside a couple of times a week, or having a really nice steak and salad instead of processed food

Just do something every day. Every day is the key here. Doesn’t matter what it is just get your heart rate up. Walk. Run. Cycle. Whatevs. Just be consistent.

I agree with everyone who said "intermittent fasting" . I have been IF'ing for a couple months now doing and have dropped 10 lbs and kept it off. My eating window is between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Sometimes I can go longer. It's not just the calories you cut out (which is helpful but not the main reason you lose weight) but it means that your body has time to reset and get fat adapted. Once you are fat adapted (usually takes about 2 weeks of IF), then your body will begin to use your fat stores as fuel when you are fasting. That is where the weight loss happens.

An added bonus is that i'm no longer using the mental energy I did on figuring out what I was going to eat every morning and what to snack on during the day. I have much more focus now than I ever did.

Good luck on your weight loss journey no matter what you decide to do! You got this!

Is being “not unhappy enough” really the criteria/principle you want to operate on? I think if you’re willing to tweak your mindset to that of continuous improvement, which in my opinion has a direct correlation to level of happiness, you’ll naturally begin identifying and implementing the right changes. Nothing needs to happen overnight, but very small incremental changes acted upon consistently across time make you a stronger, healthier, happier person.

I don’t know a ton about it, but maybe look into intuitive eating. It’s a non-diet diet

Are you me?? Lol. Get a trainer. You need the push like I did. It's worth it.

Keeping weight off is about lifestyle. You’re current activity level, stress, sleep, and dietary choices will influence your weight.

Once you lose the weight, you’ll have to keep up good habits otherwise your body will revert. I’m a very ‘momentum’ type of person who has to practice habits daily otherwise I lose the will to keep going.

Yes, for many years. Then I started to notice my body getting slower, knee problems, dangerous cholesterol, and decided I was in desperate need for a change. I calculated my BMR and ate 300 calories less daily, with light exercise. l tracked everything and optimized calories (protein, etc) . Now I’m 25 lbs down, it feels great when you start to notice your hard work

Yeah I was like this. Then I had an epiphany. God didn’t make us to be fat lazy and tired. And I started following keto esque diet, stopped drinking and started moving and lifting stuff whenever I can. It worked.