I can't commit

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-11-2006
I can't commit
31
Wed, 12-13-2006 - 4:09pm
I'm 33 and every month I say "I'm going to lose weight starting today". I've started a diet several times. My last one where I saw the pounds melt off was the "No sugar/No chocolate" diet.
I have rosacea which makes working out in a gym or outside out of the question. My landlord lives downstairs and I can't run and jump on the second floor. I do have an exercise bike and a treadmill.
The only time that's a good time to work-out is when I wake-up but I'm not a person who likes to wake-up in the a.m. If I could wake up an hour earlier and work-out I would lose weight.
Why am I so lazy? I need some inspiration people. What have you got? Too much stuff goes on during the day and I can't commit to a work-out schedule in the afternoon (my ideal time to work-out).
What can make a morning routine not so boring ?(ok. keep it clean! HA HA! I know what you're thinking. No dirty jokes there --of course my husband wouldn't object).
P.S. I'm 180 lbs. I want to be 145 and stay there forever.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Mon, 12-25-2006 - 9:57pm
Welcome and nice to make your aquaintance. There are a few things you can do - to trick your self into committing without taking that long walk down the aisle. For starters, rather than doing a traditional work out, walk to work or take the stairs. Go dancing with your girl or guy friends rather than spend a night home in front of the tele. I would also recommend make trading fat free or low calorie butter for your whole butter; the same goes for milk. There are quite a few web sites that give advice on how to drop five pds and the main tip is to cut a little bit off each day. Try going to a store, finding a stunning outfit, buy it and try it on every so often to see if it fits or not. My situation was similiar to yours, I started at 183 and I think, if these chinese scales are correct I am about 166 with 16 more to go! I find that wanting to be a healthy older person as the fact that I love to shop and have things fit me really get's me going.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-13-2006
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 5:25am

hi, i'm new here too, and i'm a bit older than you, i'm violating propriety already lol, i'm 41.

but i read your post, and i'd really like to share what has happened and finally 'worked' for me after being about 50 lbs overweight for just over ten years.

it really does start from the inside you know, do you have an image of yourself in your head as a fat person? i'm betting you do, the outside is a reflection of the inside, if there's anything i've really come to understand deeply about my journey to health and wellness and fitness......it is *this*.

please understand that i see you in me, my voice is gentle when i say this ibosgirl...please read your posts again....and really take a good look at all the excuses you have given yourself permission to languish in.......therein lies the real reason you have not been able to get a grip on all this, no amount of outside inspiration is going to carry you very far unless you recognize this.

i recognize this because it's exactly how i was, for years i had the best of intentions and the sincerest of desire to be at a healthy weight. but i had a book of excuses why i didn't have the time or the ability or the knowledge or the energy or the right mood...on and on and on.

one day, i just made the decision to take one step, just one, without promising myself anything other than to see how it felt to take charge over all those excuses for a change.

i still remember how difficult that was, to just take charge over all my own rationalizations and justifications and denials that enabled me to languish in excuse after excuse. i realized i was a 'slave' to the constructs of my own mind, a doormat to all those excuses.

so at first i had to force myself. i did it kicking and screaming, but i did it anyway. it felt good to just take back some control. to my utter surprise, lol. and i'm not saying it was easy after that, but it made it easy to make what i would call a commitment to provisional faith.

i took up yoga, and within 2 months felt infinitely better physically, i eliminated aches and pains i didnt even realize were there because i had normalized them.

with every step forward that 'bore fruit'....i committed myself only to taking the next step. that's when the image of myself that i had in my head began to change. from that of a fat middle aged powerless woman, to a more energetic, self sufficient and more youthful person.

i will tell you something now that will probably sound discouraging to you, we are all so impatient with weight loss......this journey so far has been about 4 years. and it's only been since last june that the fat on my body has really started to burn off. i started lifting weights, it took about 2 months to start really noticing results, slow and steady wins the race when it comes to long term fat loss. patience and releasing the need to see results on the scale or measuring tape have been paramount to my success.

i am grateful for every step of the way, and see the perfection in it, why it 'had' to take 4 years to get to this place. if i had lost weight quickly, from a place of personal will and self discipline without the understanding of the relationship between inner and outer......it would not be an authentic endeavor, and this is exactly why i had always 'failed' at losing weight in the past.

i see myself now as a vibrant, fit, healthy, lean, strong, sexy and youthful woman, full of vitality and love to share with others. i feel better now than i did when i was 25. mentally, spiritually and physically, i learned that all three must be balanced for this process to fully manifest.

i still have some fat to lose, i estimate about 25 pounds or so. i no longer even require faith of any kind to know that it is only a matter of time......the outside cannot defy the law of the universe, it must reflect what is within.

it is my sincerest wish that anything i might have shared strikes a chord with you or perhaps someone else reading here. you have everything you need you know....to do this. you just gotta face the responsibility that comes with truly knowing and accepting that truth. let go of your excuses....

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-14-2006
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 9:27am
I'm eating pineapple now. I went to Walmart and bought a crap load of fresh fruit, then my dinner will be salmon and mixed veggies (without butter). I, too have been frustrated about my difficulty meeting my fitness goals...I'm 5'5 and 170...I have two young sons and work fulltime. I love step aerobics and Denise Austin and Billy Banks (or is it Blanks)? Anyway, I didn't hear you mention if you were a mom because Lord knows it's so hard to fit excersise into your busy day. I mean it can be crazy. You sound like your energy is higher afternoon. (I'm not a morning person either I wish I were). You are NOT lazy, losing weight is hard! What about waiting until your favorite tv show comes on in the evening (mine is Law and Order Crimminal Intent) and use your treadmill after dinner? You can commit because I have falling off the diet wagon so many times and I try not to beat myself up but instead try and have a sense of humor and do NOT give up.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 9:51am

Breathein, thank you for stepping in with your words of wisdom; and don't worry about boundaries here!! Welcome to the 30's board ;-)


Congratulations on adapting a whole new way of life for yourself; you're so right- this does take time. Though sheer determination, and belief in yourself you have done it. Others can too!


Again, thanks for your post- and keep on keepin' on.....


Great quote btw: slow and steady wins the race


Virgin Islands


December

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2001
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 11:12am

That was an AWESOME post and I felt like you were talking to ME on some levels! Thanks!



iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2001
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 11:15am

<<and don't worry about boundaries here!! >>


Yea- does that mean y'all aren't gonna "kick me" off the Board in 2 years when I hit the big


iVillage Member
Registered: 12-26-2006
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 12:23pm
I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE U ARE COMING FROM..I DO GREAT FOR ABOUT 1 MONTH SEE RESULTS THEN DROP THE BOMB ON MYSELF...BUT WE HAVE TO MAKE A STAND TO BE COMMITTED TO GET THE RESULTS WE WANT.. IM TIRED OF MAKING THE SAME RESOLUTION TO LOSE WIGHT FOR THE SUMMER. AND FOR ME IN MOST CASES I GET TO THE WEIGHT I DESIRE BUT AS SOON A I GO ON VACATION....ITS OVER! SO I WISH U ALL THE BEST..AS FAR AS MORNING EXERCISE I DONT CARE FOR IT AS LONG AS I GET IT INTO MY DAY...
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 1:10pm
Welcome to the board Southern Belle!
Hope you're having a terrific Tuesday :-)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 1:11pm
I agree- I'm not an early morning person either- so so long as I get it done (workout) it's a good thing! Welcome to the board by the way!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2006
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 1:54pm

Hey there. Boy do I hear you about all this. I personally have found myself starting to get up early to work out. And believe me, I am SOOOOO not a morning person. What I found, though, was that getting out of bed and putting on the clothes and starting the workout was the hardest part. If I could get through that, then I was good to go once I was on the treadmill. My adreniline and endorphins started pumping and I felt so good about myself for getting up that I was able to keep going.

My suggestion is just do it one little step at a time. Just tell yourself when you go to bed, tomorrow I will get up early to work out. I may never do it again. I may work out for 5 minutes and say "This shi*t is for the birds" and go back to bed, but I will at least get up one morning and make the attempt. We can do anything like that just once! I found that when I did that, I did work out! Then I did it another morning, and another and it starts to get easier.

It's so much harder if you think of it in terms of "I will start getting up every morning of the week at 5:30 a.m. to work out!" It just seems so daunting and impossible! One day at a time. :-)

The other thing that helped was that I only get up in the morning to work out when I have too. That gives me motivation because I can say "Well, I'm getting up early this morning but I'm sleeping in tomorrow." If you know that on Monday and Wednesday you'll need to get up early but Tuesday and Thursday you can work out at night, then don't make yourself get up early on Tuesday and Thursday too! Why lose the sleep? :-)