Thread: A little bit of help and advice, please?

Hello,

I am new here but have always struggled with my weight. I am almost 21 years old, I am about 5'5 and currently I weigh about 186 pounds. At the beginner of the summer I set out to lose as much weight as I could before going back to university. I was hoping for at least 20 pounds or more. Currently I have lost 10 pounds and have gone down a pant size.

I have run into an issue over the past few weeks. I have seem to have lost my motivation. I just don't know where it went. I haven't lost any weight in about a month and a half and I am not sure how to get it back.

I was hoping for advice from all your fabulous ladies. Advice on how to cope with emotional eating, motivational techniques, any good exercises I should try, best excercise for seeing a difference in size/weight.. any help at all would be awesome!

Thanks

First off, congratulations for reaching out! As a fellow recovering emotional eater who has dealt with weight issues for years, I know how hard that can be. It can be so easy to just isolate yourself and get lost in the food, and before you know it, all your hard work is undone. There's some excellent advice above. I'd like to add a little bit more...

In my experience, and I've heard this from other emotional eaters, change only truly follows acceptance - of all people, places, and things in your life, but especially yourself. Before you can move toward your goal of losing weight and getting into great shape for school, and really keep the weight off, learning to love and accept yourself as you are in the present moment is so important. All we have is the present moment, and the way we move into the future is defined by our attitude and actions now.

You are MUCH more likely to take the right steps and follow the great advice above if you are kind to yourself now. We are naturally conditioned to respond to loving attention. So, get excited about yourself, celebrate the things that are going right, create a good plan of action, move forward, and always remember to congratulate yourself for every step you take, even little ones.

Next, get yourself a buddy. This could be a friend, someone in a support group, or someone online. Committing to someone, and having support will take you much further than you can go alone.

You can formalize this attitude by framing your day with two exercises. In the morning, list 5 things you like about yourself, that make you proud to be you. They can be the same from day to day, but it's important to really appreciate them each day. In the evening, list 5 things you are grateful for from the day's experiences. This can be people, places, things, feelings, situations, whatever you come up with. You can include these exercises in your food journal.

I wish you well on your journey!

Eowyn