I have zero motivation to eat less

[Anonymous]

I think I would lose weight if I could just serve myself small portions and no seconds. I don't need to eat like a marathoner or pregnant or nursing mother at this time in my life. But I have absolutely no motivation to make better choices, especially in the afternoon (snack and caffeine to push through the workday) and evening (dinner is the one interesting meal prepared with care I have time for). It's not even like I'm tormented and fighting myself, I just am exhausted and don't care.

But I look actively horrible in every picture of me from the last year or two. 5-10 lbs would do a lot. How do I get myself to care?

[Anonymous]

Calorie compensation. Your body wants maintenance calories and you have to fight it every second of every day to cut back from that.

[Anonymous]

Realistically 5-10 lbs won’t make that big of a difference.

Just relax.

[Anonymous]

OP, I could have written this. I definitely can cut back on portions and snacks. But I enjoy food and because of sluggish midlife metabolism I am really not eating copious amounts of food. But definitely not restricting or avoiding carbs or anything like that.

PP, 5-10 lbs will make a big difference for some. Not sure why you would say that.

[Anonymous]

OP I hear you. In the same boat.

I used to have a killer body, I was beautiful, watched what I ate, and exercised. But now, I just want to give up and do and eat what I want. But the consequence is I feel ugly, look ugly, I know I’m now the fat nobody disappearing into the background. I just have no willpower anymore and no idea how to get it back. I’m a ghost now. A fat, lazy nobody. I’m ashamed, but it’s so hard now to lose the 40 pounds I’ve gained. My world feels is stressful and adds to this weight gain. Wish I could do something else but it isn’t that easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I could have written this. I definitely can cut back on portions and snacks. But I enjoy food and because of sluggish midlife metabolism I am really not eating copious amounts of food. But definitely not restricting or avoiding carbs or anything like that.

PP, 5-10 lbs will make a big difference for some. Not sure why you would say that.

Did you know according to recent research your metabolism doesn’t actually slow midlife? It’s actually age related muscle dystrophy that is slowing your metabolism and can fairly easily be corrected with strength training.

[Anonymous]

Garbage in, garbage out. Eat like crap, feel like crap.

Your life.

[Anonymous]

I didn't care for the better part of a decade. And I didn't care that I didn't care. I like eating. Fortunately I have decent metabolism - probably should have been obese but ended up technically only 15 pounds overweight on the BMI chart. I absolutely did not want to spend my DDs teen years dieting or worrying about my weight after my mom shamed me into an ED in high school.

I was so bored during the COVID lockdown that I decided to make a little project out of myself. I lost 40+ pounds over about 7 months and have kept it off for 2 years. All I really did was stop eating huge quantities of junk food. I don't really regret my decade of eating even now (and I still eat a lot even if I'm not regularly eating 800 calories of ice cream in one sitting anymore).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't care for the better part of a decade. And I didn't care that I didn't care. I like eating. Fortunately I have decent metabolism - probably should have been obese but ended up technically only 15 pounds overweight on the BMI chart. I absolutely did not want to spend my DDs teen years dieting or worrying about my weight after my mom shamed me into an ED in high school.

I was so bored during the COVID lockdown that I decided to make a little project out of myself. I lost 40+ pounds over about 7 months and have kept it off for 2 years. All I really did was stop eating huge quantities of junk food. I don't really regret my decade of eating even now (and I still eat a lot even if I'm not regularly eating 800 calories of ice cream in one sitting anymore).

OP here and I think maybe the opposite is part of it for me. (Congratulations by the way!) I have two young kids and very very little free time. The times when I've been fittest and at my best weight as an adult were when I had tons of flexibility and didn't feel so overwhelmed. Resetting comforting habits really does sound like a project and I'm at capacity.

That said, I look terrible and my clothes do too. It's nice to hear others understand what it's like. But what's the secret to tricking ourselves into caring?

[Anonymous]

I shed 30 pounds in a year by intermittent fasting. I basically skip a meal, and then eat whatever I want for the rest of the day, not total crap, protein and veggies for dinner, smoothies, coffee, fruit, gluten free pretzels or cookies for snack, eggs avo toast. Still have wine occasionally. It’s not that hard to be relatively healthy. When you say you don’t care, if you’re giving yourself an excuse to shovel crap into your mouth muffins donuts cake pasta every day give yourself treats 3x a day then you need to find a reason to take care of yourself better. Aside from your appearance, your health and fitness and strength matter so much as you age. Do it for those reasons.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was there! Gained 20 lbs in year 1 COVID, lost 8 lbs in year 2 but yogoed back up 4.
Five months ago I started weight training because I read more lean muscle would burns calories faster. Lol
I decided not to worry about nutrition, just lift. It was only once I started regularly with a program (working my way through Caroline Girvan free YouTube) that I WANTED to look at nutrition. But I could have easily not and still felt good because I was getting stronger, and that felt good enough.

So IF are even strength training curious I would encourage you to try.

Good luck! (And 5-10 lbs does make a difference!)

[Anonymous]

For people who strength train at home, what weights do you have and where did you buy them?

[Anonymous]

The easiest switch I made was swapping out my snacks for healthier options, mostly fresh fruit and veggies. I also switched to healthier protein snacks, like nuts. And I also added legumes to practically everything and cut down on meat. No huge change, but my body got used to eating better foods, and it got easier to make the healthier choice.

[Anonymous]

I have been on a diet or counting calories since I was 13. I ruined my metabolism so I gain weight so easily and was hungry all the time.

Mid 40s kids, death, tragedy, career crisis, marriage sh!t storm and I just let go of starving myself. Gained weight but I was glad not to feel hunger every day. It's hard to go back to hunger. Such a difficult tradeoff. Fat or hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who strength train at home, what weights do you have and where did you buy them?

I got mine at target. I have 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20 pounds, but both my husband I use them. We've acquired them throughout the years.