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I have been trying for several months now to lose weight and usually get to about 5 pounds, then go on a binge. It's unhealthy and packs my lost weight and more back on. I know I need to stop it, so I am making a public announcement - I can do this! I have tried just about every diet imaginable and have not successfully been able to stay on one without crashing. I know I need to try moderation and balance the nutrients that I need and that I need to get more exercise.
Goals:
Fitness - Be able to run a 5K (I can currently go about 2 miles before feeling unable to breathe)
Weight Loss - Lose 20 pounds and keep it off!
How? - This is my problem. I don't know how to lose the weight that I want to and keep it off. I am trying to snack on vegetables and fruit when I crave, but have been struggling. The only issue that may come into play with diet restrictions is that I am lactose-intolerant. Lactase pills (Lactaid and such) don't seem to have any effect on me, so I have essentially cut out dairy products from my diet. I am taking calcium supplements to make up for lost calcium though. Any responses and tips are appreciated, so please keep me motivated to post and stay on track!
Thanks
As for eating, well, that is of course the main issue in weight loss. It will be a matter of decreasing your food intake without increasing it again for a long period (a day of high intake here and there won't matter). You will have to find techniques and mechanisms that work for you - for some it helps to write down what they eat (not for me), or count calories, or eat at specific times, etc. Or change your routines so that it will force you to flee from food during your problem times of the day when you are more likely to overeat.
Just don't try to lose to fast - that will diminish your chances of success. Slow progress is good enough.
Keep posting here - maybe that will help you too.
1. Acknowledge the problem2. "Rainbow colors" on every plate3. All animals function on precise schedules4. Deep breathe while walking5. Control temper6. Learn to measure your health without a scale
The reason why you've been unsuccessful in weight loss, previously?
You don't start with eating 1200 calories and exercise for an hour, everyday.
That's "bass ackwards"...
By ingraining empowering health habits, one step at a time, you will eventually incorporate higher levels of activity while eating less, naturally. Contrary to what most people think, weight loss is not something you "do".
It's something you "arrive" at.
One more question - How can I improve my body image as I lose my weight? So far I have lost a lot in my legs and arms, but not in my abdominal area, which is where I wanted to focus. I'm getting rather frustrated that I am only successful where I'm not trying to be. I have a fairly "straight" figure with no curves of any kind except my horrible bulgy stomach. It makes me extremely self-conscious and I wonder why that is where all of my fat is accumulating. I do ab exercises, but just can't lose the belly-fat. Suggestions? And thank you so much for the responses. They give me hope that someone is listening

But the essence will still be "forcing yourself away from the food" until it is time to eat; learning to eat with your head instead of with your heart and tastebuds only, thinking about when, what and how much you eat before and while you eat.
It will take practice and you won't get it right perfectly from the start, but you could get better at it gradually.
As for body image - if you lose weight, some of it will eventually inevitably also come off your abdomen, maybe not as much as you would like, but it will shrink. Your body will need the fat for energy when it experience a calorie deficit, it won't have a choice. A somewhat bulging stomach on a slimmer body is still better than a big bulging stomach on a fatter body anyway.
As for the overeating: you are not the only one suffering from that. The way to break out of that pattern differs from individual to individual. It will take a bit of effort in the beginning, but will get easier. You have to somehow force yourself away from the food after dinner - literally flee the food until you are "stronger". Some would say remove the dessert and chocolate from the house so it's not there in the first place, but I don't know if that would treat the underlying problem of lack of control, which could still be simmering.
You have to practise 'eating, then stopping to eat'. Try to do it for just one day, just to prove to yourself you can do it. After that you can tackle tomorrow.
So, what do you decide to do, now?...
Diet
"...I was so determined to have a good day eating today and was doing great up until dinner time. I way overate and then continued eating dessert and chocolate afterwards..."
If I were to watch a video of your entire day, yesterday, and drew a timeline of what you did and thought, I bet I could determine when you broke down and lost it...
It happened way before dinner.
Your problem is not dessert and chocolate. It's the precise sequence of behaviors and thoughts leading up to dinner that did you in. This is Root Cause Analysis.
Diet is not the root cause of your overeating. Your behavior is the root cause.
We're all salmon fighting to get upstream. There is no "right" way and there is no "wrong" way. In other words, what works for me may not necessarily work for you...
Here's a story of one man's extraordinary struggle to illustrate this point...
http://howireversedmyheartdisease.blogspot.com/
He applied every healthy lifestyle habit in a desperate attempt to find the "root cause" of his heart disease. Through an arduous but methodical process of elimination, he eventually found his right path...
Was it the mercury fillings? Was it the Chelation Therapy? Or, was it simply the healing powers of daily exercise that saved him? Who knows?
Doesn't matter...He's still swimmin'...
Some salmon make it, some don't. It would be nice if all salmon survived but that's not how nature works. It would be cool if salmon could get on a boat or eat a magic fly that would transport them to cool, quiet waters but that's not "natural". All animals must abide nature's rules.
Yesterday, a bear took a bite. So what?
You're still alive and swimming. Better luck, today...

There are many ways to get exercise without being on your feet. While I am at work sitting at my desk I will sit back in the seat just enough to feel my stomach muscles work. Hold this position for a while and you will feel them working. Leg lifts, arm lifts, standing up and sitting down slowly. Do you walk up and down the steps? Add one extra set. While sitting lean to the left and hold, lean to the right and hold. There are many low impact exercises you can do at home even sitting in your chair in front of the tv. The idea is to move the body. It doesn't matter how as long as you are burning calories. I wish you the best. Don't give up! The little steps eventually take you where you want to go. It just may take a little longer.
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