Fingers Crossed!

[hausfrau]

Hello!

I'll knock the technical who/what/when/where/why stuff out first... I'm a 38 year old mommy of two beautiful girls who gave up a semi-interesting job in america to move to europe almost a year ago in support of my husband's career. While I love it here, I find myself hiding in my flat way too often, propped up in bed... pillows behind me, laptop in front of me... sound familiar anyone?? I'm here because I've finally worked through my shame, guilt, rationalizations and fear of failure and come to realize that... hey, I'm just not happy with myself the way I am. And life's too short to be unhappy and not attempt to do something about it.

And now, the rest of the story... I love where I live, love my family and, for the most part, love my life. But I do allow my size to keep me from doing things. I dread meeting new people, and up until a few months ago you would never have been able to get me to admit in an online forum the fact that I was overweight. But in doing that there's no room left to discuss something so central to you... something that consumes so much of your time & energy... that pretty soon you end up feeling even more trapped by your circumstances that you were before. I also live in a country where the obesity rate is almost non-existent. In other words, there's an army of tall, thin germans and then stubby little ole me trying not to stick out like a sore thumb. I always wanted to be unique, but this is not what I had in mind when in my 20's I said I wanted to stand out in a crowd.

So here I am- day 3 of induction. The monster hunger of the first two days seems to be subsiding and I've got my fingers crossed that I won't end up another statistic. You know the type... those who enthusiastically start a new way of eating only to have their resolve vanish as January turns to February and the call of jelly donuts and elastic waistbands becomes to great to resist. Seriously, for those of you who've done this for months & years... how do you find and keep your motivation? Because staying motivated & on course, I think, is my biggest obstacle. Well, that and resisting the siren song of yummy, yummy carbs.

[dreamof145]

Hi Welcome! I lived in Germany for 7 1/2 years and for the most part loved it also. One thing that is great are the volksmarches there. Thats a great way to get exercise and see the countryside.

As for the motivation, be creative. Write out why you want to lose the weight, then write out steps that will get you to goal. Making a journal is a good way to keep yourself focused. Write out quotes and 'reasons for wanting it to happen' which is helpful in staying positive. Being active with others who have the same goal of losing weight is a good way to keep a good attitude. Looking at photos of yourself at an thinner time in your life or a photo of someone who is the size you want to be is also a great motivator.

You can do it, there is so much support and encouragment here from others who want to see you succeed! Best wishes!!

[ValidRouge]

Hi hausfrau, welcome to ADBB! Every day, I come to this support group and I reaffirm why I'm here. I visualize how I want to look and feel at goal. I ask for support from the members here, and I pay it back by helping someone else. I guess you could say that I'm ACTIVE in my WOL. I think about it, plan for it, get excited about it. Maybe I'm obsessed with it...but you know what, it's a much healthier obsession than being obsessed by the carbs. I actively seek out recipes and new foods to eat, I've learned to love exercise....if anyone were to seek out my past posts, you'll see that I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT even like exercise....but I do now. I even planned far enough ahead to realize that my weight loss would slow down and maybe even plateau....but I planned for it, and it's not discouraging me to the point of quitting. Because I was active in planning ahead.

If you follow the plan the way it was intended, it will work and you'll have the benefit of being in control of the food instead of the food being in control of you.

I hope this helps.

[foojoy]

Good luck and try to stick to it. This is my 3rd try. I'm starting day 11 on Thursday. I do get cravings but I fight thru them.

[sillygirl]

Welcome to the board hausfrau!

[hausfrau]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I can't imagine ever loving exercise, but I realize I need to at least make peace with it as it's a necessary evil. Now I'm off in search of yummy induction sanctioned recipes...

EDIT

*This Spotlight-Introduce Yourself thread has been closed due to extended absence of owner. Please feel free to private message any compliments and/or comments to the original poster. If you are the owner and would like to revive your Spotlight-Introduce Yourself please PM the forum mod or an Admin.