Weight loss can be mentally draining so I...

[AussieSam 234]

Rest days?

Sunday is usually my rest day and sometimes Saturday on these days I cut calaries to 1200.

[Dancing Fool 29]

Getting back to the title of this thread, if your weight loss plan is mentally draining, maybe you should be seeing a therapist as well as a NUT. Your food plan may or may not need a change, but if it stressing you out, maybe you need to work on the emotional aspect & stress management.

[Weighting2BeFree 164]

wow you work out... a lot. do you think you are putting your body through too much? Also, I just looked at your stats. way to go. you have lost a lot of weight. but I think you may be doing too much. two hours a day is a lot. and here is my advice (and I am going to get so much flack for this, I can already feel it): trust your body. try eating more for a couple of days, and see what happens. But look at what you are eating. is it 1800 of empty calories or is it full of health and life? if it doesn;t work, then lay off the calories and the exercise. I know for me that when ive been eating really good, and watching calories, and I have a day I don't watch what I eat and eat way too many calories, I often lose weight in the next few days. its like my body goes "oh she gave me enough - I can let go of some weight". then I strict my calories back down. find what works for you. I know that sometimes calorie restriction works for about a week, then stops. so then I up the exercise, or stop exercising, or eat too many calories then exercise. keep the body guessing. and give yourself a break!!! Prior to surgery I had a doctor and my Personal trainer telling me to eat 1200 calories and work out like mad; it worked for a few weeks, then stopped. I upped my calories to 1600 and boom, I started losing again. I kept my calories at 1600 for a long time. it was my sweet spot. I lost 75 lbs doing that. find what works for your body. not everyone is built the same!

[AussieSam 234]

I totally agree with you if one doesn't trick the body by varying calories and changing exercise then the body simply gets used to whatever your doing.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

Getting back to the title of this thread, if your weight loss plan is mentally draining, maybe you should be seeing a therapist as well as a NUT. Your food plan may or may not need a change, but if it stressing you out, maybe you need to work on the emotional aspect & stress management.

How far post op are you? I'm 2 and half years post op, and I can tell you, it is mentally draining some days. I didn't feel that way so much the first year. I couldn't imagine how anyone would ever feel that way after WLS, and was sure I had seen the light. I never expected to feel hunger, or think I'd have the desire to eat too much for any reason. I felt cured. I was naïve.

Just because it is work and draining doesn't mean you need therapy, lol. While I agree there are many reasons people should seek therapy, it is not the cure for everything. It may not be an issue that requires intervention. Sometimes it's just that people are tired.

[Alex Brecher 10,512]

AussieSam,

It sounds like you have a realistic expectation of what this “break” can do – get you back on track mentally but not be good (short term) for your weight loss. It’s not ideal, but if it’s what you have to do to keep yourself sane and avoid something worse (giving up entirely), it’s probably a good idea.

One thing you might consider during these two weeks is trying to see how intuitive you can be. If you’re not going to track, and look at the numbers, you might try to pay more attention to how you feel. Is your body hungry? Are you craving Protein? Are you able to detect thirst? In other words, try to use this as a positive period even if it’s not Plan A (counting Protein grams and logging food and your weight, for example).

Also, if you’re exercising 2 hours a day, that could be contributing to your mental burnout. Think carefully about whether that’s sustainable long-term, or whether you’d be able to save time, exercise more intensely, and/or focus more on your diet if you cut back on the exercise.

Good luck!

[Elizabeth21 176]

@@AussieSam -- It sounds like you need a break and that your two week plan is a sort of vacation idea. You've been at this a long while. Perhaps you should consider adding more FUN to your day to day life. I find having something to look forward to makes the "grind" of everything else whether it is the food plan, work or whatever in life easier to deal with.

You deserve more than just a vacation. To sustain your success I recommend that you find more FUN!

Good luck!

Edited June 16, 2015 by Elizabeth21

[AussieSam 234]

I have to agree with Alex and Elizabeth that the exercise is burning me out both physically and mentally so the break is doing my mindset great.

[Julie norton 2,850]

Good luck on your break Sam .

This is a very long term undertaking. We have years to go here, not weeks

So plan for the future. See how this works and go on .

Personally, I could not follow 2 hours a day of hard exercise for years. I am glad to see you are reconsidering where your strength will go!

[drmeow 323]

I know this might seem crazy to a lot of people but through experience sometimes you need to change what your body is use to in order to kickstart your weight loss engine. When the body stays on the same routine daily it needs to be tricked into losing when you first started weight loss where your heart rate was quicker and you burned more calaries.

It depends a lot on what you eat. If you are still eating only 400-500 cal/day, yes increasing that may help you lose. But, DON'T increase it with carbs. Eat more Protein IF you aren't getting enough for your size, and don't be afraid to eat good fats! Eating enough fat tells your brain that you aren't in starvation mode, it fills you up nicely for hours, and it forces your body to burn the fat you've stored. It sounds wrong b/c we've all been brainwashed the last 30 years to think low-fat is the answer but all the "studies" which pushed that have been shown to be completely wrong. See http://www.businessinsider.com/13-nutrition-lies-that-made-the-world-sick-and-fat-2013-10

And then, for a very quick-and-dirty easy guide to living this - read http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Bacon-Dont-Jog-Bullshit-ebook/dp/B00KLDEKZC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434551727&sr=1-1&keywords=eat+bacon+don%27t+jog