Hi. I've lost 100 pounds and kept it off (no ex wife joke here - was miserable during marriage). After divorce, women would hit on me just to give you an idea of the improvement. I still don't know how to deal with it, but it's nice when it happens. Here is what doesn't work: 1. Staying around the same toxic people who got you there 2. "Dieting" 3. "Exercise" 4. Willing yourself to do it The only thing that works is the same thing that works with trading: having a plan and sticking to it. Build that machine, bitches. Every single person who tries to lose weight wants to find "the one trick that doctors don't know" but the fact is that it is calories in, calories out, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Psychologically, this is what you need to do: 1. Remove the stressors you can remove 2. Train yourself to acknowledge the stressors you can't, observe your reaction and create a plan around this reaction. For me, (1) was enough. Next, schedule (6 days/week). This is mine: 1. Wake up at 4 am (yes, you lazy fucks) 2. Go for a run until 5 3. Do http://www.startbodyweight.com/ afterwards 4. Don't eat until 6pm. Just water You can't do this in one day though, so here is what you do first: stop eating all day until 6pm. Then eat between 6pm-8pm. Only water all day. Do this for 1 month. And only this change. You will feel like you're starving, but you're just hungry. Train yourself to say "I'm just hungry, this is OK". Next, wake up at 4am, start walking. Get an app that coaches you audibly to run for 2 minutes, walk for 1, or whatever works for you (RunKeeper used to be good for this but they sold out). Do some pushups or the start bodyweight exercises afterwards. Do this for 1 month, only this. Next, pick the thing you feel which will give you the most bang for your buck and improve that. I chose to go for hikes every weekend. Guys, there's NO shortcut. It's hard work. But the good thing is that it's the same hard work that's required in being successful in trading (not that I know anything about that - yet) Also, for food: meat, fish and veggies. Nothing else. Good luck!
Consume a mere 100 calories more a day than you expend ....after a year you put on 10 pounds, mostly fat. What's that have to do with mental issues?
It's not putting it on that's the problem, it's keeping it on. Everyone's weight fluctuates. It's when you don't take control of it that it is indicative of an issue.
to respond to hobby... Looking at vein in my bicep that only I can see after a workout is like an old friend who reminds me of good times. Its funny how much I want that old friend to come back and be visible all the time. In certain clothes I am now looking athletic... at times. ( I still have a dad bod with my shirt off, but its going away methodically.) my brain has converted from thinking about - will that food me fat... to nutrition. Will that help me gain muscle. Will that make help me live better. I still have a cookie or something every day but I no longer even want ice cream. (at least lately) I suggest a person in my situation break the status quo with a big effort. A fast or atkins or a long race or hike or something. (So you can bust out of your plateau to the downside.) Then... eat protein and veggies and less processed foods and hit gym (weights) hard for a month. Then you will see change and really want to see the gains continue. I think its a bunch of little things which are happening automatically because I am training pretty hard.