Small Changes that can positively impact weight loss?

tastybrains — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:04:55 -0800

Help me come up with some easy, small changes to make to my lifestyle to help me lose weight while dealing with other life issues (e.g. depression). I've been trying to lose weight for a number of years, ever since college. Since graduating college in 2002, I've always been on a diet. Most recently, I spent 2.5 years trying to follow the WW plan.

My issue is that I also suffer from anxiety & depression, which I am getting treatment for. Working with my therapist, I've realized that I go through cycles - 1 week of getting very excited about losing weight (and getting my life & mood together in general), 1 week of following my strict routine, 1 week of feeling kind of burnt out and half-assing it, and then about a month of just falling into a deeper depression and essentially feeling like I don't care and it doesn't matter.

Because of this, I haven't reached any sort of consistency. Following a diet plan isn't going to work if I only stick to it 2 weeks out of 2 months. And because of my depression, I am starting to feel like it's unrealistic from me to go from miserable-tired-emotional-binger to WW poster girl overnight. I've tried & failed too many times before, so that the mere thought makes me want to just crawl under a rock.

At any rate, while I am trying to mostly focus on my depression right now, I am also fairly overweight, and while I'm trying to accept myself for who I am and all that, I can't ignore my weight & my health.

So, I'd like to try a different approach. I would like to pick 2 or 3 habits to incorporate into my life, things that are not too small nor too drastic, and once I've stuck with them for a month or two, adding a couple more good habits.

So, can you recommend some small changes that, done consistently, could make an impact in health & weight over time?

(Note: I'm not interested in diet plans, especially ones that eliminate entire food groups. I'm working on trying to become a "normal" eater, but one who naturally chooses mostly healthy foods.)

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Small Changes that can positively impact weight loss?