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Thank you very much! Congratulations to you as well for your successful journey. It's amazing to finally be free of the fat and, more importantly for me, the addiction to food and the total control/power I have over food now. It's seriously my lifelong dream at 55 so staying motivated was baked in.. Thank you again. I am sure I didn't elaborate or explain my reasons enough but actually I am concerned about slowing down the weight loss. I still eat very small portions and am worried it would be hard to sustain on just protein, without carbs. I like my body running more ketogenic than carbed up with the ups and downs of carbs. Without adding fat, and with our malabsorption aspect of the surgery, I am wondering if its possible or not so much..If I am being honest, at 240lbs, I started eating dirtier with carbs to try and stabilize at 240 until I got my knee surgeries, but then just dropped another 20+ within a month and a half or so. My steps and activity increased, small by normal people standards, but a lot for where I have been, after I got another Cortisone shot to the knees. This just illustrates my concern once I reach goal weight and I am rucking, hiking, and lifting. Those three things will be lifelong for longevity and mobility going forward. Obviously everyone is different as far genetically and such, but I have been extremely low calorie, plenty of short fasts up to three days, and have plateaued at certain points during my weight loss, and after doing a refeed with carbs and basically whatever I want to eat, I recharged my metabolism for another huge run of weight loss. The refeed was usually only a couple days to a few days but less than a week. Now with this approach remember I am lifting weights. I mean hard as I can weight lifting 4 days a week. It sucks! Low energy lifting is not fun but the recomp.. I really believe the built-in calorie burn from lean muscle mass is the most efficient way to permanently stay in shape. Male or female doesn't matter. IMHO if your metabolism is slow and you are struggling with the last few pounds, I mean the literally like 5-10 pounds from goal BF, man or woman, start lifting weights. The body recomp will floor you. And that weight or really I think just your body composition after significant weight loss without adding lean muscle mass leaves you looking(Sometimes) like a no muscle bag of skin. Flat. It's not fun but the results.. Anyways thank you for the reply and just to make clear if any of the vets care to weigh in, the WLS gave me the tool, the only tool I will ever need again to lose weight. It's so powerful for me that I need to think about slowing down my weight loss combined with, if possible, being low carb and more ketogenic as a lifestyle choice I prefer. I just don't know if low carb is sustainable without the fat calories. that specifically is what I am looking for. Does anyone prefer low carb/ketogenic after surgery and is it possible? I already realize that fats can be problematic, is anyone doing carnivore after DS Sadi. Not my preference but the only option it seems for low carb without the keto fat plan. Thanks in advance for any tips.

Hi 👋 aww so sweet of u to follow up! Yes today is day 8 and I'm on fuller liquids but I feel so lost 😢 I literally have no communication with the any of the team in the hospital.. I have so many questions and I don't even know who to contact 🙃 I had a panic attack yesterday because I felt like I've actually consuming quite the calories..so I was wondering if that's OK since we are still in the liquid phases? By quite the calories, I mean less thank 1k a day. I really don't know what to do or expect. I will Try to ring the hospital today for some more insight. Hope you do better with your protien intake! It's all learning from here!

I think the alcohol may be one of your culprits. if you’re counting that in your 1200 that may seem OK but a lot of added sugars and stuff or mixed drinks if that’s what you’re having. When I had my sleeves, I only went by calories, and it didn’t go so well for me. I was able to lose a pretty big chunk of weight, but I ended up gaining it back because I didn’t understand the quality of food I was eating and when my hunger came back, my portion got bigger and started coming back on. Also be sure that you actually measure with measuring cups. I know it’s a pain but until you get used to it eyeballing things can be a bit tricky. And do not go by restaurants estimates because they are never accurate. I have gotten a few meals to go and take them home and measured everything and it was way off. I would ask to talk to your team again and then get back with your nutritionist and find out more about the individual macros that they expect for you. Start doing the log of your food and if you have a Fitness watch or something log your activity and then let them review that and make suggestions.

I've been okayed to have some soups as long as they don't have big chunks and the milk is supposed to include skim milk powder. I have been adding a scoop of protein powder so that i'm more full a bit longer and helps with getting protein in. It's not much extra calories. I have always ridden my bike everywhere to so because of the exercise, I'm still getting about 1200 calories

Your food looks balanced and healthy. I would ask you if you track your food using any tools? (MyFitnessPal, etc.)? My first guess is that this might be more than 1000-1200 calories? I could be wrong of course. Do you do track everything down to the grams? I am not a fan of obsessive tracking nor do I practice it to be very honest, but when you are struggling to lose weight and you're doing everything right, then these tools come in handy and really give you an idea of what your intake is vs your output. I would say - if you already don't - do invest in a food scale and all the measuring cups, spoons and apps. Another thing to note which has been said time and again, is that not everybody reaches their goal weight, as long as you're happy, fit and healthy, it is kind of the whole point, plus muscle mass that will affect the scale and the whole shebang. As for stabilization, I stabilized at 9.5 months which is considered very early out, reached goal at 3 months and continued losing until 9.5 months and my weight has been stable for the past two months. That doesn't worry me nor does it affect the fact that this journey has been a success to me, success is very subjective and it comes down to being able to (mostly) maintain whatever weight you have lost + building good habits. If this means that you have lost 78 pounds + started serious exercise + dropped multiple sizes then it's a win in my opinion. Use every tool out there for your benefit, but also remember that you define what success is to you.

this is great!! I am now eating 1500-1600 calories a day, I tried to keep it at around 1200-1300 and there was just no way my body was fatigued and mad at me lol I guess what I learned about this journey, is there is no right way, its what our body likes!! that chicken salad sounds YUMMY!! the dessert too. One thing I have noticed that I have no given up my desserts LOL

I’m wondering if you still aren’t eating enough for your current height, weight, and activity. I eat about 1600 calories to maintain and am shorter & weigh less than you & I’m not active at all. I mean my stretches and resistance band use burns nothing really. So I’d expect I would need fewer calories to maintain my current weight than you yet your non workout days you eat the same. Yea I am making a generalisation and we are different but ut is something to consider. I’ve linked a BMR calculator below which may give you an idea of the number of calories you may need to be consuming and it maybe something to discuss with your nutritionalist. I get the looking tired and unwell. My uncle told my mum I looked like death when I first stabilised. A few months later he was telling me & my mum how great I was looking. Give it time. PS - I too was wondering if you need to take a break from your workouts like @ms.sss suggested or reduce the frequency or intensity. https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html?cage=45&csex=f&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=5&cpound=175&cheightmeter=180&ckg=60&cmop=0&coutunit=c&cformula=m&cfatpct=20&ctype=standard&x=Calculate

I spoke to one before I was discharged and she told me the most basic stuff 1 week clear fluids 1 week fuller fluids 4 weeks purees Then some examples of food to have during each stage. Qtys are like cup wise but no mention of calories anywhere. I am currently on full liquids so I'd have a protien shake premade or powder using almond milk or normal milk + frozen Berries Greek yogurt low fat non flavored And I made a oat and chicken chicken soup which I blended and I have q cup of it a day. I did call the dietitian today and she said just eat healthy and I am eating right No mention of calories 😭😭😭 I am literally fetching info on this website or tiktok and just going eith it with the knowledge I got.

For anyone that may be confused by this thread, here are some things to think about related to vitamin supplements: The most important thing is to follow your doctor's recommendations. All bariatric programs I've seen have specific recommendations and you would be well advised to follow these. The vast majority seem to recommend a bariatric specific vitamin supplement. Some may also recommend specific brands of over-the-counter vitamins as well. That said, at least from what I've seen, typically when recommending over-the-counter options, they will suggest taking these twice a day (AM & PM) instead of just once. There are a few reasons for the above recommendations. First of all, you'll be eating a very low calorie diet and thus vitamin supplements formulated for "normal" people may not be sufficient. Also, while malabsorption for bypass patients is a concern, sleeve patients aren't immune to reduced absorption. Some vitamins & minerals are dependent on stomach acid to be properly absorbed. Since all WLS patients will have reduced stomach acid production (at least for a while, if not forever), higher than normal amounts of some vitamins are needed. From a cost perspective, yes, bariatric vitamins tend to be more expensive, but if you have to take twice as many of an over-the-counter supplement, the costs aren't very different after all. Especially if you take advantage of subscriptions like those offered by sites like bariatricpal, the cost of a good quality bariatric multivitamin isn't that much. Keep in mind your food bill should also drop, so at the end of the day you should still be spending less per month. If for some reason you still think vitamins are just too much for your budget, please discuss this with your surgical team. They may be able to help you find a less expensive option that still meets your needs. It's never a good idea to make decisions that can impact your health simply based on things you may have seen on the web. Aside form the cost concerns I mentioned above, there is very little to no downside of taking bariatric specific vitamins, even though some have really high levels of certain vitamins. For some specific vitamins, there is no established upper limit, meaning there's no health risk in taking too much. If you take in more than your body needs, then you'll just safely eliminate the excess. Yes, there are established upper limits for a few vitamins & minerals and this is taken into account in the vitamin formulation. Iron, is an example. The established upper limit is 45 mg/day, which is also the max you'll see in most supplements. Keep in mind this upper limit was established because some people had digestive upset at higher doses. You'd have to take considerably more than 45 mg/day to actually have a significant impact on your body. Further, remember when I said that some vitamins & minerals need stomach acid to be properly absorbed? Iron is one of those, meaning that you're probably not actually getting a full 45 mg/day dose as a bariatric surgery patient. Regardless of which surgery you have, you should be getting regular blood tests for life that check for nutrient deficiencies. if you don't get these from your surgeon (for example, you went out of country for surgery), then please get them from your primary care physician. This is really important because some studies have shown up to 30% of WLS patients end up with nutritional deficiencies post-surgery. Don't be a statistic. Human bodies are not all the same, nor are our diets. This means one person may be successful stopping vitamin supplementation, whereas someone else that had the exact same surgery from the same doctor won't be able to do that. Please don't decide what you should do based on another person, even if it's your best friend, a family member, etc. Only with your doctor's blessing should you consider changing or stopping your vitamin supplementation routine. Regardless of which surgery you have, there is a real possibility you may need to take at least some form of supplements for life. The effects of nutritional deficiencies can be severe, so think of your vitamin supplements as insurance against potentially debilitating or even life threatening problems. Best of luck.

Hi All...having some strange post surgery happenings and wondering what is normal. Let me first say that I do walk pretty briskly for an hour 5 days per week and I also swim laps 5 times per week for an hour. So, I am getting A LOT of quality movement on top of general stretching, etc. I am about 9 weeks post op for VSG and everything is SORE. My knees are killing me, my back, my legs, my arms..you get my point. Weeks 4-6 I was insanely tired and that has gotten better but now I have this new problem. I don't know if it's just because I'm existing in this calorie deficit or what. (?) I'm at about 900 calories per day and have been told to keep it there until I hit goal. I am getting about 80 grams of protein per day. I am very good about taking my vitamins. On top of the multi-vitamin, I take calcium, magnesium, tryptophan (for sleep), stool softener, ursodiol (gall bladder). Where I am not doing quite as well is water. Some days I am good with water, but I'd say about 50-60 oz of water might be my usual intake. I have a job where I drive a lot and I am not near a bathroom, so that's a problem I have to be careful about. There is still room for improvement there and I acknowledge it. I am working on it! Is this achy/sore feeling normal? Has anyone else encountered this? I'm not against asking my surgeon's office, but they have not been overly helpful with my questions in the past. It feels like I get dismissed by them and that has been very frustrating. I keep getting told "well you're not our normal patient" and then I feel like I am left to figure this all out on my own. It's lonely and frustrating. I'd like to do something to not be so sore, but this has been going on for about two weeks. Any thoughts?

I don’t think it’s the Pilates as much as it’s the lower body fat percentage that shows the muscle tone underneath? I feel I’m scrawny lol. I can manage around 1300 calories a day now, on a few occasions after leg day I managed to go up to 1500 but that was like only twice, I graze all day to be able to get to that because my portions are small. I want to get to 1800 to build some muscle in my backside ha! Genetically my stomach has always been the leanest part of my body, and I had a breast aug 11 years ago but honestly my doctor did a phenomenal job that my boobs are perky and lifted and there’s no sagging at all. They look pretty new, can’t say the same about my butt tho 😂

Hello. I recently had revision surgery from a band to the duodenal switch on June 9, 2017. Since surgery, I have lost 17 pounds, but I have hit a stall at three weeks post-op and it's got me wondering if my body won't respond to this surgery just as I failed with the band. Will I be the first person in DS history to actually maintain my weight eating under 1000 calories? For breakfast, I usually eat one scrambled egg with mushrooms and grated cheese. It goes down easily and fills me up. For lunch, I usually have something like bean and bacon soup or a few slices of deli meat. Sometimes I've had refried beans with melted cheese. In between meals, I'm drinking, drinking, drinking water. For dinner, I usually have fish, such as tilapia or soup with soft veggies and slow roasted chicken. My system cannot tolerate raw veggies yet or salads. As you know, since I'm a DSer, I only absorb 20 percent of the fat I intake. I have arthritis in my feet and knees, so walking or running is out for exercise; I ride my bike instead. I take my vitamins daily. Any encouragement you can offer would be greatly appreciated. What is wrong with my body???

My LRD is a 12 milk and broth diet. But I went to the latest dietician meeting with me NHS MDT and they said that from three weeks before surgery, I can do soup and yoghurt. Each NHS trust seems to have different diets. I am assuming you're not in the UK so your doctor will probably say something different. I think the general consensus is, no to low carbs, no fat, no sugar and keep it at 800 calories a day.

If you like any that are low calorie, you can get a favorite soup from a restaurant too and just strain out the good bits. It does leave behind a more flavorful broth. I was supposed to stick to low fat and fat free which limited that and with the gallbladder removal it was pretty important but I know that some plans are a little less restrictive.

Personally? Yes, I would have the surgery. Why? Because losing weight is only half the battle. Obesity is a disease. The vast majority of people will gain back all the weight they lose through diet and exercise alone within 5 years. Weight loss surgery changes your metabolism so that it works with you instead of against you. I knew from too many attempts to lose in the past that I would not be one of the lucky ones to lose and maintain on my own. Every time I lost weight, I gained it back, plus a few pounds. To address a few of your fears, I can say from my experience that my pain lasted about 5 days. I never took anything stronger than Tylenol once I was discharged from the hospital. My tastes have changed in that I now find certain foods are less pleasant to eat. More than a small piece of bread gives me an unpleasant heavy feeling in my belly. Very fatty foods will make my heart race a bit so I avoid them. Certain sweets like cake frosting and cheaper milk chocolates seem much too sweet and I don't want more than a bite or two. The adjustment period in terms of learning what you can eat lasts about 3 months, at least it did for me. Even after the first month, I was able to eat in restaurants. I just chose to split a meal with a companion and stuck with simply prepared items like a grilled chicken salad. I've gone on road trips, spent a few weeks away from home in hotels, and did just fine. I eat mostly healthy foods, I don't count calories, I get reasonable exercise but don't go out of my way for it. And at 50 years old and not quite 10 months out from surgery, after a lifetime of struggling with my weight, I am back to the size I was my first year of college and still slowly losing. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I could eat the slices of baked bread, we call it Melba toast at about 6 weeks. It is so crisp and thin it melts away. I tried supermarket white bread and a wrap but I was violently ill with the foamies. It just clumps to a ball of mush in your stomach. At 18 months I found I could eat quality super seeded bread without a problem. At about 150 calories a slice and 5gms of protein, it works for me once a week in a packed lunch Try thin toast from quality bread

I almost never post here because I hate the format on this website and prefer fb but wanted to try to inspire more people. The first photo is how big I was the night before the surgery. The other 3 were taken within the last week. I had the duodenal switch December 30, 2021 at the age of 24. My weight immediately going into the procedure was about 301. (My highest weight of all time, I believe was 320) I now hover between 157-160 and basically eat whatever I want. I'm fairly active and also malabsorb a ton (common channel length is 85 cm) Depending on the day, I eat somewhere between 3500-4000 calories a day. My weight doesn't budge. Still, life sucks in other ways. I struggle with serious depression that has crippled me. Mental health is always a work in progress. Any questions feel free to ask.

So I follow this fitness guru who’s very very well read on everything health and fitness. His client success stories are insane and what they all have in common is that they keep the weight off. His first and foremost advice is to walk 10k steps and eat at a slight caloric deficit. His clients literally follow that and drop tons of weight. He keeps telling people that if they don’t want to lose too much weight or slow weight loss they need to not exceed 10k steps a day. I see a lot of messages directed to him from people working in the health industry who complain that their steps are beyond 30k which is insane and he always tells them to never drop their calories below 2000 for females (sometimes 2500 depending on weight and height). You probably walk a lot and you are definitely at a calorie deficit which is causing this inadvertent weight loss. I would say get even a cheap sports watch (huwaei is a good one) to get an idea of what your daily step count is. Also you might think you’re working out twice a week but it seems you’re working out daily doing your job.

Ooof. I am exhausted. I'm one week into the pre-op diet and anything and everything that I do makes me super tired and weak. Walk tot he bathroom - exhausted. Walk from car to office - weak and exhausted and out of breath. I know it's the very low calorie diet (VLCD) that I'm on and my body getting used to the changes, but DANG this is crazy! Has anyone else experienced this on their pre-op diet or am I having extra issues because I'm a binge eater?

It’s like they are only seeing numbers and scales and recommended weights for heights blah, blah, blah but not the actual person at the bottom of it all. I’m not surprised that you’re pissed, to be fair, I would be too. Carbs - is it all carbs that give you grief regardless of where they come from or specific types like bread, flour, potatoes etc? If it’s all types then it’s a very slow process of getting some in to your body and finding the balance. If it’s certain types then it’s looking at what you can manage and again, slowly building up until you find your balance and a weight that’s working for YOU, not the medical staff. Did you find some good quality fats that you were happy with? Have you skipped the low fat/calorie foods and introduced some higher fat/calorie replacements? You have come so far and done so amazingly well. At the end of it all, it’s YOUR body, YOUR health and YOUR wellbeing, no one else’s. Have you thought about some of the liquid meal-replacement type options that you would give someone if they were ill? Just something that might give you a bit of a boost on top of your iron infusion? Big hugs 🤗

Exactly as others have reacted. What is your definition of a normal size? I can eat about a recommended portion size and that took me well into my 3rd year. Sometimes it depends on what I’m eating or if I’m feeling hungry & then I can’t eat the whole portion. Not unusual to have leftovers in my fridge. As an example I can eat about 3ozs of protein plus a cup of vegetables for dinner, 2 golf ball size rissoles/meat balls & cup of vegetables, about 2/3 of 2 scrambled eggs, a tub of yoghurt, 1/2 a large apple, 8 macadamia nuts, 8-10 grapes. If I go out to eat I can eat about 3/4 of a main meal in a fine dining restaurant when meals are pretty much recommended portion sizes. In Australia our servings aren’t as large as some of the American servings though they are getting larger in the casual eating places. For example, I ordered a small salt & pepper calamari meal at a pub & took half home for dinner. This is an Australian site (below) but I’m sure there’ll be US sites about recommended portion sizes to give you an idea. However, you need to work out what size portions will provide you with the appropriate nutrients and calories your body needs to function effectively and for you to maintain your weight. https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/serve-sizes Your nutritionalist will help advise you on this too.

Sorry to butt in as I'm only a little over 10 months post GS but I feel I can share a little of what I'm doing to maintain. I reached my initial goal 3 months post op and continued to lose until about 9 months post op, went much below goal weight and stabilized (I think as I've been the same weight with one +- 1KG fluctuation for 1.5 months). I lost weight very rapidly and the weird thing is, during weight loss I never tracked, I would only check my calorie intake once every 2-3 weeks to see where I'm sitting at but the whole theme was barely eating to survive and insane restriction. Now that I've stabilized I track my intake 3-4 times a week to know where I am at and what daily average intake is. There are non hungry days where I don't bother to track (plus weekends) and days where I'm ravenous and I make sure I track to know. I have also picked up the habit of weighing myself at least a few times a week, sometimes daily or twice a day (during weight loss I weighed once a week only), now at maintenance I weigh more often and only because I never did pre WLS and my weight kept creeping up and I refused to face reality (if I didn't know then it didn't happen). I also believe that what gets measured gets managed. I cook most of my food and eat out about twice a week, I prioritize protein 90% of the time and eat fairly well. I get in at least 140 grams of protein a day but I also don't deprive myself of anything. I eat bread, rice, pasta ,dessert and everything else really, just not in substantial portions and usually after I've gotten my protein in. I workout a lot. Always have and always will and I believe this has been a huge factor in my success so far. I built back all the muscle I lost and I believe my muscles are allowing me to eat much more without worrying about weight gain (I eat between 1500-1900 calories a day, depending on how hungry I am). I walk between 8k-10k steps a day too. Lastly, I have worked out a wriggle room for myself, If I do gain a little of weight then it is no big deal, it does not distress me and I will deal with it when/if it happens. I try my best everyday and I accept that I am not perfect nor do I set unrealistic standards for myself. I also believe maintenance is a mindset shift as much as it's a physical adjustment. Portion control, constant check-ins, daily movement are great habits to build, but also liberating ourselves of food fear and relinquishing the all or nothing sentiment.

i know this may sound too simple, but really, you just have to eat more. If not in volume, then in calories. it doesn't have to be carbs if you can't tolerate them, but it can be fats. there are 9 calories per gram of fat..more than double the amount of calories per gram of either protein or carbohydrates. avocados (240 cals for just one medium one). macadamia nuts (204 cals for 1 oz)...if you don't like nuts, try the nut butter version. "super' full fat greek yogurt i.e., 9% M.F. (200 cals for 3/4 cup) and my personal favourite and go-to high calorie/low volume snack: chicharron! (i.e., pork rinds): 150 cals for 1oz, 9g protein, 5g fat, ZERO carbs. p.s. also, eating so little carbohydrates is probably contributing to what you say you are not liking about your appearance (i.e., looking too skinny or gaunt). most people find that re-introducing (a "normal" amount of) carbohydrates into their diets after a long hiatus rounds out their appearance again and reduces that gaunt look.

Depression can definitely impact motivation, so your husband may be on to something? That said, there is a difference between clinical depression and situational depression. Clinical depression is generally a lot more serious and long lasting, whereas situational depression tends to be less severe and tends to get better over time once you are further out from the triggering event. I'm not a mental health professional, but it certainly seems more like situational depression to me if you're really stressed about the work/funding situation. I think if you are concerned, the best course of action would be to talk to a mental health professional. We all go through some rough stuff every now and again, so if you need help, please get it. With that out of the way, I do also want to give you my thoughts on general overall motivation to exercise when you are struggling with that. What people often fail to understand is that humans are literally designed to conserve calorie expenditure. This is a key survival instinct, or at least it was back when food was a lot more scarce than it is today. I mention this because sometimes people think there's something wrong with them when they are not motivated to workout. Actually just the opposite is true. That feeling to want to do just about anything else other than workout is instinctual. So what do we do about this? well, since calorie conservation is such a strong instinct, we need even stronger things to overcome that feeling. Below are some ways we can do that. These are roughly in order of importance (at least in my opinion): Probably the single most important thing is to really understand your why. By that I mean if you don't really know why you want to exercise, or if the reason is somewhat vague (such as just feeling like you're supposed to), that just may never be enough. Really explore what caused you to want to make this change. If the reason is sufficiently important (for me it was not wanting to die an early death), then it makes everything else a lot easier because you can always refer back to the why when you'd rather just do something else. Make it a habit. Let's be honest. There are certain things you do in life that are just habits and you don't really need motivation to do them. They may not even be things you enjoy, but you do them anyway. For me that's things like laundry or dishes. Showering or brushing my teeth might be more examples. I don't really need a lot of motivation to do them, I just do them because that's part of what I do day to day. What we want to do is get to the point that exercising is just another habit. This could be a pretty long post in and of itself, but one tip I have is something called "habit stacking". I blatantly stole this idea from a book by author James Clear called "Atomic Habits". (I Highly recommend reading it by the way.) The idea here is to attach the new habit you want, such as working out, to an existing one you already do like eating dinner. It might look like this: "After I eat dinner, I will go for a walk around the block" Set realistic goals and update them as you progress. Realistic is the key here because I often find that people either set too easy of a goal, or much more likely, too hard of a goal. If your goal is to workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes at a time when right now, you're basically doing nothing, that's simply too much at once. A much better goal would be something like "I'm going to go to the gym once this week". For some people, just getting out the door and to the gym is the hardest part, so if the goal is just getting there, it overcomes the biggest challenge. Most likely, once you're there, you'll at least do something (you won't just turn around and come home). The same can be true if you're goal is walking around the neighborhood. Often just getting out the door is the hardest part, so instead of saying I'm going to walk 30 minutes a day, simply make the goal getting out the door once this week. This one is a little harder, but you need to explore your feelings and determine what your intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are. Some people are motivated almost exclusively by one of the other, but my experience is that most people are motivated at least in part by both internal and external things. When you know what these things are, it makes motivation a lot easier. As an example, I really love the way working out makes me feel, which is a strong internal motivator. That said, I also really enjoy looking fit. (I'm vain, sue me). I use these two things to my advantage. Put it on your schedule. Way too many people say they are just too busy to workout, but most of the time, that's just an excuse. If it's important, then you'll put it on your calendar just like anything else that's important. "Pre-prep" for your workout. This can vary depending on what you do, but a lot of people that workout in the morning (or immediately after work), find that if they lay out their workout clothes, or pack their gym bags before they go to bet the night before, it takes away one of the biggest challenges they have to getting the workout started. This removes an excuse not to do the workout, and in addition, serves as a reminder to actually do the workout. These are the biggest ones that come to mind for me. There are other tricks and tips I could give (like finding an accountability partner), but this post is already pretty long. One final thing I wanted to mention. A lot of people have found (and research backs this up), that regular exercise can actually significantly lessen symptoms of depression. While I do still recommend talking to a professional, you may find that working out actually helps you feel better. Best of luck!

All we have to do is stick to the plan and we should be just fine. Hiding the scale is actually a really good idea. I have already gone through this once so I already know that my weight can fluctuate by a few pounds even from morning to night so I know to expect it, yet i stepped on the scale yesterday and it went up a pound and it caused me a bit of anxiety. I was like I ate low calories, did all my fluids and actually exercised more than i have in years, how is this possible?! My husband was like one pound, this happens, remember. So thankful to have him as my voice of reason.