Anyone else want to stop letting themselves go and start making more of an effort?

[Hanswurst]

I feel old, knackered, unhealthy and generally pretty shit about myself at the moment. I guess it’s a combination of hitting 40 a couple of years back, work being incredibly busy, my marriage going down the pan and Covid shitting all over my pretty decent exercise regime by temporarily (and in my case permanently) shutting down my local gym.
I used to feel pretty good about myself! However, these days I tend to avoid the mirror as alI see is a pale, wobbly blob with dull skin and eye bags. It’s so depressing!
I know I need to either change some of my unhealthy habits or resign myself to feeling like this for the rest of my days, and to be honest I’m not ready for that yet. I’m only 42 FFS!!!
So the main areas I want to work on are:

• my dull skin
• my drinking (I definitely overindulge waaay too much )
• lack of exercise
• shit diet & constant snacking
• mental health (used to do daily yoga which did wonders for my mind)

Anyone else feel similar and is ready to ditch some unhealthy habits?

I want to fix up but it just isn’t happening. I’ve let myself go since falling pregnant, don’t wear makeup or get dressed. Feel rather big and swollen and generally consumed by life.

I know I’m slipping into a bad place and not been looking after myself except the basics and bare minimum just to stay alive!

I see pregnant people all the time looking lovely and with nice maternity dresses on etc. I dress in men’s clothes 🥴

I have a year to sort my life out. I’ve been living outside the uk, working in a part time job and eating too much. The weight has piles on, my hair and face are a mess and I don’t look ‘professional’ any more. We have taken the decision to return to the UK at the end of this next school year - we don’t want to go back but family situation in the uk compels it. However in order to make ends meet I’m going to need to get my old professional job back (a challenge after nearly 10 years) and it won’t help that I no longer look or feel the part.

I’m actually really worried about this!!

Yes! I really need some accountability.

I'm in my early 30s but look and feel haggard I have two small DC - 3.5 and 16 months.

• I work from home so do a lot less exercise than I did and I'm feeling it. I need to go back to walking to the kids nursery for drop off which is a few miles on a round-trip. I've got into the habit of driving now I'm back at work, as it gets me to my desk quicker and I therefore finish earlier and get back to the kids earlier. I even have Flexi time so there's no excuse really. I keep thinking I should do some yoga on YouTube at lunchtime at the very least, but I just work through lunch or read or do housework.

• I'm also in the habit of pulling on whatever clothes are closest and no make up etc which probably doesn't help.

• I forget to drink water when I'm working and drink loads of tea and coffee. I need to take a flask of water up to my office.

• When the kids have been at nursery and they only need a snack at home after, I give them their nice healthy snack and when they're in bed I'm too tired to do anything decent for me if DH is at work, I just stick something from the freezer in the oven - nuggets/hash browns/chips. There's no excuse really, just tiredness or laziness - if I sit down I'm just zonked.

Yes, this is me. I need to get my arse in gear.

This is also me!

This is me too. I have a chronic illness and feel like I might as well look a mess as my illness is so disgusting (it’s not but I can feel that way!!). If I am not mindful of it, I slip into a cycle where I never invest in myself, never get hair cut, buy new clothes and use the cheapest products. I think in a way I am punishing myself for my illness. My friend uses lovely products because they make her feel nice. I want to start working on building my self esteem so I feel I deserve nice things too. Not sure how though!!!

Also me. I want to:

Drink more water
Exercise
Lose weight
But also sort my surroundings more

Ime exercise is the single most important thing to improve your health and appearance.

I hear you!

I piled on weight over lock down by eating loads of crap, can't fit in a lot of my clothes, stopped going out as much as I used to to exercise etc and started to think 'fuck it', I'm x size now, I'll have to get over it and I'll eat Pringles for breakfast if I want to.

A few things happened to kick start me getting things back on track. I read Dr Jen Gunter's Menopause Manifesto which also talks about ageing in general. It scared the bejeezus out of me. I'm 41 and need to get on top of this now to have a better outcome long term. I already know due to an injury in my 20s that I'll need a hip and knee replacement quite early. I need to be fit and healthy for those. The thing the book pushes most is heart health and exercise.

I've also been sent a form from the doctor to go for broad spectrum blood tests but they are not urgent. Some of the tests will pick up on the last 3 months of bad behaviour, so I've decided to hold off getting them done and sort myself out. In the 6 weeks since getting the form I have stopped eating almost all of the junk, improved my diet in general, stopped drinking alcohol, monitored my fluid intake to improve it and started doing some long walks. I've also imposed a set bed time. I've lost 4kg in the 6 weeks and have already started to feel a lot better.

I wouldn't have done it without the external factors.

Be aware you're not alone at this age in going through this, plus we've had the stress of a pandemic in the background. Have a look at the perimenopause waist reclaim threads in chat, loads of women with similar issues.

I feel a million years better for the start I've made. I know I'll fall off the wagon after the blood tests, but it's the kick start I've needed to get out of the funk I was in. I've got another 3.5kg to lose which I know will be a lot harder to shift.

I really need to do this. I'm all areas but my main priorities are to stop snacking on crap. I'm hoping being in the office more come September will help this. I also want to get on board with face yoga. This thread will hopefully give me some accountability

OP, I could have written your post word-for-word, & same goes for DH.

He starts a new job tomorrow & kids go back to school next week, I feel the time is right to get into fitter & healthier habits. His new job means earlier starts so earlier nights, no midweek drinking etc.

I want to start going to the gym again, lifting weights, etc. It will save us money too, as well as the health benefits. We had a challenge with friends recently & DH & I came miserably last at the physical bits, I did not like that, we used to be the fittest!

Just done a meal plan from Pinch of Nom books for the week, let's see how that goes x

This is me also!

I've cut out alcohol already and haven't had a drink for three months but I've actually put on weight, probably from treating myself to sugary snacks more often! I'm late 30's and TTC right now so I really need to focus on getting on top of things. I would like to:

Walk at least 30 mins every day
Yoga 5 x per week
Cut out all the sugary snacks in the evening
Meditation before bed to help sleep

Also thinking of getting my nails done and maybe a facial as a little boost.

Just wrote a massive post and lost it!!
So I will be back later with a proper reply and for now just say: I could have cried reading all these responses. It’s so nice to feel like I’m not alone in feeling like this!!
I am going to write a list of the things I am planning on doing and what I have achieved already (not a lot!!!) and post them here. I am hoping this thread will keep me accountable! But also be a safe space for admitting when I have not achieved my goals or stuck to my good intentions. In the past, as soon as I fell off the wagon just a little bit I would fall into a vicious circle of Self-hate which would make me let more and more things slide. I also struggle with not feeling worth the effort. So this is also of being kind to myself! And reminding myself that it’s not about achieving perfection! I just want to learn to like myself enough to enable me to be the best version of myself I can realistically achieve, if that makes sense?

This is me. I’m morbidly obese and have started calorie counting to loose weight and it’s working. I’ve lost just over 2 stone so far. The only clothes I wear are leggings and long tunic tops and I really want to be able to wear something different, I’m absolutely sick to death of my wardrobe of clothes.
I’m going to visit a gym tomorrow that a friend goes to, even making the call to arrange to go has taken me out of my comfort zone but I know exercise will help with the weight loss and mentally. Small baby steps but it’ll make a difference.