Anyone managed to claw it back after letting themselves go?

[Ooopzy]

I’m 43. Last 5-6 years have been filled with grief, work/stress, primary aged kids etc and I’ve totally let myself go.

I’m on holiday this week and the kids just filmed me dancing. From the back. Omg. It’s not pretty. I’m so wide. It’s horrible.

My face is not aging well and my sedentary desk-based job and crappy eating habits have clearly caught up on me.

Christ. I should watch that video every time I go to self-sabotage and head for the kids’ snack drawer. Really hideous.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to get to a point where you are happy enough with your appearance rather than shuddering every time you see a photo or video of yourself???

I appreciate it is not the point of the thread and that you are trying to turn things around but I don’t think it is ok to equate OCD with concerns about appearance. It is not concerns about their appearance that prevent people with OCD from leaving the house or leading a normal life. The idea that OCD is just about cleaning or having an organised desk or the inappropriate use of ‘I’m a little bit OCD’ are annoying but do sufferers also now have to face the misconception that they are also overly invested in their appearance.
(I realise you probably didn’t mean any offence.)

I go to bed every night thinking “right, tomorrow will be the day I eat better/exercise/get a grip”…. Then wake up and normal life resumes.

I am going to dust off the treadmill though.

@Nicole1111 hugely appreciated, thank you so much. I've downloaded so I can listen to them throughout the day 💪

Following with interest as I'm the same. I recognise I make the same old choices time and time again and that they're not serving me but I do it anyway.

I'm 37 but feel I look much older. I don't even bother getting my hair done because I can't be bothered to make the time for it.

I think a lot of it is how we feel as much as how we look. If you can eat a bit better you'll feel better. If you can alter your mindset to make time for exercise/hair/skincare then you'll feel better in yourself. When we neglect ourselves we feel it mentally as well as physically.

Would you speak about other people the way you speak about yourself? Genuinely wondering if you're harder on yourself or if you're a terrible fat-phobic cow to everyone?

Your first post was so full of negativity. You use the term 'wide' as if it's a horrible insult when it fact it's a very simple description of size. You try and use mean words to berate and therefore motivate yourself, I think there's a lot of messed up thinking going on. I would hope you wouldn't talk about your overweight friends in the way you talk to yourself. Self flagellation is not the route to success. If you work on accepting yourself as you are then you will be more likely to succeed in self care. We look after things we love.

I wonder what your kids would say about the video they filmed? Do you think they see your size or do you think they see you being happy and lively? Please don't pass these attitudes on to your children. Keep your negative thoughts to yourself when they show you photos of yourself, just smile and accept that they don't view your body the way you do.

I'm trying. Had a massively stressful nearly two years now. Between WFH and looking after DS after work, I've not even left the house that much. Late nights & disrupted sleep, poor eating habits have taken their toll.

I've seen photos of myself and been horrified, but the week before last I was at a work event and there was a yoga session. I found it so hard to move, it was a massive wake up call - I'd love to lose a bit of weight, but just getting more flexible is the priority right now.

I'd love to do proper yoga but can't see how that can fit in around DS needs atm (he's ASD), so I dug out the old Wii Fit board - Wii was already out as DS is a huge Nintendo and retro console fan - and started doing the Yoga and some of the aerobic exercises. 12 days in and I already feel better. Started off just 10mins a day, doing more like 18-25 now.

Small steps. Next is to cut down on biscuits and chocolate when I'm stressed.