I was just wondering what other people thought was the hardest thing about losing weight or gaining muscle....or both

I know for me its having the motivation just to actually go to the gym.
I come home from work and just want to relax or do something fun and working out is definitely not either of those to me

I noticed alot of people have trouble with losing those last 5 or 10 pounds or the small budge on the stomach.

Again just wondering what people find to be the hardest obstacle in losing weight

Realizing that I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and be skinny just because I decided I needed to change today.

if i waited for motivation i would have never lost weight.

The hardest part for me was getting used to the attention people gave me. I never changed inside, but peoples perception of me changed.

Its quiet enlightening

as a veteran of the 'diet wars' for more than 20 years... i'd say the hardest part was changing the diet mindset...

that 1200 calories a day was unrealistic and unattainable for the long term... that forcing myself into 2 hours of cardio a day when I didn't have 2 hours a day to spare... doing something I didn't enjoy... and reading entirely too many articles/books/whatever trying to get my body to do things that I couldn't make it do...

For me it's a few things, all tied.

* The painful acne that has accompanied my weight loss. According to my dermatologist, it's hormonal and was caused by me going to the gym and losing weight. How DARE I?

* Having to buy new clothes. I know for a lot of people this is one of the more exciting parts of weight loss, but it gets expensive after a while even if I only buy a couple of pieces and wear the too-big ones until they're basically falling off.

* Those weeks where I don't seem to lose ANYTHING.

Thanks for the posts I appreciate them

I do have another question though....

Which of these obstacles do you have the hardest time overcoming?
1. Starting and getting motivated for a new workout/weightloss plan
2. Sticking with the plan when progress (weight loss) has halted OR
3. Losing the last 5-10 pounds that never seem to go away

Adding to this I feel the hardest part is not doing the right things,its waiting for the consequence of those actions,it is the fact that it takes months of eating less exercising more to reap the benefits .its like every time you make a good decision its the same as putting savings in a jar one day those pennies add up but its hard to see the full jar when you first start with a few pennies rattling around.

Thanks for that. I need to remember that. I expect results to come too quickly, and then tend to give up when I don't see them right away. Thats been the hardest thing for me. Being able to stick with it long enough for lasting results. and I'm on the last 10 pounds now, its difficult yes, but I'm just going to try to keep going.

Most people say it's the first step that's the hardest.
I say it's the second.
On the first step you feel empowred. You feel like it's the start of a metaporphsis. A new adventure. All you have to do is run just one short mile, lift a tiny 15 lb weight 10 times. Thats it.
The second step, however, you remember how hard it was to breathe during that first mile. And your muscles are still sore from that 15 lb weight, and you have to convience yourself to not only do it again, but do it hundres more times or else, your body isn't going to change one bit.

Is this some sort of survey to determine if you're gonna bother?

Does it really matter which bit is hard and which isnt? you still have to do them anyway! And in the end whats hard for one person isnt necessarily for another. Everyone has their own demons they have to beat.

My friends are the hardest part for me...some of them don't really understand what i am going through and try to get me to eat things that i don't want to...i have one friend in particular that became really upset when i became vegitarian

#2, but more so when I'm down in general. LIke this week I'm pmsing and I always get in a mood and when the scale goes up because of bloating(and this has happened to me enough that I know it is from that and when it will happen) it gets very discouraging. i know I've slowed down in the past few months as I get lower and lower. I know when I hit about 160 I'll likely reach a significant plateau. That is a MAJOR resistance point for my body and always has been. But I also try to remind myself that in the bigger picture I've lost 78 lbs in a little under 9 months. If I only do 50 in another 9 months I'll be at goal. That's not that far off and is right at the start of summer. Always helps to look at the long term(big) picture when the short term one hits a little snag.

As for the other hardest thing, I have a bit of a problem with how people treat me now versus then. I was invisible before and I'm not now. I can't just blend into the background and be left alone even if I wanted to. Men all of a sudden smile and say hello everywhere I encounter them. They actually make eye contact That from diverted eyes before and just being ignored by them(I'm married, but it still bruises your ego a bit to be ignored by the opposite sex..to not have doors opened, etc.) As for women, I find they are generally friendlier, more eager to get to know you, and you aren't easily forgotten. It's a little...strange I guess to 'exist' again and a little infuriating at the same time that people didnt do it before.