Fail

kat239

Why do I always fail I start with good intentions log for about 10 days then stop. This is a vicious circle I wish I could just stay focused. I'm even thinking about joining weight watchers, why? when myfitnesspal has everthing I need, kidding myself I think. How do you guys do it. I want to loose about 20lb. It's doing my head in. Sorry for waffling on.

MondayJune22nd2015

Ask yourself this: Do I want to keep losing the same weight, that I lost over & over again or do I want to lose weight, that I haven't lost?

jennifer_417

You just have to stop quitting.
Focus on creating a sustainable plan, something you can do for the long. If that plan doesn't work, tweak it until it does. Try new things.
You have to get in your mind that this is a long-term project, not something to just do on a lark, and it will take time and dedication.

kommodevaran

kat239 wrote: »

Why do I always fail I start with good intentions log for about 10 days then stop. This is a vicious circle I wish I could just stay focused. I'm even thinking about joining weight watchers, why? when myfitnesspal has everthing I need, kidding myself I think. How do you guys do it. I want to loose about 20lb. It's doing my head in. Sorry for waffling on.

Without any more details, I'm just guessing the usual: You go all out, without a clear plan, a realistic goal, or a functional support system, without checking parameters or progress, and without patience.

RodaRose

Set clear realistic and measurable goals. Make a plan of action in order to succeed at each mini goal.

Sued0nim

What are you doing to lose 10lbs

If the answer is anything but eating to a calorie defecit, you've probably found your problem. Restricting foods or macros can work for some and not for others ...sounds like you're working on motivation which is temporary you need to find a plan you can stick to

For me it was simply weighing and logging without any other restriction

dramaqueen45

I agree with the above- motivation comes and goes. It has to be gradual changes - a bit at a time until the change becomes habit and a new way of eating/living. Then just add more as you improve and see changes. Humans are creatures of habit.

seska422

I log immediately before I eat.

If you only eat after you log, you'll eventually get hungry enough to log.

Don't make big changes to lose weight. Make small changes that you would be comfortable doing forever. Since the goal is to lose weight, eat what you normally eat but in smaller portions so that you have a calorie deficit. When you are done losing weight, you can keep doing what you are doing but with some more calories so that you maintain your weight rather than continuing to lose.

shadowfax_c11

Intersting thing if you watch children and young animals. They fail a lot. It never stops them from trying. Somewhere along the way to becoming adults we start to fear making mistakes and we either don't try out of that fear or we quit when we don't have success on our first try. It is absurd to expect to be perfect the first time we try to do something new. But we adults do seem to do that. We need to stop it.Failure is a part of learning. It is okay to fail. It is NOT okay to give up.

So every time you "fail" think about what led to it. Why didn't you log in that day? Okay so it was one day. Did you decide then to not log for several days because you felt bad about the one day? Or something else? If you miss a day no big deal. Get back to it the next day. Learn from each mistake and find ways to set yourself up for better success on the next attempt.

My sensei tells every student this before their belt tests. "Your reward for success is you get to do it again, if you fail.. you get to keep working on it." The point is, this is for life. There is no deadline to getting it right.

mazztepe163

Before motivation its a development of habit to make it a habit you have to do it over 21 days then it becomes a habit just the same way you brush your teeth every morning this is the same thing habit over motivation

IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt

shadowfax_c11 wrote: »

Intersting thing if you watch children and young animals. They fail a lot. It never stops them from trying. Somewhere along the way to becoming adults we start to fear making mistakes and we either don't try out of that fear or we quit when we don't have success on our first try. It is absurd to expect to be perfect the first time we try to do something new. But we adults do seem to do that. We need to stop it.Failure is a part of learning. It is okay to fail. It is NOT okay to give up.

So every time you "fail" think about what led to it. Why didn't you log in that day? Okay so it was one day. Did you decide then to not log for several days because you felt bad about the one day? Or something else? If you miss a day no big deal. Get back to it the next day. Learn from each mistake and find ways to set yourself up for better success on the next attempt.

My sensei tells every student this before their belt tests. "Your reward for success is you get to do it again, if you fail.. you get to keep working on it." The point is, this is for life. There is no deadline to getting it right.

Thank you, your words were helpful to me.

Kalikel

I don't know why you fail. My three guesses:

1. You don't really want to lose weight. You want to be thin, but don't actually want to do the hard work of losing, so you go through the motions and then quit and get mad at yourself for not succeeding at something you never really wanted to do, anyway.

2. You do too much, too soon. You cut calories too far back and/or add more exercise than you're ready for or whatever. It's too overwhelming, too big a change, you cannot keep up the pace and eventually don't want to. So, you quit because you're overwhelmed.

3. You're eating foods that aren't good. A lot of people think that eating healthy means that food cannot taste good. They don't know how to make healthy food that is yummy, so end up eating the "baked chicken and raw veggies" that they think is how healthy eating should be done. You quit because you want to eat junk food.

Those are total guesses, though.

Do you have an idea why you quit?

WBB55

If you stop logging on day 10, is it because that day you ate things you didn't intend to? And you're kind of ashamed to admit you didn't weigh them, so why bother?

If this is the case, two things.

1. Just be honest and do your best every day. Sometimes you'll eat at a buffet and you won't know weights and you'll eat 4000 calories that day. No one will die because this happened and your logging that day isn't 100% accurate.

2. If your calorie goal is too low for your circumstances, then it's fairly common that by day 10 you're starving so much your body takes over. If so, add 100-150 to your daily calorie goal. That extra 100 every day might be the thing you need to prevent the urges to binge after 10 days.

Don't know if these are the case, just offering advice in case it is.

oolou

Sometimes I don't do things because I don't believe the changes promised will happen, or that it's a waste of time ... like why spend a month struggling to lose a few pounds when I'll probably put it all on again at Christmas ... and so on. I recently gave up smoking after being a smoker all my adult life. And I'm so pissed at myself for not doing this before now because ... it was easier than I ever thought it could be. And now I'm trying to lose weight. And guess what ... it's easier than I ever thought it could be. It's just I never really seriously tried before, but logging everything is really making me focus on what I eat and portion size - and ta-daa, the weight is coming off.

No one but you can work out why you're failing, but there's a lot of suggestions above to consider.

I'd suggest getting a friend on board, asking them to be present at a weekly weigh in, for example. Sometimes being accountable to someone gives us a good kick up the *kitten* to continue with our good intentions.

PinkPixiexox

Unfortunately, the success is going to come from you and you alone. As a community, we can cheer you on - but ultimately that burning desire to 'get there' will come from within. Ask yourself just how important your goal is to you. If it's important enough, there won't be any excuses - you'll just do it. It took me many attempts to 'get in the zone' so to speak. I had to wait until I was ready. Once I was truly ready, you simply couldn't take that focus away from me and I got to goal. You can do it, I promise. Dig deep - stick with MFP and stay strong.

Ninkyou

Ask yourself if what you're doing is something you can sustain for the rest of your life. If it's not, then you need to find what you can sustain.

Don't go balls to the wall, all or nothing, too much too soon. Take small steps. Readjust your expectations.

superhockeymom

Everyday I "fail" I just get up the next morning and start again. We are just people it happens. I do find the more you log in the more it becomes a habit to some an obsession. I was well over 100 days and just was caught up in life forgot and had to start over no sweat. What you need is a good group of friends on here that you want to talk to that you are interested in. Then you will check in if nothing more than to say hi and once your here it will all fall into place.

daniwilford

For me, I had to get my head right first. I had to want to lose weight more than I wanted to overeat. My motivation for weight loss and fitness was health related. After while my success became motivation. I failed before when I was using food for comfort. I failed before when I used being overweight was a protection from attracting attention to my body. I failed before when I wanted to lose weight to look more attractive.

mandipandi75

It takes about 6 weeks to become a habit. Start with commiting to that timeframe. Once you look and feel a difference, that's usually motivation enough. Try to get someone close to you to do it with you. Then the two of you can motivate each other. Good luck! If I can do it, anyone can.

Unknown

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cerise_noir

Is your need to lose weight greater than giving up? If no, then make it so.
Just think about how bad you want to lose weight. Think about WHY you started this journey.
Buy a pair of jeans that are a few sizes too small, or whatever, to motivate you.

For example, I have around 50lbs to lose, but I don't look at it that way. I have set myself 10lb goals to achieve.

As Dory said: "Just keep swimming...just keep swimming..."

Liftng4Lis

When you want this badly enough, you'll just keep "getting it".