Plateau or Sabotage?

oliviaohair

Okay, so I have lost 96lbs. BUT, I have been at this point for 2 years now. At 179, I will have lost 100lbs. Which is a huge goal I've always wanted to reach. But for 2 years now, I have flirted with the milestone. Every time I get close, I either lose motivation, give up, or gain a good 10lbs again. I have never gotten past 184. I don't want to weigh the same wait for 2 more years! I need to finally lose the rest! I'm trying desperately to get to 179 and reach to 100lbs lost. But, I'm afraid I'll lose motivation or sabotage myself again. I even started last night by eating way too much, but I caught it and I stopped it. But why does this happen?

Does anyone else deal with this? Why would I sabotage a huge milestone? Why do I give up right when I'm closest? Any thoughts?

JessicaMcB

I'm not a psychiatrist, I don't even play one on TV so I'm not going to hypothesize about why you would sabotage yourself. But something you could do to help yourself is pre-logging what you will eat every day and strictly adhering to that. You won't have to catch yourself mindlessly overeating if you're more regimented ykwim? I hope the next 10lbs comes off soon and you leave 184 in the past

MakePeasNotWar

No insight I'm afraid, but you are definitely not alone.

One thing I have done, though only for small things so far, is to record a video of myself when I am feeling motivated and energized to tell the future me about all the great reasons why I'm doing this, and remind me that I don't always feel discouraged or apathetic.

It's s bit corny, but it got my butt to the gym.

oliviaohair

MakePeasNotWar wrote: »

No insight I'm afraid, but you are definitely not alone.

One thing I have done, though only for small things so far, is to record a video of myself when I am feeling motivated and energized to tell the future me about all the great reasons why I'm doing this, and remind me that I don't always feel discouraged or apathetic.

It's s bit corny, but it got my butt to the gym.

I love this! I do the same thing sometimes with letters. It does seem to work. I might try to video!

oliviaohair

JessicaMcB wrote: »

I'm not a psychiatrist, I don't even play one on TV so I'm not going to hypothesize about why you would sabotage yourself. But something you could do to help yourself is pre-logging what you will eat every day and strictly adhering to that. You won't have to catch yourself mindlessly overeating if you're more regimented ykwim? I hope the next 10lbs comes off soon and you leave 184 in the past

That's a good idea. This way the decision is already made! Thanks for the encouragement!

TeenageMutantNinjaMike

My advice - don't worry about the milestone. Just focus on maintaining and then gradually move further. Look at your current habits and triggers. I keep a log of what goes well and what throws me off the rails. I have found this to be the most helpful for me to keep on track.

ninerbuff

When many people reach a milestone, the expectation is to sustain it. Now while losing weight is about CICO, losing A LOT of weight is tough to do and takes a pretty big behavior change.
So subconsciously you could be possibly thinking "man, once I hit 100lbs lost, I have to maintain it and right now it's tough just to keep up what I'm doing now." So it's easier to avoid hitting it because it's less pressure and commitment.
This isn't uncommon for people and why some don't try to be successful in other endeavors of life as well.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition