How many times did you quit?

plain_lemon

I can’t even try to count!
This might be my 12th time re-signing up with MFP.

Hopefully this time I won’t quit.

How many times did it take you to stay with MFP and keep track of your food/drink intake? Did you end up successful? Still a ways to go?

I could use a little motivation. Thanks!

Seffell

I haven't quit. But I take it very slowly, take major breaks twice a year (a month long summer holidays and Christmas) where I gain around 2-3lbs which are planned gain and never torture myself if I really want to eat something. I never aim to follow some plan perfectly. I don't aim to be at a steady deficit. I don't aim to have login streaks. I only aim to lose weight whatever the rate.

I started 2+ years ago and have lost 30lbs and have 5-6lbs more to lose. Started at 165lbs, 135lbs now. The second year I've lost 8lbs total. Currently I eat at around 150cal deficit per day which is around 1lbs loss per month if I do it every day. But I don't.

Why did you quit OP? Is it the same reason or different reasons each time? What do you do when you quit? Do you plan to gain when you decide to quit or just maintain? How long do you need to not log your food to call it a "quit" officially? When you quit do you feel like you want to quit for good or just for a while? I've found that when I get fed up with being diligent and decide to eat more, it takes me only 3-4 days or less before I feel satisfied with taking the rest and I can go back to eating at a deficit. I never call those times "quits". They aren't really.

I hope you succeed this time.

Idontcareyoupick

This is my 4th or 5th and this is the best I've stuck with it and been realistic about the loss and not getting defined by the number. Hope we both keep going! Good luck

Orphia

Don't worry about needing constant motivation.

I liken daily food and weight logging to keeping tabs on my bank balance. I don't spend calories I haven't got. 1051 days and counting; 35 kg lost, 2 years maintenance.

I don't expect to need motivation to check my bank account.

You might as well keep trying because the time will pass anyway.

JeromeBarry1

I've logged in 761 days in a row so I'm pretty sure it's some number less than 761. How much less, I'm not sure.

amusedmonkey

Well, I've had less than perfect times, no loss times, gains (sometimes pretty significant), planned breaks, dragging my feet, not caring enough to lose, and all kinds of mental and physical states. but I can't say I really had a time where I quit, just days, weeks, or months that I wasn't doing it perfectly which happens.

bbell1985

I've never quit. I just continuously fail.

Machka9

How many times did you quit?

Never.

I joined MFP ... and lost the weight I wanted to lose to get back within my normal weight range again.

Like Orphia says, it's not about motivation. For me, it's just what I do when I want to lose weight ... just like how I have a shower and brush my teeth in the morning ... and go to work ... and walk at lunch ... etc. etc.

Maybe it helps that I've been logging every single kilometre I've cycled for the past 28 years. It's just habit.

lois1231

I have lost weight and gained weight since being very young. It is a cycle I am working very hard to break. I don't consider it quitting though. I have been on MFP at different times. I know it is the one real thing that works for me else I wouldn't come back to it.

Ironandwine69

How many times have I quit? None
How many times have I sucked at it? Plenty.

Make small gradual changes to your lifestyle rather than going all in right away.

wizzybeth

I don't know that I quit so much as I set it aside a few times... Sometimes for a really really long period of time. I guess you could say I quit. Maybe three times.

krael65

Similar to @wizzybeth. Depends on how you look at it. I don't consider it quitting as a conscious decision, but rather losing focus.

I did reach my goal... maintain for a couple of years... stop logging & weighing in for a couple of years... gain some back.

I re-committed to tracking and logging, and have been maintaining now for ~ 15 months. I believe for me the key is to keep tracking and logging so I don't slip back into old habits and let my weight sort of drift up.

momandhercoffeeblog

I haven’t ever consciously thrown in the towel and walked away, but I have simply stopped several times. A big part of my issue was lack of support in my offline life. This time my family is involved and I feel a lot more motivated to stick with it.

Good luck!

plain_lemon

Hey thanks you guys! You have all provided some great perspective and sort of help me reevaluate what it means to truly quit.

I suppose, in a sense, I also haven’t officially given up. It’s nearly impossible for me to just accept my current weight. I’ve tried! I try to tell myself that my body is healthy and fit and maybe just a bit overweight but still beautiful. Just to eat as I like since I’ve been stable at this weight for some years. But I always end up wishing I was back to my weight from my mid twenties. (Mid thirties now, and ~20lbs heavier. I’m 5’4” and range 161-163lbs)

I think what goes through my mind, when I get the urge to click “delete account,” and then “yes, I’m sure, delete it,” is that food logging isn’t a good fit for me. This thought is always after a few days of overeating, of course. No one thinks that when they’re succeeding! But basically I’ll decide I need an alternate method of dieting and convince myself that I overeat due to a heightened focus on a calorie goal, which I decide must be something that backfires leading to wanting to eat all the things.

...that sounds like psychological stuff, though.

I’ll try to keep with the app this time around and perhaps just remember that those days, the ones followed by regret from overeating, can be avoided but also can happen from time to time.

amusedmonkey

I suggest sticking around the forums too. Even on days where you find yourself overeating, you won't lose sight of your goals if you are around people who share your goals. Out of control days happen to every single one of us, the difference between those who lose and those who don't is that those who lose weight don't let that set them back and keep stubbornly going at it and always learning strategies to make these days happen less often.

courtneyfabulous

I tried and failed with MyFitnessPal maybe 2 or 3 times I think? It was because I wasn’t really tracking everything and just kinda sorta using it and didn’t have a plan or any specific motivation other than just wanting to be less fat. Then I had a health crisis which gave me a good kick in the butt to get my health in order, and I started getting active & lifting weights, then I discovered tracking macros was the way to go for optimal results and MyFitnessPal is a great tracker. I don’t use the MyFitnessPal recommendations for calories or macros, I calculated my own at first and now use an online macros coaching website- I manually adjust my calories and macronutrients goals in MFP to match those. Been using MyFitnessPal every single day for about 1.5 years now and lost weight and fat and gained muscle and completely transformed my body, healed my relationship with food, and gained my health back. Once you have a good reason, clear goals, and a plan, then it becomes just a tool you use to achieve those (rather than something which you try and then quit).

courtneyfabulous

plain_lemon wrote: »

(Mid thirties now, and ~20lbs heavier. I’m 5’4” and range 161-163lbs)

Hey, we’re the same age and height and my starting weight was around your current weight and I lost about 20 lbs!! You can do it!

Also I highly recommend getting into weight lifting (or some other form of fitness you enjoy) if you aren’t doing that already- it’s good motivation to get in shape and lose weight (you have better performance at a healthy BMI) and also it reshapes your body in an awesome way!

Iwantahealthierme30

3 times. But this time I've been at it for 91 days and lost 21 pounds total. 8 pounds from before starting up again.

plain_lemon

Awww you guys are all so great! Thank you. I’m motivated to be more stubborn with this, and keep working at it even when I mess up. Just had some healthy food. Calories are looking pretty ok so far. Now to go move my body.

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Seffell

plain_lemon wrote: »

Awww you guys are all so great! Thank you. I’m motivated to be more stubborn with this, and keep working at it even when I mess up. Just had some healthy food. Calories are looking pretty ok so far. Now to go move my body.

Great plan!
Please don't forget that weight fluctuates and don't let natural fluctuations to discourage you. If you eat at an overall deficit (and you are sure in that by weighting your food) then the weight will drop sooner or later. Often later. Don't give up for no reason

raindawg

Once I start the weight loss I keep going till goal is hit. That hasn't been my problem. My problem is "quitting" on maintenance. The last three years I feel like I've either been in diet mode or in binge mode, with way too short stints of maintenance in between.

cwolfman13

zero

LivingtheLeanDream

Since finding MFP I've never quit - this app meant an end to years of yoyo dieting. Go MFP

PAV8888

I was ready to quit before I found MFP.

Because I was inadvertently and through lack of knowledge trying to achieve counter productively over ambitious goals while making life too difficult and miserable to succeed at this long term.

A lot of disappointments are the result of over ambitious goals, bad input measurements, and bad measurements of the results together with misinterpretations of what they mean.

--not everyone should aim for 2lbs a week
--a small avocado and a very very brisk walk are seldom accurate inputs
--two weigh ins a month apart can spot 30lb of edema but cannot necessarily spot 4lbs lost.
--most people don't lose weight like clockwork or at double digits a month and expecting such is counter productive.

Incremental reasonable targets are sometimes good things!

TheImperfectMomma

I have quit trying to be healthy at LEAST once a month since I was 15 until about 3 months ago. So...too many as I am now almost 27

SteamPug

None since I started MFP. I’ve ‘tried’ to lose weight before now, but I never really put much effort in beyond refusing the occasional dessert and thinking that swapping a pizza for a salad one time was gonna cut it, so I’m not sure I can really count those as proper attempts?
I always kinda rationed things away by saying that I don’t eat too much and I have no idea how I’m 140lbs, but once I accepted that I actually was overeating then it became a lot easier for me.

Purplebunnysarah

Ehhh I go through phases of bad choices but the only times I've walked away from MFP were when I was pregnant.

twinkit

Never thought I had the patience to track plus I was drinking way to much alcohol. I haven't had any alcohol in 5 weeks. Today was a doozy. For the last 5 hours I've been in a state of stress. But alcohol and junk food will not win. Cooking a healthy dinner, mopped the floor even though the stupid mop broke on top of it. Then gonna rest with a little netflix. I like that. Keeping track is like anything else that is important.

Stuffielover

How many times? If we're talking with MFP, just once. If we're talking overall between other sites and programs, eight or nine...or maybe more. I've lost count.

psychod787

I actually joined twice. I never quit, but never used my first account at all. I started tracking calories/ macros after my first year of weight loss. After 7 months of doing it old school. Google searches and product labels, I decided to start using MFP to track and log prep meals. I did not have access to my old email, so I started a new one. It has actually been a slow evolution to where I am today. I now use it for almost all food logging and macro counting. Upgrading to premium was worth it to me!