I need help staying on the bandwagon

quintessential1

I have lost and REGAINED 40LBS this past year!!! I will never submit to being overweight. Once again I am on it. It's been two weeks and I have lost 4lbs

passenger79

Well done keep going. I 've regained 20 lbs I ve lost last year by becoming complacent.

Lost 5.5 lbs since I 've restarted in Jan and will stick to it this time .

quintessential1

that was my problem complacent.

honeybunny406

I am in the same boat. About a year and a half ago, my husband had 2 heart attacks and then by-pass surgery. We changed our eating habits and exercised daily and I dropped 40 lbs. I was 283 and the heaviest I have ever been. Didn't like that number too well. Then, last May, I like quit and because of that I have gained back 10 of those pounds. My goal is to be 170 lbs. I can do it because I proved I could do it when we watched what we ate and exercised. We still walk, most days, our 2 miles, and I have been trying to get back on the bandwagon and do well some days and others not so much. I just need to keep a positive attitude going forward. Stop with the negative self thinking and I got this. Best of luck to you all on your journey.

Francl27

Nobody can help you. You have got to want it enough and unfortunately nobody can help you with that.

What can help is picking a reasonable goal that doesn't leave you deprived so you'll be less likely to give up (I wanted to lose 80 lbs. Never picked more than 'lose 1 lb a week'). But you need to realize that you'll never be able to eat the same way again as well... Maybe learn to cook lower calorie recipes. Try to find exercise that you actually enjoy so it will be less of a chore to stick to it (I'd never have lost the weight without the extra calories earned by exercise, and it's easier for me to go for walks than to say no to a cookie).

toxikon

The key is to figure out why you keep failing.

- Was your diet plan too restrictive to stick to long-term?
- Was your calorie deficit too high, causing too much hunger and likelihood of binging?
- Was your workout plan too ambitious?
- Did you stop weighing yourself when you started regaining?

All things to think about. To have success this time, what can you do differently?

austinamanda458

Good luck with your journey! I also have a similar story, lost 30 pounds 2 years ago and gained back 50 all in one year. It is devastating! Now is the time to change, we got this

Seffell

I guess you have to hate being overweight strong enough so this can keep you away from regaining. I'm terrified by the idea of being overweight again so I don't think I could regain it. But I've been slim my whole life. My gain was fast and unusual. So maybe that's why.

But anyway it just literally terrifies me! I have accutely negative emotions towards it. I'm not saying you should develop such feelings because I don't know if this is good or bad to have them. But it works for me.

Also I've worked very hard to lose my 30lbs due to health issues and it took me 2 years so there's no way I'm doing it again.

That said I just had 900cal over maintanance in the form of biscuit spread. But I'll compensate for it in the next week.

Don't let yourself slip for too long. Just for several days to treat yourself and then undo whayever damage you've done immediately. When you get pissed cutting, treat yourself again. This is what all people who don't count calories maintain. They eat some days more and some days less. Noone eats exactly the same amount of food everyday (if they never counted calories). In our case just the "eat less" days should be more than the "eat more" days ... No big deal





(I know from experience that it is easier said than done...)

Momepro

Break everything down into individual habits instead of considering everything to be all one bundle. It might help to log not only what you eat, but why and how you feel before, during and an hour afterwards for a while to figure out exactly where your habits are, how various foods affect you and what you can do to repair issues. It is much easier to fix "I started eating chips in front of the TV again" and "I am eating too much Taco Bell at lunch" than it is to fix "I am overweight and my everything is wrong."

katryan1626

I know exactly how you feel!! I lost around 120 lbs two years ago, then I moved to a different state. With all the stress of buying a new house and getting my kids in new schools, I gained back 50 lbs!!!!! Now I’m back to healthy eating and working out 6 days a week and dropped about 18 lbs of it. Still more to go, but I will eventually get there again!

quintessential1

I enjoyed working out my passion is walking I could walk from here to Timbuktu. Eating was no problem either I got down to a nice weight and then found other things to occupy my time.

busyPK

I've been there, a couple times. I'm realizing that logging my food might be a lifestyle for me, not just a phase to get me to my goal. I enjoy food too much, and in abundance, so logging is the best option to keep me on track (and to keep my clothes fitting, lol).

kommodevaran

Sorry for butting in, I have no advice or support or anything - just wanted to say thank you - this thread made me realize I never hated being overweight as much as I hated the strategies I used to implement in order to not be overweight. (MFP was my gamechanger. An "everyday" lifestyle that just "incidentally" leads to a stable normal weight = win-win.)

Cathycatlady

I've been there a few times too. I lose the weight at the beginning of the year, then put it ALL back on over the Summer - enjoy my food and drinks too much. I HAVE to log everything, plus fit some exercise in, then it just works - the difficulty is making healthy choices when socialising. Good luck!

quintessential1

I wish all my MFP buddies lived in the same neighborhood so we could keep each other on our toes

kshama2001

I regained 20 # when I moved in with my man. I get sucked in to that Netflix & Cuddle Vortex and have a hard time breaking out.

I find it more helpful to think about creating habits rather than motivation.

boredloser

Best of luck! Like you and a few others in this thread, I lost and gained. I lost 50lb, gained 60lb yikes. I found it hard to get back into counting, eating at a deficit and exercise after coming home from a trip to the US where I couldn't cook my own food and often ate out and indulged, then my dog became ill and had to be put to sleep and it just went downhill from there. Back to trying again now though. Can't seem to get under 240lb though..

fb47

quintessential1 wrote: »

I have lost and REGAINED 40LBS this past year!!! I will never submit to being overweight. Once again I am on it. It's been two weeks and I have lost 4lbs

Nobody can really help you, only you can help yourself. If you need to be motivated 365 days a year, it ain't going to happen. I have been doing this for 5 years and I have moments where I just don't feel like meal prepping or going to the gym, but I still go on those days regardless on how I feel. I am not a better person than anyone else, but my goals are more important than my feels. You need to find a way to overcome that, no one else can do it for you.