Getting Back on Track

MrsRoberts555

After the initial start of logging and being active, and feeling great to stay strong and continue to push ahead. Then suddenly you get distracted and a whole week goes by and you have not logged everything, you’re eating is getting sloppy and you see the weaknesses taking over.

What do you tell yourself to get the focus back on track???

kommodevaran

I don't stay strong, I don't push ahead, I too get distracted, but I have a plan I can stick to, and don't want to stray from, so I don't.

Lisaisaac7171

MrsRoberts555, that happens to me as well; but don't fall into the trap and loose focus. Pick back up and move forward with being the best you and just do it....Mentally tell your self your in control and keep going.

mulecanter

I call this MFP Mojo. If you lose your mojo you start gaining weight. I got my initial mojo by "hitting bottom", it was when my wife bought me pants with a 42" waist. I almost cried. Something snapped and I then had the determination to stay on plan. What helps me stay on plan is daily weigh-ins and joining an MFP challenge. I'm currently in the Fat2Fit Challenge, it's great. The mutual support and mild team competition makes it fun and keeps my weigh loss plan on the front burner. Having long and short range goals helps too. By short I mean within a week or two. Long being your target weight. Also, look for NSV's. Non-scale victories like going down a size or getting a notice from a coworker or friend are the little reinforcements that keep you motivated. Also, expect and tolerate a binge here and there. It's almost like a pressure relief valve--it has to pop open every so often to relieve the pressure. Each time you do fall off the wagon, just get back on the next day. Don't turn a one day slip into a one week slip. That's really the key, if you keep getting back on the wagon you will have a trend in the right direction. Make no mistake, losing weight is hard. Embrace The Suck!

steveko89

Don't dwell on it and get right back on the proverbial horse.

Further, you likely won't be as successful fully relying on motivation and/or only logging correctly and exercising when you feel like it. There will be days when you want to skip going to the gym, throw logging to the wind and revert to old unhealthy way of eating for a meal/day, selectively log to make your numbers look better/feel better about yourself, etc. To avoid this, foster positive habits and break yourself of the old habits that got you into this situation in the first place. Make your desired, on-plan, path the path of least resistance.

Suggestions:
- Take time to plan, prep, and pre-log meals/days that fit your calories and nutritional goals.
- Lay out your workout clothes ahead of time, or preemptively put them on if you plan on working out later in the day.
- look at your diary, are there days of the week, certain restaurants, occasions, or foods that consistently blow your calories? If, so take steps to eliminate those spikes. This might be hard at first, especially breaking routine, but if you identify a place you frequent where you can't trust yourself to eat/drink responsibly (calorically) stop going to those places. Myself, I realized I had developed a vending-machine-pastry-when-bored-at-work habit so I stopped carrying change and small bills for a time.
- when shopping only purchase food you're proud to log and stay away from items that cause you to struggle with self-control; it's much harder to eat the unhealthy snacks when you leave them at the store.