Help! I have fallen totally off the wagon!

kksmom1789

It’s like all my knowledge about healthy eating and counting calories has totally disappeared! I can’t get myself to get back on the wagon
Does anyone have any encouraging words for me? Or any advice?

wmweeza

Look at your calendar, pick a day one week from today (or heck tomorrow even!), from that day forward you are BACK on the wagon! Set a goal for yourself, pick out a book or movie and say "I will buy myself this ONLY when I hit my goal of sticking to my goal for 2 weeks SOLID". Now, make an action plan: This is what I will eat for so many days, and STICK TO IT. It's just for 2 weeks right? You can do 2 weeks!
Set yourself up for success instead of thinking it'll be an automatic failure by buying healthy foods. Some of the biggest wins were when I just decided to do it even though I wasn't on track the way I thought I should be, and I wasn't feeling ready or on track.
You have the knowledge, just take one step. For tonight set a date!

VUA21

Doing everything is impossible. Doing one thing is easy.

Start by just focusing on logging. That's it, weigh your food, log your food. Don't worry about macros/healthy eating/everything else. Once you have logging down a bit, do the next thing. Work on calories, don't change anything else other than portion sizes. I cannot run 100 miles all at once. But, I can run 1 mile 100 times.

JoeCWV

Focus on your calorie goals. Once you get a handle on that then work on healthy eating, whatever that may mean to you.

stfpa

I know just starting again is easier said than done so maybe you could ease into it by starting to just log what you eat. Not changing anything for a day or a few days but just logging it to get back into the habit. Then, try eating maintanence for a few days (assuming you’re eating above maintenance when you’re not tracking). Then eat at a slight deficit and go from there. I don’t know if this would work for you but I think it’s easier for me to just eat tons of calories when I’m not being mindful and choosing to block it completely out of my mind.

erjones11

Your name is KKS Mom. Be the best example you can be for KK and get after it. You can totally do this!

amyepdx

Repeat after me ... there is no wagon.
There are days that you log and stay at your calorie goal. There are days you log and maybe go over your goal. There are days you don’t log and have no idea how much you went over. Every day is a new opportunity and decision for you to make.
You don’t have to “eat healthy” - whatever that means to you. Choose foods you enjoy and see how those fit in your calories. If they all don’t, reassess and adjust.
It’s a one day at a time, lifetime process to maintain a healthy weight - no wagon involved.

Seffell

What wagon? It is just normal life. Sometimes you eat less and sometimes you eat more. You need to eat less more often than not. You don't need to eat less everyday. There is no rule that requires you to make streaks. Can you think of a day you had in your life when you ate less unintentionally? Well it's exactly like that. There was no wagon when you did it. People who maintain naturally a healthy weight also sometime eat less and sometimes eat more.

Every day is on its own. There are no streaks and there is no wagon. Everyday you make a decision to eat less or more. Just make a decision to eat less more often.

If you plan to stay at a healthy weight for life you need to forget about wagons.

psychod787

amyepdx wrote: »

Repeat after me ... there is no wagon.
There are days that you log and stay at your calorie goal. There are days you log and maybe go over your goal. There are days you don’t log and have no idea how much you went over. Every day is a new opportunity and decision for you to make.
You don’t have to “eat healthy” - whatever that means to you. Choose foods you enjoy and see how those fit in your calories. If they all don’t, reassess and adjust.
It’s a one day at a time, lifetime process to maintain a healthy weight - no wagon involved.

Yes, there is no wagon. Be flexible... just mho

lynn_glenmont

Rid yourself of the idea that there is a wagon. There is just you, moving along. You can't fall off you. If you take a step away from your destination, you can always make the next step a step toward your destination. If you take seven or eight steps away from your destination because, hey, there's some pretty flowers over there that you want to pick, it's OK (assuming there's no sign that says "please don't pick the flowers"). Once you've got the flowers, you can always make your next a step toward your destination. Next time you see some flowers, before you walk toward them, ask yourself whether those particular flowers, at that distance out of your way, is worth the delay in reaching your destination.

OK, maybe I should have gone with a metaphor of you driving on the highway. Is getting off the interstate to drive 20 miles to see the world's largest ball of twine worth the fact that you won't reach the motel where you're registered until 90 minutes later than you otherwise would? The decision is yours. There's no right or wrong answer, just the answer that you can live with today and tomorrow.

kommodevaran

A healthy diet is balanced and varied. You can eat what you want. MFP counts the calories for you.

Like the others have said, there is no wagon.

kksmom1789

Thank you everyone seriously I was crying as I was making this post. I have been struggling so much lately actually since last summer for some reason and I only have about 40 more pounds to lose until I will be to my goal weight. I started fresh today and so far so good. I just started watching the show GIRLS I don't know if anyone is familiar with that show well there is a girl that is a little heavier and her lover/boyfriend who works out like crazy asked her "do you eat for fun or for fuel" so I am going to start asking myself that when I want to cave and eat all the treats. Thank you guys for listening to my rant. I have no idea what I would do without this App or Forum!

casmithis

Look at it like it's an event not a process. it was just one little event, learn from it and move forward. It's not an ongoing process. Just like hitting a milestone is an event not an end to the process. Celebrate it and keep going.

kommodevaran

Please, please, don't make fun and fuel an either/or question, that is the same line of thinking as your idea of being on or off the wagon, and exactly the mindset that makes you crave everything like crazy - and what happens then? Then you EAT ALL THE FOODS!!!

You can eat anything in moderation; you need enough of a range of nutrients, and not too many calories, but you can choose what you want to eat, and there's no law against eating food you like. Consisntently eating just enough, but not too much, takes practice and commitment and patience, but it's a much better place to be (I have been in both states of mind, and it's certainly a lot less stressful, and a lot easier to maintain weight this way).

psychod787

Ok... I was thinking about it. The idea of a wagon is, to me, something that you ride for a while and get off of. Well, I hate to break it to you. It's more like breathing. Once you start doing it, you can't stop, or bad things happen. I struggle days to maintain or actually gain. I fear regain like I am sure you do. Thing is, I just keep "breathing". I slip weight, I add cals. To much gain, I slow down. I feel for you in a strange way. I am kinda a "kitten" hole, but I am human, well most days. Keep breathing, slow and steady. All will be well.

nowine4me

Focus on not gaining any weight, make that your priority. Just maintain. Stay where you are. Then, get to a good place, take your deficit and grind it out.