What helped you stick with it?

collteach328

I have been overweight for most of my life. I have started fitness programs (running, various Beachbody workouts, walking, HIIT) and have worked on healthy eating about 5000 times in the past 20 years. I always give up! Even when I am losing weight! I have no idea what my problem is. What helps you to stick with your weight loss and fitness goals?

MichelleSilverleaf

- eating in a way I enjoy
- regular breaks when I feel like I'm waning
- discipline
- exercise I enjoy
- a reasonable deficit

CamiDarney

I have been the same for the past 20 years...I've been doing ok for the last 2 but was "off track" for a couple of recent months. What I'm telling myself now, to stick with it, is that I'm not "starting a new workout plan". I tell myself this is a part of my life..it will be ongoing. I try to remember how great I feel when I workout. I am doing the couch to 5k and weights a few times a week. On my off nights I let my body and mind relax. I'm trying to look at this (eating healthy and getting fit) as a way of life that I'll be doing the rest of my life. So, I won't allow myself the option to give up..just short breaks and treat myself every once in a while. I've had a hard time learning moderation but I'm working on it! Good luck to you!!!

collteach328

Thank you! I think one of my issues is that I beat myself up when I slip up and have an off-day. Then, it becomes an off-week, etc.

I also start really trying to focus on making changes at the worst time. So, this time around, I’m starting with tracking since it’s a terrible time to make a lot of changes. I am moving from Japan back to the US in 6 weeks. My husband already returned to the US, so I’m finishing out the school year and then my kids and I are moving back. Stress is high, so I feel like if I’m tracking and trying to stay within my goals for most days, I will be happy. I’m taking the stairs at work as much as possible and moving more during the day, but I will focus on finding exercise that I enjoy when I move.

cmriverside

Thank you! I think one of my issues is that I beat myself up when I slip up and have an off-day. Then, it becomes an off-week, etc.

You could call it beating yourself up or you could say you give yourself permission, then feel guilty. Guilt is definitely over-rated.

I stuck with it when losing the weight became important enough to me. Going off-plan for a day or two is normal. Staying off-plan is self-destructive and may require deeper thought.

If you are over-eating on some days it's possible you are over-restricting on the rest of them. Setting a Goal that is too low will cause you to over-eat after a few days. It's just how the body works.

You don't give us much to go on.

Could you go to FOOD > Settings and scroll down and open your food page to "Public"? Then we have more to work with.

How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range? BMI Calculator

emmamcgarity

Tracking is the key for me, even when over calories. I also go over calories about once or twice a week in order to fit foods in that I really enjoy. Podacasts have helped immensely to keep me in the right mindset. I consistently listen to “Half Size Me” and “WhysAdvice” (FatDag).

Focus on the food first and keep your goals small. Goal 1 could be tracking your food every day this week without regard for being over or under calories. Once you are tracking regularly, look for small changes to make instead of trying to change everything at once. Be kind to yourself. You deserve to treat yourself well.

88olds

Keeping my food diary going no matter what. I’ve made a lot of mistakes trying to hit my number. There are a lot of mistakes you make, loss of concentration, fatigue, misread menus, inadequate planning, even math and counting mistakes. But I always tried to enter everything into my food diary and put a number on it. Even if I was just making a good faith estimate.

I didn’t like recording my mistakes. But everything was recorded. Because I didn’t like recording mistakes, I started concentrating on not making them.

I started to view weight loss as a set of things to do. The only way not to do them was to decide not to do them. I paid attention to my thinking. A lot of the time I would catch my brain trying to talk me out of doing what had to be done. I’d catch myself thinking that what I was doing wasn’t good enough. This was the first step to t talking myself into quitting. I heard this somewhere and repeated it to myself - perfect is the enemy of the good. I didn’t need to be perfect to succeed, just good enough.

I worked week to week. If I lost .2 lbs for the week, I accepted it as progress. If I wasn’t OK with a loss, what would happen when I gained?

I tried to do everything the easy way whenever possible. My program was a project I was doing but it wasn’t about me as a person. I decided that I wanted to lose weight and I had to take certain actions to stand behind my decisions. Weight loss was the right thing for me to do. I wanted to do the right thing. I found self respect in the process.

Start a food diary and never stop. The process is more important than the numbers.

kimny72

Usually, people who can never stick to their plan are picking plans that are unnecessarily difficult.

All you need to lose weight is a calorie deficit. All the other stuff might have its benefits, but the calories are the key. I eat mostly the same foods I always ate, just different amounts or frequency. I have macro goals, but I don't sweat them. I accepted that really slow loss over the long term was better than no loss because of falling off course and gaining it back.

And I was always well aware that I was incapable of perfection People who succeed have bad days all the time, they just accept them as being an expected part of real life, shrug them off, and do better tomorrow.

Check out the Most Helpful Posts threads pinned to the top of each forum - lots of great info there!

seltzermint555

Keeping it SIMPLE and doable, so I will stick to it. I get these lofty ideas of doing body weight & lifting exercises every day and sit-ups, walking EVERY DAY, etc. I don't stick to it ever. What I stick to? Tracking ALL my food always, and taking long walks about 3 nights per week with longer, much more difficult hikes 1-2 times on the weekend. I've maintained 130 lb loss for 5 years and counting, by doing this. I still get ideas of doing way more but I doubt I'll ever TRULY stick to those hardcore workouts. I think it's important to know yourself, and most of all not to forget that screwing up a little bit (or a lot) doesn't mean you failed! Just try again.

collteach328

I will open up my food diary, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been consistent with tracking. I started today...even though I had a lot of
Biscoff cookies with my coffee this morning instead of a proper breakfast. It is helpful just to see what endulging does to the daily numbers.

I feel like I know what I need to be doing, but I just do not follow what I know to be best. I definitely overcomplicate things and worry so much about getting the “right” foods that it becomes a chore and it is so easy to throw it all out the window when life gets crazy. So my goal for this week is to track. Yes, I want to make good choices, but I’m not going to stop tracking just because I opted for
something that isn’t the healthiest. I am also going to start working on portion sizes, because I think that is one problem I have with favorite foods.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions. It helps to hear ideas from people who have been where I am and made it through!