Frustrated with myself

AKTipsyCat

I am so frustrated with myself right now. I was doing so amazingly well last year at this time, I was at my lowest weight since giving birth over 20+ years ago. Last month I was back on track, walking everyday, eating right, lifting, doing my yoga, etc. I have "re-started" like 5 times in the last few weeks. I keep telling myself...OK, TODAY's the day... then I get home. It's dark. I'm hungry. I make myself some food sit down to eat. Turn on the TV, pour myself a drink... and wake up the next day, vowing, OK that's IT - TODAY... and repeat. I KNOW how much better I feel when I'm active. But I literally have no energy. All the tricks I usually use to motivate myself, like planning my work outs and meal plans out in advance are failing me. I'm pretty sure I'm in full on menopause at this point so I know that probably has something to do with it... I'm just venting here. *sigh*

sargemarcori

That sounds so frustrating! And so relatable. If you were doing what you intended, instead, what would that evening look like?

Cheesy567

If doing all the things at once is too much, is there *one* thing you could start with instead? Break it down into a stepwise plan, start with manageable baby steps until you get some momentum again? It’s hard when life throws us curveballs— but we can choose to pull back on some of our habits and not stop all of them altogether...

elisa123gal

We all go through phases of productivity and the lulls where our best intentions can never be realized. Don't beat yourself up. The time change is hard. .it is dark at 5:00... and it feels like late evening. I've been going to bed at 8:00 and getting 9 to 10 hours of sleep a night!
Just tell yourself.. I have to get my exercise in... before 4:30.. how can I rearrange my life to make that happen.
Your routine has been upset by the time change..that's all.

88olds

Do you keep a food diary? If you make your food diary the center of your plan, you can get out of the start/stop loop. How? Keep your diary no matter what. Over your number? Log it. Crazy over? Log that too. The process is more important than the numbers.

I’ve been maintaining for years. How? Its Complicated. First, I don’t maintain at my lowest ever. My official goal weight, is 184 lbs, the top of a healthy BMI. but my lowest was 168 lbs. But I didn’t like living like that. The place I’m comfortable is around 175. My red line seems to be 178 lbs. Seems to be?

Let’s talk red lines. We need to be careful about what red lines we draw because drawing a lot of red lines and then crossing them erodes our confidence. But it doesn’t really matter what I say the line is, it matters when I actually do something. 178 is when I go back to actively keeping a food dairy. I initially kept a food dairy for 5 years before I was able to maintain without it. Now I go back as needed. Usually takes about 4-6 weeks to get things straighten out. Just how it is.

A couple of things about breaking the home to the couch habit. My plan was have a snack and hit the gym. But the best snacks were really at the house. So I had to stop at home. I tried buying snacks at the convenience store and tried bringing them with me in the morning but I wasn’t very satisfied. I need Ed snacks I was will to wait for.

Then after I was at the house I had to go our again. There were some days when that was tough. Regardless of my workout plan, some days I went to the gym just to go. I looked on it as defending my habit. The only purpose was to avoid filling gym time with couch time. Some days I made deals with myself to do 1/2 of my workout. Some days I just walked on the treadmill. What can you do to break the cycle? Change shoes and go for a walk? Something is better than nothing. Keep experimenting until something clicks. I’ve done numerous complete overhauls. Fact is the tinkering and adjusting never ends. Hope something here helps you. Good luck.

snowflake954

I could not exercise in the evening for the life of me--I'm dead tired. I'm at my friskiest early in the morning, and try to do my exercising then. Everyone is different, and you have to know yourself. Another big help is to find someone else to exercise with. When I have someone waiting for me I'll be there no matter what. Are you just going through a tough patch? Can you wait it out and then start?

Menopause is rough--been there, done that. I had hot flashes from hell. The only thing that saved me was the pool. Sometimes during acquagym the others would ask me why my face was red, even the instructor was concerned and I was embarrassed, of course. I just kept going though.

You have to try a few different things to see what'll work best for you. Good luck.

AKTipsyCat

Thanks guys - I really did like lifting and / or swimming in the morning. I think I need to get like a SAD light for my home gym - make me feel like I'm outside. I'm in Alaska, have been for over 20+ years, the dark is just hitting me harder this year I think.

nanastaci2020

I know what you mean! I've been so close to goals, to only slip back to old habits (I'm lazy by nature lol) and so it always feels like 2 steps forward, 3 steps back.

I don't know what it will take for you. For me, I have to constantly remind myself of what I want. I even sometimes consider that I can just buy new/bigger size clothes and give up but have managed to always talk myself out of THAT. I have also accepted that slow, steady is the path to my future and that is OK. I don't make progress every week - but as long as I'm not losing ground, I am content. So maybe aim for maintenance? As a starting point.

For what its worth, my youngest just turned 20.

feroshusavocado

I just posted about how I overcame late night snacking here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10849384/how-i-overcame-binge-eating-ride-the-craving-wave#latest