How to keep on track for a long time?

MikeDiet2023

I have been trying to lose weight for a long time. After a lot of trial and error with many different methods. (Pretty much everything you could possibly think of) The only thing that has ever worked for me in my life is counting calories and calorie deficit.
I did this last year for about 6 months. Lost a little bit but then my weight loss plateaued. So I got discouraged, and now I put the weight back on.
So this past month or so, I went back on the calorie counting, and I just started losing a bit again after two weeks of very strict calorie counting.
Anyway, here’s what seems to keep happening when I get to this point. I’ll lose a little bit, then I stop losing and get discouraged.
That and normal life activities interfere. Meaning after a few months go by, I know what always happens is that I start to forget about how important the calorie counting is. I find myself out somewhere at a diner or something and Im just not thinking about it, because life happens. And it totally throws me off track and I just sort of stop remembering to do what I’m doing right now.
Does anyone else have this problem? Like.. calorie counting but for a long sustained period of time. I seem to be able to do a few weeks or even a few months fairly well. But then I end up falling off for a few months and forgetting about it. And its a vicious cycle that keeps happening to me.
Any advice for staying on track for long periods of time?

yirara

You need to find a way to make tracking a habit. Like brushing your teeth, or getting dressed in the morning. Don't see it as a chore but as something you just do. Takes a while to get there, but it's possible.

cmriverside

Yeah, even when I eat outside my home, I still track it to the best of my ability. Take a picture of it. Log it later. Big restaurants have their calories online, find something similar to what you ate on a restaurant website and log that.

I mean...we all have lives. We all make it work - or we don't. It's not magic. You don't even have to get it exact, because for me the simple act of Knowing I will log it later and then looking at that logged entry helps me going forward. Maybe next time I won't have that fried cheese as an appetizer for 1200 calories and instead have a bowl of soup for 200 calories. Or maybe I'll start having a baked potato instead of fries, and only put a little butter and Greek yogurt on it.

Lots of ways to make this work, many people stay thin without knowing how many calories. They just make better decisions every day, over and over.

wm3796

Some people recommend when going out to eat, try to look up menu ahead of time and decide in advance what you will have. You r
Can then pre log your meal and make a good choice.

Corina1143

yirara wrote: »

You need to find a way to make tracking a habit. Like brushing your teeth, or getting dressed in the morning. Don't see it as a chore but as something you just do. Takes a while to get there, but it's possible.

Agree. Possibilities for making it a habit. Make it part of your bedtime routine to review today and preview tomorrow. Do you take public transit or carpool? Make it a habit on your travel time. Drink coffee? Make it part of your coffee break.

neanderthin

Yeah, hunger does that. It's mostly hormonal and primordial and most people are defenseless against engineered foods that start with an ooze and made into wonderfully packaged and tasty morsels of lip smacking feel good euphoric bliss and instead of delivering healthy sustenance they deliver an emotional roller coaster ride that most people have very little defense against, which harbors back to those primordial beginnings. Because most of these foods are calorically dense, most people are hard pressed to feel satisfied, it's a vicious cycle that even counting calories generally is helpless against and the statistics bear that out with a very low percentage of people being successful. Almost all people that eat these foods when it represents a big part of their diet, and for most they do, are going to be helpless against the science that these large food conglomerates use in their formula's. Makes whole foods, without labels the majority of your diet and it may just help from overeating. imo.

evileyefirefly

So I found that making better food choices overall (Adding more veggies/salads) and slowly reducing portion sizes of what you eat in general will go a long way in helping you stay on track. Drinking a lot of water also helps. When you add in some exercise (3x a week) you then have small changes that can be easily made habits, and quickly become your normal routine. This is really how you get to the end goal, changing your lifestyle in a series of small incremental adjustments. Calorie counting is perfect for losing weight, but once you hit goal weight do you want to do calorie counting for the rest of your life? Weight loss is also not constant, you will plateau and gain throughout the process. Weight loss takes time. Weight gain is easier, but it also takes time people just don't realize the gradual change. Set realistic goals (1-2lbs/wk) so you don't get discouraged as easily, and recognize there are many variables that go into weight loss that really it takes weeks to really see and evaluate the changes you've made and how your body is responding. Be patient and stick with it.

cwolfman13

I had probably a little bit different tactic here than others. Over the long haul I kind of looked at it like I do work...if I work 7 days per week for months on end, I'm going to completely burn out...I need time off. I did the same when I was losing weight.

For the first couple of months of my weight loss I was pretty strict and kept my diet and exercise very much on point just so I could make sure that ball was rolling in the direction I wanted it to. After those first couple of months or so I decided to take one day per week "off" diet wise. That was usually a Saturday or a Sunday and it wasn't a free for all, but that would be the day that I'd let myself go out to a restaurant or whatever and just enjoy myself and not worry or think about emergerd diet. So I'd have a meal on Saturday or Sunday and go out for New Mexican food...or pub grub...or to Vic's Diner (a favorite) or out for pizza or whatever.

Even with maintenance this is pretty much what I practice. My diet is on point for the most part most of the time and I overall enjoy eating well and eating healthfully...but I also enjoy pub grub, New Mexican food, diners, and pizza and so long as I don't make those regular things and keep them as things to be occasional and to be looked forward to, all is well.