Here I am AGAIN!!

craigfinch

Hello everyone, my name is Craig. I have been on here before and had success with this site. It truly does help tremendously with weight loss goals.Unfortunately the creators of Myfitnesspal have not come up with a way to shock their users when they stop logging food and exercise lol (joking) or maybe I'm not lol. So anyway here's my story of late. I began my weight loss endeavor back on July 20th 2012, with the goal of losing 77 pounds by August 3rd 2013 - which was my 10th anniversary of marriage to my wife Christie. Like any motivated person wanting to lose weight, I started out like gang busters and had a lot of success. I lost a total of 50 pounds between July and March! I was totally living the life of a changed person. I swore to myself and everyone that i would never weight over 200 pounds again. I was drinking my daily water amounts, logging my food and even exercising 3 to 4 times a week; and i was happy. How quickly things can change. We went on our family vacation to Florida that we try and take every year or 2 and that was when I made a regrettable mistake. I told myself well 1 week of not logging for the sake of fun and also not really knowing what everything would calculate to anyway would be just fine. Well, that's how the downward spiral began for me. Yes I had an awesome time, ate really tasty meals all week, had a blast with family and only gained a couple of pounds. So you're probably thinking what's the big deal come back from vacation and reboot go back to logging and exercising? And for the most part that's what I did. But slowly and surely I began to log a little bit less, exercise a little less often and then life decided to throw me a CURVE BALL that sent me over the proverbial edge. You see, I'm a renter and had been living in the same home for 4 years - I stress the term HOME!! My wife and I had made it our home, we had rooted ourselves there with our three small children ages 7, 4 and 2. Their school was 2 blocks down the road, we loved our neighbors and the location. That being said I went to pay rent on the 1st of June and my landlord said we need to talk - and I just could tell by the tone of her voice that something was up. So she went on to inform me that her grandmother who owned the home we were living in wanted to move back home from D.C. So at that moment I'm standing there with my mouth dropped open thinking WTF!! I literally said what? what do mean??? I then said when does she want to move back home? (Assuming she would say 6 months or maybe even longer NOPE!!!) She wanted to be back in her home by August 1st, that was 2 months away, 2 MONTHS!!!!! Now keep in mind we had no intentions of wanting to move and no idea that we would need to. We were in a month to month status with them because we had been there so long after the 2nd year they didn't require us to sign another lease. So needless to say I was floored. I had to call my wife and tell her that we had to move, we had no idea where to and that it had to happen in less than 2 months! FML!!! To make an even longer story short, we did end up finding a place that we are happy with. It was still a very VERY stress filled 2 plus months and it cost us all of our savings to make it happen. So not wanting to make excuses but weight loss, food logging and positive thinking etc. took a back burner in my life. I gained back 24.5 pounds of what I had lost!!! It truly pisses me off lol Mostly because I know that I'm the one who put the food in my mouth, nobody held me down and said eat this food or else! What happened is I let life get to me and I lost my FOCUS - and the by- product of that focus loss is back on my GUT!!!
So here I am again!! Hoping that this time around I have learned from this experience that you gotta try and hit the CURVE BALL - don't just stand there and get struck out!
P.S Anyone who reads this please feel free to friend me I really believe in the encouragement of others element of this site :happy:

tookarook

I hear you loud and clear. I was in same boat. I lost 60 lbs and was living great and did the same thing as you and took some time off and life got full of stress (Furlough and Govt shutdown ,etc)and I found it easier not to worry about logging and exercise and gained weight back. Now I did not gain all of it back but I did gain a lot so I am back and have dropped about 11 lbs this month so far. Stay with it and I will do the same

nancybuss

Sorry about the curve balls! That is the past. its done. You've done this before and you can do it again. You CAN do it! One day at a time. Its not an option.

Now you're logging. Add in the exercise routine and get it done!!!! do it for your kids!

lisadeewarren

I'm back here ~again~ also...it's been a year off, and I have just a couple days under my belt now! Ugh. Learned that this has to be a constant in my life...no stopping, just because you reach your goal weight the job isn't over. Maintaining is gonna be for a lifetime!

Cyanide6

Guilty of falling off the wagon as well...got a little too complacent on holiday with all the food and booze. Thankfully, I did stick with the gym and my new job is very physical, so I lucked out and got me some muscles. My big issue and probably will be such for a while is that damn Buddha belly. If the tummy were flatter, I don't think I'd feel quite as bad about myself.
At least this time around, him indoors is in a group of guys trying to lose weight...they turn it into a competition, but for me, it means that the house is full of healthy food, less crap and I don't have him unintentionally trying to sabotage my efforts.

JennyGirl1217

I'm a returning MFP member too. Lots of us have been there. Keep moving forward!! You got this! Again. lol. Just like the rest of us. :-)

Sunshine2plus2

Welcome back!

craigfinch

Thank you everyone, for the encouraging words they do no fall on deaf ears. Good luck to all of you as well.

curvespal

You got this!!! I too have been there and it is very disappointing and I started back about 3 months ago and I am working toward an 80 lb weight loss. Wishing you the very best in discovering your new lifestyle and much success.

Micheetah

Happens to the best of us. Welcme back!

queenbea77

Sorry about the curve balls! That is the past. its done. You've done this before and you can do it again. You CAN do it! One day at a time. Its not an option.

Now you're logging. Add in the exercise routine and get it done!!!! do it for your kids!

Well said. Good luck with your journey