Fell off the wagon - how do I get back on?

olgitafajita

Hi everybody,

At the end of last year I was totally burnt out and decided I needed to get over a serious sugar addiction, and also just generally take better care of myself. I did a juice cleanse to detox from sugar (a nutritionally complete one, not nonsense like Master Cleanse) and then for the last 30 days I've been eating super clean and losing weight. But the last two days I've fallen off the wagon HARD. I ate a bunch of brownies someone brought into my office, and ate a plate of nachos today. Even worse, I washed it all down with soda, which is the main addiction I was trying to break.

Now I feel really disheartened, and on top of it, I feel like the addiction beast has totally been reawakened. I don't want to do another juice cleanse because I don't want to get into a binge and cleanse pattern.

Does anyone here have tips or experiences to share?

TheFitnessTutor

First off there's no such thing as a cleanse. They all are nonsense. You're not cleansing anything just wasting time. You might feel better at some point due to fasting and hydration. And what kind of juice doesn't have a ton of sugar in it? More on the cleansing nonsense later.

Here's something I learned in sales class. Pain is a greater motivator than the thought of being successful. Just take a few minutes to think about what you're going to feel and experience if you don't get back on the horse. What might happen with your health? Got any kids, or family you could throw in the mix and how your situation might eventually bring pain to them go to extremes with it….etc…

Also don't beat yourself up about it too much. You might just be in a recovery drive after doing something like a "cleanse." The human body is smart and it will attempt to make up for nonsense or abrupt weight loss in many cases by making you crave as it is trying to protect you from the weird crisis it thinks you might be subject to going through in your life.

Then if you're like many you could be under eating and over exercising. You can also try very low carb intake which can blunt cravings although it is hard for some people to pull off. What ever you do make sure you're eating enough calories and veggie matter/fiber/roughage to keep you full. If you do go low carb make sure you get adequate calories which means for some people higher fat and protein intact then they normally are accustom to. Then they freak out and want to under eat again because they think they are eating too much fat. then it's off to the next diet…..

In any event just do it.

stuffinmuffin

Some excellent advice from the post above.

Everyone comes 'off the wagon' from time to time. I like to eat fairly clean, I make my own bread, I don't eat sugar and try very much to avoid processed foods. Certain circumstances mean that I wont be eating to my normal 'standards' like friend's weddings, weekends away etc. I just enjoy the time for what it is and get back to normal habits immediately afterwards.

MFP for me, has been a brilliant way to lose weight, everything suddenly became clear and simple, calories in versus calories out. I do see some people taking this to extremes on here - really, 1200 calories is too low and you will feel, tired, grumpy, hungry and when you come off the wagon it will be severe. Give youself some slack, stick to the recommended calorie amount, shift your butt and do some exercise (try some out, find what you enjoy) and maybe dont ban or limit foods until you've got the knack of things. For me it was a long learning curve that taught me how to eat.

p.s. Totally agree with the commenst above re juicing - just full of sugar. Plus it rips the fructose from the fibre (in the blending process) and thus gives you a blood sugar high. Eat your fruit - chewing food is surely more fun than drinking it anyway.

Whambam087

I think it's great that you are trying to eat clean and make healthier food choices...with that being said do you plan on completely eliminating bad foods from your diet forever? Because you can incorporate them in your diet here and there and still lose weight (and be healthy). It isn't necessary to eat perfectly all the time to get results. Granted they shouldn't be the bulk of your diet because they're nutritionally void and don't fill you up very well, but a brownie here and there is not going to hurt you. Seems like you have an all or nothing mindset...you're either eating perfectly, or your completely going off the deep end and eating very bad. There's no balanced middle ground. You eat one brownie so therefore you blew your diet and you might as well throw in the towel and eat a whole bunch. Does that logic make sense? I think your all or nothing mindset is very stressful and is setting you up for failure. Whenever I had that mindset I did the exact same thing and would go through clean and binging cycles. They sucked. I find it much easier to stick to my diet if I eat good "most" of the time but I don't stress about good and forbidden foods. And strangely enough when I tell myself I can eat anything I want I find I don't want or obsess about having those forbidden foods much anymore. There's something about making things forbidden that turns up their appeal 100% lol

Vex3521

Ok with the "bad" "evil" "forbidden" foods.... get those out of mind. There will always be brownies, nachos and soda... it's how you handle them that's more important. Can you have one portion of such? or would that put you into overdrive? If so, then there's a deeper connection to food that you need to explore. If it doesn't and you can eat just one serving, then portion control it and include that in your diary.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. It is possible to find a balance. And when you're there believe me the stress level is going to be so much less.

I know for me that's a huge thing. Stress = binge eating for me. Willing to bet with the all or nothing perception we're getting it is for you too so the harder push is an attempt to control it. Until you can't and then, well the cycle continues. You can beat it though Just start forgiving yourself a little and that will really help you go a long way

TheFitnessTutor

The worse thing you can do is starve yourself and do a bunch of cardio to try to make up for it…by the way…maybe one day…but otherwise…. Just eat normally. Two or three days of controlled eating can make up for most indulgences. Noones perfect so screw it. What you stated didn't really sound all that bad really. And yes you should have regular small amounts of your trouble foods if you can without going overboard…try it if you haven't.

mgorham13

I don't know how you lasted as long as you did. I know one thing is don't beat yourself up over it, turn the page and move on. Secondly and this is just my opinion if you can't comfortably eat the way you are now for the rest of your life then you should reconsider how you eat. This is hard enough to do as it is, no need to make it harder or unsustainable.

Good luck