I thought I knew what I was doing

budobo

When you're on MyFirnessPal, most of us are doing a "diet" where we really track everything we eat and exercise. This is a DIET and not a NORMAL DAILY ROUTINE.

Dieting is great for temporary weight loss. The real challenge comes when you integrate your diet into your normal every-day routine. I am still in the diet phase of my weight loss goals - however, the challenge is always how to maintain your diet as a permanent thing.

I know for a fact that I won't be able to keep up my diet lifelong, which is also not my goal, because right now I'm in weight LOSS mode. Later I want to be in weight MAINTENANCE mode. For me, this means that I need to keep up on an exercise routine, eating habits, and generally speaking just watch how I fit in my clothes and feel about my body. For me, it is all about moderation and adjustments as needed.

If I splurge and get that bag of chips, I will actually see the weight reflected on the scale or how I feel about myself. So the next day or next week I'll be extra careful and cut out a snack from my day.

Another thing i'll do to break the routine is I'll be very good for 6 days out of a week, but on my Friday night I treat it like a vacation - drink and eat whatever / however much I want. It keeps me sane as well as allows me to have a normal social life (dates, friends, etc)

@the girl who weighs 78 lbs, please tell me you're under 5' tall. I think I was 78 lbs at age 10

spoiledpuppies

Great job catching yourself! You know exactly what you're doing!

I lost 50 pounds about 10 years ago. I kept most all of it off for the 10 years--the scale only started creeping up a few pounds after a move, different habits, no longer weighing every day, etc. I hopped on MFP to get to get back in check, and I ended up losing another 40 pounds from my previous maintenance. You are on the right path--great realization and recommitment!

PJPrimrose

Keep low calorie snacks on hand Leave some "room" for them in your calorie count for when you are prone to snacking! I have to snack between meals so I prepare for it.

xsmilexforxmex

Omg! xsmilexforxme. What kind of life are you living? Why are you working so hard? It would be impossible for anyone to eat properly under those circumstances. Is there anything that you can do to improve the situation? Can you at least catch up on sleep on the weekends? Don't beat yourself up. You are surviving an extreme situation.

I'm in the military as a supervisor on nightshift - we're under manned and I frequently get told to stay a few minutes to an hour after my 12 hour shift in order to speak with leadership on their time. It's never that I've done anything wrong, quite often is in regards to something volunteer wise, one of my troops or recognition.. Other days is in order to make contact with my troops who are all on an opposite shift currently. My days off I have homework for school I can't complete at work so I spend the majority of my time on that and do try to catch up on sleep otherwise (I slept 13 hours yesterday! It was so nice!) Hopefully in a month when I go back on days it will get easier but I'm mostly used to it...

(edit for spelling)

pkw58

There was a quote on Facebook - "People often say that motivation isn't lasting - well neither does bathing- that's why we do it daily".

My maintenance means daily logging. food , exercise , and weighing in. I quit logging my daily weight and exercise. I am good about what I eat, thanks to the iPhone Ap. Back on track after I went up 4 pounds that stayed for 6 days. Back to logging exercise and weight as well. Now for logging my hours of sleep...

I think we all have our Non-scale measurements that tell us when we are straying from our healthy lifestyles. I just haven't found anything that works better than logging.

svelt123

:ohwell: Yes, I can relate to this very well. All is not lost! You have only gained 10lbs. and you are still in control! You have acknowledged what is going on. You are back on track!! I have now learned to only eat my meals and literally stay out of the kitchen! You know that you are going to eat or snack if you are just sitting around. Get out of the house or start a new hobby. Just don't get bored. I have placed post it notes with MFP written on them in areas where I know that I may get bored and snack.
Or just write your daily cal. count down and post it. Post your goal weight on your frid. door. or a healthy reminder of encouragement note. Wow.60 lbs. you don't want to throw all of that hard work down the drain. You want to live a heathy and happy life. You know this! You can do it!:flowerforyou:

GreenIceFloes

I can completely relate!
I lost 60 lbs a couple of years ago, and gained back 50 of them when I changed cities and fell back into bad habits. :sick:
I'm back at losing now, and I've lost 20 of the 50 gained, another 30 to go.
Learn from my example, and the other thousand you'll find here. Trust me, you don't want to end up at square one. 10 lbs is almost nothing; you can lose those easily. Just don't go back to your old lifestyle and gain back the rest. Please, just don't. All of us here know it is NOT worth it.
All the best to you!