Serious decline in motivation

ironanimal

Slow is good. Slow is maintainable, realistic, practical.

ljminto

The backpack theory is an excellent idea for motivation! Thanks!!

ljminto

I also am having this problem, with the fear of "one wrong move" (figure of speech) and I'll gain everything back..:indifferent:

Remember that "one wrong move" won't undo all your work. You would have to make many wrong moves to do that.

OP, it's entirely your decision what you eat. You've lost weight so you have a good idea of what you should do. You'll know if you're making a wrong turn before you make that turn. Just avoid phrases like "just this once" and don't think of your new lifestyle as the "thing you're doing to lose weight". Instead think of it as the norm and that weekend binge is "the thing you do to gain weight".

If you need a little breather switch your intake to maintain for a bit. Use that time to help establish your new norm before trying to lose any more weight. And if you really need motivation, fill a backpack with as much weight as you lost and carry it around with you for a day.

bidimus

The backpack theory is an excellent idea for motivation! Thanks!!

dotcomee

The backpack theory is an excellent idea for motivation! Thanks!!

Yeah whenever I think all of this is not worth it, I pick up the weight I lost and carry it around for a bit. If you're like me and you have lost a lot of weight already and still have a good amount to go it's great motivation.

Also, crazy as it sounds, whenever I'm getting weak, I read these forums (which is a lot heh). When you read about people having the same struggles somehow it puts things in perspective. We're all human, nobody is perfect, we're all just trying to do our best and sometimes (most times) it's not easy.

abear007

I can totally relate. As someone who has gotten to goal weight twice and gained it back, being "big" again and feeling like it is an uphill battle to get back down again is so demotivating. I have been back on MFP for two months and the scale basically bounces back and forth between the same numbers week after week. The whole process has just become stressful for me. I feel like an odd science experiment trying to figure out what to eat to lose (the cals in/cals out equation is NOT working for me).

I like the analogy of the "crowded hall" where one guys asks why the room is so crowded and somebody answers, "Because more people went in then came out" - as if that trivial observation actually answers the question, "Why is the room so crowded?"

And likewise with weight - calories in/calories out says nothing about why the person is taking in more calories than they are burning. Is it underestimating intake? Is it overestimating output? Is it both? If the first, where is the underestimation happening? If the second, where is the overestimation happening? And those questions can further get into issues like satiety, metabolism, cravings, etc..

DeguelloTex

I can totally relate. As someone who has gotten to goal weight twice and gained it back, being "big" again and feeling like it is an uphill battle to get back down again is so demotivating. I have been back on MFP for two months and the scale basically bounces back and forth between the same numbers week after week. The whole process has just become stressful for me. I feel like an odd science experiment trying to figure out what to eat to lose (the cals in/cals out equation is NOT working for me).

And likewise with weight - calories in/calories out says nothing about why the person is taking in more calories than they are burning. Is it underestimating intake? Is it overestimating output? Is it both? If the first, where is the underestimation happening? If the second, where is the overestimation happening? And those questions can further get into issues like satiety, metabolism, cravings, etc..

That's why the first responses are almost always "open your diary," "are you weighing your food," "how are you figuring caloric burn," etc.

tycho_mx

One big meal out - unless it was some kind of smorgasbord didn't cause you to gain a pound. 3500 extra calories in a single sitting would be a crazy amount.

More likely that pound was water weight either because of your monthly cycle, not drinking enough water, or not pooping before you weighed yourself.

Water weight and stored carbs (easily mobilized). When you go from a deficit to a sudden excess, your body temporarily stores carbs as glycogen. Each gram of glycogen needs about 3 g of water. You can store from 1500 to 2000 calories in the form of glycogen - that's a potential swing of 2 kg (2.2 lb) of weight.

I can easily get these swings in a single day - large breakfast, go for a big ride. Weigh myself. Eat large dinner, wake up next day. - 4 lb. heavier than under depletion. Not including potential dehydration/overhydration effects!

1saturn

I always had this problem. I lost the weight, not even all of the weight but enough to feel happy, and then I got comfortable. I realized that I thought of weight loss as a temporary thing and thus my weight loss WAS temporary. This time around I realized I had to change my lifestyle and stop thinking of my eating habits as a diet and start thinking about it as the new way I eat and the new way I will eat forever. I made a commitment to myself to stop thinking about being thin and start wanting to be fit. Once I adopted that mindset, I became so excited about my life and the changes I knew were going to happen within the next year..

I don't know if this will work for you, but just analyze your past behavior towards losing weight and realize that you shouldn't be doing this for anyone else but yourself so no one has the right to tell you to stop if you are not happy with the results yet. Understand that when you lose a lot of weight, your body's needs are different so readjust your eating if you want to keep losing weight and mix up your workout routine (really challenge your body) and you will see results again. If you don't do weight lifting, I highly recommend, it's incredibly the transformation your body goes through after just a few weeks and that is exciting and keeps me motivated. Don't go by the numbers on the scale because body weight is so much more than just fat and muscle (think about everything that is inside your body) and know that you could be getting smaller without getting lighter (as muscle weighs more than fat)

I hope this helped.

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I am going to start thinking of this as a lifestyle change. I set out to do this but I got too carried away with the numbers on the scale and not the big picture. Thanks for reminding me

1saturn

You should Stop thinking that you're on a diet to reach a goal and just turn it into a lifestyle

This. Thinking in terms of "diet" is why so many here fail.

I don't think it's really about thinking of it as a diet that is the problem. I think making the diet too difficult is what's the problem, such as high deficits.

I kind of agree with you!!! Realistic goals make the journey easier..

True! I think I'll take my last goal step by step. Probably set out to lose 2 pounds or so and see where it takes me. I want so bad to get to a certain number that I downplay my success.