Seriously...HOW???

SunKissed1989

For me, it became habit - I checked my facebook then logged into MFP. Lots of people have said to me "I couldn't be bothered logging everything I eat everyday." but, it's not a matter of being bothered, it's just becoming a habit.

takkyboomboom

Take small steps. Don't try to do everything at once. (So, instead of "I'm going to exercise every day," start with "I'm going to exercise twice a week.")

Only try to change one habit at a time. (Instead of "I'm going to quit eating junk food, start exercising, and go to sleep at 10 p.m. instead of 2 a.m.," start with "I'm going to quit eating junk food.")

Write down the habit you want to change, and write down specific plans for achieving that goal. (Rather than writing "I will exercise," write, "I will start walking 30 minutes twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, and I will wake up at 7 a.m., so I can walk before work on those days.")

Repeat the behavior you're aiming for as often as you can. The more a behavior is repeated, the more likely it is that it will become "instinctive."

Capt_Apollo

It might have already been said but...

Instead of saying "I can't" stay saying "it's not a priority." Instead of "I can't track my calories today," you say "it's not a priority to track my calories." Watch how quickly things change for you.

WVmom24

I can totally relate, I do the same exact thing. I do GREAT for a month or two, then I just get side tracked somehow and then one thing leads to another and I'm back to eating like I used to and being just as sluggish. I lost 16lbs the last time around (after gaining 36 over the year prior to that) and then got a boyfriend and almost immediately stopped logging and exercising. I was all doughy-eyed about him and lost my focus. 10 weeks later we break up, TEN of those pounds are back. So I'm still 30lbs up from a little over a year ago. Oy vay. It's a struggle to stay focused! Lol

doctorregenerated

What has derailed you in the past?
For me, I didn't have enough real life support. My family and friends like to go out to eat a lot, drink a lot, and there isn't a whole lot of exercise going on. So while I still feel like I'd like to meet some real life people who want to live this lifestyle, I count myself lucky that I've met a lot of great people here. This site has become the single greatest thing for me. It makes me want to login every day. Its a community of wonderful supportive awesome people. And the people in my real life may not be health and fitness minded, but the people here are. If you want to stick to it, It needs to become your life instead of the other stuff.
Don't diet. Change your life.

_Zardoz_

How do you do this every day?

Does it become the most important thing in your life? Do you put tracking your calories and finding healthy food and making time to exercise above everything else in your life?

I can do it for a week. Sometimes I can do it for a month. But I've never been able to continue for longer than that without putting the weight back on.

I cringe every time I look in the mirror. I say negative things to myself every time I try to put on a pair of jeans and find out they are too tight. I feel guilty when I eat anything I shouldn't. But no matter how bad I feel I can't make myself stay on track with this.

Do I have some kind of hormone problem that makes me incapable of dealing with stress? I don't think so, in fact I think I'm pretty normal. So how the heck do I make myself keep going when I'm having a bad day or I'm on my period or I just don't feel like it?
I'm fairly intelligent. I understand the mechanics of losing weight. Am I just lazy?

HOW????

How can I stay on track for more than a week at a time? How can I fit it into my life so I don't feel like I am taking away from my family?

I can see the responses now telling me "you're not a special snowflake, just do it"

Habit

bethira

This is not all encompassing to me. I eat, I log. I exercise, I log. At the end of the day I hit the finished button and giggle at the number it says I'll weigh in 5 weeks. Sometimes I weigh that number in 5 weeks, sometimes I don't.

The days of excuses are gone. I need to do this for me and it's the right choice for me. If you find this too much trouble, it's not the time for you, simple as that.

TashTag

How do you do this every day?

Does it become the most important thing in your life? Do you put tracking your calories and finding healthy food and making time to exercise above everything else in your life?

For me it has been exactly this. I got rid of my TV and my social life is suffering because i chose to put these things first. I would rather spend an hour at the gym or playing basketball than out at the pub. For me. this has been key.

paperpudding

How do you do this every day?

Does it become the most important thing in your life? Do you put tracking your calories and finding healthy food and making time to exercise above everything else in your life?

For me it has been exactly this. I got rid of my TV and my social life is suffering because i chose to put these things first. I would rather spend an hour at the gym or playing basketball than out at the pub. For me. this has been key.

I find that a rather extreme outlook myself.

Getting rid of the TV and suffering socially is NOT the key for me - making changes that I can fit into my life whilst continueing to do the other things I enjoy - ie soicialising, watching TV programs, valuing many other things in life above calorie counting, this is a much better and more sustainable approach IMO.

Make it work within your life - dont make it your life.

Snip8241

It is a tremendous part of who I am now. No fanfares, no fireworks, just what I eat and what I do.

I decided I wanted it enough to make these changes.

When you decide you want it enough, you will do it. Maybe next time you have done it week or so, stop and ask yourself periodically, do I want this enough?

Yes sometimes it gets tedious....when it does just say to yourself....I will do it today. Those today's add up.

saraj9999

I honestly want to help you, not criticize. I was in this place you are for so many years. I knew what I had to do. (Everyone does, really). I would start. I would not be 100% compliant. I would give up. And I say, with sympathy and understanding, this is another brand of special snowflake excuses we create for ourselves.

I used it as my escape hatch. I pacified my guilt about being 100+ pounds overweight with thoughts how I had tried and 'failed' so many time. My life was too difficult and busy for me to be able to concentrate on getting healthy '100%', so I was doomed to fail every time. It was just a tool that I used to let myself keep eating out of control. Because I wanted to. I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat. It was my hobby, my passion, my amusement.

What finally changed for me was that I took a good long look at my life - from a bit of a distance. I saw what it had become. I saw where it was heading. And I decided my parents' lives in their late 60's is not the life I want in my late 60's. I don't want chronic, lifestyle induced disease to dictate what I can and can not do. I want to LIVE, not just exist.

So I made one rule. Just don't quit. Log in every single day. No matter what. No matter if I have gone off program - WAY off program. No matter if I didn't get my steps in. Just log. Be honest. Learn. Evolve. Change. GROW. Just be honest with yourself and close that beloved, well-used 'all-or-nothing' escape hatch. Everything else falls into place from there. All of the other pieces come into focus and stay present in your consciousness. Then you see progress.

Best of luck to you. You can do it and you are worth doing it for.

tracymayo1

I have a note pad that I keep with me to log anything I eat.
When I am prepping meals, I log.
When I am putting together my plate, I log
I bring my food scale to work to weigh my food, then log.
I just do it.

I have friends who ridicule (lightly) me for being obsessed, or too "into it" - but I feel I need to be or it won't work.
I want to be sure I am doing this right.
If my friends can lose weight logging occasionally, or not at all, all the better for them.
I like to see my progress, know what I ate and go from there.

PMA140

It might have already been said but...

Instead of saying "I can't" stay saying "it's not a priority." Instead of "I can't track my calories today," you say "it's not a priority to track my calories." Watch how quickly things change for you.

This advice may be extremely helpful to me. Thank you!

AglaeaC

You guys were right. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I KNEW this was a long term commitment, I always kept in the back of my mind the idea that I could do it quickly, lose the weight, and then not have to worry about it anymore.

It took 150 post from strangers for me to admit to myself that I was still thinking about this wrong.

That's why I've tried this at 1200 cal, 1350 cal, 1500 cal at various times over the past 3 years and though I did well for a while each time I ultimately failed because I wanted a quick fix and tried for too much too fast.

My goal is set for 1700 calories a day now and I will try to start with 30 min of exercise 3 days a week. I doubt I'll see much of a loss at that rate. Maybe 1/2 pound per week. But if I'm not hungry and I'm not tired I don't see any reason why I can't sustain that long term.

Thanks for helping me see what was right in front of me :-)

Good for you.

Change is hard, which is why many don't pull off the lifestyle change thing, even when they lose weight and think they've done a lifestyle change. It's a profound change in one's mind and often includes changing lots of thought patterns, not merely habits/actions.

For some, who piled on after the teenage years due to too much "beer and pizza", it might be easier, but if there's even a bit of psychological stuff baked into the equation, one has to start by identifying what is going on and even this step can be surprisingly challenging; someone on the outside can crack through quicker actually since we're subjective about ourselves.

Understanding oneself and being patient in those circumstances can truly pay off. I've been at it for quite some time, but my main focus has still been to overcome some emotional aspects of my situation. I don't mind, though, as I want to build a strong and solid foundation (that doesn't make the same mistakes anymore) for a 2.0 version of myself

terricherry2

Change is not a future event, it's a present activity. (love a bit of GM)

Samstan101

Its a lifestyle change for me. The logging takes minimal time (no different to checking Facebook etc). The exercise I generally fit in at a time thats convenient eg first thing in a morning but my family know it makes me happy so don't complain about me being out for an hour or 2 a couple of times a week at the running club, or the occasional Sunday when I race. They like having a happier, healthier me and know me having a few hrs 'me' time a week is what it takes.

FindingAmy77

it comes down to how much you want it. I make it a priority. I often have to make myself get on the workout clothes and click on mfp even when I don't feel like it. its part of my life now. I like to say ever since I stated this: "fake it till you make it" what that means to me is that logging and exercise may seem like a chore and you may not want to do it, but you have to. pretty soon you will want to so for now fake it till you make it. You can do this. You only have to log for like five minutes or so then move on with your day. I also keep a food diary that stays in the kitchen at all times. its easy to write in it when I make a meal or snack then I can come on mfp when I have a sec in my day and log it. Take it one day at a time and say to yourself "just for today" or just for this meal or just for this walk, etc

mimieon

I cringe every time I look in the mirror. I say negative things to myself every time I try to put on a pair of jeans and find out they are too tight. I feel guilty when I eat anything I shouldn't. But no matter how bad I feel I can't make myself stay on track with this.

^This is your problem. Try to fix that behavior and I bet you will be more succesful on next attempts. This also hints to emotional eating, so figure out something to help you deal which is not food.

Edited to add: You'll be surprised how much easier it is to accomplish things when you are not being a **** to yourself. It's so much easier to manage food (especially when you are an emotional eater) when you don't feel guilty. Part of this is food management (aka, plan in that pizza when you want it, perhaps plan in some exercise for that ice cream day etc), part of it is treating yourself like you deserve dignity and respect, not talking to yourself as if you should be punished for eating. It's a cliché, but try to converse with yourself as if you would with your best friend, when you are trying to find out why this friend is having so much trouble with herself. Being realtistic - but kind and supportive.

ccassityii

It has been hard logging I started in March, did it for a while... quit, gained, then found out I had hypothyroidism took 3 months to get levels correct, I kept saying all the time, this is the month I am going to lose weight, I'll start Sunday. Sunday would past and I'd make an excuse that I didn't have the right food to eat or TOM, now after finding out I have hypothyroidism and losing my gallbladder and not being able to have another baby I have decided it really is time I get up and stop making excuses as to why I couldn't do it, I usually plan my meals days ahead of time so I know exactly what I am going to eat and how much calories it is. My husband has been a big help as well. We go bike riding. It is hard, but I manage by telling myself that I need to do this for me, and my family. I need to be healthy, not skinny. I just started 21 days ago, I am down 13 lbs, but I have a lot of weight to lose. You can do it, it just one step at a time. Go swimming, walk, etc. Any exercise is better than none. You can always log the night before so you don't have to do it the next day. Good luck on your weight lose journey

cdl42

Make it a habit. The more habit it becomes, the less time and effort it takes to track.

This is so well said. This is right to the point and so true.