What derailed you?

ossentia

Cheese fries and a really great relationship! It sucks that two of my favorites caused me to pack on the pounds, but when my husband and I first started dating, I was just really happy. It wasn't a feeling I was used to, and so I enjoyed everything just a bit more. I ate and drank whatever I wanted, and because I had never been more than 20 or so pounds overweight in my life, I figured I couldn't get any heavier than that. What an idiot! I hit my highest weight after the birth of our second, and found that over the last 10 years, I'd gained 75 pounds.

landiekate

Mostly depression/ptsd/stress.
And having to move 3 times in one year.

I wish I would have realized what was happening to the body I'd worked so hard for. But even then I'm not sure if it would have mattered. Prescriptions for the anxiety/stress/depression made me more zombie-like than anything. And, I just didn't care enough to eat right or workout.

lx3tx

I'm a chronic yo yo dieter. I'm good at having will power and losing lots of weight until I feel good at where I'm at. 80 pound chunks. Then I think it's okay to not work out and eat bad things. I've done that three times, and other times losing about 30 pounds. Once I start gaining, I do it quickly. I think this time will be different just because I'm aware that maintenance has to exist! Also, from reading the boards, I know how to accomplish it. Before, I honestly didn't know how to maintain my weight.

leggup

In college I went clubbing (actually dancing, not just rubbing my butt on men) most weekends, swing dancing 2-3 times a week, and I played ultimate Frisbee 1-2 times a week. I started drinking and stayed active, so I stayed trim.

I met my now husband and upped the drinking a little and got rid of almost ALL of the active lifestyle I had before. I wish I had kept up with a lot of my hobbies.

I am back at swing dancing now, but I could have improved so much more in the past 3 years if I had kept at it. It also didn't help that I substituted active hobbies with all you can drink beer/wine festivals. Still, they were a lot of fun.

jkal1979

I lost 25 pounds last year and I was getting down on myself because I was told that I looked the same. I decided to take a week off and that week turned into about six months. I gained back all but 8 pounds.

TasnimEz

I gained all my lost weight back because I stopped caring about myself. I lost weight but got some health problems, and that made me think that I might as well give up, because obviously I'm not getting healthier.

This time I know what's wrong with me, I have support by my neuro and I have the proper meds, I eat more calories and I'll focus on strength training rather than cardio which I really dislike. It may take longer but that's okay.

Another problem for me is that I eat whenever I'm bored. After I eat I feel guilt and think that it doesn't really matter now if I eat 2-3 more sandwiches since I already had 2..
So yes, I guess I eat my emotions. I don't work so plenty of time to eat during the day..

likitisplit

The thing that gets me every time in enforced inactivity. After a bit, I start getting really hungry and I just balloon. I've started to question whether I have a slight hormone imbalance that I regulate with exercise.

Tiernan1212

Birder155 wrote: »

Impatience derails me.
Getting on the scale and not seeing the results I want to see, when I want to see them, is a big part of that.

Trying to be perfect derails me.
Having an all or nothing attitude about food. I'm either dieting or completely off the rails.

Comparing my food plan to others' plans.
I have to stick with what I know I can handle food-wise, not someone else's version of what works for them.

Impatience is the biggest reason for my derailments out of the three, though.

In the time I've been farting around on here, many people that I had as contacts reached their goals, which were similar to mine. So, had I been patient with seeing results, I could've easily gotten to my goal weight as well.

Instead, I give up over and over at the first sign of discomfort or no movement on the scale.

So I wish I had stuck with it, even after I felt like a failure for bingeing once too often or if I didn't see a number on the scale that was pleasing or if it just felt plain hard to do one more day.

The ONE common denominator I see with the successful people on here is that THEY DIDN'T QUIT.

All of this, exactly all of this!

Thank you for putting this out there

_sirenofthesea_

Making excuses and being lazy has derailed me every time. I hope I'm done with that behavior....

Missjulesdid

Leaving a bad relationship, meeting someone new, moving to a third world country... Yeah, I lost focus on my weight loss goals. I recognized that I was losing focus and I decided just said "screw it" and took a break after losing 120 pounds with 85 pounds to go. It's been about a year of maintaining my 120 pound loss and I'm trying to switch gears from maintaining back to losing. In the past 5 months combined I've lost a total of 5 pounds. This month I've made it a goal to get my *kitten* together and lose 6 pounds. Sometimes I wish I hadn't taken the break... If I hadn't taken my break I'd be at goal right now BUT, I really did need it.

ahawkx

pregnancy. twice. the whole "going to get fat anyway might as well eat what I want" mentality
this time around, however, I am 21 weeks in and 2lbs below my starting weight even. I did have bad morning sickness the first trimester but I also didn't eat in surplus and I have continued to hit the gym x5/week.
Every day is a struggle not to give in to a hundred different cravings but so far this is my easiest pregnancy yet and I feel great!

drazani

Ive been overweight all of my adult life, i started gaining weight when my dad died when i was 15 so food became a comfort with me especially during the times of acute depression, then 3 years ago i decided to do something about my weight and get healthier, i lost 37lb on my own the first year.

At the end of that first year i discovered my wife was pregnant with our first son it was a very stressful pregnancy with my wife in and out of hospital constantly with complications , unfortunately my son was born extremely premature (23 weeks) and only survived for 20 mins, due to the stress of this and worry about my wife, my diet slipped again.

I then found MFP and got back on track and got down to the lowest weight i had been since i was 16, logged every day and excercised 6 times a week, then had the news my wife was pregnant again and found myself getting very stressed again and once again turned to food for comfort.

My 2nd son was born at 36 weeks (now 6 months old and healthy) So i am now back on MFP and am slowly losing weight again, i now know what triggers my overeating and am trying to control this and am not going to go back to my old self.

oORosadaOo

Moving in with my boyfriend after breaking my foot, social eating and drinking without really moving much anymore (before I had a nice 20 minute walk to the station every morning and evening) did it for me. I quickly gained back all the weight I had lost over the past few years.

My big problem is saying no to unhealthy foods and drinks. I used to be good at thinking "I'd rather be slim than eat this now", trying to get that frame of mind back!

Veronnie87

Birder155 wrote: »

Impatience derails me.
Getting on the scale and not seeing the results I want to see, when I want to see them, is a big part of that.

Trying to be perfect derails me.
Having an all or nothing attitude about food. I'm either dieting or completely off the rails.

Comparing my food plan to others' plans.
I have to stick with what I know I can handle food-wise, not someone else's version of what works for them.

Impatience is the biggest reason for my derailments out of the three, though.

In the time I've been farting around on here, many people that I had as contacts reached their goals, which were similar to mine. So, had I been patient with seeing results, I could've easily gotten to my goal weight as well.

Instead, I give up over and over at the first sign of discomfort or no movement on the scale.

So I wish I had stuck with it, even after I felt like a failure for bingeing once too often or if I didn't see a number on the scale that was pleasing or if it just felt plain hard to do one more day.

The ONE common denominator I see with the successful people on here is that THEY DIDN'T QUIT.

THIS...Starting to find more and more posts that literally send chills down my spine as I read it and go "Oh boy...". And all this time here I was thinking I was my own special little snowflake!

My excuse is that I give up. Always. Which I find odd because when it comes to basically all other areas of my life I never give up. I can push myself when I have to and I have plenty of self-discipline. It upsets me to hear (or read) other peoples' comments of "Well, you must not want it enough then."

I'm 27 years old. I weighed 140lbs in high school (weight that I put on when I stopped doing all of my sports due to needing to focus on school, but not changing how I ate) and then gained about 20lbs between 2005 and 2006. I've been hovering between 160-170lbs ever since. At least I know I'm good at maintaining!

When people (ever helpfully) tell me it's because I don't want it enough I want to smack them. Ok, so maybe I don't have the determination that powers someone through losing 150lbs, like some of the people on here. But I also don't want to wait until I become 200+lbs and my health is at risk, waiting patiently with cookies in one hand for me to "WANT IT ENOUGH". What are people like me supposed to do? We are lucky enough to have identified a problem well ahead of it becoming a major issue, but then I'm told that if I don't "WANT IT ENOUGH" it won't work.

Anyone got some "WANT IT ENOUGH" to spare?!

sherambler

Birder155 wrote: »

Impatience derails me.
Getting on the scale and not seeing the results I want to see, when I want to see them, is a big part of that.

Trying to be perfect derails me.
Having an all or nothing attitude about food. I'm either dieting or completely off the rails.

Comparing my food plan to others' plans.
I have to stick with what I know I can handle food-wise, not someone else's version of what works for them.

Impatience is the biggest reason for my derailments out of the three, though.

In the time I've been farting around on here, many people that I had as contacts reached their goals, which were similar to mine. So, had I been patient with seeing results, I could've easily gotten to my goal weight as well.

Instead, I give up over and over at the first sign of discomfort or no movement on the scale.

^^^ This. All of it. I feel like I'm constantly looking back and thinking "If I had stuck with it, even with multiple overages and lazy days, I'd most likely still be 20 or 30 or 40 pounds lighter than I am now." I know it's not good to dwell on the past, and I really try not to, but I also think it's important to remind myself that in order to reach those 20 or 30 or 40 pounds lost that I need to stay the course for WEEKS, which means learning to have perseverance and patience. Both of which can really only be built up through practice.

La5Vega5Girl

moving. we moved far from my gym and i had to quit. then we moved-in with my parents and my mother had a stroke, so i had to take care of my 3 children, run her household, plus care for her. talk about getting de-railed! i missed the gym for about 3-4 months and gained back almost all the weight i had previously lost. what do i wish i would have done differently? well, i guess technically there wasn't anything i could have done differently, except maybe exercising in my sleep, which was the only time i had available. LOL

independant2406

I've been overweight since age 9 so puberty and poor example/eating habits made me fat as a child. My mother was a binge eater and chronically searching and jumping on the newest diet fads. (Its only now as an adult I realize how bad it really was for me to ride along for all the yo-yoing).

I've lost and re-gained weight through my teen and early adult years. The things that derailed me from continuing to lose weight and caused me to regain have been:

1. Depression, Anxiety and low self esteem.

2. A busy lifestyle (at one point I was working 3 part time jobs simultaneously (10-15 hours a week each) to pay my way through college... that took 8 years and left me with very little money and no time to care about what I ate.) I graduated with honors but looking back I wish I'd cared a little bit less about my grades and a little bit more about my health.

3. After getting married I got waaay too comfortable eating the same portion sizes as my husband who is over a foot taller than I am and can lose weight much easier.

4. Medical conditions (I have insulin resistance coupled with reactive hypoglycemia). I lost a lot of weight once eating only ramen noodles and about 6-8 diet mountain dews a day. It was cheap...and it worked... but It also made me feel sick all the time and I didn't understand why. After I passed out from low blood sugar during a class I went to my Dr and discovered what was wrong. She told me if I didn't get my sugar and my weight under control I'd be diabetic by the time I reached middle age. So now I'm on a life long journey to eat balanced and healthy foods (and lose some weight along the way).