I stopped for 10 days and now I'm depressed...

sheri1120

Ok, I was having a lot of success, 14 pounds down but I had a little binge one night which led to 10 days off my healthy lifestyle. I got back on the horse yesterday but I can't help feeling like crap about it. I am scared to weigh myself now. I need help and support from all you long haulers. How do you avoid this sort of thing? Losing all the weight I need will take forever at this rate...

Atlantique

You have to work in real time. What's done is done and there's nothing you can do about it. So just start making the choices you know you want to make to reach your goals.

A lot of us suffer from this sort of all-or-nothing thinking: I had three cookies so now I've ruined everything and I'm just going to have food bender and hate myself because I suck.

We'd be better off saying, "Well, I had 3 cookies but from this second on I can treat myself better and make better decisions. Not tomorrow, not in a week, but RIGHT NOW I can choose to treat myself better by staying on plan."

This is a process. We're all going to make some poor choices now and then and those choices don't have to derail us. What matters is what you do today.

soccermom004

Brush yourself off and get back on the horse. you can do it!

kao708

You can't avoid these things 100% of the time. It's not realistic to think that your "normal" life won't include some lapses in food and exercise so it's possible to have them now. Just get back on track, log everything and do what you know you have to do. If you don't want to get on the scale now, wait a week or 2. Nobody says you have to weigh in every week! Good luck and good job recognizing the problem and getting back on track! :bigsmile:

tmanni02

I've only been doing this since the start of the year, but I've had a couple of off weekends. I was traveling, on vacation with family, not a great environment to keep on track. When I got back I got on the scale to see the damage I had done and then said, ok it's time to get back to work. If you are really worried about getting on the scale don't. Get back on track for a couple of weeks and then get on the scale. We all will have little break downs but the important thing is to pick yourself up and start again.

MissTizz

We are so quick to be so hard on ourselves!!!
We have to be realistic- we will have bad days, we will have days that are so good, we HAVE to reward ourselves - we can punish ourselves for every mistake because that makes our brains associate healthy living with punishment and negativity! Use the motivation for good!!!
I know it's hard when we disappoint ourselves - but look at where you are know - and remember all the hard work you've already done!!!!
GO GO!

marielw

I feel for you - we all have bad days, but you can do it and you can start again now!! If i were you i wouldn't weigh myself for at least a week, because if you have put some weight back on it will de-motivate you further. You might be pleasantly surprised in a weeks time! Take care :happy:

toots99

You have to work in real time. What's done is done and there's nothing you can do about it. So just start making the choices you know you want to make to reach your goals.

A lot of us suffer from this sort of all-or-nothing thinking: I had three cookies so now I've ruined everything and I'm just going to have food bender and hate myself because I suck.

We'd be better off saying, "Well, I had 3 cookies but from this second on I can treat myself better and make better decisions. Not tomorrow, not in a week, but RIGHT NOW I can choose to treat myself better by staying on plan."

This is a process. We're all going to make some poor choices now and then and those choices don't have to derail us. What matters is what you do today.

Excellent answer.

I posted this on my status yesterday: "Failure doesn't mean you won't succeed; it just means you've taken a detour. Rather than focus on past mistakes, which you can't change, put your energy into shaping your response, which you can change."

mixmastermolly

I did the same thing recently. I spent about 10 days eating whatever I wanted and not exercising. I was still logging in but not logging my food. I knew what I was doing but felt 'hungry". I did gain and am back down to where I was with one extra pound off. It's discouraging because I know if I had stayed on track then I'd be down a lot more. But here's the thing...it happens. You can't take it back and what matters now is what you do from here. Take it one meal at a time. If you slip and eat fries during one meal that doesn't mean the rest of the day is ruined. Make sure the next thing you put in your mouth is something healthy.

LareishaH

Well I can't tell you how to avoid it, but I can tell you based on personal experience that being depressed about it isn't going to help you at all. All you can do is get back to it. Put the past behind you or use it as a catalyst for the future. Good Luck!

Kate_UK

(((hugs))) Getting back on the wagon is tough, but you did it, so now you can do anything! I know how you feel, I took a week off last week and put on 4lbs! I hated having to turn back my ticker yesterday. Stick with it, we'll all get there in the end. :flowerforyou:

mrsbuzz

I feel the same way but I took off for about 2 months and lucky I go back and forth with my last weigh-in and a couple of lbs. I can't seem to get back on the wagon. I know I can do it because I have lost 20 but I do pretty good with the week days but the weekends kill me.

good luck and hope both of us can do what the person above said...bush ourselves off and get back on the horse.

Fabnover40Kat

Tomorrow is another day! Do not beat yourself up! Whats done is done ! If the scale shows some weight gain so be it! Dont be afraid its not like an evil little twin will come out and give you a lashing! LOL!

FaithandFitness

just don't weigh yourself . . . get yourself back to doing the right thing and check your weight somewhere down the line

ChessRonin

Why did you stop for 10 days because of 1 binge?

You need to draw determination from within, and log and record what you eat even if you eat an outrageous amount on one day. The next day just stay within your calories and keep moving. Failures will happen.

Even Olympic runners trip and fall, but when they do, they don't sit down for 10 days and mope about it, they immediately get back up and start running.

Embrace your inner Olympian.

Finish the race, no matter what.

Think of the goal.

Get back up, right away.

SheliaN1960

I would call that a boo boo!!! You have survived many of those in your life and girl, you can do this!! Us girls, we are tougher than we get credit for and you are already making progress. I say all of this because I too fell off about a week ago and today it will not happen again. I worked too hard and made to much progress to go back to the mood swings and the sugar binges....life is good and you have me and a whole group of peeps that will back you every step of the way!! Hang on and here we go... Best wishes and you can do this!

mfiggs

I am one for totally beating the crap out of myself for making a bad choice, but I am learning with a lot of help from my MFP friends that yesterday is in the past and you can't change it so you have to press forward and do better the next day! Being depressed, beating yourself up, or feeling guilty is not going to help at all and I am learning that myself. Nobody said this would be easy but with support we are all capable of reaching our goals. Keep ur head up and and keep working at it...

catniss

I can bet you that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US has experience the same thing--I know I have--just recently--like Sunday! So, I don't really think that you'll find a way to avoid it, maybe anticipate the likelihood of it happening and just have a game plan...mine was to go ahead and eat BUT to log every single thing I ate. It was embarrassing and enlightening and very educational. It allowed me to indulge in my former way of dealing with stress while giving me enough distance to see how I felt--how it felt to be that full--how it felt to let it all go. I felt accountable in some way while learning that it wasn't all that great to be back at the place I hated---and I remembered why and how much I hated it. In some ways, it made my committment even stronger and clearer.

It was hard to come back--it was tempting to have just "one more day off"---but that was how I did things BEFORE. Now, I can choose what comes next, even if it's diffficult. And every time I make a choice that makes me feel better, it's easier to remind myself the next time that choice comes around again. I'm also learning that in spite of everything, I'm STILL going to default to the old way of eating, of being. And not beating myself up about it has become an even better lesson than the loose pants and smaller numbers on the scale.

Good luck to you!! Don't look backwards--it's too easy to trip. Just box it up, put it away and start again!!

maggieschuck

Reaching out for support shows that you are aware of what happened and that you need to know that you aren't alone on this. We have all done this. I went through 2 weekends of birthday celebrations followed by 2 weeks of a cold. I knew I wasn't going to be all that good with my food and exercise but I did have a goal. It was to not gain more that 1 lb. I did it but I had to be super good on weekday so I could blow it on the weekend. After 4 weeks I had to get my head back in the game. I was never going to get ahead if I didn't do better all the time.

Every day is a new day, new opportunity to make changes and its a fresh slate. You can set a mini goal to eat right for 1-2 week with no scale weigh ins. We are all food addicts on a rode to recovery. If we were a drug or alcohol addicts and committed to getting sober then one slip up won't stop us. This is a life changing journey that we'll be on for the rest of our lives. It may take 6 month or yr to get all the weight off but slow and steady if healthy. You have tons of support from us and we'll be there for you.

emmascott

You can't change a single thing you ate before this moment. If you are feeling awful about weighing yourself, don't. Hide the scales for a couple of weeks & get right back into the swing of things.

I have soo been in your position many times over, but with all the support on here, I've only had little slip ups, I think (fingers crossed), ive learned that a wrong food choice here or there doesnt have to be the end of it.

If I know Im going to be in a position where I cant control the food, I get up early and go on the wii fit, or do an exercise dvd, or go to the gym later in the day.

I am going away for a long weekend and I know there is going to be cake and wine. So Im taking the wii console with me and Ive already told my Sister that she will be waking at 6am with me to do a 45 min walk before everyone else gets up. So a walk in the morning, another walk in the afternoon & maybe getting the family to do just dance on the wii means I can eat cake and drink wine!!!

Planning is so important. Sometimes I have to give myself a good talking to too!!!!

Good luck hun

Emma
x

calmmomw3minimeez

Don't feel bad. Falling off every now and then is just a part of the journey. What I had to do was make myself log in my food no matter HOW bad it was so it would be right in my face....it made me work just that much harder(after being down about it for a week or so). The other thing I had to do was to not think of what we call bad foods as bad. When I stopped completely depriving myself, I realized that I actually began to make better choices. One slip-up won't kill you. I eat what I want to but in moderation. If I want a couple of cookies one day, sometimes I eat them and work out a little more, but sometimes I tell myself - "No, just wait 'til another day" and then it's forgotten. Always remember that whatever happens one day, you can do better the next, and know that you are not the only one.:drinker: :flowerforyou:

sonjavon

The fact that you stopped is not the important thing here - it's the fact that you restarted. I have taken months off at a time and started and restarted more times than I can count. Have I gained? Yep. I did. But amazingly the damage wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

So here's the deal... remember that you've committed to change your life. Because this is your new life - you can't really cheat or fall off the wagon or quit... it's life, and it goes on. So you made some bad choices for a while - in your new life you take that knowledge and you move on. In my new life I will exercise more and eat better - but there will always have to be room in my new life for indulgences. I recently went to Hawaii for a once in a lifetime vacation... I ate what I wanted, drank way more than I ever have in my life and I had a great time! Did I gain a couple pounds - sure did... and ya know what? It was worth every pound. I wouldn't have missed one lava flow, one piece of pineapple, one moment of that vacation... I enjoyed it all. And I came home and I got on my treadmill and resolved that the next time I have my butt on a beach drinking Mai Tai's - I'll be wearing a bikini - not a skirted bathing suit!

NoExcuseTina

you cannot change the past...only make the future better

sheri1120

Thank you all so much for all your kind words and support. I really needed to hear each and every comment that was made. I am on my second day back in, and I will take the advice not to weigh in this week. THANKS!!! :bigsmile:

KathyJoCherevka

New beginning, need to keep up with three new grandsons born within the last 10 months. Lost eight lbs in two weeks. Have along way to go. Any tips.