Need MFP old-timers help... MENTAL Plateau at 5+ months!

spackham

What did you do to jump-start your mental game when you hit a mental plateau?

I have faithfully been using MFP for over 5 months and have lost over 40 pounds. I have been exercising and eating better too. Ran my first 5k and killed it! I feel great and am looking lots better. But I have hit a mental plateau that I have been fighting for a while. I vary my exercise but the excitement of making leaps and bounds of progress is over. Part of my lifestyle change is cooking but I am getting kinda tired of it too. The newness has worn off there as well but it still takes a lot of thought and effort and sometimes I just wanna cook some old and easy things that are really not a great choice. I am even tired of my stand-by frozen meals, especially the ones that really need more vegetables which means I need to cook extra of those. My "new" clothes are getting loose again but I am too big for my old jeans and such... and I don't want to go buy new ones since I am getting pretty close to being able to fit into some things I already own. I'd rather save my money for close to GW clothing. As much as I love my MFPeeps, I have been really busy lately and feel a little removed from those relationships since I don't have the time right now. I am more comfortable giving and lifting others and it motivates me to do better to live what I preach. Now I feel like to taker and I don't like that feeling.

Any advice or a swift kick in the pants would be appreciated. What little tricks worked for you when you hit your first hard mental plateau? Once I figure this out, I'll know what to do the next time. But for now, I've tied a knot atthe end of my rope and want to get back my mojo.

dracobaby82

Bump! I'm kind of in the same situation as you.

NikkisNewStart

I totally know how you feel... more than you know!

For the last few days I have contemplated just binging and binging and binging and blowing up again and then I'm like... are you kidding me? I worked and continue to work sooooo hard to be where I am. I have been given my life back and it takes a lot of work.

As far as the cooking- can you take 1 day a week and cook/freeze your weekly meals? May help in the "gosh I don't want to cook tonight" mental dilemma.

I have taken several exercise breaks (at most 2 weeks) because I was just mentally over it. Now I'm back to hitting it strong. It comes in waves and what you're feeling is normal. My shorts were getting tight a few days ago so I reduced my cals (still well above the 1200 I used to live off of for months) and dang- it was soooo hard! It just reminded me how hard I worked, for all of those months, to stick to it to get to this place. I won't ever think of giving it up again!

I hope you get out of your funk soon!

ronda_gettinghealthy

Take a break. Get your cals set at maintenance-- eat some "easy" stuff-- you may find you dont like it anymore. Vary your exercise- I know you do different things-- but really work to try different exercise regimines- swim, bike, dance, skate do some fun things. Give your self a time frame- a month or 2 weeks- before you hit it hard again. You have come to far---

regroup
recharge
restart

You can do this- you are right- you GIVE GIVE GIVE now it is your turn to take a bit-- let us help you for a while


ronda

mytime60

OMG! That is exactly where I'm at right now. I had lost 31 lbs, and it was relatively easy. I'm now finding it hard to stay on task with my exercising and even eating right some days. I have asked all my MFP friends for that extra push this week. So if it helps, turn around, ....Thwack! ...There is your kick in the pants. Cooking healthy is actually easier than cooking crappy foods; it usually has fewer ingredients. I wish you luck!

spackham

Thanks SO MUCH!!! You are right that I don't like a lot of my old stuff anymore. I really like healthy food and if I had a chef, I'd be happy, happy, happy to keep going strong in the food area. I need to make some black bean and corn salsa cause it goes well with everything! It's nice to know this slump is NORMAL. We will all get through it. I'll post back in a few days or so to let you know what worked or didn't work. I am going to add you all as new friends. Let's get through this! I am determined to keep going even though I get compliments all the time right now. I have to shut it all out and remind myself I am still "overweight." Thanks for the pats on the back and kick in the butt. All is good.

dracobaby82

YAY some really great advice we can all follow! I actually went over on calories for an entire week like 3 weeks ago... was so frustrated not seeing the scale go down, so I just did whatever. The one day I went over by like 700 calories, thought I could exercise them away... did that and the next day I was having muscle spasms... learned my lesson! Then two weeks off of exercise and lost weight just by staying under my calorie goal... it's soo much easier without exercise LOL but can't tone or lose inches that way. Now I'm back and feeling great!