At what point in your weight loss journey do you "slack off"

lucyclementmiller

As I have been reviewing my weight loss goals I keep wondering about what it is that has prevented me from reaching them in the past. Like most of you all, this isn't your first time trying to lose weight- so I thought I'd ask the question about what it is for YOU that usually makes you lose inspiration and motivation and therefore slack off= weight gain.

I don't want this to be a negative question but more really out of my own curiosity. I'm trying to think about my past times trying to lose weight and it's usually a big event(mostly negative) happens in my life that causes me to lose the motivation. Or sometimes its that I dont have the support or I get bored of the same thing I'm doing...

What is it for you? And how do you take that information and not let it happen again?

LolasEpicJourney

About 5 years ago I joined a support group and lost maybe 10lbs.
Life circumstances were thrown and lost complete track of everything. I eneded up gaining 55lbs.

Three years ago almost now - I started again. I lost 40lbs - then I had to organize a move and worried about finding a new job and kind of got off track. Fortunately I only gained back 10lbs this time

And that bring me current to MFP

For me its just life circumstances being thrown

merrillfoster

I'm 3 lbs from my (original; reconsidering) goal and it's happening right now. Anyone who can figure out a way to kick my *kitten* into putting the fork down and picking the weights up, please do so! For me its when I start feeling like I'm doing really well (and therefore have some room to slack). And/or when something (lately, work) is just so exhausting that picking up the glass of wine at the end of the day is about all the energy I have left, lol.

HannahPendrigh

for me, it was starting university (college)
lots of drinking (which I can't usually say no to), hardly any exercise and having to buy rubbish frozen food due to lack of money!
but next month when I start back I'm determined to not give up!!

stevenleagle

I think for me it's emotional binge eating. If I stress out I turn to high fat food. Or if I'm with great company, i lose track and eat up, In the past one bad day often derailed me. However now that I track through MFP, have learned to not let one bad day (or even a week) get to me. There was one day where I binged on 8 slices if pizza. I didn't give up, I followed up with a strict week of diet and more exercise. That was last week btw. Now I'm on goal again, another 0.5 down!

stevwil41

The first time I lost weight (somewhere around 75 lbs) I looked at it as "losing weight" and as such I met my goal and promptly quit exercising and started eating everything in sight. My only goal was to get to 200 lbs. I did it. I felt like I could cut loose and the weight came back. It didn't help that the unholy trinity of family get togethers was going on in that time frame. I'm talking Thanksgiving dinner twice, a couple of different birthday dinners and if I remember correctly 3 large Christmas dinners. My family tree has a ridiculous number of branches:)

This time around I'm looking at it as more of a long-term lifestyle change. I hate that phrase by the way. I'm a few years older and don't stress about things nearly so much. If I want a Reese's Cup every once in a while and I have it, I haven't ruined my diet. Heck, if I go to a buffet (and I absolutely LOVE The Golden Corral) and strap on a feed bag once every couple of weeks then so be it. I may do a little extra exercise for a day or two but I continue with my (mostly) healthy eating habits and life is good.

jowings

It is possible that I always believed that being healthy was a temporary thing, something with a beginning and an end. If I started being healthy, it was a magic switch that I could turn on when I needed to slim down, then turn off when I was done (rinse, repeat). My views have really flip flopped, and I now recognize that being healthy is the constant, and the unhealthy bits are the moments that I control. I hope that makes sense, ha!

Mkin

I've only ever tried losing weight once before. I lost 20kg and hit a plateau, got frustrated because the scale wasn't budging and thought it was impossible then gave up, put the 20kg back on, started uni gained more weight and now here I am on MFP

hopelyss

For me, its a combination of things. About 5 years ago, I started a program at a place called Metabolic Weight Loss Center. They took measurements and prescribed a specific diet for me, etc. I lost about 10 pounds and was doing really well. Then, Christmas came along, and my family is big on getting together for big family meals. I just couldn't resist anymore and thought if I had to eat one more sprig of raw broccoli I would barf. (Sorry for the graphics). I kept telling myself, I'd get back on my diet, but I never did. I just kept slowly gaining. My girls started girl scouts and every winter/spring there would be boxes and boxes of cookies in my house. I had to self-control. Finally I reached 209.5, almost 10 pounds heavier than I was at full term pregnancy with my 2nd daughter. I felt horrible about myself. At the beginning of this summer in June I started Insanity and found MFP. I hope I've change my life for good now. But with starting back to working (I'm a teacher at high school) I'm wavering. I want to binge on calories soooo bad when I get home. I'm on my last three days of Insanity. It's about to kill me to get my workouts in in the afternoons, but I'm determined to do it. My ticker says I'm down 13 pounds. And this was without a drastic diet or paying for someone to help me! I think I'm down a few more pounds thought so maybe it's closer to 15 pounds now, but I won't officially weigh in until Monday.

Wish me luck!

azsuzi

For me, its always been emotional upset - if my world fell apart, so did I and I didn't care. What has kept me on track this time is remembering that my health depends on this. My blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides were high. My bone density scan showed early signs of bone thinning. My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Depression is rampant in my family. I don't want these things in my life and I'm the only one who can prevent them (hopefully) by taking care of my health.

anna_b1

Using when I hit a plateau, I start getting frustrated. That happened to me at the start of my summer vacation (also a teacher) and I just found it easy to let life and my frustration get in the way. July was a right-off in terms of my diet. (Of course, our time at an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon didn't help)

But August is different. I realized I was going back to work in a month and I didn't want to be heavier or the same weight I was when school ended. I've now lost the vacation and derailment weight and am back to where I started. Now I'm determined to lose at least 5 more pounds before school starts.

Basically, I just gotta accept that plateaus happen and work my way out of them.

jemko

Anyone who can figure out a way to kick my *kitten* into putting the fork down and picking the weights up, please do so! For me its when I start feeling like I'm doing really well (and therefore have some room to slack).

That's totally it for me, too. I lost over 50 lbs on Medifast a few years ago, then took a trip to Vegas for a friends wedding. When I came back, I was sure I could manage on my own. Thing was, on Medifast you don't adjust to healthy eating during the time you're on the program. I KNOW how to eat healthy, but I'd been so restricted for so long, I just wound up going hogwild and binging.

merrillfoster - PUT DOWN THE FORK AND PICK UP THE WEIGHTS! Otherwise, you will wind up just like me, starting over from the beginning, plus 15 lbs. It's not worth it. Just stick with it and don't give up. It's easier to just keep being good than it is to fall back in to old habits and try to find the will to start all over again.

jujubean1992

honestly.... for me, i just give up. nothing happens to make me suddenly change. i just give up. my finace is one of those people that can LITERALLY eat two large pizzas by himself everyday and not gain one ounce. he's roughly 6'1" and weighs 118. he's severely under weight and can't gain anything. i however think about eating a whole pizza and gain 5 lbs. so he likes to have tons of yummy junk food in the house and it's hard to maintain a healthy diet when it's cheaper to buy two meals worth of junk then one of healthy food.[ for example: two frozen pizzas $5 (<guestamite the one's we just bought were like $2.30 something a piece) but the stuff i bought for 2 chicken meals (because i bought a giant container of chicken breast and divided it in half) {chicken $10, $1.50 worth of lime juice, tomato$3, salad mix $4, $1 worth of dried fruit, $5 tortillas, $1 worth of cheese} comes to $12.75 per meal.] so money gets tight and i just buy cheap stuff, OR he goes to the store and just gets what sounds good to him... leaving us with just junk, so i give up and eat it and fall back into old habits.

melsinct

I have never lot weight before MFP. The weight has crept on over the years (I am 34) and I have made half hearted attempts before to lose weight but nothing really clicked. Since finding MFP, it is the first time I tried to lose weight and...get this...it worked! I had so much success in a few short weeks that there was no looking back. I realize I am different from many people here, as I have never lost and gained, lost and gained, repeat. Honestly, I have had so much success using MFP and feel (and look!) so much better that I know I won't backslide. My only worry, now I am 6 pounds from this point, is maintenance. I plan on still logging and being engaged on this website for a long time to make sure I don't F this up. I've worked too hard and come too far!

mbeach1977

All it took for me was not losing anything for about a week, then I'd give up. It amazes me that I have been able to push through a month of not losing this time! I'm so glad I didn't give up! I give a lot of credit to my wonderful MFP friends! They are the BEST!

LorinaLynn

This is the only time I've ever successfully lost weight on purpose. (I did lose previously from depression and also from TMJ, but that wasn't intentional.)

Every other time, I ate too little, felt like crap, even if I didn't feel "hungry," got fatigued, frustrated with lack of progress, and quit. I reached a point where I thought, "I'd have to starve myself to lose another pound... or I can eat whatever I want and just be happy weighing a little more than I'd like."

I didn't realize how MUCH I could, or should, eat to lose weight. In all honesty, I'm probably eating a lot more food than I did when I was gaining weight, just smarter food, with a lot of exercise.

This is the only time I've ever gotten to the point where I've had to purposefully increase my calories so I don't lose too fast. I'm not quite ready emotionally to go on maintenance, but I'm absolutely thrilled with my progress.

lucyclementmiller

WOW! You guys are awesome! Thanks for the amazing feedback! I think MFP is a HUGE help for me already. And having a great support system who are all in it together. Keep it up, y'all!

yankeefamily05

Oh boy!!!

The first time I ever lost weight: I started at 220 got down to 190, Moved back home after a really bad relationship....Gained all of the weight back plus 18 pounds, got pregnant. The day I had my daughter I weighed in at 260. I lost 10 lbs, gained 20....Than lost 27 gained back 13....Now I have lost from my highest mfp weight 270, 50 lbs.

I have these moments too. Obviously. The hardest thing for me is to stay motivated.

weeze_h

Just the thought of following a 'diet plan' filled me with dread - even the types with 40+ main meals - all I would think is 'I am limited to these foods for the rest of my life??' so MFP Is the first time I have successfully lost weight purely because you can still eat whatever you like (within reason obviously) but your choice is not compramised. I have been doing this for over 3 months now and my enthusiasm hasn't declined at all. I'm only 4lbs away from maintenance which I've heard is a new 'challange' but I'm up for it!

lsd007

I slack off about half of the time. It isn't working out that well, though. I don't recommend it.

TheBraveryLover

Okay so this is only my second attempt in my life to lose weight. The first time was in 2009 for about 2 months and I was super strict about it. Back then, when I got off course, I went away on a trip (to Boston) for my birthday for a weekend. I allowed myself to "have fun and not worry about my eating habits" for that weekend. When I got back, I got used (just in those 3 days) to eating bad that I didn't get back into my healthy habits. I think I remember working out for a week after I came back, and then stopped completely. And back to the over-eating.

This time, the difference is that I originally allowed myself 1 day a week to go over my calories without any guilt; although I don't do that anymore, it helped me out for the first 2-3 months, sooo much. Another thing I didn't do before was drink much water. Now, I drink 2-3 cups of water anytime I'm hungry before I eat a meal or snack to fill my stomach up. If I start to see myself crave (and eat) bad food for more than 2-3 days in a row, I'll fast for 24 hours, and the next day my cravings are completely gone for a few weeks. And last but most certainly not least, the MFP forums have helped me out TREMENDOUSLY! You have no idea. I had no idea! I didn't realize how helpful, supportive, and important the forums were until I started reading and posting more, a couple months ago. Just visiting at least once a day (I do more, haha) and posting a few times, keeps me in the weight loss/healthy-eating frame of mind because someone is either offering advice, asking for it, or posting their awesome before/after pics.

I'll never forget the times when I was down and out during my "journey" (gosh that sounds cheesy, lol) and I posted on here that I felt like giving up. Once, I was upset because I realized my weight was higher than my scale at home and another time I was depressed because I didn't see a difference after 25 pounds loss. From the replies I received, you'd think they knew me for years, because I received some of the most helpful advice and encouraging words and got right back on track the next day! Okay, I'm gonna stop before it seems as if I'm a MFP spokesperson.:laugh:

All in all, I know that even though this is only my second attempt at losing, it's my last. And I have no one to thank more (besides myself:happy:) than MFP and the people on here. I know you can do it too. Good luck on your goals. :-)

nikkimoon1382

I think i started slacking when my results slowed. Watching the scale change weekly was enough motivation to keep it up. After I lost 30lbs the scale started moving at a snails pace and i was like 'whats the point!?!?!' lol just gets frustrating and I have to remind myself that I have to keep going to just make sure the lbs dont come back!!