Just don't give an #@$.............

wilnat

This wont work unless your head is in the right place and for whatever reason it definitely sounds like its not there at the moment so just log for now...you could set your calories at maintenance level or go without any levels for a bit. keep up the habit of logging good or bad and hopefully you'll soon be feeling up to trying again.

When you do get there don't go at it gung ho (my worst habit!) just aim for small changes and allow yourself treats/cheats so you dont end up feeling deprived.

I am having the same trouble... i find it very hard to say no to junk because I feel that I will never be able to eat it again, so then I binge. This advice is great and I believe it will help me go in the right direction to becoming healthy. I want to fit into my clothes and feel healthy... Thanks!

MinnieInMaine

What you first have to realize that this is not a temporary diet- to goal, it is a lifestyle change. I miss a lot of foods, but I do like the feeling of healthy better. Its a choice that you make for yourself. I know its hard, I battle it every day. I plan to have this battle for a long time to come. Make exercise part of your weekly routine as you would scheduling showers, brushing your teeth... eventually it does become automatic.

This mindset is what finaly changed it all for me this time around. I've done just about every diet (including pills and shakes) out there but always failed after a few months. Why? Because it's just a fad or a quick fix. My goal was to lose weight and if it wasn't working for me in one form or the other, instead of figuring out why or how I could make it better, easier, etc, I simply gave up.

About two years ago, it hit me that I really needed to lose the weight and get healthy or I was headed for disaster. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels kept rising and I just didn't feel good about myself anymore. After 18 years of being obese, I was over it! But I knew deprivation didn't work, and I know pills and shakes didn't work so what would? I decided no foods were off the list, I simply had to eat normal portions of whatever was on the menu for the day and exercise to make up the difference. And to give myself a break if I went off the diet now and then.

Guess what? It's working! I've lost nearly 80 pounds and I'm still going strong. Not tired of this new lifestyle at all! In fact, I'm stronger and happier with my life now than I have been in years. It's not always easy, I'm not saying that, but it does get easier.

So, my advice in a nutshell is to stop all the presure. Make small goals - like this week, I will track all my food and next week I'll hit calorie goal at least 3 days and next week I'll exercise at least twice, and the next week I'll get in all my fruits and veggies, etc etc. And if you don't hit a goal, keep working on that goal until you get it, or move on to the next goal and put that goal further down on your list. Don't set weight goals because they're too unpredictible for most of us and that's why people get frustrated and quit. If you work instead towards goals that have more to do with the process, the weight will come off and there will be less of a struggle.

oneIT

Look at the people around you....

rugbyphreak

i still feel that way. i've hit a brick wall and i'm not losing any more weight. why should i work my *kitten* off for no results?

we can all just give up together and be fat and happy.

Cold_Steel

Do not lock yourself in a routine.

I see a lot of people failing because they are so focused on trying to routine their day to day lives and realize they are just not programmed that way (don't get me wrong many are programmed that way but many are not)

You can't work out after work ? Then get home eat dinner, take a shower then go to the gym!

You can't work out that late? Get up early, go to the gym.

You can't work out that early? Change your lifestyle so every day is a work out; take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk the long way instead of the short way, park REALLY far away from your work and walk it in, go for a walk on your breaks instead of sitting their staring at mfp or fb all day long !

In the words of the shoe company, JUST DO IT !

rainbowbuggy

I had the same problem most of my life. Then something changed it. I watched my Dad die a painful extended death due to diabetes brought on by weight gain and poor eating decisions. He had the same problem, couldn't get the correct motivation. As he became more and more blind, needed wound specialists to wrap his wounds that just wouldn't heal, and became depacitated, the bed soars alone turned your stomach. it gave me one final "gift," a reference I never want for myself. Nor do I want my family or friends to watch me go through it. This was very real. PURE FEAR has motivated me, at least initially. If I could put these pictures in your head you WOULD be motivated. He let himself go beyond to where he couldn't fix it. There comes a time you can't despite what you "think." Thats where we all are headed if we don't---to a place where we no longer have control. That is what you are choosing and there is no going back then.

Only YOU can make a better decision. I know I am, and its more empowering. I can't control the government, the weather, my boss, or a number of other things, but this is physics and it obeys laws. I can make a difference with this and the quality of whatever time I have. Only you can choose this. Why not YOU?

WOW....this is powerful stuff here! I don't think I have read anyting on MFP quite like it. I watched my father die from diabetes as well. Talk about PURE FEAR! That was it!

aregensb

Change your goal from "lose weight" to "be healthy."

Many are too fixed on restricting their calories to amounts that are unsustainable (for most folks). The enticing "lose 2 pounds per week" setting often makes people set their caloric intake too low. It's not a race to lose the weight. I think what often happens is people dramatically cut their calories and after about a month or two start thinking that it's impossible to stay at 1200 calories. Would you rather dramatically cut calories for a month, get sick of it, and stop paying attention to what you're eating, OR would you rather go slow and steady with a higher caloric allowance and realize that you CAN stick with a nutrition plan that allows more than 1200 calories? Those few hundred calories make a big difference in your feeling of satiation. I feel that people who lose weight slowly but steadily are more likely to stick with it than those who lose the weight by really restricting their diet.