Self sabotage..

tazzzydevl

I was doing really well for a while.. Even made it to the gym all 5 days of thanksgiving weekend. Made it thru without gaining an ounce. And then, voila.. Haven't been going to the gym ( I work 4 12 hour days that leave me mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted). That leaves 3 days to work out. One week my son was home sick and two consecutive weeks I was. I've been eating crap. I have eaters remorse, I eat and then fell guilty and vow to not do it again. I'm still checking in everyday on Mfp, but I'm not logging my food. I know I am self sabotaging myself, I am making the bad food choices. No one else is forcing me to yet I can't stop. Does anyone else feel this way? What do you do to counteract it? I know what my goals are and I want to meet them.. I just can't seem to stay motivated.

Happy2help

Yeah, I have been there many times before. It's good that you are recognizing what you are doing, thats the first step. Whether it be eating from boredom or more likely eating from stress it can be hard to get away from that sometimes. Sadly it happens now and again. Just collect yourself and start again. I don't know whether or not you may be depriving yourself of certain foods that you love (but are bad for you). Sometimes if i go for an extended period of time without giving myself little cheat days now and again I will go wild and eat a lot of bad foods and then will be remorseful the next day. Take it easy, keep working at it and it gets better.

pg3ibew

I see a bunch of EXCUSES in your thread.


You have to WANT to change your life. Pick yourself up by your boot straps and get moving.

I work long days 6 days a week, sometimes 7 and travel far as well. I have kids that get sick and all that BLAH BLAH BLAH.

With that being said, I have faith in you and you can do it.

eileenchristine

Maybe you are not ready to lose weight? I know I wasn't for a long time.

I have been reading that its mostly the food choices that make us gain or lose, so I just log my food and try to make good choices. Since I like to eat a bit more than the 1330 calories they recommend I do a bit of exercise so I can have more like 1450 calories. That number seems to be it for me to be happy.

Can you make a commitment for the food? Maybe set a reasonable amount of calories like 1600? Once you have been doing the food part and feel confident in that then move onto the exercise part. Sounds like you are pretty active.

Think about it and make small commitments. Its a journey and not something that has to be accomplished in 4, 5 or 6 months. Heck its probably going to take me a year to lose 60 lbs. and that's ok. I am going in the right direction and am starting to feel better. Ok, so I am not speed climbing that mountain, but I am making progress and that's a victory for me.

Baby steps.

cmriverside

Get back on that horse, Missy. Right now, do you hear me?


Good.

crowunruh

I would suggest you go back to logging everything you eat no matter what it is or how much of it you eat. I think visually seeing how much I put into my body gets me right back on track. Remember you can always close your diary if you don't want people to see it or if you feel you may not be 100% honest with yourself. Best of luck! I know you can do it!! :flowerforyou:

tazzzydevl

Yes!!!!

tazzzydevl

You are 100% right. I'm making excuses. And it stops now. I needed tea kick in the *kitten*. Thanks!

kimmysueneal

I'm sort of doing the same thing right now. Still working out 6 days a week, but I've let myself start eating whatever I want all over again. It's really difficult to stay on track over the holidays. Set a goal for yourself and reach it. Start small. Cut out one thing (like soda or desserts) for the next few days. Then cut out something else. I plan to crack down on my food intake after the new year. No need to stress over it now.

pg3ibew

You are 100% right. I'm making excuses. And it stops now. I needed tea kick in the *kitten*. Thanks!

Good for you. GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Qskim

As one of your pals...I think you are wonderful and committed! You have had a lot on your plate and it can be distracting. Sometimes I lose the plot for a little while because it all seems too much but also if you are not seeing a regular loss you feel a bit disheartened and also that all eyes are on you and wondering why you aren't losing - so there is self pressure there that can have the opposite effect of losing control. You are a great friend on here tazzy...we all trust you will find your way. Stick to what you were doing and know that by the power of calories in and calories out you WILL lose. Your body can only go in one direction when there is no other choice. I also think that if you feel a pressure to exercise then quite simply you aren't enjoying it enough. I'm not sure whether you have a gym membership and feel guilt if you don't use it? I find people who do this end up doing nothing at all because they feel guilty doing anything other than using that membership. Maybe for a little while you tell yourself it's ok to not do this. It's ok to just walk (weather permitting). It's ok to get a job dome around the house that's been glaring at you. Just keep moving. Use this time to focus on food choice and be active but not necessarily burning. Motivation wanes but never completely leaves - we just have to accept a different, maybe temporary course in order to not lose ALL focus. Day by day for now, just do what u can and trust that it is still work towards your goal.

nfrewin

Get back on that horse, Missy. Right now, do you hear me?


Good.

THIS!!!!

kimsuki

In the same boat, my trigger seems to be someone noticing that I've lost weight. Within two days, I'm eating everything in sight. I know that it goes back to couple "starving musician" periods in my life.I'm still logging everything that goes into my gob, the good, the bad and definately ugly. Also read an article to see if this will help me get over this wall. I'm so glad I found this thread, was feeling a bit on my own island kind of thing. Looking forward to interacting with all of you!

http://www.peertrainer.com/how_to_stop_self_sabotage.aspx

brandikliemann

I do this EXACT SAME THING! As soon as I really realize I am losing weight, I start eating everything in sight and my weight creeps back up. It is so hard!

plumeaux

Need to Bump this one!

lives21

I was doing this as well until I caught myself! I totally went off track, ate not so good for a couple weeks and then gave in to all my cravings. That night I realized that I was sabotaging myself. I was doing well, eating better, working out regularly and losing weight every week consistently. I've tried several times to lose weight before but was never committed, but I am this time. I decided to get out of my own way so I went to the gym that night, sweated hard and felt amazing.

What used to help me is that I always logged what I ate even if it was 2,000 calories over my limit. That way I couldn't run away from seeing that I fell down that day. Being so mindful all the time is hard and especially with all the stress it sounds like you are dealing with, we wear down. We're human, we fall down but we can always get back up. Feel free to add me, we all need motivation from friends time to time.

Athena125

I'm in the same boat. For me it starts with eating out. I start eating in restaurants and it's all down hill. Or I run out of veggies & good foods at home.

So this week, I'm going back to NO eating out for the rest of February. And I'm going to book 1-2 grocery shopping times into my planner to make sure I have good food on hand. I just got a good protein powder in too, so I think that will help. Also BAD PMS was the kicker...

Maybe just take a moment to reassess what your trigger was and start from there like I just did.

I also am realizing that my body is so not used to working out 5-7 hours a week! So it's possible that when I "gave in" to cravings, it may just be that my body just needs some time to catch up with all the changes I'm making. Do you think that could be happening to you?

So instead of beating yourself up, just consider it part of the learning curve to changing your diet & exercise plan.

I'm realizing I need to actually eat MORE but healthier stuff. I was so focused on calories for awhile, I wasn't paying as much attention to nutrition.

Don't feel bad. Don't even think of it as failure or sabotage...more like falling off your bike when you're just learning to ride a two-wheeler!

Sheeshy

I think what has helped me the most happened very recently - I logged a really bad day, and just seeing it there, in numbers, what I actually consumed kinda forced me not to ignore it anymore. It sucks to be slapped in the face like that, but I'm the kind of person that needs that sometimes.

metacognition

I self sabotaged tonight and ate 1,300 calories over my goal today. I realized that I was tired, presented with a lot of unhealthy foods at a dinner out and just went to town. I am also afraid of being thin. I'm not really comfortable with my new body yet, and getting so close to goal is sort of scary. My entire life has been defined by being heavy, so maybe by overeating I was dealing with all of these feelings, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I followed up my meal by throwing away the rest of the cake that I had (the sugar is a hormonal trigger for me!) and doing an hour of exercise in my living room. In two days, I'll knock out that caloric excess and not gain anything.

What helps me most is when I screw up, I try to correct it as fast as possible. Tomorrow I'm going to eat extra clean, with more fruits and vegetables than usual. Try to never get to that place where you are comfortable doing nothing. If I take more than a couple of days off from working out, I will begin to feel sluggish and not want to do anything. If I start eating really sugary foods, fruit and healthy sweets will start tasting bland to me.

Losing weight and keeping it off is always a push / pull challenge. You'll never have a perfect score but as long as you don't give in 100% then your body will improve. I always log every single day, that way I know exactly how far I've gone over and how long it will take to erase.

The only thing that keeps me on track is my love of healthy foods, and my fear of becoming big again. That fear - remembering what it was like to have a body that couldn't keep up with what I needed - keeps me out of trouble.

vtmoon

I guess the OP's self sabotage continues since this post, how sad to see people fall of the getting healthier bandwagon.

DesertFox15

Water and fiber.