Self Sabotage...

poodlepaws

I do this EVERY time I get to a certain point.... I get to 162, 163 and I start to self sabotage and I'm getting frustrated with myself.
I usually stay within my calories but my eating starts to slip, gym visits don't happen quite as much, and sadly I stop caring as much.
I am within 35 pounds of hitting my goal, have been at this point several different times in the last 18 months and have no idea why I do it, how to get past and move along.
Anybody have any tips, suggestions, advice to get through this?

I'm really tired of doing this to myself.

CristinaL1983

I had gained a bunch of weight during pregnancy when I also happened to need a second ankle surgery. I set my initial goal at a weight that would be okay and put me at a healthy (but not ideal) body fat. When I got there, I just got complacent. I kind of lost all my motivation, I let other things in life take priority. I sat at that weight for about 5 years. I ended up gaining ten pounds back towards the end (which motivated me to actually start losing weight again). I got down to about five pounds lower than that initial goal and kind of got stuck there, again. Just lost the urgency, I think. (This was only a few months ago.)

This time, I'm setting other non scale goals in conjunction with my scale goals. I'm at a pretty healthy body fat percentage but I want to be at a much better body fat percentage. I want to be able to very comfortably wear certain clothes that I haven't worn in a while because I just don't like the way they fit.

I'm determined not to quit until I get to those goals. I still have a goal weight but only because I know that it will put me at a goal body fat percentage which will allow me to hit my non-scale goals.

For me the non-scale goals are much more tangible and motivational than just some number on a scale. I find myself at a place that I would be comfortable sitting right now scale wise but it isn't where I want to be outside of the scale. I don't look as good naked as I'd like. I don't look as good in shorts as I'd like. I don't look as good in a swimsuit as I'd like.

I know that if I just keep pushing myself, I will get there. [Sometimes, this is what I have to keep reminding myself of. It doesn't just happen by itself but if I work hard at it, it will happen.]

Angelface1962

I don't know if this will help any or not, but perhaps you're like I used to be, and you are only looking at your weight loss in terms of your appearance, and what you want to look like, and what you'll be able to wear once you get down to the right size, etc. But after awhile, that goal just wasn't enough to keep me motivated. I finally became really motivated by the desire to actually get healthy and the desire to put only nutritious, beneficial foods into my body.

Realizing how important it is for your health, to avoid getting diabetes and even cancer, and actually knowing that you need to eat right so that you're actually "eating to live, not living to eat", as the saying goes, has made it so much easier to avoid all of those foods that I used to binge on.

I think the thing that really got me to change was watching a number of really good food documentaries on Netflix, such as Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (a really great motivational, as well as really entertaining, movie!), Forks Over Knives, Food Inc., and Food Matters, just to name a few. Since my husband and I watched those movies, we've both completely changed the way we eat.

Hope that helps a little. Best of luck to you!