I reached goal and have slipped back into old habits

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MermaidFaith
MermaidFaith Posts: 495 Member
in Motivation and Support
Seriously 3 months ago i was possibly the most motivated person on mfp! I exercised religiously, and made sure to always stay in my calories.
Then vacation came and i hit my goal! Just in time to show my family all of my hard work paid off.
Vacation ended and my motivation ended with it. i have tried keeping up my excitement over losing weight, but it's just not fun anymore. I am putting in some effort, but nothing is lasting. The food grazing at work has started again and i've already put 6 pounds back on!
why can't everything stay interesting instead of getting dull.
I need new goals.
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Replies

  • Cherp18
    Cherp18 Posts: 224 Member
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    you're scaring me :sick:
  • selig0730
    selig0730 Posts: 509 Member
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    go back to the basics and start all over and you need to get motivated again, eat healty and exercise, when you are at your goal weight you still cant back off cause you still need to maintain yourself so you dont gain back your weight.
  • MermaidFaith
    MermaidFaith Posts: 495 Member
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    you're scaring me :sick:
    lol
  • georgie_lou
    georgie_lou Posts: 224 Member
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    I have a photo of me when I was smaller and happier on my fridge as motivation of where I wanna be...stick one up from when you were unhappy with your weight next to one of you at goal so you can see how far you've come and remind yourself how badly you dont wanna go back!
  • selig0730
    selig0730 Posts: 509 Member
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    I have a photo of me when I was at goal on my fridge...stick one up from when you were unhappy with your weight next to one of you at goal so you can see how far you've come and remind yourself how badly you dont wanna go back!
    i like that too
  • sunrise611
    sunrise611 Posts: 1,912 Member
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    I would think the thrill of fitting into smaller, nicer clothes and looking and feeling better and healthier would be motivation to maintain the good habits that helped you lose weight.

    Keep reminding yourself how hard you worked to get where you are and how much you don't want to go through all of that again.

    It isn't healthy to yo-yo with your weight either. So, try to find ways to make maintaining fun and rewarding and not boring.

    Experiment with new recipes and exercises. Don't give up!
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
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    Maintenance mode is tough at first, and old habits will continue to come back. I've been maintaining for half a year now, and I think it's okay to do what you used to, as long as you don't make it a habit again. Soda, fried food, fast food, whatever is fine as long as you don't do as frequently as you used to. Anyway, staying at goal is tricky at first and it's a mental challenge for sure. Make new goals for yourself. Run faster, strength train more, eat cleaner... find something to keep you going because it will also improve your health that much more. It's not all about your weight.
  • reedkaus
    reedkaus Posts: 250 Member
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    you should add me. i'm the same way. we could help get one another back on track!
  • stronglikebull
    stronglikebull Posts: 402
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    pick up a hobby! swim, run, learn to shoot archery, cycle, rock climb, ride horses, etc.

    if you have something that will keep you active and that you can continue to progress at, in incremental steps, it will keep you on the right track. doesn't need to be necessarily weight loss related, but definitely concrete and goal related. it will all fall in together.

    congratulations on your achievements thus far and good luck!
  • Goal_Line
    Goal_Line Posts: 474 Member
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    Maybe try physical fitness goals. Lifting a certain amount of weight. Run distance with a certain time?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    You need to pick an exercise routine that is realistic and sustainable.

    You need an eating level that is realistic and sustainable.

    You need to make this a way of life.

    Does every breakfast or lunch need to be different every day? Or can you have a rotating 5 or 6 favorite meals of each that gives you exactly the calories you know you need.
    An afternoon planned snack of what you need.
    General guidelines of what dinner should look like.

    Is everyday for 1 hr realistic for exercise, or is 3 days a week more sustainable.

    Adjust the eating level to support that less workout routine that allowed you to eat more.

    Don't try for 2lb weekly, as that is too extreme and as you have observed, doesn't work anyway after goal met.
  • TArnold2012
    TArnold2012 Posts: 929 Member
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    Sounds like you need to set a new goal to be working toward. Tone?
  • Maurice1966
    Maurice1966 Posts: 438 Member
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    it's a habit. The good (working out, calorie control) takes a little time to develop. The bad (you know what they were) also takes time to develop. Start over and devlop that good habit again.

    I've quite smoking now 5 days straight. Part of the habit is physical but I believe the most is phsycoligical. The new habit is that i don't smoke. For you, the new habit is working out and controlling your calories. It takes 3-5 days to form and break habits. Force yourself and then the physical and psycholigical rewards will again become evident. You can do this!!!
  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 557 Member
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    Nice work! to get to your goal of showing your family. Sadly stuff like that gets most of us. When we lose weight, that's our goal. When that's achieved, we're kind of like, that's over, OK now what? So many of us haven't got a plan beyond that. So we regain. If I had answers I wouldn't be here either. : ). Somewhere there has to be a way for us to see another goal ahead. It's up to each of us to find it. I wish us all Good Luck.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    good luck on re reaching your goal weight.

    i'm hoping to avoid backsliding by looking at this as a lifestyle change instead of a diet and developing new habits. also calorie goal wise, my goal has always been to pick a weight goal and then eat an amount to maintain that amount.

    so for the first 25 pounds (i started at 224) i ate at a rate to maintain 199 pounds. once i started to stall i knew i had to drop a little more to get to my next goal. my current calories are to maintain at 169. once i start stalling at 169 i'll reduce a little more to maintain my goal weight.

    after that i should already be o to eating my maintenance calories for my goal weight, so i wont have to do much readjusting to maintenance mode unless i change my activity level
  • bbiPJD
    bbiPJD Posts: 1 Member
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    Quitting smoking is very difficult. Hurray for you! Keep up the good work!
  • michaelgilstrap
    michaelgilstrap Posts: 74 Member
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    I'm with you, I've still been getting my exercise, but I need to get back to better planning food wise, and set some new goals with specific dates, etc... to push me. You'll get this, you want it, you just need a plan too and we'll both do great.
  • KC3003
    KC3003 Posts: 11 Member
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    Seriously, do you want a shorter life ? Do you want to make your heart work overtime, just to let you survive. ? Go to the grocery store tomorrow, buy a 20 pound bag of potatoes, and carry it around with you all day. Then decide if you WANT to be that tired every day.
  • gabrielled
    gabrielled Posts: 247 Member
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    Seriously 3 months ago i was possibly the most motivated person on mfp! I exercised religiously, and made sure to always stay in my calories.
    Then vacation came and i hit my goal! Just in time to show my family all of my hard work paid off.
    Vacation ended and my motivation ended with it. i have tried keeping up my excitement over losing weight, but it's just not fun anymore. I am putting in some effort, but nothing is lasting. The food grazing at work has started again and i've already put 6 pounds back on!
    why can't everything stay interesting instead of getting dull.
    I need new goals.

    Been there, done that. I was twenty pounds less than where I am now three and a half years ago, and I was happy. Time to find new goals, for sure. Change up your work out, and make goals of this fast of a mile, or this many reps at this weight, or this many pushups. Add more fresh vegetables and give yourself a goal of __ whole vegetables each day. I KNOW that I became cocky, comfortable, and bored. Keep going. Hire a trainer for 30 minutes at the gym, and have them write a new workout, if that is what it takes. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey, AND IT NEVER STOPS.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I can understand your situation, I'm in a similar place myself.
    It is so easy to slip back into old bad habits and the weight creeps back up so easily.

    I don't have the solution - but the things I've tried are:
    - keeping on logging, even on days when I haven't made good choices
    - keep on moving - I'm signed up for a half marathon in 5 weeks time, so that has kept me motivated to keep running, as I know I have to do the training to stand a chance of completing the distance
    - accept that not every day is going to be full of good choices, but just to make the best choice I can each time. Sometimes that means I get to the end of the day with a nice balanced diary, other days it's way off. But I'm going to keep on trying.
    - I'm focusing on trying to set up a "new normal". So - eating too much chocolate might (will!) still happen, but I want that to be the exception not the "normal".
    - sometimes I just decide to have a day where I'll eat whatever I want. Usually this "gets it out of my system" and I go back to eating well.

    I find that I tend to have cycles of being more or less motivated to eat well and exercise. I know that eating well means I feel better and am healthier, so I try to remember those feelings when i want to eat junk.

    Good luck, I hope you find the right combination of things that keeps you happy and healthy.

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