I reached goal and have slipped back into old habits

you're scaring me :sick:

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

you should add me. i'm the same way. we could help get one another back on track!

Maybe try physical fitness goals. Lifting a certain amount of weight. Run distance with a certain time?

Sounds like you need to set a new goal to be working toward. Tone?

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.

Quitting smoking is very difficult. Hurray for you! Keep up the good work!

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.

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.

You worked your *kitten* off to get to this point. Don't throw it all way. Set new goals, you can do it! :flowerforyou: I would love to trade places with you and be down 50+lbs!

I've been in a similar situation however, mine has been down to stress, family illness. Don't underestimate stress, and the affect of cortisol on your body.

My advice to you is, you need to think about why you want to lose weight and what your priorities are. If you want to change your weight and improve your fitness then that has to come from you, and not be for someone or something else. You need to make the necessary changes that you can adopt for life and not just for say the next 6 months. It must be a long term change.

I have been seeing a nutritionist since the end of January and I've learnt a lot. Clean eating, not going any longer than so many hours between foods, a treat day and regular exercise is key. You need to change your lifestyle not just "diet" until you get down to "x" weight or, you will return, like you have done, to your old comfortable ways. You know this.

The likes of....Understanding the type of foods that will benefit your body and long term health, the importance of eating protein with complex carbs so that they keep your fuller for longer, portion control and, eating regularly and key things you need to look into in order to change your habits. Weight management is 80% diet, and only 20% exercise. Use your exercise burns as a bonus.

Based on what you've said, I think injecting some positivity would help you greatly. You've lost a great deal of weight and well done, it takes a lot of commitment and hard work to do so. You deserve a massive pat on the back for that.

The foods you are struggling with, I would make a list of the foods you consider to be a "pleasure" and "pain" for you. Really think about this. We attach feelings to everything. The confusion begins when we associate both emotions with one food. E.g. I love chocolate fudge cake, I'll have a slice. When you're finished eating it, the guilt sets in as you know it's going to stop you losing the weight.

I hope that's helped a little, give me a buzz if I can help with anything else

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.

Wow we are way too similar. I am two pounds away from goal weight and two weeks away from vacation, which is what I was losing for. I even bought brand new pants and tops that are just sitting there waiting for goal day.. and I am already slipping back into bad habits. I am going to start c25k and get my butt to the gym tomorrow! I wish us both luck on maintenance!

So I keep a list of reasons to eat healthy on my notepad on my iPad… here we go:

1. I don't want to be excluded from any activity because I weigh too much. (walking, playing my horn, traveling, etc)
2. I want to a good fiduciary of the earth's natural resources.. this includes only eating what I need to be healthy, and leaving food for others. It also includes not having to turn the air conditioning down to freezing because I have extra weight making me "hot"
3. I want to own a few garments of exceptional quality to wear for work and my music ministry. So I can't be having big weight fluctuations that require me to buy new clothes every year.
4. I want to, as long as I have time on this earth, to truly enjoy living and not be saddled with self induced health issues.

That means maintaining a healthy weight means I have to give up mindless eating. and keep moving.

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!!!

not meaning to hijack the thread- but congrats on 5 days smoke free!! Thats about the hardest habit in life to change and the 5 hardest days are behind you- congrats! Congrats on your new improved health and longer life!