Starting again...and again...and again...

NeuroticVirgo
NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
in Motivation and Support
Does anyone feel like its much harder to stay on track with your logging and exercise once you've stopped for a while. I lost almost 70lbs last year, and was doing good *most* of the time. I felt better, I looked better...even completed a Half-marathon and a mud run!

Then I hit this wall, got kind of depressed, and just didn't care....for about 7 months (and halfway through the 8th month now!)...thats a really LONG BREAK. I gained a lot of the weight I lost back (which can be expected when you stop exercising and start eating out a lot again).

It was a struggle getting started when I first joined MFP. It wasn't easy, it wasn't like one day I just woke up and started working out and eating right. I had binge episodes, I had mood swings, I got winded walking a mile (I got winded shaving my legs lol!) I whined, *****ed and complained...but I was able to push past the slip ups with the support from fellow MFPers and family...............this time I am not doing as well.

Maybe its because I had already lost the weight once and now I have to do it again, I don't know, it just feels different. Empty... This time around I can't seem to get back into it. Its like all my "ooph" is gone. I've tried doing fun workouts like zumba, I'm even running a BL competition right now to try and make new friends and get motivated, I started a cooking blog to try and perk my interest in cooking again, I look at success stories, even one of my MFP friends texts and calls me so we can workout together (and thank god for that workout otherwise I'd probably have gained all 70lbs back)...but my eating is horrible, and my motivation is zapped. And I don't know why it seems so much harder this time.

I wish I could just read all these motivational sayings or stories, or take what my friends say and get ramped up...but it feels gone. Whatever optimism and motivation I had before is just gone, and I don't know how to get it back!

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Replies

  • velix
    velix Posts: 437 Member
    I feel the exact same way. I lost 68 lbs from Nov. 2010 - Nov 2011. I felt amazing and looked great. I gained back 15lbs between January and April 2012 but it looks much worse (got lumpy in all the wrong places). I have started and restarted again and again - and I just can't seem to find that same deep desire to keep it going. Empty is a good adjective when I think about it. I don't feel as driven as I did last year and I am not quite sure why.

    All I can say - and it is what I tell myself - every time I 'start again' its starting nonetheless - hopefully, as I keep trudging my way through the time between each restart will shrink...

    You know you can do it - go go go go !!! =)
  • staceybrewer
    staceybrewer Posts: 36 Member
    Don't give up!!

    It also sounds like you might need to have your hormones and thyroid checked. Just a thought! If you can balance out the moods and personality swings it will make sticking to a regimine a little easier.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
    Don't give up!!

    It also sounds like you might need to have your hormones and thyroid checked. Just a thought! If you can balance out the moods and personality swings it will make sticking to a regimine a little easier.

    I actually had this checked when I went in to the docs around March. All check out good. :ohwell: I'm decently healthy for being so overweight (obese)...which was always an excuse in the past "I'm overweight, but I'm healthy so why worry?"...and then I almost hit 300lbs and actually had to sit and catch my breath just taking a shower...lets hope I don't need to get THAT bad again before I wake up from this craziness.
  • jsygurl
    jsygurl Posts: 28 Member
    Maybe I know why love. Maybe it's because last time you thought you had cracked it, and now you are aware that after all the hard work, there will be the hard work of keeping it off, and you are not sure that you will succeed at keeping it off. And if you can't keep it off, is there really any point going through the pain of losing it? In short, you might have a lot less faith this time around. You might not trust yourself as well as you did before, and that would make a big difference.

    That is what has kept me from even bothering to diet for years now.

    If you think it is that, you may want do some research and plan your maintenance - having a plan for that time can bring back the trust. :wink:
  • GuruOnAMountain
    GuruOnAMountain Posts: 489 Member
    I feel your pain. I've lost 19 lbs and then put about 5 pounds of that back on. I've managed to lose 2 of them again but have still got the other 3 to lose and I'm finding it difficult to keep motivated. The one thing I have in my favour is that I LOVE exercise and would choose to do it even if I wasn't trying to lose weight but I'm struggling with the food side of things, especially sugar consumption.

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