-61 pds. in past year+. Losing steam. Decided to say hi!

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JanetLynnJudy
JanetLynnJudy Posts: 173 Member
in Introduce Yourself
My plan is to go to the gym 5 days a week for weightlifting + cardio, but the last couple weeks I skipped a day each week. I'm also having a harder time resisting things that I used to be able to resist.

Some problems I've been having lately:

My workplace has lots of free snacks every single day and I used to be able to avoid all of it (except the nuts which are on my diet). Now I find myself on a daily basis grabbing an occasional handful of Chex Mix or one of those granola bars that has so much sugar it might as well be a candy bar.

When in a situation like out shopping with another I used to still be able to stay on diet no matter where we went, but yesterday I used it as an excuse to eat a meal that normally I would avoid (curly fries too, ugh).

I used to even be good at birthday parties. This summer I went to one and brought a veggie tray and big leaf lettuce to share and use instead of bread and I didn't have any of the naughty food like chips or potato salad and I felt totally fulfilled and that I didn't miss out at all (I did have a small sliver of cake). In contrast, the last time I went to a birthday party after that I ate Doritos, Cheetos and a whole cupcake and this sauce that I could tell had a ton of sugar in it and this macaroni salad.

I did allow myself to have a cheat meal about once a week before and it worked great because it would usually be just one thing (like an ice cream cone) and I could stay under my calories for the day and my workout used to be a bit longer so I still lost weight. Now my cheats are getting more frequent and I feel like I'm on a slippery slope! Recently I had a fast food breakfast value meal just because "I just got paid and we have extra time". We also had pizza today because "it has been a stressful week and we were working hard on things today" I don't want to lose all of my progress so I decided to post here and restart my food tracking.

When I stick to my diet I feel great and have lots of energy and when I do these little cheats with too much frequency it just makes me do bad things like skip the gym or eat more bad things.

One contributing factors to this I think is that money is really tight right now so I don't have all the "armor" I used to have. What I mean by that is that I used to have lots of flavored almonds and things like that that are not cheap, but that helped quite a bit. We have plenty of food, but we just have to shop more frugally now and stick to the basics. I this that stress related to this may also be a contributing factor.

I don't know if the weather is a contributing factor or not, but it seems that these things have been surfacing since it's gotten chilly out. I have accommodated for the changing season by moving my cardio workout from outdoors to indoors and I actually prefer doing my two miles of interval walking/jogging on the treadmill. Correlation does not equal causation, so I'm not sure if this is something that I need to further prepare for, but if anyone has has a similar experience let me know.

Thanks for reading!

Replies

  • DakotaKeogh
    DakotaKeogh Posts: 693 Member
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    This journey is exhausting. And, I find myself constantly having to talk myself down off a ledge after 2 1/2 years of it. For me, the only thing that seems to help is to rely on the close friends I have here who support me. And, I double down on my support to them. There are lots of ups and downs in this. Just like in the rest of life.

    Lean on your people. You have it in you to keep going. You just have to catch your breath. You can do this. Look how far you've already come. You're awesome!

    Be strong. :smile:
  • gaylynn35
    gaylynn35 Posts: 854 Member
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    Don't beat yourself up over it. Just try your best to get back to it.

    Sorry I wasn't much help.
  • BAFilek
    BAFilek Posts: 139 Member
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    Remember, it took a long time to put on the weight. It will take a while to take it off. Yes, sometimes it gets to be too much. Here's an idea.. write down your successes and post them somewhere that you will see it often (at your desk??). That may be enough to ward off some of the temptations. Just a thought.
  • tz2187
    tz2187 Posts: 250 Member
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    I too have been losing steam. We just need to be strong and keep at it. It's a life time journey.:flowerforyou:
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
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    A similar phenomenon is occurring to me.
    I used to be really good about tracking absolutely everything that I ate and even when I went out with friends, I only allowed myself a small indulgence. Last week was my friend's birthday and I had pumpkin cheesecake, then it was my brother's birthday and I had an overly large serving of lasagna, and then I went shopping with a friend and stopped for chicken strips on the way home. (Fried chicken strips, not healthy ones.)
    And I feel the exact same way: it's a slippery slope! Once I start doing unhealthy things, it's so hard to stop. And I've been really stressed out and busy with classes lately, so I feel like I don't have the same amount of time and effort to devote to my weight loss as I used to during the summer. I've been working out less, and for some reason when I work out less, I get more tempted by the unhealthy foods.

    I'm down ~35 lbs and I don't want to gain them back. No way am I letting that happen. What I'm thinking is: I cannot un-eat the things I've eaten on my not-so-great days; all I can to is start NOW and decide to make tomorrow a great, healthy day.

    I hadn't thought about it being the weather, but I suppose it might be. I live in Texas, and so for the most part of August and September it's still 90 degrees F. outside. And I don't know if this is just me, but I have way less of an appetite when it's hot out and I'm sweating enough to drown a few small children.
  • verptwerp
    verptwerp Posts: 3,659 Member
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    Outstanding weight loss ...... don't lose momentum now ........ maybe you're bored with some of your meals ....... go to a farmers' market & try a new veggie or fruit .......experiment with a new recipe ......

    By all means go to the gym ....... or take a walk around the neighborhood ...... or dance to some R&R in your living room ......

    Best of luck to you ..... and keep on truckin' !
  • surscheler
    surscheler Posts: 13 Member
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    You recognise the problem and are doing something about it. You just need to refocus and move forward. You are doing great!
  • Findingmyathlete
    Findingmyathlete Posts: 57 Member
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    You have done amazing losing that 61 pounds! Don't give up now. I think it does get tiring to stay motivated. So I think its good to surround yourself with people who will motivate you. Either in your life or on MFP. It's okay that you have kind of lost steam, but you recognize that you need to get back on track so come on back and figure out a different way to continue on this adventure :)
    I don't have a lot of money for eating "great". But we can find ways to make healthier decisions with not a lot of money.

    When I start to lose motivation I like to go look at pictures of working out with inspiring quotes on them. It motivates me to achieve what I want to achieve. I have also found that writing down what I eat and when I workout (what I do for that workout) helps me stay on tract too. But really the biggest thing has been holding myself accountable.
    I know you can do this. Don't give up. Keep at it :)You are worth it!
  • dotsoncck
    dotsoncck Posts: 26 Member
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    Don't dwell on what you have done wrong. Tomorrow is a new day and an opportunity to new start. Sign on everyday and long those calories. :flowerforyou:
  • JanetLynnJudy
    JanetLynnJudy Posts: 173 Member
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    Thanks for all the supportive replies everyone! If anyone wants to be friends on here send me a request. Tomorrow I'm going to get back to tracking all of my food/exercise again. I'm feeling pretty good about it!

    Another thing that I forgot to mention is that my job is going to start scheduling me for the occasional 14 hour shift now and I'm worried about that disturbing my workout schedule which is currently weekday evenings. I'm thinking that when that happens I will make up for it by utilizing a weekend day as a make-up gym day. I'll make the 5 days a week a "no excuses, no exceptions" sort of deal.
  • chubbygirl253
    chubbygirl253 Posts: 1,309 Member
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    I think logging every.single.bite. helps a lot. I find if I get lazy about logging its a slippery slope. Try logging before your first bite and see if you really still want to eat it. And try to be absolutely strict about not skipping workouts. Make friends with the staff at your gym to help keep you accountable. Mine want to know where I'm at when I'm not there so I tell them in advance when I have plans to be away. When it comes to working out or meetings/classes you need to attend, or church, or whatever obligations you have, I have always been a firm believer that the 1st time you skip/miss you always have a really good reason. The 2nd time you are absent your excuse is decent, and after that it takes very little to get you to skip out. Pretty soon its easy to convince yourself you don't have time or whatever. Any flimsy excuse will do. Make a new resolve to not miss any workouts. Period.
    I also think the reason why we lose steam is because we aren't as desperate to reach our goals as when we started. As you've lost weight you've prolly gained confidence. Looking in the mirror doesn't remind you how far you have to go anymore, it makes you see how far you've come. And that's great but not exactly a crack of the whip. To keep your eye on the prize you might need a visual reminder. Do you have an old pair of jeans that you are trying to fit back into? If not, buy a pair in your goal size. For me its as simple as a picture of my future wedding dress. I gotta lose a whole lot more belly fat before that dress is gonna look cute on my body and I have 10 months till the wedding.

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