Discouraged and needing support

Hey there! I had the same problem when I left the country for four months. Just got back on the wagon in March. Good for you for getting back on

You can feel free to add me if you'd like!

I feel for you. Its tough sometimes when you are an emotional eater, as I also am. The thing that helped me was taking baby steps, like get thru the day, if you are going to eat something you know you shouldn't, and you are going to have it no matter what, half it. The next time quarter it. baby steps. And most importantly, for me, was to really work on not putting myself down or scolding myself to much. That was probably the hardest for me. I would put myself down all the time when I screwed up with eating or bingeing. I found that if I was more forgiving of myself, and more gentler with "self talk" I did better. Talking here also helps. I can only tell you what worked for me although I consider myself a work still in progress I guess I will always be, but I am starting to like myself more and more as time goes by. Also walking and lite exercise in the beginning also helped til I could up it. It is hard with little ones, assuming those are your beautiful "kidlings" in the picture, but maybe you could do outside type of games with them too. Good luck to you and remember people are here to support you.

I find it helpful to track everything I eat. I try to be as accurate with it as possible as well. Start by filling in your food diary every day. Even if you go over, fill it in. You'll have a starting point that way. I don't do anything special. I eat out a lot since I started working outside the home and I just don't feel like standing on my feet for 8 hours a day and then come home and prepare a meal too. So my diary is filled with fast food or restaurant meals or convenience foods. I just work at keeping everything within my calorie goals. I don't feel deprived because if I want french fries or a piece of bread pudding I can have it so long as I track it.

We all do, every so often . don't think in terms of falling off wagons - that is a sure fire way for you to treat this as 'fail' a and it's not. It's a bump in the road. Move on

Log log log. There is place there for notes, so put in the 'what you are feeling'. Write down what you are eating BEFORE you eat - that might help you control a little

This is my second time on MFP. The first time I lost 67 pounds and I fell off the wagon plenty. I reached my goal though and you will too if you keep at it. I kept the weight off and I'm back for a second time to lose the last 20 pounds. Just remember what you did today does not have to be what you are or what you do tomorrow. The best thing about starting a new day is that it is new. Don't let anyone discourage you, including yourself.

Lynn

The very key to this thing, if you ask me, is accountability. Start logging what you are already eating. Own it. Write it in the log and see where you're at. Set your "goal" in My Fitness Pal to simply just maintain your current weight for now and just start tracking. Once you can see where your starting point is, you'll have a clearer picture of where you can trim things and make changes that will see you getting towards your goal. There are many, many success stories here. Yours can be among them.

I find this to be so true for me! showing up at the page, showing up at the food diary and not hiding what I'm doing from myself, has been absolutely key to me. I started MFP knowing a lot about diet and nutrition, having worked with a nutritionist, but putting that into practice never seemed to work. MFP made keeping food diaries pretty fun and easy, and now I realize that before I came here, I was managing to do a lot of pretending to myself about how much I was eating of what. So baby steps as others suggest are good, but the single most important step I would suggest is to do that diary, faithfully, honestly, every bite, every day. The healthier behaviors will follow, for sure.

and best of luck. Most of us have been in this same situation. I sure have.