Could you go back to before?

No way! I'll NEVER go back. This is the new me and I'm not even there yet. I'm going at this 100% and I plan to continue. This site and the people on it are the only thing that's keeping me on track. :drinker: here's to all my new friends

I think that old habits can come and creep up on you, yes. You are in control of your own fate. If you don't like your fate, change it. Thats what everyone here on mfp is doing. So if you mess up few times along the way, its not setting you back to before, unless you don't learn from it. We're here dealing with our vices, making change for the better. We're figuring out what we do that is right or wrong for our regime. We're figuring out what we like or don't like. It's just life.

You have such will and determination to keep on losing!! Keep it up!

I've used various online counters for a couple of years now. Eventually, I get lazy coming home and plugging all that in. Worse, trying to keep track of it all until I get home after I'm gone for 12 or more hours. Eventually, I stop and the weight starts to creep on. because I am the world's worst and guessing how much fat, etc. is in something. This has become an issue as I get older and less active. MFP is FANTASTIC because I can update it from my phone. That means I can precheck stuff I'm unsure of and I don't have to remember a whole list of ingredients for the next 7 hrs. This is a plan I think I can stick with! Will I go through cycles when I only update on the phone and don't really join in the community? Probably, but long term I think I have finally found the site for me!

:noway: NOPE

I don't want to kid myself. It's taken a lot of hard work and determination to get where I've gotten but there was a reason I was doing the things I was doing before. They are easy and with daily stresses and trials, it's easier to deal with it the way I was. I've learned a lot on this journey about better ways to handle things, about making good choices and moving more frequently when I indulge. I know I was as heavy as I was because I love indulging and was doing it too often without doing anything to temper the gains. I know more about myself now but I refuse to kid myself...it would be comfortable to slip back into my unhealthy ways because it means not caring about one more thing - my health. I have so much going that adding one thing is a commitment and like any commitment will take work to maintain.

I hope that I don't come back here and that the changes that I have made are going to stick, but I can't fool myself into thinking "I'm cured"

I lost 20lbs before I started using the mfp site so I could go back but It wasn't as easy doing it on my own. The motivation from the community is really excellent and the features are really easy to use. I feel like a had a realization about my weight and fitness prior to joining mfp and that won't go away without the site.

Well, I look at this as a life decision. I know that sounds terribly preachy (you know, like when the skinny doctor tells you you have to make a "lifestyle choice", never having lost 10 lbs or gained it in his life), but this is what I mean:

I know for a fact that I don't have a good emotional grasp on what I look like vs. how I feel. It's like a psychological blindness. I'm working on that.

I'm a sucker for creating and sticking to routines. This is a great thing, right? Not always. Sometimes that means scheduling treats more frequently than you should and seeking them out. The food journal keeps my mind on that issue and me on track.

If I get busy, it's too easy to put stuff in my mouth, and I'm an emotional eater and tend to get sidetracked by things that come up, which means I sometimes forget what I ate. I have discovered that when I'm upset, I buy two things at the store instead of only one, which might mean twice as many cookies. I'm trying to buy two non-food items at a time instead now. Feh, it makes me feel secure. So what if I have too many towels. Maybe I'll sew myself a bathrobe. Oh yeah, and I now know when I'm stress-buying rather than stress-baking.

I'm a hella good cook. If I cook, I eat it, like my mom taught me (I grew up listening to stories about food shortages after WWII). So now I cook much less often, because even though Lean Cuisine is garbage, it stops at one serving. And I'm not constantly tasting the meal before eating it.

I quit smoking twice in my life. The second time, it stuck, but only because I drew a very serious conclusion that if I started again, I would never quit. It's been 25 years and I haven't started again. The problem with food is that you can't quit. You can only be selective. That means you have to keep watching your food and your exercise, even at maintenance weight (man I hope I get there). We are courageous in the extreme on this point, all of us.

Would I go back? I have great fears that if I don't keep my eyes on the goal, I will. So, now, I'm going to just keep my journals and my focus and hope that my talent for sticking to routines does me good.

Oh yeah, and I'm going to keep on learning how what I eat and do affects my body. I've learned tons since I've come here, and most of that is from you!

Mirii