Starting Over for the Millionth Time

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  • red_road
    red_road Posts: 761 Member
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    good job for keep getting back on that horse. do you have a hrm to accurately log your burns, mfp is not always right
  • ecanales52
    ecanales52 Posts: 74 Member
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    I think your goals are incredibly aggressive and unlikely to be sustainable. Set more realistic goals and you'll probably find yourself less discouraged and more successful in the long run.

    ^^^This! Take this excellent advice, and perhaps you will find you won't ever have to start over again. Best of luck to you! :smile:
  • t1954
    t1954 Posts: 81 Member
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    Been there, done that a million and one times. It's pretty simple. It requires dedication and focus. It can be done and you can do it. Please take a look at my profile. Best wishes and good luck with your success.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,659 Member
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    Tough love:

    Good intentions are one thing. Commitment is another. So are you really committed or are you going to wing it? If you're really committed, then put yourself out there.
    Make a public statement of what you're going to achieve in ___________. What you're going to have to do to get there. Posting results daily.
    A committed person will get the job done and not have to start over and over again.

    If you have any reservations, then maybe you're still not ready.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Mcmilligen
    Mcmilligen Posts: 332 Member
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    I'm a little late to this thread, but thought I'd respond.

    I can relate to you 100% as of late, and I've been letting myself be negative and hurtful towards myself. Lately, I've dwindled off my exercise routine, partially because my work is creative and has extremely unstable hours, but mostly because I lack the passion for the exercise that I was doing. I'm at a point where I need to try things that are closer to me, because going to a gym I think is awesome doesn't matter if the commute takes close to 2 hrs out of my day.

    What I have learned from all this, is that EVERYONE falls off the wagon occasionally. It's just getting back on it that matters. Keep trying, we all know that life happens. As for your diet, I don't know if going to an immediate low calorie diet is the answer. I've allowed myself to stay at a .5 lb loss per week, and it's been pretty nice. I find it maintainable to eat this way, and that should be what you focus on too. Is what you're going to do MAINTAINABLE? Because this journey doesn't stop when you hit goal weight. I've hit my goal, and have since gone up about 5-10 lbs (weight fluctuates). I've written a few blogs lately regarding my struggle with this, and delve in to how the mind can really play a massive role on how we see ourselves.

    Feel free to add me if you want! I'm the same height as you too, if that helps :P
    <3 Good luck
  • Coyla
    Coyla Posts: 444 Member
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    Yesterday, I at huevos rancheros for breakfast, salad and a slice of pizza for lunch, cereal and toast for dinner, then chips and salsa, multiple cookies, a bag of buttered popcorn, and a chocolate bar for snacks.

    I feel disgusting. It's time for a change.

    I've tried this so many times, but I'm trying to not let that discourage me.

    I think the problem is that you feel guilty for eating, and that leads to more guilt and more eating to try and comfort yourself. I'm starting to believe more and more that our attitudes towards ourselves and our bodies is what has led to the obesity epidemic.

    It's okay to fail over and over again. That's part of succeeding. I wish you luck, and I also wish you the ability to love yourself no matter how much you've eaten on any given day.
  • mombod82514
    mombod82514 Posts: 33 Member
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    I'm also starting over...again! This time, I am going to make sure I stay motivated. Good luck to you and your weight loss journey!!!
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    Don't be discouraged by the advice or even folks disagreeing over things. Just read up, it's all good.

    I'm not starting over for the millionth time, I'm just making the commitment to do what I need to do again.

    I have to say as well, 2lbs a week or even 1.5lbs seems aggressive to me (but don't let me discourage you) because you can fluctuate so much. Don't even bother looking at my profile as I haven't logged anything in ages, but I do check in to these forums.

    I lift heavy 3 times a week or so, and I eat like a freaking monster. I love food. 1200 calories, even when I'm being good and eating clean - I'd fall out all over the place; that is in no way sustainable for me. I'm 5'4, about 145lbs, and I'm older than you. I'm not gaining during my cookie fest but January will bring in some new rules (again).

    There actually is some math to this madness. Pay attention to the threads and advice on what you should be eating, and how much of it, to keep yourself strong and healthy, yet have a calories deficit. Fit good whole foods in there.

    And if I could give you some last advice... Don't put some event in the future as to when have to look a certain way. Make it about feeling a certain way. Toss out the scale and take your measurements and write them down. Try on your snuggest pair of pants - prepare.

    Because if you commit to it and you work at it (even when you fail sometimes), 4 months from now the measurements will be different and the pants will be loser. And you'll feel rather different, better different, even if you didn't quite hit the goal you were after. Your friends will notice and ask you what's different.

    If you don't commit to it and work at it, you'll be looking back to today and you'll be the same then as you are now.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,008 Member
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    Seeing as how you're starting over for the millionth time.... I recommend the following:

    1)Eat no less than 1400 calories/day. Do your BMR and TDEE calculations... stay between those figures. Too much of a deficit will not only cause you to give this up easily and quickly.... but eventually it will stall your weighloss.
    2) Forget the cardio. If you're eating at a deficit YOU DO NOT NEED CARDIO. Do one OR the other. The only purpose for cardio is giving you a deficit where there is not one already (ie: christmas day you want to eat all the goodies... do cardio to burn the extra calories)
    3) Lift. New rules of lifting for women... read it. You will fully understand WHY you have been unsuccessful before.
    4) If you lift... make sure you're getting a lot of protein to help recover your muscles.

    Creating a deficit is not the only reason for cardio. You do need cardio. Cardio exercises the most important muscle in your body: your heart.
  • mimieon
    mimieon Posts: 182 Member
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    Maybe consider a calory goal of approximately 1500 calories? 1200 is probably way below your BMR, which is probably not the best idea, and may make it harder to sustain. Taking a little longer is not so bad when you feel good and it isn't so hard. Please think about it :3

    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
  • kkows
    kkows Posts: 19
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    I'm also a serial re-starter :smile: You are definitely not alone. Good luck!
  • cvstokke
    cvstokke Posts: 249 Member
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    I took everyone's advice into consideration and decided to adjust my MFP goal to 1 lb per week putting me at a net calorie goal of 1440 per day. I think this will keep me from getting discouraged and giving up and is also probably more sustainable.

    Final goals:
    -Exercise 4 days per week at least 30 minutes (easily do-able with lunchtime gym)
    -Eliminate wheat one meal per day due to allergy (usually breakfast)
    -1 lb average loss per week
    -Drink 64+ oz of water per day
    -TRY to not eat after 8 PM (this isn't due to any science around late eating, I'm just bad about late night grazing when I'm not hungry)
    -Get more sleep
    -Clothes fit better by April / feel better about myself (rather than scale goal)
    -Ultimate goal of 145 lbs
    -Long term increase in health and energy
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
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    You can do anything you set your mind to. Good luck! :flowerforyou:
  • mizztanjo
    mizztanjo Posts: 153 Member
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    Hey!
    Just read your post and would love to be your workout buddy! I am also mildy allergic to wheat so we have that in common!
    What fitness regime are you doing? Do you go to the gym? Love to help ya reach your goal weight!
  • DR2501
    DR2501 Posts: 661 Member
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    Sweat is fat crying. I've never heard that before and I need to print that out and put it on my computer so I drag my behind away from this thing and get that fat crying!

    I liked this too, so much so that I wrote it on a post-it, took a photo and now have saved as my phone screen saver!
  • laceyfowler
    laceyfowler Posts: 127 Member
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    2) Forget the cardio. If you're eating at a deficit YOU DO NOT NEED CARDIO. Do one OR the other. The only purpose for cardio is giving you a deficit where there is not one already (ie: christmas day you want to eat all the goodies... do cardio to burn the extra calories)



    WHOA there. "The only purpose for cardio is giving you a deficit".

    I think perhaps your cardiovascular system may think there is another purpose of cardiovascular exercise. Your heart is a muscle, too, you know?

    Even viewed only through the lens of weightloss, moderate amounts of cardio (of any form, you don't have to be grinding on the treadmill) can increase your chances of success by increasing the amount you can actually eat while cutting. Making it significantly less miserable.

    I was just thinking this, too! Please keep doing your cardio - cardio is ummmm great and healthy for your Cardiovascular system! I mean, so long as you don't overdo it, of course... but yeah. Do cardio. Especially if it feels good to you :-) I feel healthier when I do cardio - my lung capacity goes up and my muscles get toned. Going up flights of stairs is easier, so clearly it's helpful for my lungs. Goooo Cardio! :-)
  • laceyfowler
    laceyfowler Posts: 127 Member
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    Don't beat yourself up. I'm with you on the millionth start. I'd like to offer a few words of encouragement if you don't mind.

    Years ago, I worked for Boeing Satellite systems here in California. I worked with actual rocket scientists who designed propulsion systems for satellites.

    One day I was discussing the moon landing with them, and I learned an interesting and valuable lesson. When you send a rocket to the moon, it's never perfect. They don't fly in a straight line and land exactly where they planned without any changes. What really happens is they point toward where they want to go, and launch the rocket. Then, along the way, they go off course slightly and make hundreds or even thousands of tiny course corrections until they end up where they want to be.

    I think success in losing weight or pretty much anything else is like this. You will never get anywhere until you start. You can't let perfection be the enemy of doing well. You move forward, and if you go off course a bit, you make a correction and keep moving forward and if you keep trying and stick to it, you will eventually get to the place you are trying to reach.

    That being said, we should be able to eat like normal human beings now and then. We should be able to indulge in Huevos Rancheros, a slice of pizza with salad, cereal and toast, chips and salsa, cookies, buttered popcorn, or chocolate bar or even all of these in one day if it is only once in awhile. As long as the next day, we don't dwell on yesterday, we make a course correction, and move on.

    I know you can make it. I know you can stick to it. You just have to find the combination of things that works for you.

    I'm going to leave you with a few quotes from Thomas Edison that I think apply to success in weight-loss and life in general. It took him 10,000 tries to find the right filament necessary to succeed in making the light bulb work. When he was asked about it he said...

    “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
    ― Thomas A. Edison


    “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
    ― Thomas A. Edison


    “We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work”
    ― Thomas A. Edison

    Love this, thanks for sharing :-)
  • HealthWoke0ish
    HealthWoke0ish Posts: 2,078 Member
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    Slow and Steady wins the race. For me...convincing myself to focus on perfecting the process instead of being glued to the results helped reduce my likelihood for disappointment and, instead, helped increase my successful enduring of the day-after-day-week-after-week-month-after-month grind of assimilation into a new lifestyle.

    Good luck to you! You can do it. :smile:
  • cvstokke
    cvstokke Posts: 249 Member
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    I definitely do cardio when I work out. Someone else mentioned not needing to do it, but it's something I always do.
  • laceyfowler
    laceyfowler Posts: 127 Member
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    I took everyone's advice into consideration and decided to adjust my MFP goal to 1 lb per week putting me at a net calorie goal of 1440 per day. I think this will keep me from getting discouraged and giving up and is also probably more sustainable.

    Final goals:
    -Exercise 4 days per week at least 30 minutes (easily do-able with lunchtime gym)
    -Eliminate wheat one meal per day due to allergy (usually breakfast)
    -1 lb average loss per week
    -Drink 64+ oz of water per day
    -TRY to not eat after 8 PM (this isn't due to any science around late eating, I'm just bad about late night grazing when I'm not hungry)
    -Get more sleep
    -Clothes fit better by April / feel better about myself (rather than scale goal)
    -Ultimate goal of 145 lbs
    -Long term increase in health and energy

    Hi! I have to say, both your initial goals and your final goals sound just fine to me, as long as you're always willing to adjust your goals if needed :-) Personally, I do best when I start out hard and strong (stricter diet, more working out) and then ease off a little later on - helps keep me motivated in the beginning when I can see measurable progress :-)

    If you're at the gym, and your 30 minutes is just about up but you're feeling great doing whatever workout you're doing, and you have the time for it, by all means stay at the gym and keep working out a while longer! Nothing wrong with doing an hour workout instead of a half hour! At the same time though, it's okay if by that 30 minutes you're like "ohhh I am soooo done" and you stop there. Both of those things are much better than not working out :-)

    I re-started my healthy journey a month ago... in Italy. Yeah. I'm working in Italy for 2 1/2 months, but I realized that I'd really let myself slip and want and need to get back into better shape. People tried telling me my goals were awfully high, or that I shouldn't bother trying to lose weight in Italy because "you can't do that," but you know what? You/I can! If you want to start your healthy journey again right now, right before Christmas, You Can Do It! If you want to wait until after, that's fine too of course :-)

    I am working out 5-6 days a week right now - mostly cardio, with some light weight lifting... because that's what feels good to me and that's what works for me. Since I live out of a hotel, I have a hard time counting calories and nutrients, but since I've done that off and on for years I have a pretty good grasp of how to eat healthfully (I just sometimes have difficulty applying that knowledge). Oh... and, in my first month here in Italy, I have actually managed to lose 10lb! Woo Hoo! I know that the weight loss will slow down, because that's how it works, but it sure feels nice to have started off strong and healthfully :-)

    Feel free to add me - I'm very selective on my friends (just a few on my list who aren't in-person friends or family) but I like your style and would be happy to support you :-)

    ~ Lacey

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