I keep falling off the wagon after doing so well :(

aoikirin · December 2013

I am really struggling to maintain compliance with the amount of calories I am supposed to be eating. I will do great for 4-7 days, but then get horrible cravings to overeat. There is a diner place right by my work that has great pancakes. They are my weakness. I never want to go there again but it's hard. The craving is really strong, and it's right by my work.

I did this today after a number of perfect days. Today was particularly stressful at work and I know this is why I ended up going to the diner. I wanted those pancakes for comfort from stress.

meshashesha2012 · December 2013

how about making them at home yourself? they are pretty easy and nothing particularly high calorie : flour, eggs, milk.
make your own syrups using a little maple syrup mixed with pureed fruit. i've also heard of people on here making protein pancakes with protein powder mixed in the batter.

elsarocks09 · December 2013

i would suggest to find something else thats equally delicious for those instances where u need ur stress plasure food. also maybe try adding an extra workout into ur week to kinda even it out anyways?

RosyBest · December 2013

I know right? I can totally understand where you are coming from. I do that too and get so frustrated with myself later. Why is willpower so hard?

TonyG111160 · December 2013

You describe exactly what happens to me, I do well then just can't control the hunger and cravings. My downfall is cheese.

joycedomingo1 · December 2013

I am really struggling to maintain compliance with the amount of calories I am supposed to be eating. I will do great for 4-7 days, but then get horrible cravings to overeat. There is a diner place right by my work that has great pancakes. They are my weakness. I never want to go there again but it's hard. The craving is really strong, and it's right by my work.

I did this today after a number of perfect days. Today was particularly stressful at work and I know this is why I ended up going to the diner. I wanted those pancakes for comfort from stress.

If you fall off the wagon, just get back on it. Then drive it around the block several times as penance.

GiveMeCoffee · December 2013

You don't have to give up the pancakes, and it doesn't have to stall your loss.

Plan for it once a week, this way you won't feel deprived and will make it much easier to continue. So even if your favorite pancake meal is 1500 calories - workout the day you have them, eat those and something else smaller later in the day and you can still maintain a small deficit.

Now if you are eating just because of stress, then to find a new activity for relief. Biking long distances and lifting work great for me when I need to get rid of some stress, or I hit the punching bag for awhile

Ant_the_old_keith_lemon · December 2013

Are you constantly telling yourself that you cant have certain things??

do you have a lot of stress around you or are you stressing about what you eat??

Stress can bring on a maternal instinct to suckle or in our case consume food, yes comfort eating is a true phenomena.. also it brings on a hormone that puts you in starvation mode and conserves calories..

the root cause could be your release mechanism to stress, could you not take 10 mins to wind down after your day in work, take a stroll around and chat to people? i used to change my shoes before leaving, making it a routine to leave the stress in the shoes, THAT WORKED!!

failing that leave all your money at home so you cant buy any!!

inksyrup · December 2013

Plan for it once a week, this way you won't feel deprived and will make it much easier to continue. So even if your favorite pancake meal is 1500 calories - workout the day you have them, eat those and something else smaller later in the day and you can still maintain a small deficit.

Along with this, remember that it's more about a weekly deficient than a daily one.
So say that after planning my meals (I eat a different amount on different days), I have an extra ~1,000 calories at the end of the week (a pound is 3,500 calories and I'm in a 4,500 calorie deficit on Sunday), I have 1,000 calories to eat whatever I want. I like candy a lot, so I'll buy some. I also like sweet potato, so I'll eat one. :^) By the end of Sunday, I'm still at a deficient of 3,500 kcal and I still lose a pound. I hope that makes sense--I'm terrible with explaining things.

It's called calorie cycling, and this site has a pretty great calculator for it. I really suggest you try it out! http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

JesterMFP · December 2013

You don't have to give up the pancakes, and it doesn't have to stall your loss.

Plan for it once a week, this way you won't feel deprived and will make it much easier to continue. So even if your favorite pancake meal is 1500 calories - workout the day you have them, eat those and something else smaller later in the day and you can still maintain a small deficit.

Now if you are eating just because of stress, then to find a new activity for relief. Biking long distances and lifting work great for me when I need to get rid of some stress, or I hit the punching bag for awhile

I agree with this.

If you're comfort eating, and eating to cope with emotions, or to stop feeling emotions, or to change your state of mind etc, then that is something that you will need to address in order to be successful long term. However, it doesn't happen overnight. In the meantime, completely cutting out foods that you really enjoy can be a recipe for disaster, and is completely unnecessary to weight loss. Honestly, I would try to incorporate a trip to the pancake place once a week. Obviously, if you can make choices that are lower in calories, then it will be easier to fit them into your daily intake. For many people, as soon as they tell themselves they can't eat something, they start craving it even more. Reassure yourself that you can have your favourite foods on a regular basis, as long as you fit them in, and you'll probably find the cravings reduce.

It may be that you want to cut down on how often you eat them, in order to get a better nutritional balance, but again, that doesn't have to happen overnight. Focus first on portion control and hitting your calorie goal (which ideally shouldn't be excessively low) and make whatever other changes you want to make in due course. Weight loss is hard enough, don't make it harder than it needs to be.

Stop getting on wagons of strict dieting and deprivation, and you'll stop falling off them.

_Zardoz_ · December 2013

How many calories are you eating? Are you actually eating enough? Are you eating a proportion of your exercise calories back. If you have your settings set to lose 2 pounds a week and are struggling with this set it for a lower loss that way your calories will be higher and it may be more substainable for you.

fushigi1988 · December 2013

How many calories are you eating? Are you actually eating enough? Are you eating a proportion of your exercise calories back. If you have your settings set to lose 2 pounds a week and are struggling with this set it for a lower loss that way your calories will be higher and it may be more substainable for you.

^^this. I get big cravings for stuff when I have been undereating.

Fairlieboy · December 2013

There are dieting myths & then there are evidence based strategies. Can't see your diary but;
1. Up your protein. Even swinging 15% more dampens down appetite.
2. Cut out added sugar & try to cut out most carbs. Takes a couple of weeks to get over the sugar addiction.
3. Accept you have high value foods you just cant give up. Diets fail because we have "what the hell" moments. Have a forbidden food like have a piece of chocolate, then eat the whole block! The psychology is intriguing. A book i read recently goes into this in more detail. (Weight loss for food lovers by dr George Blair-West)
Change is not easy, and the so-called lifestyle change is working out how to minimize the changes so you don't fall off the wagon & in 5 years you're still at the weight you want.

alisonlynn1976 · December 2013

Eat the pancakes once in a while by fitting them into your calorie plan. You're giving them power over you by making them forbidden.

aoikirin · December 2013

I did it again today after being good a number of days.

kagevf · December 2013

i eat my ice cream everyday, not one scoop but 3-5. dont give em up. as long as it fits your daily or weekly cals and on deficit 5x/week, you all good!
your allowed a cheat day.

watto1980 · December 2013

Is it possible that you you might be under eating? I used to fall into that trap where I would under eat for a period of time before my body just said 'yeah that's enough of that' and I would have a binge.