How did you FINALLY lose weight after months of failure?

I failed for years and years and years... and got sicker and sicker and sicker. Until I changed WHAT I eat.

Committed to logging everything, and did it with honesty. I've been super active for years, but had no idea how much I was eating. Logging takes out the weird emotional element and gives you data and feedback. If I gain or lose again, I will know exactly why. No mystery.

Dunno. Been stalled for the last month myself.

I was at a plateau for a good two years, always stuck at 155 give or take 5 lbs after losing 30 lbs from my high weight. I joined MFP and the plateau continued for a while. But once I started logging EVERYTHING, getting more involved in the community, and joining a couple challenges I broke through it.

Actually, the catalyst was getting dumped by my fiance. Kinda fell right off after that. At first I didn't make major changes so I guess the stress jump started things but the other stuff kept it going.

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This article helps a lot of people get motivated. A LOT of people who lose a lot, will often lose steam & gain back. But the good news is you can turn it around anytime you want.

The Wt. Loss Minute
By Linda Spangle, RN, MA
February 14, 2011

I'm trying so hard! (Motivation Series)

Becky looked discouraged. As she sank into the chair in my
office, she said, 'I don't know what to do. I'm trying so hard to
lose weight, but I'm not getting anywhere. I can't figure out
what's wrong. Based on how hard I'm trying I should be losing a
lot more than I am.'

As I looked at my notes on our conversations over the past few
weeks, I decided to take a guess at Becky's problem. 'Let's
review a little,' I said. 'How have you been doing with your
eating plan?'

Becky thought for a second. 'Some days are OK, but lots of times
I get stressed or frustrated during the day, and by evening, I
end up having wine or ice cream, or both.'

'So you're not following your plan very well?' I asked. 'I guess
not,' she replied. 'This past week I probably was on my program
only three days. But I'm trying so hard to lose weight!'

'How's your exercise plan going?'

'Not as consistent as I'd like. I only walked two days this week.
By the end of the day, I'm usually so tired that I can't get
myself to do it. But I'm trying so hard to lose weight!'

I glanced back at my notes. 'You also planned to work on your
abdominal exercises, go to a yoga class, and take time each day
for some meditation or reading. How are you doing with those
goals?'

'None of them happened. I'm just so busy, and everything gets in
the way. The days keep getting away from me, and I end up
skipping all of my goals and going to bed.'

But then Becky exclaimed again, 'But, I'm trying so hard to lose
weight!'

Are you seeing yourself in this story? I think we all have times
when we WANT to lose weight, and we convince ourselves that we're
TRYING. But like Becky, we don't follow through with any actions
that would move us toward our goals.

It's like saying you want an 'A' in a class at school, but being
too busy, too tired or too stressed to open the textbook or work
on your research paper. No action equals no outcome.

Interested or committed?

Many of you are familiar with this next concept from Day 2 of the
book '100 Days of Weight Loss' but I think it's one we all need
to be reminded of now and then.

If you tend to start and stop every time you diet, you may want
to look at the difference between being INTERESTED and being
COMMITTED.

Interest slips away quickly

When you're just interested in dieting, you tend to stay with
your plans only until something better comes along. For example,
you may decide that you're interested in losing weight, but when
someone brings doughnuts to work, you quickly go off your diet.

You also depend on seeing results to keep you on target. So, as
long as the scale keeps moving, you stay motivated. But if you
hit a plateau or you don't see much progress for a few weeks, you
may throw your program out the window.

And when you struggle, you blame everyone but yourself. You
accuse your friends of ruining your diet because they eat potato
chips in front of you.

In addition, you fall into 'if only' thinking, saying things
like, 'If only I had more time, more money, a new job, or a
supportive spouse, then I'd be able to stay on my plan.

Committed means NO MATTER WHAT!

and not months of failure like 15 years of diet HELL!!!!!!!!!

I spent years "dieting" and the first time I would "fail" and eat something "bad", that would turn into "Well, I've screwed up this day already, may as well take today off", which in turn would turn into a week...a month...

You get the idea.

This time, I really stuck with it for a few weeks and then I cracked and ate something I felt like I shouldn't have and rather than letting it drag me off course, I forgave myself and kept moving forward. I still have bad days...that's life...but it isn't the end of the world. Just keep swimming!

Also, taking progress pics and measurements every month or so has been huge for me. Even when the scale isn't going where I want it to, the pics show the progress. For example: back in late October I weighed 171 pounds. Now I'm more like 175. If the scale was my only measure of success, I'd be pretty dicouraged by that...but I was a size 14 at 171 and I'm a 10 now.

Exercise has also been crucial. That's something I never took seriously before, but now it keeps me on track. I'm not hugely likely to eat something stupid after all the effort I put into working out because, frankly I'm pretty lazy. LOL

What helps me is taking it one day at a time. I get overwhelmed if I think about my ultimate goal (not to mention falling into the trap of thinking, "oh, that's so far off and I still have a bit of weight to lose, so one splurge won't hurt."). I focus on today and plan out what I'm going to eat and when, and what I'm going to do for my workout and when. Then I do my best to stick to that plan. If I fail, well... that sucks, but rather than beating myself up over it I'll just get back on that plan the next day and focus on getting it right. Take it one day at a time, and eventually one day will turn into a week which turns into five weeks, and so on.

The other thing is setting aside time for my workout no matter what. I like to think of it as my "me time," where for one hour of the day I can focus on making myself better and not all the things I have to do at work or home. I loved that article that was posted earlier, about being interested vs. being committed. Don't just think about working out, MAKE the time to do it, no matter what! And for me, being consistent about working out has made me want to eat healthier, so that I have more energy for my workouts, which in turn makes me want to continue to eat healthy so I can push myself more and continue to get stronger and faster. Eventually it turns into a cycle, and eventually you'll see and feel the results. You can do it, stick with it!

My workouts are exactly 30 mins long- thank u, pp, for mentioning what a trainer said. I'm upping them to 45.

I like what another pp said about "zig-zagging" calories. I think for me that might would work.

And I know it's hard to know which plan/method/etc to follow bc there are so many differing ppl and opinions, but I bet certain things resonate with some, and other ideas resonate with others. I appreciate ppl throwing out ideas, even if I'm doubtful that they will work for me. For example, I don't want to eat nothing but "clean" food. I would fall off that wagon SOOO fast! I had a Kitkat today and it was freaking glorious! And it fit into my calories for the day so I'm hoping it works out. :P I'm ingesting way less sugar than I used to, so I'm hoping I don't have to become a rabbit to make this all work.

I stopped lying to myself. I realized that I was fat, and it was no one's fault other than my own. I realized the reason my pants no longer fit was because I ate terrible food. So, I stripped down to my knickers and took some photos of myself. This helped me even more to realize how obese I had gotten, how far I let myself go. Then, after some time, I started a food journal. This helped me see exactly what I was putting into my body. It also helped me see that if I didn't have the best day eating, it wasn't the end of the world and I shouldn't give up on my diet and begin to gorge myself again.

Currently, I am still very overweight. But, I'm not as fat as what I used to be . I also have my head in the right place. I realized that if I could quit smoking (which I did earlier this year), and lift weights (which I started up), and go for a 3.5 mile run on the elliptical, there was nothing stopping me from losing weight.

You first have to tear yourself down and let yourself see how far you've fallen. Then, and only then, can you pick yourself up because you will see how there are no more excuses. And once you start doing that, you realize just how strong you are. No one can stop you. Not the haters, not your family, not your friends, not even yourself. You do have the power and you will do this.

I started to use a scale in my kitchen and counting my calories ect.

I'm a fitness lover, and lost 109lbs. from 2009 to 2011. My problem was when I finally got into a healthy goal range, or slightly overweight...I was still eating crappy food. It was the nutrition holding me back. It wasn't till the past 15 months that I finally got my nutrition down and finally combated my hormonal issues and the kinds of food I can actually have. Nutrition=most important part of success. Exercise comes easy for me.

I'm finally being successful after many tries, but this time is different. I feel totally confident like never before as I've discovered something new. I now know the number of calories my body needs to survive!! As long as I don't overeat that number, I won't gain weight, and conversely if I eat less than that number , I will lose weight. I am just aware now where I wasn't before. I had no idea how many calories my body actually needed and was eating way too many for my size.

Me too!