Three weeks in and I already fell off the wagon

minisumo · April 2014

Thanks for the ideas and the possible reasons. It was emotional eating. In my mind, I know 8 pounds in two weeks is an accomplishment, but for some reason I just got bummed out at the scale and resorted to old habits. Thanks for offering your personal ups and downs with the scale.

I also like the idea of getting a cup of tea or talking a walk, those are concrete strategies that I can add to my tool-belt. So far I have properly planned for cravings and snacks, I don't deny myself anything, I work it in, but this was different, this was giving in to emotional eating.

I plan on getting back on track tomorrow.
You all are awesome!

Can I just say you seem to have a great approach and mindset. The fact that you don't deny yourself anything but just make sure it fits in with your plan, and that you recognise the difference between emotional eating and real hunger, is something so many people can't (won't?) grasp so you're already ahead of the game. Just don't think of it as falling off the wagon, this is a lifestyle change and you're doing a great job

aspoppen · April 2014

One to two pounds a week is ideal according to my coach. So look at the positive your ahead of the game. Just keep trying and don't give up. Slow progress is still progress. At least its loss and not gain. It could be that your not eating enough.? I was eating under my calories and my coach said don't do that. Keep on keepin on. Best wishes!

yolohunter · April 2014

http://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/cdah4af

Thank you so much for posting this! Definitely one of the most motivational things I've read in a long time!

jennifer_417 · April 2014

Strive for consistency, not perfection. One is attainable, the other isn't.

cbeevs · April 2014

how about, when you are really discouraged, you try a "Root Cause Analysis"?

This means, you consider everything that may be contributing to the problem/disappointment.

NUMBER 1. One Problem is that you did not loose at the same rate and you binged.

Possible reasons for the weight to come off at a different rate:

a. water comes off the first week or two.

b. You may have been more active the first two weeks.

c. You may have eaten lower carbohydrates the first two weeks.

d. You might be weighing at different times.

e. you may have given yourself a really tough path to follow that was not sustainable.

NUMBER 2. The second problem is the disappointment.

a. Are you disappointed because you need to loose at the higher rate?

b. Do you believe the slower weight loss means that you are not getting healthier?

c. Are you so disappointed that you will give up?

NUMBER 3. The third step is, what options you do have to fix problems one and two?

a. find a person who has had this problem (stalled weight loss) and ask what they eat, and what type of exercise they did to continue getting fit.

b. Google "stalled weight loss".

c. Go to a gym and ask a fitness trainer about stalled weight loss and ask what they recommend for exercise and eating.

d. Watch or listen to motivational tapes, I love Zig Ziglar, he is all over u-tube. You may have to listen for a long time, but her is entertaining and encouraging.

e. Watch some vidoes aobut healthy eating, Joe Cross has some great ideas, and here is one form a MYFItness friend:

Fast forward to early April,... and I “happened” to catch a presentation on PBS entitled “Eat, Fast and Live Longer” https://player.vimeo.com/video/54089463 by Dr. Michael Mosley.
It made me stop, think and watch it again…Fasting for two nonconsecutive days each week, while eating what I normally ate on the other five?
“You can do anything for 24 hours,” I reasoned.

f. If your eating plan was too stringent, you may be a "one thing at a time" type of person. Try changing one thing that you know is bad, like late eating. If you eat till midnight, plan to stop at 11:30. (for instance, this is a baby-step method)

g. give up

then decide which option you really want to do.

I realize that this is a long, drawn out answer, but sometimes the long way is the short way and if you are very disappointed, maybe it is worth really figuring out what may be happening and how to have more of the shape you want with a little change to some of what you are already doing to succeed.

My thinking is that you are already have had success, you just need to tweak it to be long term. you can do this!

tahneesummers88 · April 2014

It's not a wagon really.. it's just logging all your food and exercise you do.. and hey, if you want to eat 3 snickers bars... exercise for them. It's really simple if you don't let your mind run away and over think it too much. If you want to have a brownie.. exercise for it.

Simple :-)

raven_ous · April 2014

If you lost 7.6 lbs in the first week, you probably restricted too much, and that's why the cravings. Follow this advice... And eat sensibly, with a reasonable deficit.

Start here. It's a lot of reading, but these threads are packed with really good information that will get you going in the right direction.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

estaticaa · April 2014

Like others have said, there's really no need to deprive yourself of anything, as long as you work those foods into your plan and in moderate proportions. If your treat yourself with something nice on a regular basis, you will probably feel less tempted to binge at the end of two weeks of deprivation. But if you're still prone to binging and emotional eating and can't really fight the compulsion to put something in your mouth when days get rough, you could try to avoid stocking too much "bad" stuff in your house. (There aren't really bad foods, but you know what I mean). Point is, you can't eat a bag of chips if it isn't there to tempt you.

Regarding what you said about your progress, please remember that in order to lose 1lb, you need to burn 3500 calories, so those 7.6 lb you lost in the first week can't really just be 7.6x3500=26.600 burned calories. Can they? Unless you worked out like crazy and starved yourself afterwords. They're most likely a result of the abrupt changes you made in your diet and lifestyle and your body was still trying to catch up with it. (You probably lost water weight, too, etc.)

I know it can look like a disappointing number, but the second week result sounds like the healthy amount of weight you should be losing, so you should be proud of yourself. Just remember there will be weeks in the future where you may actually gain weight and that could also be a sign that you're doing great progress (building muscle, losing inches around your waist, etc.), so take your time to take measures of your body, so you can keep score of what really changed. Weight loss and getting your body to change don't necessarily mean the same thing. You could be stuck in the same weight for weeks and still losing inches, which is much more desirable. Good luck!

ninav1980 · April 2014

I know this is a simple answer, but its what I do... keep going. Dont stop. So what if the scale wasnt your friend this week. If you quit now, you will def not like what the scale will say in a month when you gain back the 7 lbs. Just keep going. Dont expect to lose 7 lbs a week. If you do, you will set yourself up for dissappointment and youll want to give up. Try not to focus too much on the scale. I promise you.... you wont regret it. You will see results if you keep tracking regularly. It might not be next week or the week after that, but it will happen.

Three weeks in and I already fell off the wagon

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