Constant cycle of starting over every Monday. Help?

Motivational Support and Accountability will help you out a lot. Feel free to add me as a friend.

Oh my goodness, can be friends!! Your post describes me exactly. My profile and image is filled in, just not public!

I always seem to fall back to the cycle of ruining all the work I did that week and having to start over every single Monday.

Either get serious, or find a more productive hobby. This has to be important to you. Like a college degree, or a pet.

Stop "dieting"!
Eat well, choose a deficit that won't cause you to "fall off".
Allow treats everyday.
Move your body.
It's that simple.

You can do it if you want to.
Put one foot in front of the other.
Do it!
Feed yourself the way you plan to feed yourself for the rest of your life.
When you reach the weight you're happy with-just eat a bit more of the things you've been eating all along.

^ What they all said. Plan to have occasional treats, and when you do -- or even if you really screw up -- just keep going rather than starting over on Monday.

I like the part of the app that shows me the whole week. (Under "Nutrition," then pick the "Weekly" tab and look at the bar graph.) It really helps me keep my occasional screw-ups in perspective. Last week I went over 3 days, but I ended up under for the week and lost almost a pound. A couple weeks last month I ended up going over often enough that I was over for the week -- but when you realize that you had a planned deficit of 1750 for the week, and you only went over by 200-300, that's still losing weight!!

You have to believe it is possible to live another way. Log your calories, preplan. Don't have junk food in the house. Like others have said you have to want it. It is hard work and you have to be willing to do the hard work. You can do this, you can get your life back. We have to learn to manage stress without overeating and find other ways to comfort ourselves like when we get a new job. You have to care enough for yourself to say No to yourself, setting boundaries with yourself. Once you do this you wont have to start over on Monday. You will take care of yourself every day or if you make a mistake you will get right back on track. Love yourself.

I work my cheat day in during the week (sometimes early and sometimes mid week). Clean in before cheat day and clean food in after...Because of my work schedule, I stick to a strict regiment through out the week... As I learn about new and refreshing (HEALTHY/NUTRITIONAL) meals, I try them out during the weekends...It gives me something to look forward to during the weekends when I have more time on my hands. If I want to cheat, this is when my desire is at it's strongest... I work out in the morning and I now workout in the evening (A thirty minute power walk) to get me through the tough times during the evening...After my workout is complete, I drink more water and prepare myself for the next day (ending the day just before my normal bed time)...

I am not sure if this will help... Good Luck... Find healthy food to meet your daily calorie goal... As you already know, it takes a substantial bit of healthy food to meet your goal, thus keeping you full longer...

*that 20 should have been 200*

I lost about 60lbs, and then did exactly what you did and would eat healthy for 4-5 days and then totally destroy it, start again the next week and I ended up putting back on about 25.

It sounds like you're doing a lot of what I was, namely planning out a meal and exercise plan for the whole week. I find it's a lot more effective to not plan as far in advance. Pick up good foods once a week when you shop, and have an idea of what you might want to eat for meals, but give yourself some leeway. If you plan at the beginning for the whole week and get to thursday and really don't want that chicken and salad you've locked yourself into eating, then you're not going to be happy and you'll be more likely to stray from a healthy lifestyle.

I now try to make my choices more on a daily basis. I tend to know what I'm having for dinner, since that's my largest meal and one which I usually eat with my SO, and then I plan the rest of my day around that to meet my macros/calorie goals. I also leave room on certain days where I know I'm going to want something that I wouldn't eat every day: like the movie marathon that inevitably ends in pizza that my guy likes to do every weekend, going out for a restaurant style breakfast with friends, or having a beer or two on a Friday night. If you can plan for those things, you can make sure you're not self-sabotaging. Having a beer, or even eating to maintenance one or two days a week doesn't mean you've ruined all the good work you've done, it just means you won't lose as much this week.

Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint and you're going to constantly run into obstacles; it's learning to handle them which is going to allow you to have a healthy, active lifestyle for the rest of your life. Feel free to send me a friend request, I'd love to give you a little extra support

One thing that stood out to me- don't put devil horns or angel wings on your food. There's no food you "shouldn't" have unless it's an allergy of yours or poison.

It takes a while, but absorb what everyone here's saying: you don't have to do this "fall off the wagon" "get back on the wagon" thing. There's no wagon. There's just you in a garden of every food there is. You can eat ice cream, drink beer, as everyone is saying. It's okay. Just make sure to balance the rest of your day to account for it. Daily. Give it a few weeks. Log carefully, every bite.

You'll find this could be a lifestyle you like, one free of food-guilt.

This!

Seriously, I enjoy the occasional drink... Usually one or two on Saturdays. Not every week, but most weeks. I exercise regularly. My goal is to eat generally healthy, but I factor in things that I enjoy - like morning coffee with a little french vanilla creamer. I'm not going to give that up and that to me is worth the calories. It's a lifestyle and not a diet. We're not perfect and we all have bad days. You've got to just record it, own it and go on. Being over one day or maybe even two isn't going to kill you if your net calories for a week are still at a deficit. You can still lose, even if it's slowly... And who cares how slow you lose as long as you're making progress. It's not a race. That's what I run for... That competitive drive and push and desire to be better than last time. My food journey... Not so much.

I can totally relate especially in the summer. Every weekend there are events and everyone is having a drink. I try to limit myself to a drink or two, but it's not easy!! I figure that even if I have to start over on Monday, I"m still doing it!!

Don't start Monday - start with the very next meal!

If you 'fall off the wagon' and have a quadruple bacon cheeseburger, cheese fries and milkshake for lunch on Wednesday that totally blows your macros out of the water don't beat yourself up and use it as an excuse to eat like crap for the next four days. Start again with Wednesday's dinner. Make yourself something sensible and healthy and continue on.

You can do this!!

I think it's because you have this all or nothing kind of approach and thought process here...you drink a beer for example and this derails you? There's nothing wrong with drinking a beer...I drink plenty of beer and did so while I was losing weight.

There's not magic here...you just eat a little less and you move a little more...you don't have to suck on celery sticks and salads and do upteen million hours of exercise per week to lose weight. You can eat healthfully and eat enjoyably all at the same time...you don't seem to understand that.

I would also add that nobody is on 100% of the time...I've been around here going on two years...I lost 40 Lbs and I've been maintaining for over a year now without logging or anything...but that doesn't mean I'm spot on all of the time...I have good days and bad days...good weeks and bad weeks...you have to realize that this is all a part of life. It's not about starting over, it's about continuing on and realizing that this whole safari is going to have plenty of bumps and dumps along the way...that's life.

Listen to this man he speaks sense.

It sounds like you are way too hard on yourself when you "slip up"! Practice some self forgiveness and self compassion. This may sound silly, but it has really helped me. Anything I am hanging on to at the end of the day, like overeating or anything else I have done / not done that I am unhappy about, I forgive myself aloud.

Being able to let go of past mistakes helps you to continue to work hard without anything weighing you down (haha... see what I did there...)

Good luck!