Consistent or yo-yoing?

Well, I fell off the wagon. The last time I was on MFP was at the end of September. It gave me a plan to lose .9 lbs a week. (I want to lose 13lb total.) I thought that was soooooo slow. But, still, it was working.

But then I stopped being dedicated. I am still at about where I was when I stopped -- with about 1.5lb lost. I haven't been going crazy but I haven't been watching what I eat, so I've only barely maintained weight, instead of continuing to lose it.

The other day I found a little chart I had made back in September when I was on MFP, showing how much weight I would lose with the .9lb a week plan, each week. I would have been at my goal weight on my birthday, Dec. 9th. And by now I would be very close to that goal, with only about 3-4 pounds to go.

It just showed me that while not even a pound a week seemed like such a small amount to lose, if I had stuck with it, it would have added up! Instead, I did *nothing*, which is much worse than just a little bit a week. I am almost as far away from my goal as I was in September!

So I've decided to start over. I just feel depressed at myself, like, why can't I be consistent when it comes to my health? This is not even about weight loss anymore-- in September I had been getting up to run with my dog or go to the gym every day at 6am, I was feeling refreshed. Now I wake up cranky, almost late for work, I don't work out and I feel fat. I just want to be overall healthy and always have a good balance. I am so busy with my job, and it seems there's not nearly enough day light, but, I know these are just excuses. I know I have to stick with it no matter what the circumstance.

Was there a certain point when it just "clicked" for you? When you stopped yo-yoing and now you can say you always live an overall healthy, balanced life, which happens to include the weight loss goal you were aiming for? Or are some people on yo-yo's their whole life... I don't want to be one of those people...

I could have written your post, angiebangie! I too train for races... I've run marathons, half-marathons, mountain trail races, etc. I have realized I have an extreme off-or-on personality about *everything*. I'll be training consistently for a race for a few months, then, after the race, I won't do anything for another few months.

And like you I am generally healthy -- I can run for a long time (although not as fast as I think I could if I really trained hard and slimmed down etc.), I like to work out, I am "generally" active but then at other times I'm a big slob who likes to eat everything on her huge burrito or buffet plate and not work out for a week. And I used to go on these crazy crash diets like only eating fruit, or doing Atkins', or whatever, and sure that worked for awhile but then I'd forget about it and gain the weight back... all the while my "normal" weight would always go to a little bit higher and I get worried that it will be "normal" for me to gain an average of a couple pounds a year and never notice because it's just a small increment... and then I'm big!!!

If I could just be in the middle -- always work out consistently, and always eat pretty well/ healthfully consistently -- then I know that would be ten times better for my body than either training for a marathon three months out of the year, or going on some crash diet. Eventually I would like to train hard for things *and* always eat well consistently. But for now I am just going to start like you said, day by day making healthy choices, trying to do some kind of work out even if it's yoga (which I used to think wasn't "intense" enough but now I find it really relaxing) and trying to eat right every day.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's good to know I'm not alone. I think there are a lot of people like that, especially women, who have great ambitions but we don't always remember to execute them slowly, day by day.

Yay I like our little club of yo-yo'ers, I think we can all stop being yo-yo'ers.

Hi mamaof2... you are already on the right track.

Hi elementzdesigns... I wish I had the long-lasting secret or I wouldn't be having this problem either. I think what everyone else has been saying... take things one day at a time and try to wake up thinking, "today I'm going to be healthy" every day.

Also, a tip that works for me is to do everything in small steps. I changed my Food diary preferences to three meals and two snacks and I try to eat at least 200 calories every two hours. I never feel hungry, but I never feel too full. Then once I get used to it I notice that I don't have those cravings for binges or for treats because those only come when I'm hungry and I haven't eaten in a long time. And I tell myself to do SOME form of exercise everyday... I remind myself that I sit at a desk allllllll day long so this is necessary for my health, weight, circulation, not to mention my big hyperactive dog that goes bizark if I don't get her outside every day!!

I used to be really extreme and say "I'm going to work out for 2 hours a day, at least five days a week, etc." and I *would*, for awhile... then back to nothing, because it seems so daunting and I get discouraged if I'm not super perfect. So instead, I try to be gentle with myself and not give myself harsh goals. I just say, I am going to exercise today. It could be a 20-minute workout at the gym, it could be a half an hour yoga video, it could be sit-ups while I'm watching the Office with my boyfriend... *anything* that gets my body moving counts. And of course I find that once I'm working out a little, it usually turns into more than I thought I could fit in.

So that's what I'm trying (again), starting today... every day I am going to ask myself, "are you eating healthy today?" "have you exercised today?" If not, "when can you fit in a little exercise?" I find that I have better results physically and mentally when I focus on the *health* part of it instead of the weight part of it, and when I'm easy on myself and congratulate myself for small steps instead of beating myself up over every "big" thing.

BUT take my advice for what it's worth because I'm still working on it... I hope I can keep feeling this way but now and again I just forget about all of this positive stuff and start eating whatever I want and not working out. I think by concentrating on every day, and remembering that chart where I *would have* lost 10 pounds by now if I had kept doing it slowly but surely... I will be able to stick with it this time. Good luck.

Thanks for the answers and especially for the "clicking point" answer ranaekline.

It's funny how we're all so similar... funny in a sad way I guess... I mean, I guess this really is the issue for many of us who can't seem to consistently lose weight or maintain our best weight.

This taking things one day at a time has been working for me for all of 2 days :laugh: ... but seriously I think this is the key. Even if I don't get to work out one day, or even if I goof and eat too many calories, I feel like overall I will be healthier and happier because I'm making a lot *less* of those bad decisions. And the next day I *will* work out or I *will* eat better, so I'll stay on track. I won't look at it like "I've messed up so it's all over now", like I used to do... like you, songbyrdsweet.

And it just puts me in a better overall mood. This morning I woke up and thought, okay, great, it's a Saturday, I can fit in as much exercise as I'd like. I went to the gym for over an hour and later I'm going running in the mountains. Woo hoo. I like looking at things positively and praising myself for things (like that hard workout I just did!!!!) rather than beating myself up. I really think this will work for me now. But I hope I am still singing the same tune in a month.

Angie Do you mean we should post daily to here, or somewhere else?

Well I lost a pound already... In 2 days. Is that good or will it bounce back b/c its so fast?

I ate well yesterday ecxept for a little bit of chips n salsa, a beer, and a cocktail at a party. I'm impressed with my new attitude where small treats like that are ok in moderation, just not all the time. I don't beat myself up over it, I just congratulate myself on having carrots and dip, a chicken sub, etc earlier and on working out a lot. Speaking of which, I did go running up very steep hills at the mountain yesterday with my guy and our dog. . That was after my Make the Cut workout. So I worked out hard for an hour and a half yesterday.

I'm off to start off the day with some exercise! Sorry for typos or shortcut words but I'm on my blackberry.