What derailed you?

I'm in a similar situation as MisterZ. I've been overweight most of my life and I don't want to put blame on anyone, but it's from bad habits I had growing up.

My parents never taught me proper nutrition or exercise. It was always fast food or deep fried foods.My parents would often buy the cheaper version of something without bothering to look at how much nutrition was actually in it. My dad also had a nasty habit of sneaking me treats. He would bring me home a chocolate bar every night after work. He worked some weekends so that's at least 5-6 chocolate bars per week. (If I remember correctly it was either Aero bars or Jersey Milk bars). Plus he would make me chocolate milk with extra syrop when I wanted something to drink before bed (instead of say, a glass of water). My mom was just as bad, whenever I went grocery shopping with her she would buy me some candies that was near the cash. Some of the supermarkets offered free cookies to children so naturally I had some every single time. My parents also gave me desert every night after dinner. That was usually a giant bowl of ice cream topped with chocolate chips, sprinkles, chocolate syrop or sometimes I'd have a couple of cookies. The entire time it was encouraged that I basically just sit and watch tv. I was never given a bike to ride as a kid and whenever I asked about doing anything physical it was always a "you'll give up within a week so it's not worth it" attitude.

I did become self aware of healthy eating in high school and tried really hard but with work and the odd hours after I graduated it just never really worked out. Last year when I was rejected for my dream job I took it hard and gained almost 30lbs in two months by binging on chocolates. It wasn't until I stepped on a scale back in March saw my weight and cried. I decided to stop being upset by the rejection and to do something about how I was feeling. I started to switch things around in my life near the end of March and I've never looked back. I figured out why I was overeating and I believe I found an way to overcome it.

I look back at how I was raised and am seriously surprised I don't have any medical problems. I should seriously be diabetic or something with the amount of sugar I ate as a kid.

Nothing really derailed me. I just kind of gave up. I'd lost 60+ lbs and was very near my goal weight when I got tired of doing it. I stopped working out. I ate whatever and however much I wanted. I gained it all back plus 20lbs.

Looking back I kind of wonder if it wasn't because I considered myself on a diet and got tired of dieting. Trying hard to switch to the lifestyle mentality this time around.

nothing derailed me because i would quit before i ever saw any results

i compare it more to a push lawn mower. may have taken a couple of pulls to get it started, but once i did i cut the whole lawn in one go

I was on Weight Watchers in the winter/spring of 2012 and I lost almost 35 pounds, reached my goal weight, and made Lifetime Member. I was thrilled. Then came August, when those of us who work in schools are often on vacation, and I told myself I'd have some fun on vacation and then get back into tracking when the school year started. Uh uh. Didn't happen. I figured since I'd slid so far I might as well keep sliding, and I went back to my frat-boy eating habits (not becoming a 50-year-old woman). So, short answer, laziness and lying to myself derailed me. I'm hoping to do better this time around.

Impatience derails me.
Getting on the scale and not seeing the results I want to see, when I want to see them, is a big part of that.

Trying to be perfect derails me.
Having an all or nothing attitude about food. I'm either dieting or completely off the rails.

Comparing my food plan to others' plans.
I have to stick with what I know I can handle food-wise, not someone else's version of what works for them.

Impatience is the biggest reason for my derailments out of the three, though.

In the time I've been farting around on here, many people that I had as contacts reached their goals, which were similar to mine. So, had I been patient with seeing results, I could've easily gotten to my goal weight as well.

Instead, I give up over and over at the first sign of discomfort or no movement on the scale.

So I wish I had stuck with it, even after I felt like a failure for bingeing once too often or if I didn't see a number on the scale that was pleasing or if it just felt plain hard to do one more day.

The ONE common denominator I see with the successful people on here is that THEY DIDN'T QUIT.

Mostly depression/ptsd/stress.
And having to move 3 times in one year.

I wish I would have realized what was happening to the body I'd worked so hard for. But even then I'm not sure if it would have mattered. Prescriptions for the anxiety/stress/depression made me more zombie-like than anything. And, I just didn't care enough to eat right or workout.

In college I went clubbing (actually dancing, not just rubbing my butt on men) most weekends, swing dancing 2-3 times a week, and I played ultimate Frisbee 1-2 times a week. I started drinking and stayed active, so I stayed trim.

I met my now husband and upped the drinking a little and got rid of almost ALL of the active lifestyle I had before. I wish I had kept up with a lot of my hobbies.

I am back at swing dancing now, but I could have improved so much more in the past 3 years if I had kept at it. It also didn't help that I substituted active hobbies with all you can drink beer/wine festivals. Still, they were a lot of fun.

I gained all my lost weight back because I stopped caring about myself. I lost weight but got some health problems, and that made me think that I might as well give up, because obviously I'm not getting healthier.

This time I know what's wrong with me, I have support by my neuro and I have the proper meds, I eat more calories and I'll focus on strength training rather than cardio which I really dislike. It may take longer but that's okay.

Another problem for me is that I eat whenever I'm bored. After I eat I feel guilt and think that it doesn't really matter now if I eat 2-3 more sandwiches since I already had 2..
So yes, I guess I eat my emotions. I don't work so plenty of time to eat during the day..

Birder155 wrote: »

Impatience derails me.
Getting on the scale and not seeing the results I want to see, when I want to see them, is a big part of that.

Trying to be perfect derails me.
Having an all or nothing attitude about food. I'm either dieting or completely off the rails.

Comparing my food plan to others' plans.
I have to stick with what I know I can handle food-wise, not someone else's version of what works for them.

Impatience is the biggest reason for my derailments out of the three, though.

In the time I've been farting around on here, many people that I had as contacts reached their goals, which were similar to mine. So, had I been patient with seeing results, I could've easily gotten to my goal weight as well.

Instead, I give up over and over at the first sign of discomfort or no movement on the scale.

So I wish I had stuck with it, even after I felt like a failure for bingeing once too often or if I didn't see a number on the scale that was pleasing or if it just felt plain hard to do one more day.

The ONE common denominator I see with the successful people on here is that THEY DIDN'T QUIT.

All of this, exactly all of this!

Thank you for putting this out there

Leaving a bad relationship, meeting someone new, moving to a third world country... Yeah, I lost focus on my weight loss goals. I recognized that I was losing focus and I decided just said "screw it" and took a break after losing 120 pounds with 85 pounds to go. It's been about a year of maintaining my 120 pound loss and I'm trying to switch gears from maintaining back to losing. In the past 5 months combined I've lost a total of 5 pounds. This month I've made it a goal to get my *kitten* together and lose 6 pounds. Sometimes I wish I hadn't taken the break... If I hadn't taken my break I'd be at goal right now BUT, I really did need it.