I fell off the wagon, trying to get back on, any advice?

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I need some advice, desperately. My resolution this year is to lose the 80lbs I've packed on over the past couple years. I was really gunho about losing weight about the first week of Jan and have been on and off about it since then.

However recently I've just been out of control, I haven't been tracking anything, I'm binging like no other, and I just can't seem to stop. If anything I'm putting on more weight vs losing it.

So, I just need some advice, how do I get out of this gross cycle of eating too much and not doing anything good for my body? I plan on starting my tracking tomorrow and hopefully sticking to it.

Any other advice?

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    You have to want this, and YOU have to go get it!
  • jenmom2myboys
    jenmom2myboys Posts: 311 Member
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    Yep, what Liftng said. You have to want it more than you want to eat. It has to be more important.
  • musicandarts
    musicandarts Posts: 187 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Sticking to a diet plan and losing weight involves many factors. Take a moment and figure out what is really happening. Are you rewarding yourselves with food after a hard day's work? Are you eating at night after dinner? Why are you not logging every day? Etc etc.

    Without seeing your diary or knowing you personally, it is hard to give concrete suggestions. When I started, I used my diary to figure out what food item I was eating a lot and stopped stocking it. I locked my refrigerator and pantry at 8.00 pm and gave the keys to someone else. I don't eat any low-fat or non-fat items; I drink whole milk etc, but stayed within my limit.

    In summary, there are no magic tricks. You may fail many times, but you have to get back on the plan immediately.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
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    You don't need help getting back on...JUST GET ON. And some days you may fall off a bit...DONT STAY OFF. GET BACK ON IMMEDIATELY. Don't fall for the "Oh I screwed up this day this week this month is a loss, I'll start again tomorrow, Monday, the first of the month..." NO! Just get back up dust yourself off and keep moving forward.

    You do have to want it so bad you can taste it. You have to want it more than the binges, more than the pity parties, more than ANYTHING.

    You have to do it, nobody else can do it for you.

    Oh and take "hopefully" OUT of your vocabulary. You CAN do it. You don't need to "hope" for it...you have to make it happen.

    Now get your butt back up there and get moving!
  • JimFsfitnesspal
    JimFsfitnesspal Posts: 313 Member
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    Agree. You have to find the motivation within yourself and make a choice. It has all been really easy for me after that.
  • haysavam
    haysavam Posts: 74 Member
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    My advice is this:

    Tune in to yourself mentally. Find out what makes you binge and make bad choices and then attack the cause of that.

    For instance, when I open the fridge, I wanna grab something quick and easy. I don't want to cut up a bag of peppers or carrots. Or spend extra time weighing them out. So, on the same day I purchase my produce (usually Sunday) I cut up everything. Celery carrots peppers cucumbers and cherry tomatoes and I make "veggie snack packs". There are about ten left in my fridge now. This means the rest of the week when I go to open the fridge, it is easier for me to say yes to a low calorie, nutrient dense food.

    Now, I have a hard time with peer pressure and I live with my big family. The other day there were literally five boxes of paczkis at my house.

    My brother danced as he shoved it into his mouth, and knowing I was trying not to eat any, he taunted me with it. I shoved my earphones on, played that problem song by that grande girl and made up my own lyrics to the paczkis. "I got one less pound without you", "I shouldn't want you but I dooooo, I got one less pound without Ya". I sang and danced through the kitchen, ignoring everyone else around me eating veggies. I may have looked like a complete dork, but I never had a paczki.

    Here's the thing though. I didn't just wake up one day with this kind of self control. It took me about five months to really get to know what was causing me to binge. And STILL I fail sometimes. My next weakness to conquer is social binging. And I've done it all in baby steps.

    Once you can figure out how to control your behaviors you will find you can do anything. Like quit smoking, run for 5 miles, and take a dance class.

    It won't happen over night. You will have bad days and it is ok to feel bad about binging. But don't wallow in that guilt. Draw strength from it. Tomorrow is a new day, and you can conquer this. Because this journey is not just about counting calories and losing weight, it's about being healthy and eating to live another day.

    If you need some friends for extra support, feel free to add me.

    Also, join some challenges on the forums, exercise, go to the gym and chat with people. AND most important MAKE IT FUN!!!!
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
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    Also, make sure your calorie goal isn't aggressively low so you aren't consistently hungry, thereby binging after a few days.
  • NavyVetLady
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    Try taking the weight loss one day at a time. Just focus on one meal or time period at a time. When I quit drinking, it was impossible for me to think of never having alcohol again in my entire life (which was going to be a loooong time). So I just looked at the next hour and said I wouldn't drink for that hour. Then it became two, then three, then a whole day, week, month, etc. Just baby steps. And like others have said, don't beat yourself up and quit just because you slipped once. It's a process, and you may have many stops and starts. That's ok. Be kind to yourself, but bring some discipline into the picture. You can do this!
  • SwankyTomato
    SwankyTomato Posts: 442 Member
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    A lot of great replies above! Totally agree.

    Here is my 2 cents and what works for me to get myself off the binge....

    No junk food in the house right now period. That does not help.

    However that does not mean I give up my treats and junk...I am just taking a break.

    Start logging. Then try and tweak your logs to add your treats back in.

    Buy a food scale. Invaluable tool. Really helps with portion control.

    Now your logs may not look pretty with "healthy foods" at first, but it takes time to develop it. I am two months in and my logs are finally getting better.

    I still eat junk food and fast food. The difference now is I fit them in my "calorie day".

    That being said i am on an extended potato chip break, lol. That is my achilles heel and i know it.

    You can do it. Just start logging everything and go from there!



  • akirah11
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    wizzybeth wrote: »
    You don't need help getting back on...JUST GET ON. And some days you may fall off a bit...DONT STAY OFF. GET BACK ON IMMEDIATELY. Don't fall for the "Oh I screwed up this day this week this month is a loss, I'll start again tomorrow, Monday, the first of the month..." NO! Just get back up dust yourself off and keep moving forward.

    You do have to want it so bad you can taste it. You have to want it more than the binges, more than the pity parties, more than ANYTHING.

    You have to do it, nobody else can do it for you.

    Oh and take "hopefully" OUT of your vocabulary. You CAN do it. You don't need to "hope" for it...you have to make it happen.

    Now get your butt back up there and get moving!

  • akirah11
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    I read this and this helped me . I am an emotional eater and when my husband went to the hospital I ate everything because I was stressed. I need to be healthy and u have to stay on track. This post was what I needed to read.
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
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    I fell off the wagon (I totally *hate* that expression, it makes it sound as if it wasn't my choice - of course it was up to me!) last year. This year I am doing much better. People have given you a lot of great advice, here's the top three that work for me, in order of importance:

    1. Don't eat too little. If you restrict yourself too much, it's easier to give up. If you eat a variety of foods and enough of them to feel satiated, there's much fewer excuses.

    2. If you fall, get up IMMEDIATELY. As people have said above. Getting back on track right after a fall will actually boost your confidence a lot and will make it less likely you fall again.

    3. LEARN EACH LESSON DEALT. So you binged. Why was it? Honest self examination, you don't have to tell anyone but you have to find it and tell yourself. Not in general, that particular time, why did you binge? Learn that lesson, apply it better in the future. If you binge again, find out why you did that particular time, learn that lesson. You cannot expect changes if you do the same thing again and again, you have to make changes to get changes and you cannot make them "blind", at least for me.

    Good luck!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    you have to want to do it and love yourself, more than you love food.

    no one can make you do it. it ALL comes down to YOU WANTING TO DO IT.
  • hem0218
    hem0218 Posts: 3 Member
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    First off, don't stress yourself out. You shouldn't rush yourself to lose all the weight in record speed. You should strive for a healthier lifestyle. Believe me, a few years ago, I lost 60 pounds in 4 months and, surprise, I gained it all back plus 20 pounds. Start with small goals.
    Here's a few tips:
    *Prepare your meals and snacks ahead of time. I know whenever I get busy with work, school, etc., by the time dinner rolls around and if I have nothing planned, I'll get fast food.

    *Don't drink your calories. Quit the sodas (even diet ones), be careful with drinks that contain a lot of sugar; juices, teas, even gator are.

    *Start slow with your exercising: don't burn yourself out. Start with 20-25 minutes of cardio for 3 times a week. If you feel comfortable with that after a few weeks, add 5 minutes to your time each day, or bump it up to 20 minutes/4 days a week.
  • cwagar123
    cwagar123 Posts: 195 Member
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    Time and patience... patience and time.
    I started out at 268 lbs in January 2013. As of this morning I am 202.
    that is 66 lbs, but it has taken 13 months.
    Figure out your TDEE and then subtract 20%.
    Good luck to you!
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
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    akirah11 wrote: »
    I read this and this helped me . I am an emotional eater and when my husband went to the hospital I ate everything because I was stressed. I need to be healthy and u have to stay on track. This post was what I needed to read.

    :) ♡♡♡♡
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    Get together with real life friends that also want to lose weight and track your weight loss together. That's what I'm doing. It's me and four other guys and we have set team goals. No one wants to be the weak link so we are all doing very well.