The weight loss journey involves tripping over the occasional pie.

I hear ya. I do the same thing. Or I reach my goal and act as if I never have to moniter my diet again. 20 lbs later I have to do it all over again. This time I'm trying to convince myself I'm making a change for life. I should keep exercising as part of a lifetime plan. And limit the indulgences. And if I do fall off the wagon, it doesn't hurt as long as I get back on again.

I hear you. Today we are celebrating my birthday at work with an ice cream cake. I'm going to have a piece and it will put me over my calories for the day. Then this weekend, I'm going away for my birthday. I know I'll go way over on Saturday, but it's ok. My birthday is once a year. Sunday I will be sticking to my calorie limit. The key is to not give up! Cheat days happen and it's ok! You just need to get right back to it. It helps me to plan out my cheat days ahead of time. When the day's over, the cheating's over. : )

gpstreet wrote: »

Thinking back over all the times I have tried to lose weight I realise there is a pattern.
I start off with good intentions and fully motivated. I want to reach XXX weight after YYY time. I begin, I starve. I lose weight.
However then something happens. It could be something like, "I will rewards myself this weekend with a big pie". or "I am fed up with this diet and will indulge" or a change of scne like a holiday where self control lapses. Then it is the slippery slope back up to the usual weight.
I have been doing this diet for 20 days and last weekend was just such a lapse. I think I have managed to recover but my weight did slide up again. Wondering what I can do to avoid another lapse ?

Stop dieting. If you see this as a diet you will quit when you reach goal weight, you will always gain the weight back. If you are truly committed to a different way of interacting with food, then you will be successful. You'll quit worrying about a certain deadline, because there is no deadline - just the rest of your life being a healthy eater. When you let go of the deadline, you'll stop starving yourself and then binging. Instead, you'll choose a rate of weight loss that is sustainable for you. When you choose a rate that works for you, you'll be able to eat pie, cake, hot dogs, pizza, whatever floats your boat - because you will be fitting it into your calories. When you fit the foods you love into your calories, you won't need to binge. And if every once in a while, you have a massive, over the top, at a whole pie + ice cream + hamburgers + large slurpie kind of day, you won't sweat that either, because one day of crazy eating isn't going to make a difference to your weight in the grand scheme of things...