Losing my will power...:(

nurseaim · May 2011

OMGosh, I haven't a clue what is wrong with me. I've been doing so well on my diet. All of a sudden...this weekend, I seem to have lost my will power.

I'm scared...I'm halfway there and I'm cheating. Not just cheating, but letting myself down. It's like I don't have any control over it. Kind of like an out-of-body experience. I see myself doing it (eating the ice cream or the cookies) and I just can't stop myself. It's horrible.

How do I re-gain my will power? Please help me find my will power, my woman power. Please tell me there's a way to salvage this and continue to lose. I have 20 lbs left to go.

Sorry, not trying to be dramatic...I'm seriously scared.:embarassed:

Any ideas and/or advice will be most welcomed. Thanks.

natskedat · May 2011

Without keeping your food diary public, it's difficult to see whether your binges are motivated by a caloric or nutritional deficit somewhere in your diet. Deprivation in dieting leads to binging.

If you're at a plateau and simply frustrated, please read this. It may help explain why weight loss has stopped.

www.fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com

shinypinkpolish · May 2011

When I feel this way it honestly helps me just to sit down and make a list of why I started this in the first place...Even if you don't write it down just think and visualize everything you hated before you started and everything you look forward to! It's all a mental thing and you need to take control. You can do it!!

Ljc3 · May 2011

Same here...its not worth it tho! We have got to get it together! Fresh start tomorrow?! I vow to stay within my calorie goal and do sone sort of movement besides work for 30 min tomorrow! U with me on this? :flowerforyou:

Jess6901 · May 2011

Sometimes you have to cheat a little. There's nothing wrong with that...just try to not go too over board. Just keep your head on straight and get focused on your goals. You can do this! Add me if you want...we can keep each other going! Good Luck! :flowerforyou:

jilld76 · May 2011

I think we all have days and weeks like that. I don't have the perfect answer for you, but I think it's important to reflect on where you were when you started and how far you've come. Remember all of the reasons why you started this journey and why they are important to you. The only person that can get you back on track is you. Think about all of the pounds you lost and how hard you worked and how you don't want to have to work at losing them all over again.

You can do it!!! Have faith in yourself and your strength! Sometimes I find that mixing things up a bit helps me too, starting a new workout plan or activity, trying to focus on cutting out sugar for a week, etc... sometimes that's just enough to change my mindset.

Good Luck!!

SimplyDeLish · May 2011

Maybe look at this process from a different angle...this is a healthy lifestyle, NOT a diet. There is no such thing as needing will power (it fades for everyone). You are making healthy choices because you want a healthy happy life. If you want a cookie, eat ONE.

You have to want healthy more than you want junk.

Hope this helps! It's the only thing that has gotten me to this point.

mamaw53 · May 2011

How about just trying to sustain your weight loss for awhile? My doctor says that the AMA recommends that you should not lose more than 10% of your body weight at a time. After you lose the first 10%, try to maintain that weight for 6 months. By then your body will be use to that weight and then losing an additional 10% will be less strain for your body and more doable. This is what I am doing now and it seems to be working really well. I can't believe how much more I can eat now-just maintaining my weight loss!

nurseaim · May 2011

Same here...its not worth it tho! We have got to get it together! Fresh start tomorrow?! I vow to stay within my calorie goal and do sone sort of movement besides work for 30 min tomorrow! U with me on this? :flowerforyou:

I'M WITH YOU...MORE MOVEMENT AND I TOO VOW TO STAY WITHIN MY CALORIE GOAL.

Thank-you. I needed to yell it for myself. Hope you didn't mind.:blushing:

Tiggerrick · May 2011

First of all, don't panic. There is nothing wrong with having a few things that you enjoy. Denying yourself may just make it worse.
Remember, this is a life style change, not a short weight loss solution, so you will have days where you are over your calories.
Fill you house with healthier snacks. Fruits, vegetables, whatever it is that you enjoy having.
Continue to log all your food. You may actually have a few calories at the end of the day to have that cookie or ice cream that you are craving.
Drink more water, specially before a snack. You might feel fuller faster.
Try and work out BEFORE having that bad snack. You may realize that your work is not worth that snack.

StaciHills · May 2011

Mine is gone as well! I took last week off. I went on vacay for my one year wedding annivesary. I just got a treadmill, an older one but it will do its job. I gained back the 7lbs I lost. I am ready to do this again. I have too! I liked what I saw 7lbs ago. If I can do this, you can do this!

CallejaFairey · May 2011

i think those that deny themselves certain types of food have a harder time of it. i eat ice cream, i eat cookies, i eat out and don't choose the lowest cal thing on the menu...why? because it fits into my day

that's the key, fit these treats into your cals for the day, and you will be less likely to crave them. there is no point in eating healthy if it's not something you can maintain after you lose the weight, and if you can't maintian it, well...it all comes back. so go ahead and have those treats, just make sure you record them in your diary.

Jlennhikes · May 2011

The more you beat yourself up, the harder it will be to get back on track, IMHO. It's not like you have a drop-dead deadline. So you overate today or a couple days, and then you get back on the program, and eventually you meet your goal. You're not a failure. You're a success. Build on that instead of piling on when you backslide a little.

Grimmerick · May 2011

This is going to sound a little unorthodox, but I don't offer suggestions that I haven't tried for myself. I was having the same problem and my friend is kinda a hippie and she meditates. She turned me onto a Kelly Howell Cd for weightloss called Sacred body. It has theta brain waves so you have to use a headset, I use my ipod. You listen to it for 30min everyday for 3-4 weeks, and you relax and meditate and listen to her voice. I swear after the first week and a half I haven't had a problem with my self control. It repatterns your brain by introducing new thought patterns while you are in a relaxed brain state. You can try it. It really did work for me and I still use it. It might work for you. Good luck

JMun · May 2011

Sometimes I take a planned break and up my calories just so I can relax a little.
Other times I binge eat for no apparent reason and struggle to regain control.

Just remember what your long term goals are and if you need a break you deserve one.. and when I say break I don't mean pizza and ice cream for a week :blushing:

mackiest · May 2011

I can relate to that "out of body" feeling. Some part of my mind calmly takes over for long enough to satisfy a craving, and then retreats to leave me to deal with the frustration and guilt of cheating. I have no advice other than to hang in there and no matter what happens treat the next moment as another opportunity to refocus and recommit to your goals.

A good book that deals with how to handle setbacks while trying to make changes in your life is M.J. Ryan's "This Year I Will". In a nutshell, there is no "cure" for setbacks. They have to be accepted as a very *normal* part of making any difficult change. The only question is how you react to them.

dmzampatti · May 2011

Make it fun (again?) and you'll soon get back on track.

I have absolutely no will power, but I like winning, so I try to make every day a game and set out to win it. Mind you, like an athlete, I know I can't win every game, so if I blow a day here and there, or a weekend once in a while, I don't beat myself up about it. Just ride the numbers, be really anal about measuring your intake, beat your daily target and things will turn around on the scales as well.

Exercise is THE key. I'm in Australia, where we have a more sensible base diet with fewer carb/cal "traps" (I lived in the States for five years and am still recovering from the cheese and cream and the nuts and the sugar etc) and, really, the only reason we (I mean I) get overweight is lack of exercise. You want to win a day? Get on your bike for 30 minutes. You want to stay on top of the game on holiday? Make sure you have a half-hour walk on that beach or down that canyon. It's easy and it's fun - you don't have to smash yourself for two hours at some expensive poseur gym (I suspect most gym jockeys really struggle to keep their weight down, or worse).

jnchorn · May 2011

Hi there. I read Dr. Phil's weight loss solution book a while ago. He said that willpower is fickle so you have to set yourself up for success. Have a battle plan in motion. Keep tempting foods out of the house entirely. Set up go to activites that do not allow you to eat. And have others keep you accountable. You can do this. Every once in a while is a good thing, but only once in a while. Good luck!!

Charity

auntiebabs · May 2011

See where I can make small changes on things that weren't that important to me.
(Don't even think of taking chocolate out of my diet!!!)
--Reducing quantities where I won't notice it so much
--Swapping out things instead of eliminating them.

Then every couple of weeks I see where I can make another couple of small changes.
If you completely revamp your diet, it's way easy to revert to old ways in times of stress.
If you make a series of small changes, food still offers you some sense of comfort.
sort of a comfort continuum, and after a while the first small changes will seem comforting in themselves.
You don't have to be perfect you just have to do better.

Rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

Once I found ways to lessen the stress, I found it way easier to focus on the process and let the results follow. (It's what worked for me some people need the stress to get them motivated. Me I get scared and overwhelmed and don't see the big goal as acheivable. I only worry about it 1 lb at a time.)

auntiebabs · May 2011

boredkickapoo
When I feel this way it honestly helps me just to sit down and make a list of why I started this in the first place..

SimplyDeLish
Maybe look at this process from a different angle...this is a healthy lifestyle, NOT a diet. There is no such thing as needing will power (it fades for everyone). You are making healthy choices because you want a healthy happy life. If you want a cookie, eat ONE.

mamaw53
How about just trying to sustain your weight loss for awhile? My doctor says that the AMA recommends that you should not lose more than 10% of your body weight at a time. After you lose the first 10%, try to maintain that weight for 6 months. By then your body will be use to that weight and then losing an additional 10% will be less strain for your body and more doable. This is what I am doing now and it seems to be working really well. I can't believe how much more I can eat now-just maintaining my weight loss!

Tiggerrick
First of all, don't panic. There is nothing wrong with having a few things that you enjoy. Denying yourself may just make it worse.
Remember, this is a life style change, not a short weight loss solution, so you will have days where you are over your calories.

CallejaFairey
i think those that deny themselves certain types of food have a harder time of it. i eat ice cream, i eat cookies, i eat out and don't choose the lowest cal thing on the menu...why? because it fits into my day that's the key, fit these treats into your cals for the day, and you will be less likely to crave them. there is no point in eating healthy if it's not something you can maintain after you lose the weight,

JMun
Sometimes I take a planned break and up my calories just so I can relax a little.

Lots of good advice here :-)

nurseaim · May 2011

I really wanna thank everyone for their great advice. Each posting made me feel more centered in it's own way. I appreciate you all for your kind words of encouragement. Thank-you...it's a great feeling to have such support. :flowerforyou:

Losing my will power...:(

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