Diet Fatique? What do you do?

pittdan77 · July 2015

I'd recommend you take a break if you want but continue logging. Two reasons, first, it's a good habit and second, you might surprise yourself at how well you do without the focus.

kshama2001 · July 2015

skinnyD2308 wrote: »

Hi Folks! Last year I made a commitment to track all my food intake and strive to eat under my maintenance calories more often than I eat over them. The results was 34 pounds of weight loss and I hit my tracking goal on June 1. I continued my tracking streak up until last weekend when I went camping and honestly I was just so busy having a good time, that I forgot to log into mfp and lost my streak. But if I'm really honest, even though I've been tracking my food since surpassing the 1 year mark, I am struggling to stay on track food wise. I feel like I'm in a total slump. I still want to lose 20 more pounds, work more diligently on my fitness, and most of all not undo my progress - but I'm just really struggling with staying on track.

Clearly I have not mastered emotional eating. My mom recently moved away and I'm pretty sure the emotions around that is part of the problem, but I think it might be a little of "I worked hard to get this far weight wise, shouldn't I be able to indulge a little now". I know this is counter-productive. My evening snacking habits are starting to resemble patterns that I worked very hard to change over the past year. The drive to eat beyond my needs feels a little compulsive, like I can't allow myself to have more success. I started out good yesterday and then had a 1300 calorie binge night. ug. Just having a hard time keeping up what was really coming pretty easily to me a few months ago.

I know I need to make this a lifestyle and really that was the whole point of committing to my tracking goals for a whole year, but now that I'm into year two and feeling just "blah" about the whole thing, how do I find my mojo again? What do you do when you get in a rut?

Yoga really helped me with emotional eating.

How Yoga Can Help End Binge Eating

One breath at a time, end the suffering of binge-eating

...According to Juliano, yoga gives people the skills to stay with what they are feeling, rather than turning to food to escape. People who are obese or suffering from eating disorders have a tendency to dissociate from their bodies -- to choose not to feel what they are feeling when they are angry, anxious, or sad. Often, they turn to food to numb themselves. "There's this sense that I have to feel better right now, " Juliano says. "There is a complete intolerance of what is happening right now." This need to escape unpleasant feelings triggers a binge.

When you eat to escape what you are feeling, you lose touch with the experience of eating, as well. This is one reason binges can spiral out of control. "You have no understanding that you are full, way past full, into uncomfortable, because you're so out of it," Juliano explains. "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone."

Mindful yoga directly challenges the habit of dissociating from your body and your present-moment experience. "The whole point of yoga is to stay connected to your body. You learn it through practice, through breathing, and through breathing through the sensations."

Read more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201007/how-yoga-can-help-end-binge-eating

azulvioleta6 · July 2015

I've been able to take occasional breaks and not get too far off track. I find that the key is to have a clear end date for the break.

I'm not an emotional eater or binger though, so YMMV.

Kalikel · July 2015

Have you been at it a long time?

I know after...I don't know how long, two years, maybe?...I was so very sick of it. The weighing. The logging. The ALWAYS having to think about the calories. For some of us, it's hard work. All the time, day after day, after month after year. I happened to hit a plateau. The weight loss got slower and slower and crawled to a stop. It was like the prefect storm, lol.

I just took a break. A long, long break, It took maybe a week before I could eat without wondering about calories, but then I didn't. No weighing, logging, thinking or worrying, I ate the same food in mostly same amounts, but I had more bread, lol.

It's the best thing I have done yet and I wish I'd have done it sooner. When I started up again, I was energetic and didn't mind weighing, logging and counting. I was happy to do it again. Best of all, the weight began coming off like it did before.

I checked with the doctor about the plateau. It happens a lot. Some experts actually recommend doing six months of dieting and then six months off for that very reason. There was never any doubt in my head that I'd go back to losing. I wasn't stopping or caving. I just took a break. Much needed and well-deserved.

I'm not saying you need a break. I'd hate to talk someone into it and have them stop losing and start gaining. I'm just tossing it out as an option. It worked so well for me, so I'm a huge fan of the break when it's needed.

Marilyn0924 · July 2015

SezxyStef wrote: »

I take a break every year...1 week.

I am typically in a place with no internet access so it makes it "easy" but lots of use take logging breaks and diet vacations...keep in mind it can be hard to come back but just make it a priority.

1 week vacation from logging
1 week after vacation to get back into the swing of things with just logging but not worrying about deficit
1 week getting to that deficit
back at it.

^^This^^

sjmay51 · July 2015

I am an emotional eater as well. Sometimes I leave the house if I start feeling the need to graze. Go for a drive, take the dogs for a walk. You know what to do. You have to want it just as bad again. You got this!! I have started brushing my teeth and flossing teeth after dinner which is finished by 6pm. I drink lots of water after dinner to stay full. If I am absolutely starving and need a snack, 1-2 tablespoons of LF cottage cheese does the trick.

skinnyD2308 · July 2015

Kalikel wrote: »

Have you been at it a long time?

...

I'm not saying you need a break. I'd hate to talk someone into it and have them stop losing and start gaining. I'm just tossing it out as an option. It worked so well for me, so I'm a huge fan of the break when it's needed.

I've been at it for 13.5 months. Only missed one day of logging (camping).

VintageFeline · July 2015

This is where I'm at too I think now. I'm just a bit fatigued with tracking although I'm well in the habit. Hitting my goal though has been trickier, I'm still doing it but I'm just not feeling it. So today at least I'm splurging. Chipotle for lunch (my first time, we only have a couple in the UK!), going to the cinema where I may have popcorn and then a treat later too. I don't know how many days I'll do this for but long enough to get my mojo back.

I did it with working out too, was struggling with my depression and just couldn't stick to my schedule. So took 4 days off and am now back at it as enthusiastic as before.

Diet Fatique? What do you do?

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