What do you do when you feel discipline slipping

Also, sometimes you really need to change things up to stay excited about everything. I've been a bit blah lately so I've been working on starting weight lifting. It's a process because I don't have space for a home gym and most of my local gyms don't have the equipment I need. But even the search for an adequate gym is giving me that boost I need to keep going.

I try to remember how horrible I feel when I go off track and put on weight. Most the time that works.

Well, depends where you are in the process and the nature of the slips. It's not possible to be mistake proof. If you keep a food journal make sure everything gets logged in, even when you've made mistakes or had lapses.

I think the foundation of discipline it trust in your process. Negative thinking and doubts make it harder to stay on track. Fight back.

Wherever you are in your journey, start over like day one. Redo all the math. Check all your assumptions about how many calories you're eating and burning. Be determined.

I've a long history of sabotaging myself or just slipping off track and "forgetting" to log/diet. And then finding myself 3 weeks later and totally off plan.

I'm sticking with it this time. The one thing I do when I can feel myself on the edge of packing it in is ask myself "Why?". Why do I want to pack it in?

Usually it's because I've had a bad day and I want comfort from food to perk me up. But I know now that food doesn't usually make it better, it doesn't take away the bad day or the feelings. So I decide that's not a good enough reason, and I deal with the bad day in other ways.

Sometimes I feel like I want to pack it in because I'm feeling restricted or deprived. So I think about what I'm maybe deprived of - have my carbs/fats been too low, have I had enough veg, have I said no too many times to my fav foods, am I not happy eating something new? I think on it, and i tweak. I either add it in, tweak the food portion or I squeeze in extra steps so I can eat more.

Goals are really important too, have a few mini ones just a couple of weeks apart.

The idea others have had of going on maintenance is really great too, might borrow that one myself in the future!

You can do this!

I read through threads here or look for before and after photos, look for people that have proved that healthy habits are sustainable.
You will make it! Remember we all have bad days. I have weeks where I slip, and I just pep talk myself back using whatever way possible.

I also visit the before-and-after threads for motivation, and if I'm feeling bummed about the scale, the non-scale victories thread.

The suggestion to keep old, less flattering pictures around is a good one too. Having the visual reminder of how unhappy and less healthy I was really helped me stay on track in the past. I'm going to dig up a few again.

When I'm crashing, stuck, not interested, I aim for maintenance because for too many years I've bounced up in weight, and my goal is to not do that anymore. I'm currently in maintenance after losing half my intended weight. I've been here for 4 months. That's OK because I haven't gained so the next thing is to pat myself on the back, put in a little more effort to this process, and start losing again.

But, it isn't a race and I weigh less than I did last year. My main goal was to "master maintenance" this time around and I'm starting to get that it's up 3 pounds and down 3. It's not "I made it so now I can stop logging and go back to lousy eating habits", which I've done twice before on mfp.

Taking a step back and then saying, "okay, what healthy habit can I try to pick up?" Slip-ups happen, sometimes you need a break from thinking about food, but when I try to shift the focus to self-care instead of self-deprivation it gets easier to stick with things and maintain self-compassion. My life has been really stressful always (overachiever in the 5th year of my degree at an elite institution) but I'm aiming to stop using that as an excuse to mistreat my body. Sometimes I think I deserve the punishment of being unhealthy, which is obviously not a healthy or productive mindset to be in; so that's what I think about when I feel myself slipping.

I definitely agree with mixing it up (food or exercise-wise) - it's so easy to get in a rut. And also with setting new goals. Instead of saying "I want to lose 5 pounds by next weekend," say "I'm going to exercise for 30 minutes 4 times this week" or "I'm going to lift weights at least twice this week." Helps with healthy habits and feeling successful!