How do you all do it?

bigguygettingskinny · September 2017

How do you all stay on track for long periods of time. I was doing good for a few days then today happened. 2 sandwiches on white bread with processed lunch meat processed cheese and mayo. Then half a bag of crispers and half a tube of pringles. Now my bp is up and making my head screwy.

It happens every time i have a few good days and my bp comes down just a few points and i start to feel better then i do days like today.

How do you all keep on track. Please no smart remarks I know I messed up just looking for advice to not make it happen again.

Need2Exerc1se · September 2017

I don't do it every day. Even now that I'm in maintenance I have days where I overeat. This weekend was a reunion and I overdid it by quite a lot. Now I'm bloated and will need to diet for a few days before going back to maintenance. That is just life.

When you are "on track" what type of diet do you eat? You mention high BP so are you on a lower sodium diet? Do you eat a good variety of foods and include a few treats? Do you eat enough so that you are not often hungry?

Heather4448 · September 2017

As with everything in life, it becomes easier the longer you do it. That being said, I screw up frequently. " Log it and move on."
Now-- you-- need to be careful with your salt intake apparently. Buy low sodium chips and lunch meat.

mmapags · September 2017

If you find the right way of eating and macro mix for you, it is not really hard. Sometimes you have to look and the compulsions or emotional issues that drive binge overeating and sort that out to progress. We all have them.

janejellyroll · September 2017

I log it, take any lessons available to learn, and move on.

Hardly anybody is perfect and meets their goals everyday. The important thing is to get right back on plan the next meal and have more days within your goal than outside of them.

gearhead426hemi · September 2017

You have to really want it. I think eating right and staying active is more mental than physical. Everyone needs to find their motivation and drive for everything in life. If your kids are your inspiration for wanting to be healthy so you can play and run around with them then focus on that. If you want to be healthy to live a longer happier life then set some long term goals like one mountain bike race or fun run a year until you can no longer finish them. Find what motivates you and use that as your inspiration. It will be different for everyone. Best of luck!!

ISweat4This · September 2017

Stay focused, keep logging your meals and don't give up.

cwolfman13 · September 2017

I'm a fitness and nutrition junkie...I live a life that is in large part fitness driven and I enjoy quality nutrition...but I'm also a realist and realize that I'm not going to be "on" all of the time, nor do I need to be. I enjoy eating pizza once every week or two...I enjoy hitting the pub after rock climbing and drinking a cold beer to wash down my fish 'n chips. Not everything is all the healthy, all of the time...nor does it need to be...hell, even my trainer who is a retired professional athlete isn't bang on all of the time...went out with him a few weeks ago for sliders and tequila shots...

I tend to look at the bigger picture...what am I doing most of the time? What I am doing most of the time is what matters. Having a pizza with my kiddos on a Friday evening isn't particularly material to my diet and life on the whole...Getting fish 'n chips or some other pub grub once or twice per month isn't really material to my life on the whole. Missing a workout here and there because life happens isn't particularly material to my life on the whole...I think you get the point.

As long as I'm doing what I need to be doing most of the time, I consider that to be "on track"..."on track" isn't really an all or nothing proposal.

Also, when people struggle with "healthy" eating, it is often because they have a very myopic view of "healthy" and they tend to have a very bland and boring diet...don't do that...nutritious can also be very delicious.

_BlahBlah_BlackSheep_ · September 2017

Meal planning. Prep your meals in advance - pre-portion/weigh them and pre-log it all every day. Then eat what you brought/made. It's easier if you don't have to think about what to eat before every meal, and if you know you have snacks during the day that fit your goals.

rainbow198 · September 2017

I'm a planner. I plan out my dinners one week in advance and I have an idea of what I'm eating for breakfast and lunch. Winging it with my meals did not work for me. Planning keeps me in control.

I learned my trigger foods and eating patterns and worked with it.

I keep snacks and treats out of my house for the most part. If I want some I'd either have to make it from scratch or go out and get buy it.

Those days when I overate in the past I tried to identify what went wrong. Did I not eat enough? Was I depriving myself? Overexercising maybe? etc. etc.

Also I really wanted this. So I had to find my own path for this weight loss thing to be successful.

Stay strong and good luck.

CMNVA · September 2017

I mess up a LOT. I overeat at least two times a week. However, what you described is probably NOT something I'd do. Every food you described probably makes your crave foods more. White Bread? LOVE IT (with PB&J) but it just does NOT come into my life anymore. DO NOT BUY IT anymore. That sort of eating leads me right to the chips and other things that naturally go with it.

We all have days that we slip and eat something that seems to derail us but I think you probably need to plan a little better. You might eat more than you should here and there, but you need to work on not having things that are your trigger foods so easily accessible. Not trying to lecture or shame you, but you did ask how we do it.

amusedmonkey · September 2017

Like everyone else I stay the track by not expecting to stay the track all the time. This is what my life is now, and if I don't bend with what my days throw at me from time to time I'm not being realistically serious about doing it long term. In my opinion, weight loss is much more about learning how to live life while working on my goals instead of the other way around, trying to bend life to fit my goals. Not going to happen. I believe in tweaks, not 180s. At least for myself, someone who is lazy and loves food.

Are you restricting too much or eliminating foods needlessly? You mentioned white bread and processed meat as things that you felt derailed you. You'll serve your diet best if you don't eliminate something unless you feel doing so makes dieting easier, not because someone somewhere said white is bad and processed is evil. I really hope you were just listing foods you overate to illustrate that you overate, and not to point out that you felt derailed because of the kinds of food you overate. Dieting does get easier with time, but it gets even easier when you don't create unrealistic or arbitrary rules for yourself. I just use this litmus test: is this something that has the potential to feel natural to me and I see myself doing long term?

bigguygettingskinny · September 2017

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Like everyone else I stay the track by not expecting to stay the track all the time. This is what my life is now, and if I don't bend with what my days throw at me from time to time I'm not being realistically serious about doing it long term. In my opinion, weight loss is much more about learning how to live life while working on my goals instead of the other way around, trying to bend life to fit my goals. Not going to happen. I believe in tweaks, not 180s. At least for myself, someone who is lazy and loves food.

Are you restricting too much or eliminating foods needlessly? You mentioned white bread and processed meat as things that you felt derailed you. You'll serve your diet best if you don't eliminate something unless you feel doing so makes dieting easier, not because someone somewhere said white is bad and processed is evil. I really hope you were just listing foods you overate to illustrate that you overate, and not to point out that you felt derailed because of the kinds of food you overate. Dieting does get easier with time, but it gets even easier when you don't create unrealistic or arbitrary rules for yourself. I just use this litmus test: is this something that has the potential to feel natural to me and I see myself doing long term?

The process meat I said as it is full of sodium and I have high blood pressure and am suppose to not go over 1800mg ish. Same with the chips.

CMNVA · September 2017

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Like everyone else I stay the track by not expecting to stay the track all the time. This is what my life is now, and if I don't bend with what my days throw at me from time to time I'm not being realistically serious about doing it long term. In my opinion, weight loss is much more about learning how to live life while working on my goals instead of the other way around, trying to bend life to fit my goals. Not going to happen. I believe in tweaks, not 180s. At least for myself, someone who is lazy and loves food.

Are you restricting too much or eliminating foods needlessly? You mentioned white bread and processed meat as things that you felt derailed you. You'll serve your diet best if you don't eliminate something unless you feel doing so makes dieting easier, not because someone somewhere said white is bad and processed is evil. I really hope you were just listing foods you overate to illustrate that you overate, and not to point out that you felt derailed because of the kinds of food you overate. Dieting does get easier with time, but it gets even easier when you don't create unrealistic or arbitrary rules for yourself. I just use this litmus test: is this something that has the potential to feel natural to me and I see myself doing long term?

I agree with all this--it just sounds like these types of foods are trigger foods for the OP; hence, one type of food led to another and he overate. I recommend avoiding those foods until you get better control of your eating. Sounds like he's just a few days in.

muffle1969 · September 2017

My best friend gave me some advice years ago... if there is something you really want, go ahead and have it. If you don't, you're going to have a bunch of other stuff trying to avoid it, then eventually have what you wanted in the first place anyway. Then you're in worse shape than if you'd just had what you wanted first.

That is one way how I avoid messing up. I like ice cream. So when I want it, I try to plan in 260-ish calories so I can go to Brusters and get a small sugar cone. And if I go over on a given day, I try to make sure I get good exercise and do well on other days that week to try and balance it out.

I try to look at whole weeks and not just a given day. That way if I screw something up, I don't have to totally beat myself up. Instead I have to opportunity to fix it and move on. Besides, time is going to move whether I screw up or not. So I may as well make the best of it and do better next time.

Best of luck to you!

Need2Exerc1se · September 2017

bigguygettingskinny wrote: »

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Like everyone else I stay the track by not expecting to stay the track all the time. This is what my life is now, and if I don't bend with what my days throw at me from time to time I'm not being realistically serious about doing it long term. In my opinion, weight loss is much more about learning how to live life while working on my goals instead of the other way around, trying to bend life to fit my goals. Not going to happen. I believe in tweaks, not 180s. At least for myself, someone who is lazy and loves food.

Are you restricting too much or eliminating foods needlessly? You mentioned white bread and processed meat as things that you felt derailed you. You'll serve your diet best if you don't eliminate something unless you feel doing so makes dieting easier, not because someone somewhere said white is bad and processed is evil. I really hope you were just listing foods you overate to illustrate that you overate, and not to point out that you felt derailed because of the kinds of food you overate. Dieting does get easier with time, but it gets even easier when you don't create unrealistic or arbitrary rules for yourself. I just use this litmus test: is this something that has the potential to feel natural to me and I see myself doing long term?

The process meat I said as it is full of sodium and I have high blood pressure and am suppose to not go over 1800mg ish. Same with the chips.

Cook and slice your own meats for sandwiches. This is what I do for my hypertensive sandwich loving husband.

hoffman2300 · September 2017

There's so much wisdom here! Many people already said "It happens. Log it and move on". They're SO right.

And @CMNVA also had a great suggestion - if it came from your house, don't bring it in anymore. And if you do, log it and move on! You can do this!

kommodevaran · September 2017

Are you sure you need to eat in a certain way for your blood pressure? Could it be that it increased because you felt you had messed up?

I have lost and gained repeatedly, and it didn't stop until I decided to stop going on and off tracks and trying to be good and hoping to be able to keep up "healthy eating". In fact, what I peceived as healthy eating, was aiming to cut out as much sugar, salt and fat as possible, ad eat a lot of vegetables and whole grains, but I overdid it, so it became a restrictive diet, and after varying amounts of time, I couldn't take it anymore, and binged, because I had felt deprived, and binged more, because I had binged.

Now I understand more. A good diet is not about eating perfectly - moderate amounts of treats will not wipe out the effect of the vegetables I eat, and healthy eating is not just about having a healthy diet, it's about being confident and relaxed around food, while at the same time being able to make overall good decisions.

To be able to make overall good decisions, I need to be prepared, though. So I plan my meals, and schedule grocery shopping, and I cook from scratch. To be able to continue to do this, I need to plan meals I actually want to eat, and when I do that, I want to shop for ingredients (instead of bringing home random impulse purchases). I'm a decent cook, partly because I allow enough fat, sugar and salt to make my food taste great, so I enjoy cooking. Because I allow myself to eat what I want, and can make great food, what I want is mostly a wide variety of real, home cooked food, and sometimes a storebought treat.

This forms a chain reaction, or a feedback loop, or a self-regulating system, or whatever you may want to call it. All pieces are necessary and they fit together. We can offer suggestions, and general advice, but you have to find your own personal loop.

steveko89 · September 2017

Don't beat yourself up for having a misstep, just don't compound that single occurrence by throwing in the towel and punting on the whole day or week. Setbacks, poor choices, circumstances out of our control all happen, just do what you can to mitigate them. This is a process, use each hiccup on the way as a learning experience of where your pitfalls are and how to avoid them. Like others suggested, don't buy certain foods any more, plan out meals for the day in advance, lay out workout clothes the night before, pre-pack your gym bag, etc. I learned I needed to stop carrying around small bills to force myself not to get something out of the vending machine when I was bored at work at 3pm. Motivation and will power only get us so far, create a structure of habits to keep you on track when your willpower starts to wane.

DX2JX2 · September 2017

Also - get rid of the foods you know you have problems with until you know you are in better control of yourself. Out of sight, out of mind.

I totally avoided pizza (and didn't order it for the family) for the first three months of my weight loss efforts. It's simply one of those foods that destroys my willpower and I knew I was better off without it.

jdlobb · September 2017

I forced myself to do it for the first few weeks, the longer you force yourself to do it the more it becomes a habit. Now if I don't log something I feel guilty and anxious.

the very act of logging all of my food also helps me make better choices, because I can see them front and center, in real time. I'll start to log something and say "nope, that's not gonna work" and eat something else.

How do you all do it?

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