Hi Rachel!! I'm so happy to see you here. I've been wondering how you've been.

While I don't have a problem with bingeing (except occasionally junk food), I do understand the obsessive part. I can become obsessed with the scale. I'm a daily weigher because seeing the fluctuations makes me less bummed if I happen to catch a bad weigh-in when my behavior/net calories should warrant a loss.

When I re-committed in January, I decided instead of focusing on the scale, I'd measure success based on ONE goal each week (usually to eat within my MFP calories/stated macros.) I knew from experience the scale would eventually catch-up if the behavior was there. It was liberating, and it worked well/kept me sane. The weight came off consistently. Focusing on macros kept my head in the game too. It really made me conscious of WHAT I was consuming and helped me get a better nutritional balance.

I also suggest writing down a list of "what you've been doing" (your insanity comment) to lose weight. Make it as comprehensive as possible including how you've been thinking about food/weight loss. Is there ONE thing from that list it would be most helpful to focus on eliminating?

And finally, I know you've had issues with bingeing in the past. Be honest with yourself about whether professional help from a counselor is a good idea. Early intervention is a good idea with most things in life.

It's really great to see you back!

Emmie

Food diary. Tracking is my answer to almost every weight loss question.

I’m curious. What do you mean by obsessed over food? What are the things a person does when they have a healthy relationship with food?

Whatever the answers, put it all out of your head and track. If WW doesn’t count points anymore, count calories on MFP. Set yourself to lose 1 lb per week. If your brain starts telling you that 1 lb per week isn’t enough, tell it to shut up.

And don’t tie your weight loss effort to your Italy trip. Time centered weight loss goals are a bad idea. You just want to spend the time between now and January moving in the right direction.

Good to see you back Rachel! I look forward to hearing about your journey (you have lots of great advice here that really made me stop and think).

One step at a time! You've got this girl!

Great to see you back Rachel!

Hey, @Rachel0778 , sorry I missed this earlier. Great to have you back among us! I'm sorry for the challenges you're facing. Having just posted a few thoughts on yesterdays' LTL though, I wonder if your challenge can best be met with moderation. As I recall you were 'all-in' with both diet and exercise when you were here earlier. It I remember right, you were sometimes pretty hard on yourself (in my opinion) for small weight gains after having lost a pretty significant amount. I think I'm remembering correctly...

If so, I guess my advice would be to consider a path to sustainability in your own version of living the lifestyle. Going from being strict and stringent about weight loss to binging is going from one extreme to another. Recognize there's a whole world of moderation between the two endpoints and give yourself permission to work in that zone, daily. In fact, you can slide along that spectrum on any given day and mix up your "routine" so it's not routine, but custom-tailored to your needs (schedule, commitments, desires) for that day. I have really taken to heart the saying I first read here: "Persistence, not perfection." I think there's a lot of truth to it.

I don't believe this should be torture. After all, it's a choice (series of them) to live a higher quality of life. If it's made into something unsustainable, you won't get to appreciate so many of the benefits that come with life in a smaller body.

Welcome back--hope you find your 'sweet spot' to make this work.