What are the main reason behind your failed diet attempts?
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FitnessOCD wrote: »Because I didn't have MFP. Ever since getting this app, I have been crushing it!
Me too! I intend to keep logging forever. I've never enjoyed myself so much, losing weight effortlessly while eating sweets every day. It motivates me to keep going.2 -
I've only really backslid twice. One of them will be 3 in February and the other will be 6 in April. Hard to believe I first joined MFP more than 7 years ago! After each kid it took a while to be physically & mentally ready to start losing again.4
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vegaslounge wrote: »For the most part, the whole "diet" mindset and fads as opposed to knowing actual science "prevented" me from losing weight as I had no understanding of CI<CO or even calories. I grew up in the age of Susan Powter, SlimFast, Wow! chips, Alli and Snackwells and God knows how many more in between, it seems that every few months in the '90s there was a new product or plan on the market and I tried them all.
The worst was Atkins because that was popular when I was a teenager and so it's the one I remember the clearest. If my mother went on a diet the whole family went on a diet (I literally remember her saying, "we have to completely revolutionize the way [our family] eats") and those were the most miserable three months of not only mine, but all of our lives. I love bread– it's undoubtedly my favorite food– and by week three, no kittening you, I was about ready to shank my best friend over the hunk of bland baguette she was mindlessly chewing in the high school cafeteria.
Now, I eat everything I like to eat (especially bread
), I just weigh the right portion sizes and don't go over my limit for the day. I see it as a budget, the same as with my finances. Honestly, this is so much simpler than the crazy crap I was doing for so long. It takes so much more mental stress to adhere to arbitrary diets than it is to...eat less and exercise more.
Crazy, I know.
~VL
I relate to this so much...plus you made me laugh several times. Susan Powter (forgot about her) shank your best friend!! Lol. Hysterical.2 -
Anytime I try a very specific fad diet I eventually give in cause I start craving whatever it is I can’t have. I was doing really well in a very well balanced diet and exercise routine that I was doing with a group. When the group changed the time we all met to work out I couldn’t go and then didn’t establish a routine to continue. When I am working to loose weight it’s easier for me to keep up with eating right when I am working out. I’m not sure if it’s a mind game I play with myself but I feel as if my body starts to crave more nutritious foods and I also say to myself I worked to hard at the gym to binge on donuts. So I fell of my diet when I quit exercising1
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I haven't yo-yoed like some. I moved to the US from the UK when I was 23 and a combo of the food supply and lifestyle immediately led to weight gain. It was creeping, but I went from normal weight to 40lbs too much over the years. My first attack was working out and eating well but I don't think I had a handle on the CICO back then and had picked a pretty arbitrary 1500 cals to stick to. I also had a pretty permissive doctor who prescribed me Adipex instead of discussing my lifestyle with me. The weight came off real fast, but of course it went back on. I stayed active but ate however I wanted, and ended up a sort of fat athlete - like sort of "in shape" sport wise but a big girl. I practiced all kinds of self acceptance and honestly wasn't unhappy with my body in big ways until one day I just decided to see what it would be like to just really get the weight down and get a sick fit body. I think the idea of turning 40 and just being "whatever" wasn't appealing. I'm 11 months maintaining so far and still working on the physique.2
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »I haven't yo-yoed like some. I moved to the US from the UK when I was 23 and a combo of the food supply and lifestyle immediately led to weight gain. It was creeping, but I went from normal weight to 40lbs too much over the years. My first attack was working out and eating well but I don't think I had a handle on the CICO back then and had picked a pretty arbitrary 1500 cals to stick to. I also had a pretty permissive doctor who prescribed me Adipex instead of discussing my lifestyle with me. The weight came off real fast, but of course it went back on. I stayed active but ate however I wanted, and ended up a sort of fat athlete - like sort of "in shape" sport wise but a big girl. I practiced all kinds of self acceptance and honestly wasn't unhappy with my body in big ways until one day I just decided to see what it would be like to just really get the weight down and get a sick fit body. I think the idea of turning 40 and just being "whatever" wasn't appealing. I'm 11 months maintaining so far and still working on the physique.
This bit made me laugh out loud!2 -
1. I like food.
2. I have problems with self-defeating behavior in general and love to start things but rarely finish them. This is as much a psychological thing as a laziness thing for me.
3. If losing weight is a problem I am constantly battling, then I don’t have to worry about the really hard problems like sorting finances, planning for the future, being a better person, etc. It’s almost become my go-to distraction technique.5 -
Too restrictive usually! and this feeling that you had to exist on rabbit food....doh! how silly a notion that was!2
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honestly? stress eating, for the most part.. some people lose their appetite when dealing with anxiety/feeling down, I'm the opposite of that...0
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Plain and simple - my love of all things greasy, sugary and/or baked goods. I KNOW what I am supposed to stay away from. I just have to reach a point where my motivation to be more fit exceeds my love of bad foods.1
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I tend to be a perfectionist. I can't "get food" perfectly. So, when I was trying to lose, I would wait as long as I possibly could to eat and then eat as little as possible and as "clean" as possible. I was motivated by shame and self-hatred and insecurity. Then I would end up feeling sick and discouraged, so I would give up. Then those same negative emotions and motivations I had used to try to starve the fat away pushed me towards over eating and gaining it back plus more. It has always been a cycle of negativity for me where fat and food were the enemy. I feel differently this time around. I am try to approach food with a goal of balance, nourishment, and for the purpose of enjoying my life. I still have those negative body issues in my mind, but I am really trying to shut them up and remember that there is no perfect with food. I am also trying to separate food from emotion. You can do this. We can do this.
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I've never yo-yo'd...and really only ever made one real attempt to lose weight which was successful. I made one half assed attempt years ago mostly in support of my wife, but I had put on a bit of weight (not much) and she wanted to do the low carb thing...I was miserable and lasted two weeks at most.
As a general observation I'd say that people tend to be overly restrictive, they tend to feel this need to make whole sale changes overnight, and they have an all or nothing mentality.4 -
Emotional and stress eating overcoming self control. And then what does one more bag of chips matter, I'm fat again anyway. I'll get back on track next week. Rinse and repeat.2
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Trying to eat too little.3
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bump0
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I believed that weight loss was about clean eating and I love food too much for that. Then I discovered MFP and weight loss became a way of life1
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I lost 24 pounds last year with MFP's help. I was doing SO good, then I just got tired of exercising and wanted to eat whatever. I'm an emotional/stressed/bored eater, so that made it worse. I simply got lazy. And I gained it all back very quickly. I'm hoping this time it sticks for good, because I know what to do. I'm just choosing not to do it, and that's the problem.2
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What caused each and every one of my failures was trying to diet in a way I could not maintain for life. I only succeeded when I learned how to eat for the rest of my life to maintain a 100+ pound weight loss.3
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I was miserable. Most diets are too restrictive for me, I was just not happy having to give up things I enjoy.0
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Inattention on my part. When I stopped paying attention to my diet and forgot my goal, my diet failed.2
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bump1
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Thinking too black and white, all or nothing. This time I am forgiving myself, focusing on health and sustainability, and carrying on no matter what happens. Also running out of healthy food. Im trying to be more flexible now.1
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For me...it was mainly because I didn't take the time to get to know myself well enough. I just jumped in and started counting calories, making what I thought were good choices in food and not asking myself what I wanted out of this change in diet. Everything was working fine and I lost over 75lbs. Everything was working until...it didn't.
This time around I have spent more time by taking a look at what I enjoy eating, what I wanted out of this experience and where I saw it fitting into my life down the road. I have taken time to look at my good habits and my bad habits. Kept some of them and then started working to change the others.
While weight loss is definitely important to me it is only just a part of changing myself. I don't want to just exercise in order to burn a few more calories. I want to eat and exercise in a way that will help me get to where I want to be. The big picture for me is getting to a point where I can enjoy life...do things that I have always wanted to do and finding a way to do all of this without being miserable. What I do now affects what I will be able to do in the future with however many years that I have left.
To sum it up...find a way that gives you what you want beyond losing weight. Find the motivation but mostly find the discipline to achieve what you want.
One of the best quotes I have read recently..."If you are tired of starting over...stop giving up.".2 -
My failed attempts were mostly due to lack of knowledge. I never really understood calorie deficit until I joined mfp a few months ago.
I was also an emotional eater. I've finally got a handle on that.3 -
I did not weigh often enough. Because of this I did not see the consequences. I did not weigh because I wanted to eat, I got the scales out this time!3
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Alcohol.
And not just the alcohol Cal's. If I have one drink....then I will delete an entire day's worth of cal restriction with every bad snack in the cupboard. One drink is all it takes.
So, when I'm sincerely trying to lose weight I have to cut alcohol entirely. (Although I can maintain weight with alcohol in diet.)
On the positive side, if I go 100% dry I can consistently lose weight. And then having a drink becomes the incentive to get the weight loss work done.
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All my failed diets failed for the same reason. After a binge, I didn't get right back on the horse the next day by weighing in and eating right. I could write a thick book going into more detail but honestly, that's the whole thing in a nutshell. I've learned.6
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At one time I dropped a alot of weight a couple of years ago. Went from 340 to 199. Around 20 pounds away from my goal weight. Well while physically I did everything right, I didn't prep myself mentally. So now I been hanging around 260 to 280. If I had to pick one thing tho that contributed to the weight and not losing weight would be alcohol. I gotta stay away from that if I'm have any success again, along with seeing a therapist and staying on my meds4
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I lost 100 pounds, for the first time in my life I was hot. I got out of a bad marriage, got some friends and had an absolute ball. All the partying, trips away and hectic life gradually let it all creep back on until I wasn't so hot anymore.
Now back at it with a more balanced view, I'm no longer either on a 'diet' or eating and drinking everything in sight. This time is forever 😊5
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