Getting Back on Track
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jjlewey
Posts: 248 Member
Many of you know that about 3 weeks ago I went on a vacation. It was the longest vacation that I had taken from work in over 10 years. My wife and I were gone for 10 days. We took a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas and an extended road trip traveling to and from the port. It was amazing in every way except in respect to my weight loss journey.
All told, according to the dreaded scale, I gained about 8 pounds in those 10 days. When I got back I was a upset with myself for that "uptick". On the second day of vacation while we were in Gatlinburg Tennessee I gave up even trying to log my calories. It was daunting sitting in the hotel room attempting to remember what I had eaten and drank during that day. While my wife is and has always been supportive I wasn't comfortable sitting at the table logging food while we were eating dinner. It was vacation, I wanted to be in the moment.
At home it just becomes routine, I log food as I prepare my meals for the day. I don't snack often so it is easier to remember everything if I had not pre-logged. Thinking back though I don't think that I overate to an extreme. If I would have measured all of my portions and logged all my food I was probably pretty close to my "maintenance" amount. While driving I would get subway or a salad during the day, and for our dinners I would find some fish option at whatever restaurant we were at. On the ship we avoided the buffet, mainly because the main dining room options were so yummy.
What got me in trouble was the liquid calories on the cruise ship. I normally am not a big drinker, rarely do we have any alcohol in our home. I can go months without drinking anything at all. On the ship, with a prepaid drink package, I definitely overindulged. Frozen fruity cocktails while sitting in the pool on deck make it easy to kill any calorie goal. Normally when we eat out I just drink water, on the ship I would always get a cocktail.
When we got back and I stepped on the scale for the first time I got depressed. It was frustrating, and I didn't want to log onto LL and tell everyone that I had failed. At first I did not even want to log my food again. I have gotten out of that funk though. I am back to logging everyday, making progress in the right direction. I missed reading all of the posts from everyone and getting all of the positive feedback. I find motivation from a lot of you, thank you for that.
All told, according to the dreaded scale, I gained about 8 pounds in those 10 days. When I got back I was a upset with myself for that "uptick". On the second day of vacation while we were in Gatlinburg Tennessee I gave up even trying to log my calories. It was daunting sitting in the hotel room attempting to remember what I had eaten and drank during that day. While my wife is and has always been supportive I wasn't comfortable sitting at the table logging food while we were eating dinner. It was vacation, I wanted to be in the moment.
At home it just becomes routine, I log food as I prepare my meals for the day. I don't snack often so it is easier to remember everything if I had not pre-logged. Thinking back though I don't think that I overate to an extreme. If I would have measured all of my portions and logged all my food I was probably pretty close to my "maintenance" amount. While driving I would get subway or a salad during the day, and for our dinners I would find some fish option at whatever restaurant we were at. On the ship we avoided the buffet, mainly because the main dining room options were so yummy.
What got me in trouble was the liquid calories on the cruise ship. I normally am not a big drinker, rarely do we have any alcohol in our home. I can go months without drinking anything at all. On the ship, with a prepaid drink package, I definitely overindulged. Frozen fruity cocktails while sitting in the pool on deck make it easy to kill any calorie goal. Normally when we eat out I just drink water, on the ship I would always get a cocktail.
When we got back and I stepped on the scale for the first time I got depressed. It was frustrating, and I didn't want to log onto LL and tell everyone that I had failed. At first I did not even want to log my food again. I have gotten out of that funk though. I am back to logging everyday, making progress in the right direction. I missed reading all of the posts from everyone and getting all of the positive feedback. I find motivation from a lot of you, thank you for that.
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Replies
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I am glad you decided to come back...I think your posts are very positive and inspiring...we went to Alaska years ago and I gained 13 lbs on a land and sea package....a lot of your weight gain is probably water and should come off pretty easy....don’t beat yourself up....I had a binge/ purge day about a week ago and I was ready to quit....everyone’s understanding and kind words got me back on track....you know this journey is possible, it’s just harder some days to stay focused and remember why we are doing this....stay strong!3
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You are not alone. I went on holiday this summer and was so careful, continued logging and still gained 6 lbs. I got so depressed I gained another 3. Don't beat yourself up. I was at goal so now I know it's gonna take me about 6 months to get back down (last ten pounds syndrome). Sigh. I refuse to quit though. I keep going back and looking at my before pictures and asking myself if I want to give up and go back and the answer is a resounding NO! I admire your courage to share your experience. Look at it this way, you had a great time, you know how to get back on track and you have done that. That's a win in my book!2
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The only failing is quitting. Even assuming some of it is not water weight which I believe could still be the case what is 8 pounds for you to lose? 2.5 - 3 weeks? When you get to some sort of goal at some future date do you think you will actually stop and care about the vacation that got away from you a little bit? Do you really believe you will care that you could have gotten there slightly faster?
Dude you are still early in the process and you took a very tempting vacation. I probably would have done worse. You don't change overnight so give yourself some grace. By the next vacation you will have a better plan for keeping it in line with where you believe it should be.
When I have alcohol it can take almost 2 weeks for all the water weight to finally go away.... keep that in mind.3 -
I agree with Novus, don't beat yourself up too much. The important thing is that you're back, trying again.4
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Welcome back! That's the hardest part done! Now you're back you know what to do. It would have been easy to throw in the towel but you've logged in, weighed in (and that's a massive step, sometimes I struggle to do that even when I've been logging) and you're back on track. Keep going. You've got this.2
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Thanks everyone, it means alot5
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Now can we get to the part where you tell us how much fun you had? Did you have anything new to eat you had not tried before? Have any fun excursions?
Some of us won't have a really good vacation for several months now. Living vicariously through you seems like a good idea.2 -
Learning to fail forward and deal with the counterproductive thoughts of perfectionism is a very important part of your successful permanent weight loss journey! WTG!2
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Nice to see you back and the holiday sounds amazing!
I had a big holiday for my 50th last year and put 6lbs on over the same period, and mine too was mainly down to the "fruit based drinks"......
But it isn't a failure, in any way, shape or form, in fact a gain should be expected - I think you did really well with only 8lbs.
You've got it spot on - you enjoyed your holiday, dealt with the implications and bounced back to restart your plan.
Real life includes birthday and holidays and all sorts of other events, learning how to fit them in and manage the situation is the key - it's a learning curve and you're doing great
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So glad you had a good time & thank you so much for sharing! I like that you see this as getting back to normal instead of starting over or starting again. That alone shows that there was no failure here. Actually, I think that the fact that you were able to not obsess about logging or the process or being perfect and were mindfully present with your wife is a huge success & evidence that you can live and enjoy life and still lose weight overall. A comment I read recently showed someone that the uptick will look like the tiniest blip on a graph in the long run. Remember that the goal is to lose weight most days. So, that means you're already succeeding!2
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Now can we get to the part where you tell us how much fun you had? Did you have anything new to eat you had not tried before? Have any fun excursions?
Some of us won't have a really good vacation for several months now. Living vicariously through you seems like a good idea.
It was amazing, as far as food went probably my favorite was the made to order omelets on the cruise. I love a good omelet and they had this "omelet bar" where they would custom make pretty much any omelet you could imagine.
On the ship I loved going up to the bow of the ship, yes I am corny, I did the Titanic pose a couple of times. The shows were amazing, we enjoyed the ice dancing show one night. We saw a couple comedy shows that were good. There is always something to do on the ship.
I watched Monday night football in the sports bar, it was similar to any buffalo wild wings or other sports bar. Lots of TVs, people cheering, high fiving.
Most nights we ended up in the "Latin American" themed bar. They always had live music and dancing. It was a lively "adult" place and I love some good tequilla.
One late night they had an adult only scavenger hunt in one of the clubs. That was a good time.
As far as excursions, we went on a tour of Nassau, that was ok, neat to see but I wouldnt do it again. Atlantis resort was amazing, and if you want to spend some money the shopping in downtown Nassau is pretty epic. We also toured a rum factory, they did everything by hand, no automation at all.
Perfect Day at Coco Cay is the highlight of the trip. The beaches were amazing, the humongous pool with swim up bar is an experience.
My favorite part of the road trip was our day in Stone Mountain Georgia. We happened to be there during the daisey festival. Which is basically a giant craft show. The monument is impressive, and the laser light show is neat.
We traveled with Royal Caribbean on Navigator of the Seas, I would recommend it to anyone. We had a great experience. Sorry about the book lol7 -
Glad you had such a good time...cruises are a lot of fun and you do get exercise walking all over the ship!1
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They must have really changed their private island because it was not nearly that nice when we went several years ago. If you bought a wooden cup from Nassau it may have bugs in it. We found that out the hard way. I think freezing it for a long period of time saved what left. We are going next Spring on RC.
Sounds like you had an amazing time and I am so impressed with you that you are back at it now. I was on pretty shaky ground when I first started this last time and I doubt I could have handled a vacation like that so early in my weight loss. You are stronger now that you have been challenged and returned. You may not see it but I do. That is how I got stronger and more sure-footed. I had many human moments but I kept moving forward regardless.2 -
@jjlewey You didn't fail mate, you went on holiday
Sounds like you had a wonderful time and you're right you wouldn't have felt right if you'd been tracking at the table. Imagine saying no to all those fruit drinks and now wishing you'd said yes but there's nothing you can do about it. You've done it the right way - said yes and now you can carry on losing weight. You'll get right back to it and be losing lb's as you were, before too long. 3 -
Thanks everyone, and yes @NovusDies they did a complete overhaul of the private island not to long ago, maybe last winter. It was the highlight between there and Nassau. We didnt buy anything wooden in Nassau, all we got was some souvenirs for our kids.2
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Can't help but notice that our dear friend @jjlewey hasn't logged for a bit. I hope he found another service or method he likes better and he is still moving forward.
I had him as a MFP friend until recently and I think he was still logging but never posted anything or commented...no idea what he is doing or how he is doing...I also hope he is doing ok...0 -
Getting back on track...
Sometimes you start getting over confident...you think you can continue losing weight without doing the things that helped you lose weight to begin with...you eyeball the size of food portions instead of measuring or weighing your food....you have a little extra butter on your toast and think to yourself that a little extra doesn’t matter...you eat a cookie or two and think that doesn’t matter because you will exercise later and burn those calories off...A couple of rest days from exercise turn into a week of sitting on the couch...you find yourself taking a little bite of leftovers here and there...
You become complacent because you have lost a substantial amount of weight...you look and feel better than you used to and you start thinking maybe you have lost enough weight...maybe you can eat like a normal sized person does and you really don’t need MFP any longer...after all your clothes fit better,you look better and feel better and you are really tired of reading labels and ingredients on everything you put in your mouth..
Stop!...this is how the beginning of the end starts!...it is easier to fall back on bad habits than it is to continue creating good habits...I am guilty of all of these things...I need to think about all of the progress I have made and how I got here!...I am so much stronger than I used to be mentally and physically...
Today is a new day...today is the beginning of the next phase of my weight loss...I have been waiting for the next part of my journey to begin...I have probably lost the easier part of my weight...now I need to step up to the challenge and find the strength to go forward !...it isn’t going to be rainbows and unicorns...it’s going to get rough and rocky...I will stumble and stray off the path more than once...but I am going to continue going forward not backwards....maybe not by leaps and bounds but by taking one tiny step at a time always moving forward....
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »Getting back on track...
Sometimes you start getting over confident...you think you can continue losing weight without doing the things that helped you lose weight to begin with...you eyeball the size of food portions instead of measuring or weighing your food....you have a little extra butter on your toast and think to yourself that a little extra doesn’t matter...you eat a cookie or two and think that doesn’t matter because you will exercise later and burn those calories off...A couple of rest days from exercise turn into a week of sitting on the couch...you find yourself taking a little bite of leftovers here and there...
You become complacent because you have lost a substantial amount of weight...you look and feel better than you used to and you start thinking maybe you have lost enough weight...maybe you can eat like a normal sized person does and you really don’t need MFP any longer...after all your clothes fit better,you look better and feel better and you are really tired of reading labels and ingredients on everything you put in your mouth..
Stop!...this is how the beginning of the end starts!...it is easier to fall back on bad habits than it is to continue creating good habits...I am guilty of all of these things...I need to think about all of the progress I have made and how I got here!...I am so much stronger than I used to be mentally and physically...
Today is a new day...today is the beginning of the next phase of my weight loss...I have been waiting for the next part of my journey to begin...I have probably lost the easier part of my weight...now I need to step up to the challenge and find the strength to go forward !...it isn’t going to be rainbows and unicorns...it’s going to get rough and rocky...I will stumble and stray off the path more than once...but I am going to continue going forward not backwards....maybe not by leaps and bounds but by taking one tiny step at a time always moving forward....
THIS. I've noticed that I've gotten a little back into my grazing/snacking habit lately. A small handful of cereal when I walk past the cupboard, a nibble of this, a taste of that... Finally I remembered that I either have to stop doing that, or track it all. And tracking all of those little tastes seems like a pain. So back to better habits.
You've got this @conniewilkins56!!2 -
Thank you!...it is so easy to slip off the path!1
