Feeling blue <---it's seems to be happening often

It can be done. I had 3 kids. I've gone from 223lbs to 130lbs. I am a size 4. It will take work and dedication and commitment, but it can be done. Don't give up. Push yourself and you'll see the results.

I just think of it as every day is a new day. I've re-started so many times, I can't count.

I hear you. I was very, very bad yesterday. I ate too much candy, drank too much wine, and polished almost an entire pizza all by myself. I feel like garbage today.
I don't look at photos of people that I will never look like. I, too, have had kids, and know that, no matter how bad I want them to, those stretch marks will never go away. I just want to look like I did in my clothes before I had kids...to a point. I had lost a lot of weight about five years ago (and put that and much more back on), and I remember catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, thinking "yes, this is what I'm supposed to look like". I felt better and looked better-why I went back to eating everything in sight is beyond me. I guess my point is, you probably look better than you think...be happy with what you are, not what some underfed, overpaid model is.
We can do this. Let's hop back on the wagon today and stop beating ourselves up for slips. It happened, it's over, nothing we can do can take it back. We'll get there!

I do not think there is anything wrong with eating pizza or a bowl of ice cream every now and then. My weakness has been my fat filled ice cream for the past month. I have the (2) scoops in the afternoon and then all i have for dinner is fruit like pineapple of strawberries. When it's time for my workout I say to myself I have to burn off what I ate and that is how I deal with my weakness for sugar.

I think you are being too hard on yourself, I think you should continue to exercise and never give up on that. Everything else will follow. Once you see how long it takes to burn off that pizza, you will think twice before eating again. Honestly, It takes me an hour of running to burn off my (2) scoops of vanilla ice with caramel and nuts, and I never think twice about eating it :bigsmile: I say to myself as long as I am exercising, my body will get healthier.

I have learned to take one day at a time, I wake up early and I go to the gym. When I started I used to have to fall out of the bed just to get up and 4 weeks later, I am awake before my alarm clock even goes off. You will eventually get to a point where you have to exercise.

You are a strong person and there is no reason at all to feel blue or guilty about anything. We are all in the sam MFP boat :bigsmile:

What is your loss per week set at?

I found a combo of slower loss and really getting into exercise to be incredibly beneficial to this weight loss thing, now I'm eating on average 2000 calories a day and can get away with the occassional slip up like that (even the pizza). It sounds like your current aspirations burn you out, my advice is to hang in there but allow yourself more wiggle room.

I started out pretty much exactly where you are...needing to lose about 100 pounds and having failed weight loss attempts several times. My brother even made a snide comment akin to "here we go again" when I announced that I was going to join WW 2 years ago. Thankfully, everyone else was pretty supportive (or at least didn't voice their negativity).

Something that helped me was to in terms of reality, health, fitness and the long-term. Sure you could try to avoid pizza and candy and pretzels but if you're like me, after 2 or 3 weeks of torturing yourself with cravings you think "screw that" and give up completely. The solution is to accept that these foods will be part of your life. You love these foods, why try to cut them out? The key is to learn how to make them a bit healthier (skip the meats, go for all veggie and thin crust for a start) and keep your portions reasonable. There's nothing wrong with having a handful of pretzels or a few mini candy bars either, just don't eat the whole bag.

Planning is a major key. I try to take time every weekend to plan dinners for the week while breakfast and lunch are pretty much always the same things (or at least around the same amount of calories) so their no brainers. This helps in two ways - one, if I've planned all my dinners out, i"m less likely to say "I don't know what to cook and I'm too tired, let's get take-out" because I've got hamburg or chicken that needs to be cooked or it'll go bad and I hate wasting food. ON the other hand, part of that planning is to include one night every week or two where we do get take out. This also helps because I can be good knowing that treat night is coming and I've got a night off from cooking coming too - both good things!

Exercise can help a whole lot too. If you're burning calories, that can help make up the difference for those little treats here and there.

If your goal is to eat cleaner, that can be tough with a hubby and kids who don't necessarily want to join in but you can make baby steps. Just don't try to dive in and give everything up in week one - that's just setting yourself up for failure IMHO.

ETA: Good luck and feel free to friend me!

Can't speak from experience regarding the larger pounds to lose, is it possible to feel sated on the stricter calorie deficit? But even with the bigger number, I think slow loss will be more sustainable - if you are losing slower, but not falling off the band wagon, then that's a win right?

Also, heartily endorse the comment suggesting healthier home cooked alternatives and getting into the exercise. You can do this, you just have to work out what you Can do consistently. :-)