Self Sabotage...... what the hell is that about??

I can't say I have an answer for you but I completely understand. I guess the way I deal with it is to try to reduce the damage I do when I get in one of these ruts. If I eat something or skip working out a day or two, I don't say well what difference does it make I have already blown it. I say to myself today I will do better for me. I know it is lame but it seems to help me.

Scared of change. Scared of what the weight loss would mean. And I read one time that after a while of losing weight, your body will try to sabbotage you by sending cravings like never before etc etc. Kind of like "after all my hard work of saving up that weight for a famine, you deliberately take away my storage?!?!?" Your body's pissed but what you need to do, is be more pissed. Tell your body what its going to do. Tell yourself why you're doing it. Look in the mirror when you are working out and remember what the point was in the first place. Always helps me. When I was starting to get a bit of a double chin, I took a pocket mirror with me to the gym while I was on the treadmill, so everytime I thought about quitting I would look in the mirror and be more determined than ever lol. And when I lost weight before I took around a notebook and wrote each day why I was working out that day. (Ex. to be in a size 3, to see definition in my arms etc)
Hope all this helps! Good luck!

When I blow it, I make myself log it into my public diary for every one to see.
It has actually made me stop before I embarrassed myself by overeating.

I have a tendency to eat something forbidden and then think, "might as well make a day of it." With logging, I have a deterrent.

We tend to look at food as an all or none concept. For instance "today was a terrible day, I ate blah, blah... " or "I was great on my diet today". I think it sets us up for failure.

Personally preferring to live with much smaller servings, healthier, cleaner (not processed or refined) foods. Lots of exercise and activity. I really like to be in control of my life. Recommend that you try to find positive influences and educate yourself on food and exercise and especially on what YOU like and want out of this. Then go towards it, forgiving and forgetting discrepancies along the way. :flowerforyou:

I can relate to your post,......and YES,.......weight gain and the struggle to lose is hugely tied to our minds, not just our stomachs.

Im not an expert, but Ive thought about his often, and other new initiatives or habits that people start and don't stick with. I think that when people get down or stressed they lose focus and are 'mindless' about what they do,....or fail to do.

Think about it, we don't pick up pizza or cake and say to ourselves, Im about to wreck my diet ,...or......"hmmmm what can I eat right now that will make me feel like a failure afterwards ? "
Point is,....we don't think,......we just wallow in whatever gets us down or upset ......whatever starts distracting us from our goals takes over our thoughts and before you know it we are not thinking about excercise, or how many calories we've got left for the day, or any of the other positive things we should be.
The key is to not let the mindless, blackouts accur,......I find personally that writing things down, tracking with MFP is PURPOSEFUL, and forces me to be in the "now" and honest about what Im doing. ) Remember that eve4ry day is a new start and a chance to be better than you were the day before

To skpresley20- Can you think of a suitable substitute that would have less guilt associated with it and more satisfaction? For me it's vanilla yogurt with a spoonful of chunky peanut butter. Or have the cookie and be happy with a smaller serving?

When I blow it, I make myself log it into my public diary for every one to see.
It has actually made me stop before I embarrassed myself by overeating.

I have a tendency to eat something forbidden and then think, "might as well make a day of it." With logging, I have a deterrent.

I NEED to do this, but I am SO embarassed to do so lol

guess thats why it works so well huh?

Do you ever find yourself thinking about food and how much you would like to eat something even if you are full?

Any ideas how to turn off or control those thoughts?

I just read my post and it sounds terrible, but at the beginning when I was depriving my self of foods I was used to and loved I was obsessed with them.
After a few months their hold on me lessened. So even though it sounds terrible, it is what worked for me till my body didn't crave them any more.

Good luck!

For those foods you crave when you arent hungry I have a bit of a helpful hint. One day I was craving pizza hard core. Well I went to a local place that I love, ordered, and waited for my pizza. Well the place was full of the smell of pizza and by the time my pizza was ready, I honestly didn't want it. It felt like I drank up a whole pizza just by smelling it. So say you're craving chocolate or something sweet, what about those candles that smell like cookies or something like that? I read an article that just smelling a food can ease your craving and it worked for me!