Why is it SOOO hard to stay on track????

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Tanya8373
Tanya8373 Posts: 16
in Health and Weight Loss
HELP! I have been using MFP for about 2 months and working out since Feb. 2012. I have tried every 'diet' under the sun for my entire life and I always do great the first 3 months, then I completely fall off the wagon!!! I feel great and look better, but my motivation just disappears!! How do you guys stay motivated and keep up the great progress? The past two weeks my eating has regressed into old habits and my exercise has gone from 4 x week to 2 x week!!! I feel totally defeated AGAIN! :sad:
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  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
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    Have you tried planning your meals a day ahead? It's a good way to make sure you stick to them and never fall off.
  • xyril
    xyril Posts: 80 Member
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    The key is to not think of it as a diet. Eat in a way that you can maintain over a long period of time. Like for example: I used to eat take out all the time, then I slowly started replacing take out with home cooked meals. Started with just one meal and then I started making what I eat comes from home. Now, I still have a meal out every so often BUT the change was gradual. It took me a year to finally get my head on straight about making a change.

    Every so often, I fall off track but then I get right back on. It won't happen over night so don't stress on it so much. :)
  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
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    The key is to not think of it as a diet. Eat in a way that you can maintain over a long period of time. Like for example: I used to eat take out all the time, then I slowly started replacing take out with home cooked meals. Started with just one meal and then I started making what I eat comes from home. Now, I still have a meal out every so often BUT the change was gradual. It took me a year to finally get my head on straight about making a change.

    Every so often, I fall off track but then I get right back on. It won't happen over night so don't stress on it so much. :)

    Ya, that's good advice!

    Don't dwell on one mess up, because in the big picture it really is nothing, but you can make it a problem by letting it beat you.
  • Tanya8373
    Tanya8373 Posts: 16
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    Thanks! I think I must have adult ADD! LOL! I get bored and ready to give up too soon!! I did not get this way overnight, and I keep trying to remind myself that I will not get fit overnight! My trainer said if "you have a bad day... that day is gone and start fresh tomorrow!"
    I guess I am just stressing that vacation is in 31 days and I wanted to be at a certain point and I feel like I will never get there!!
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    In addition to planning your meals, as dg09 suggested, have you structured your life to minimize bad choices? Do you buy and bring food home that's not on your eating plan (as far I'm concerned, it's a "diet")? Is your life organized to make fitness a priority?

    It's a boring process. The difficulty is a major reason why I've tried to stay on top of my weight. I don't have a huge amount of discipline. I'm always starting and quitting exercise programs. But I've done them enough to get some benefit.

    Now I have an excuse. I hurt myself exercising and it's apparently going to take months to recover.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    When you get used to eating at a 500-1000 calorie deficit (1-2 pounds of weight loss targeted per week), going slightly overboard once in a while just doesn't matter that much. If you want to go out and have a big dinner at a restaurant, just do it and log it, and move on to the next day. When I have a day like that, I probably still wind up at a deficit by the end of the day, even if it's less than I had planned.

    Just allow yourself little pleasures now and then, so you don't feel like it's so hard that you give up completely and start binging.
  • sapphireblu64
    sapphireblu64 Posts: 42 Member
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    Hey Tanya, yes it is hard staying on track so much good food out there soooooooooooooo very tempting . I just started just MFP this is my 2nd week now. I understanding about falling off the wagon again and again. i want to lose 20 lbs and every time a lose a little a get happy and eat the weight back on. This time i believe is going to be better because of mfp, Do you have some family or friends you can get to work with you or join mfp too. Also plainning your foods in advance will help. I look forward now to signing on everyday so try not let a day go by without signing on to mfp so you can get your need encouragement. Most important is keep up your good work and don't give up, take one day at a time.

    I hope this has help you a little bit. Im going to send you a fr i hope you will accept it .
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    you were on your old track for 38 years. stick with the new track...it takes time and dedication to leave our old tracks.

    good luck
  • violetsue
    violetsue Posts: 54 Member
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    Don't give up. This is a great site for motivation. I agree, meal planning helps a lot. Try not to diet. It's too hard to maintain such low calorie restrictions and sets you up for failure. Also, plan healthy snacks that won't blow the calorie budget. I know it's hard, but you can do it. I strugggle too and find that I do pretty well as long as I keep the right foods in the house. Better to blow it with lower calorie high fiber healthy foods. I tryto look up restaraunt menus before I go out so I already know what I am going to order and how much I should eat. Remember, none of us are perfect, all we can do is try.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    The key is to not think of it as a diet. Eat in a way that you can maintain over a long period of time. Like for example: I used to eat take out all the time, then I slowly started replacing take out with home cooked meals. Started with just one meal and then I started making what I eat comes from home. Now, I still have a meal out every so often BUT the change was gradual. It took me a year to finally get my head on straight about making a change.

    Every so often, I fall off track but then I get right back on. It won't happen over night so don't stress on it so much. :)

    ^^this^^^
    Think of a way you can eat healthy FOREVER and do that. For me it was just a matter of learning what was healthy. But whatever you choose, it has to be something you can do forever. "Mediterranean" works well for me. Not eating processed foods works well for me. Find what works for you.
  • Tanya8373
    Tanya8373 Posts: 16
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    Last night my husband said, "You are looking great!! Don't know if it is the outfit, or the working out, but you look nice today." FINALLY, he noticed!!! That really helped my feelings alot! He is not one to pay compliments very often, so I felt really flattered! Now I want to keep going and just wanted some positive reinforcements from MFP. Thank you all for your responses and suggestions!
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
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    This time I started by looking at what has failed for me in the past. From that I worked out what might work this time for me. The biggest difference this time is my head, I want to get healthy more than I want the pleasure the food gave me in the past.
  • violetsue
    violetsue Posts: 54 Member
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    Congradulations on the compliment. Let that be your motivator to eat healthy and stay on track.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    Last night my husband said, "You are looking great!! Don't know if it is the outfit, or the working out, but you look nice today." FINALLY, he noticed!!! That really helped my feelings alot! He is not one to pay compliments very often, so I felt really flattered! Now I want to keep going and just wanted some positive reinforcements from MFP. Thank you all for your responses and suggestions!

    Feels great, doesn't it? :happy: My wife has said similar things. Inside, I still have that "I dunno, I still look fat to me" reaction, but I'm trying to get over that. Someone at work noticed as well, which was pretty dang cool.
  • balogda1
    balogda1 Posts: 21 Member
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    I believe the key to success is just to never give up. Keep working on it, and eventually you will succeed
  • Drastiic
    Drastiic Posts: 322 Member
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    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-dieters-fail-diets.html

    If you take the attitude that anything less than absolute perfection is a failure, you’re pretty much doomed from the start.
  • glennstoudt
    glennstoudt Posts: 403 Member
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    HELP! I have been using MFP for about 2 months and working out since Feb. 2012. I have tried every 'diet' under the sun for my entire life and I always do great the first 3 months, then I completely fall off the wagon!!! I feel great and look better, but my motivation just disappears!! How do you guys stay motivated and keep up the great progress? The past two weeks my eating has regressed into old habits and my exercise has gone from 4 x week to 2 x week!!! I feel totally defeated AGAIN! :sad:

    Plan food and stick to it. 80% of weight loss starts in the kitchen (or not).
    Exercise sounds too much like work.
    Find some things you like to do and do them every day. I just logged 90 minutes of gardening. Yes, it is not chronic cardio but it burns calories. As long as your exercise gets your HR at 55-75% of maximum, it's cardio. It's almost a myth that if you don't beat yourself up you won't make a steady path toward a realistic goal. Just not true. Make it fun and you are more likely to do it.
  • CharityEaton
    CharityEaton Posts: 508
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    Use salad plates for your meals....if it doesn't fit on the plate...you don't eat it!

    Fill your plate with lots of veggies some lean meat and some fruit or a small amount of startchy carbs.
    Drink an 8 oz glass of water before your meal and make sure you can drink a full 8 oz gass of water AFTER your meal...if you are to full to do that then you ate too much.


    Keep baby carrots and fresh fruit handy in the fridge so you can grab those instead of other snacky things when you get the urge to snack.
    Baby steps...don't get up one day and deprive yourself from everything. Start by reducing your servings. Read the label and measure out a serving then decide if you can maybe cut that serving in half....chances are you won't even notice the smaller portions...especially if you are eating plenty of veggies and fruit and make sure you eat a protein with each meal....something with more than 5g of protein per serving (peanut butter doesn't count in my opinion...it's a snack not a protein)
    Greek yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese and of course lean cuts of meat are the best sources of protein.

    Hang in there! You can do it! Be pateint with yourself and just stick with it. There isn't a person on MFP that hasn't had a "bad" eating day from time to time. The important thing is that you get back at it as soon as posible! One day is not ging to mess you up...it's the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of bad eating that mess you up!
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    HELP! I have been using MFP for about 2 months and working out since Feb. 2012. I have tried every 'diet' under the sun for my entire life and I always do great the first 3 months, then I completely fall off the wagon!!! I feel great and look better, but my motivation just disappears!! How do you guys stay motivated and keep up the great progress? The past two weeks my eating has regressed into old habits and my exercise has gone from 4 x week to 2 x week!!! I feel totally defeated AGAIN! :sad:

    Plan food and stick to it. 80% of weight loss starts in the kitchen (or not).
    Exercise sounds too much like work.
    Find some things you like to do and do them every day. I just logged 90 minutes of gardening. Yes, it is not chronic cardio but it burns calories. As long as your exercise gets your HR at 55-75% of maximum, it's cardio. It's almost a myth that if you don't beat yourself up you won't make a steady path toward a realistic goal. Just not true. Make it fun and you are more likely to do it.

    Exercise doesn't even really have to be "cardio" to log it. Anything that increases your TDEE over the activity level you estimated should be counted. That's why I use the FitBit, so I don't have to try to figure out which things to log; it just keeps track of how much walking and stair climbing I've done, and adjusts the numbers for me. Mowing the lawn with our push mower and trimmer seems to be good for around 200-300 calories, according to the FitBit (takes about 2 hours to do the back yard).
  • Nerdy_Rose
    Nerdy_Rose Posts: 1,277 Member
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    Because nothing worth having or achieving is easy.

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