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

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

Congradulations on the compliment. Let that be your motivator to eat healthy and stay on track.

I believe the key to success is just to never give up. Keep working on it, and eventually you will succeed

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.

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).

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!!

A word of advice from experience: don't datestamp your weightloss goals, it could set you up for disappointment and frustration. Your body doesn't work on a schedule, and having a goal to lose weight by a certain date doesn't allow for the slip-ups and bumps along the way. It's better to have ability goals (run for 20 minutes straight) or clothing goals - take a dress or pair of pants that are a little bit too small for you right now, and try them on every week, let them motivate you by vowing to fit into them before summer, WEAR them when you are tempted to slack off or eat something you shouldnt.

Good luck!

I've followed every DIET... well a good fair few in my time... and the main thing I found is like you I got bored of following a regime that didn't really fit into my life. I spent the best part of 10 years yo-yo-ing.

Then I discovered MFP. Ok, so it's not a miraculous magic formula, but what I found here was I was eating ok... just WAY TOO MUCH.

I'd a good idea of what you need to do to follow a calorie-controlled food plan, but I'd no idea of the calorie content of the food I was eating nor of the portion sizes. After a week of "normal" eating I was horrified as how much I was eating without thinking about it - and that was excluding the chocolate, biscuits and other treats I used to enjoy (which I'd given up temporarily as a pledge to a friend to do without for 8 weeks before we went to our friends' wedding).

Thanks to MFP I've gained a better understanding of calorie consumption, as well as the ability to accurately log what I eat. I started to plan meals, cut out snacking between meals, and most importantly found foods I enjoy that fit into my calorie goals, but don't leave me feeling like I'm missing out. This helped silence the cravings that I used to get when following other proscribed DIETS.

Next, I discovered the pleasure of exercise. I had my newly acquired push bike and I started going out for bike rides. Then as winter approached, I joined a gym, not to workout on the machines, but because they had a pool. I reawakened my love of swimming and the buzz I got from swimming was fantastic. I went from being able to barely manage swimming 20 lengths to swimming 50, then 100 and last weekend I swam 5km (200 x 25m) for a charity Swimathon.

What keeps me on track. Looking at my fat pictures and thinking I don't want to be that size ever again. Looking in the mirror and seeing my flabby belly and moobs and wanting to get rid of them so that I look as good naked as I do clothed. And clothed now I feel fantastic. I've lost 10" from my belly and can shop in regular stores. I'm now an L and the XXXs are a thing of the past. I feel fantastic and I never tire of the compliments I get from family and friends and colleagues.

But I want to be an M, so I shall continue eating well, swimming, cycling, walking and enjoying life :happy:

Because if you don't enjoy life, it will seem like a chore and you will be more inclined to give up.

So, if you're still with me... don't give up... find the foods you love and build them into your calorie goals... find exercise that you actually enjoy doing rather than feel you have to do... and learn to love life again. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

BUMP