in need of some support/advice for staying motivated
I stayed my journey this April at 317, hit a small plateau but broke it 2 weeks ago reaching my lowest weight since April of 282. Things in my life got pretty stressful in my personal life, I got sick and things just became even more stressful today as my bf found out today that he's been laid off. I've been stress eating and I need to break this bad cycle. I keep trying to start the day out weight l right but they've been ending horribly. I'm sure at some point in the weight loss journey people have hit this rough patch. For those who have and would like to share their story, could you please let me know how you broke through this phase? It would really help. Thanks in advance. I want to keep losing, but I'm losing my motivation
Ugh, I SO know that feeling! I've been sick on and off for weeks now and have had a lot of stress going on. I also have a vitamin D deficiency which is unfortunately leading to winter depression. It's a pain in the *** and it makes it really hard to make good choices. I'm generally fine up until the afternoon, but as soon as dinner rolls around I eat WAY more than I should. And generally of the wrong things too.
I've been bouncing around the same couple of kilos to lose for months now, and it's killing me because all I want is to get back to the weight that I was at.
I worked so very hard to get to where I was. I was comfortable with my weight. I felt good. Now I have about 5kg to get off, and with all the crap that's been going on it's just so hard to stay motivated. The second I start to do well, I sabotage myself.
I've tried all manner of different diet plans (including the one I used to lose 50kg in the first place) and for some reason I just can't stick to it.
*sigh* I guess the point of this is that there's other people out there experiencing the same thing as you. We just have to find that one thing that makes us think "Yes! I can do this!".
I hear ya! My hubby and I just got back from vacation to find our room flooded and our mattress destroyed from our landlords renovations upstairs. Yikes. Found out the brother in law is getting married this Sunday (surprise!). My brother, his wife and my 1-year old niece are coming in two weeks and want to do all these expensive tourist things that are just adding up.). I'm paying for my baby sister's piano lessons cause my dads been un-employed two years now, my mother unemployed one year, and they are close to loosing the house (my autistic sister and baby sister still live at home still). It's so hard not to worry, and in times like these that box of Oreos looks better than 90% off at Le Chateau. You're right that we've all been there! I can sympathize.
I don't know if any of these suggestions will work for you, I don't know what your eating plan is, so take it or leave it. No pressure, no guilt. These are just some things I do, and maybe they help you! Maybe they don't. Even my husband doesn't do all the things I do because they don't work for him. So have a fun read, and relax. You deserve it.
First of all, don't worry about the binge eating or the bad eating or whatever it is you're doing. Feeling guilty can be more crippling than anything and literally feed into the cycle. So you ate a brownie, or that bag of chips or had that second helping of lasagna. Congratulations! You just fed and nourished your hard working body. I find thinking like that more makes it easier to stop the over indulging. It can become easier to say less... I'm not talking about having a "screw it" attitude and just keep eating, but just to forgive the eating and even compliment yourself on the yummy treat. Remember that one "bad" day really won't undo everything unless you think it will.
Second of all, I think it can be helpful to get on track by slowly getting rid of the temptations, however that might look. Maybe it means slowly getting rid of the junk and pitching it in the trash, or just not buying it next time. Maybe it means dishing up your dinner plate then packing up the leftovers before you sit down to eat. If you're getting rid of tempting treats that are easy to over-indulge on, don't be afraid to replace them with something healthier, like fruits! Heck, try something new or something you don't eat often like dragon fruit or star fruit. Make it less about reaching for food as comfort. Make it about experimenting with food. Make food fun. Can't tell you how many times, after a stressful day, I went to super store and just made lunch out of new fruits, nuts and whatever other healthy things I could find but had never tried before or hadn't had in a really long time.
In times like these, I say veggies are "free". Snack on them all day if you want. I don't know if you count or anything, but it is really, really, really difficult to over-eat fresh veggies. A cup of cucumbers for examples is like 8 calories. Again, make food fun, try new veggies and see what you like. Me, for example, I love peppers (except the green ones). I love snap peas, cucumber, and grape tomatoes. This may sound weird, but try shaking up how you cut them even. I love cucumber sticks. I don't like cucumber slices so much. Weird, but if it works, it works. Find healthy low-cal dips if you want to add to it. Salsa is love. Salsa is life (at least for me). Seriously, most salsa's are like 14-50 calories for 4 tbsp. They come in so many combinations, spicy, mild, sweet. Salsa is typically full of good things too, like veggies. Imagine the crisp crunch of celery dipped in salsa. It's like tortilla chips. You don't always have to say no to food. Just yes to different things. I think, at the end of the day for me, what I eat makes a bigger difference than how much exercise I get. In stressful times, I often skip the gym and the exercise to read and watch TV.
Finally, just talking about it. Way to post! I talk here all the time, to my husband, to my best friend. It's like lifting a semi-truck off yourself sometimes. If stress triggers bad eating, talking about it can relieve that stress without the food. And how fun and safe is it here at fatchicks? We all get it. We all have our stories. Sometimes I just sit and browse old goal threads, or read up on some diet I'll never try like IP but like reading about and hearing how people like it. It reminds me why I'm on the journey, gives me some me time to de-stress and gives me something else to do then eat.
Good luck, and praying that it works out for you!
Last edited by SenseAndSensibility; 07-11-2015 at 01:42 AM.
I remember something a wise woman once wrote: "Don't let food win. We're smarter than food." You can do this, Kiwi! Look how far you've come! Don't let all that hard work be undone. Don't let your weight creep up to over 300 lbs again. You have to get control of it now! I made the mistake of letting my weight, lb by lb, day by day, creep back up on me, like I was waiting for something before I could get back in gear. Motivation perhaps? It doesn't take motivation. It takes commitment! While I was waiting, I gained all my weight back and more! Please don't do that! Heed your own words, and don't let food win. You're smarter than food!
Congrats on a significant weight loss. 35 lbs is nothing to sneeze at.
Maybe you can set a reward for a set number of pounds you would like to lose. Say, hold off having your nails done until you lost 5 lbs, or maybe having your hair done, buying that pair of shoes or a purse you loved in the store. Think of something that you would really love to do for yourself and hopefully you will want your reward more than food.
Thank you so much for all the comments. I am going to try and make this week a great one as my weeks previous to me getting a bit sick. I've planned my meals for the day so I should be able to stick to the plan bc I cram a lot of food into 1200 calories. I will keep you posted. We are smarter than food
Just wanted to pop in and say I agree with all the above lovely posters,and to say how well you're doing! You've made such progress already! Really very well done and I do hope your rough patch goes away very soon Rooting for you!
Stress is so detrimental to weight loss. It literally tells your body to store fat. I have been using EFT to help lower my stress with great results. You might like it as well.
I apprehensively went on the scale this morning and back to 282. Woohoo so happy. In my head, I was just thinking, please nothing above 290. I was shocked. It was just what I needed. So far I am sticking to plan. Thanks for the support
I also eat 1200 calories a day, With Doctor supervision, I just re-started my weight loss journey for a 3rd time yesterday, I wont weight in for 2 more days.
Terra, wishing you do well on this re-start. I lost count on mine. Sometimes years and years have gone by. The last time was in 2007. I was WAYYYY overdue this time and I really gotta buckle down on staying down. As they say, I am not getting any younger!
in need of some support/advice for staying motivated
Rooting for you!
