[FL_Chickie]

It doesn't take much to stress out to old-habit proportions, does it? I know it's not permanent, but I feel like I really screwed up the past few days and now the scale is showing it. I was at 211.8 on Thursday, and had some financial stress hit me on Friday which prevented me from hitting the gym (i.e. the bank screwed up something in my account and left me with $2, and I have 1/8 tank of gas, so I'm not driving anywhere but work and home until Friday or until they fix the problem which they said could take up to 30 days to get my money back). So instead of being smart and doing something like staying on plan and walking, what did I do?

Ate.

Drank a little bit (I'm not big on drinking alcohol, but will have a drink every once in a while).

Ate some more.

Didn't drink my water like I know I should.

Ate some more.

I'm showing the scale at 215.2 this morning, and I'm a sad panda. I was doing really well! I had lost 10 pounds! And now, slip-slide back down to the old-habits side.

I haven't been out-of-control horrible today, but still have dinner and the night to get through. I could really use some encouragement.

[Jen415]

That was then...this is now. You can't change past behaviors, but you CAN change future ones.

You recognized where you fell off...now forgive yourself and get back on! You can do it!

[annk]

It is so hard to get back on the horse after falling off, but you will be so glad you did! The first day after a slip-up is the hardest, and then it will be easy-peasy after that! Think of how good you'll feel once you're on the downward slope again! DON'T beat yourself up over eating; it happens to ALL of us! Just chalk it up to experience (we are human after all, even though all of us women would like to be superhuman!) and move on! You can do it! Don't weigh yourself for a week and start marking your progress again then. It's a journey, remember, and a few detours along the way don't mean you won't make it to your destination!

Keep it up!

Ann K.

[AnnieFannie]

The best thing to do is to just start fresh. You aren't going to do yourself any good if you keep beating yourself up. Just recognize you made a mistake and got off track and now pick yourself up. Dust off and climb back on. Remember we all get off track from time to time. You can do it. Keep up the good work.

[penpal]

Hi,

Just think how good you'll feel about yourself if you get right back on track this moment!

How about trying a non-food related treat to get your mind off things? Maybe give yourself a manicure - it's hard to file your nails and eat at the same time . If you polish your nails you won't want to be opening the fridge or pantry for a while until they dry!

Good luck and I hope those pounds fall off real fast (I bet it's fluid retention to some degree as you probably haven't eaten 15,000 extra calories the last few days!)

[FL_Chickie]

LOL Fifteen thousand calories! Yikes, no! I think I'd explode if I tried that! But thank you for putting it into perspective for me -- given that I haven't been drinking water (and have basically been replacing with diet soda, naughty me) you're probably right about the fluid retention.

And thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. I'm back on track as of right now and working on things again. I still have a couple of interviews to get through before my stress levels go completely down, but they're in two days, so it's almost over!