I feel like such a failure...help
 

You are not a failure.

The first step is to forgive yourself. If your friend was dieting and gained four lbs what would you say to them? Would you say 'Actually yes...you're a big failure, you failed miserably and you should probably just give up now' ?

You would tell your friend 'its okay, we all make mistakes and thats how we learn and grow' so why are you beating yourself up? Just forgive yourself, it's spilt milk now. You can do something posative, do some intense workouts or plan a really healthy day tomorrow and stick to it. But don't give in now! :hug:

Emjtaylor, you are not a failure.

You've lost 4 lbs, that's great!! So you had a slip-up.. you know, that happens sometimes, and it's okay. No need to make yourself feel awful about it because that's just going to, well, feel awful right :) Consider why you decided to have some ice cream and alcohol... maybe there is something you can learn from the experience :) We all have slip-ups, even the people who meet their goal and learn to maintain... the main point is, that we get back on track right after the slip-up. Some ice cream and alcohol on one night is just some ice cream and alcohol on one night ;) In order to gain one lb, you need to consume 3500 calories MORE above what you need daily to maintain your weight (not how much you're getting to lose it, cause that's less). So to have gain 4 pounds, you would have needed to get 14,000 extra calories above your maintenance from the ice cream and wine :dizzy: Take heart, you'll be okay :), just make sure you get back on track and go after those goals! because they are just waiting for you!!! ;)

Why do you want to reach your goal? How will you feel when you do?

Remind yourself of that, think about it more than anything else, and hopefully that will help you hop back on the weight-loss wagon :D

You are absolutely not a failure. I know it's hard to forgive yourself when you slip up - I constantly struggle with this. It's so easy to say well, that's it, I can't do it, end of diet - even though you obviously CAN do it! Four pounds is a great start! And there's no way you gained that back in one night - if the scale has gone up, it's water weight that will disappear once you get yourself back on track.

I know you can do it!!! Be kind to yourself. You're only human.

Thanks Everyone :)

when i think that i have failed i think about what kaplods wrote on here a while back:

"Think about things that people only do with dieting and a few other "bad" habits, like gambling and drug use. Only when we're being "naughty" do we have an all or nothing mentality. If we trip on a step, we don't throw ourselves down a stair case. If we accidentally take an extra dose of medication or vitamins - we don't swallow the whole bottle. If we snap irrationally at our spouse, we don't decide we might as well murder him in his sleep."

It makes me laugh, and keep going. You havent failed at all :)