Lately, I've just not been doing well.

I hit sort of a plateau, although I'll admit that it's not a true plateau, because I haven't really been trying my hardest, but I've gone about a month now without losing any weight.

I haven't been doing awful- I've been binge free and eating pretty normal portions of foods, just not the best foods, and somehow I just don't care.

I've been eating ice cream (granted, only a cup or so, but I shouldn't have it at all, and it's not helping me), I had pasta for dinner, and a quesadilla for lunch. I'm not eating huge portions, but I'm eating foods that aren't helping me lose weight.

I haven't really been exercising, either. I've been pretty lazy and tired, probably because of all of the junk I'm not used to eating anymore...

I'm not sure why I'm suddenly allowing myself to do these things, and I don't know how to get back on track.

I leave for a vacation in 3 weeks, and I'd love to be 185 by then (I'm 190-191 right now), but I'll have to get back on track- what should I do??

I find I get A LOT more exercise if someone does it with me. That way, if either one of you doesn't really feel like it, the other one can act as encouragement.

As for the eating, it doesn't matter if you don't care, you still have to do it. Just think about all those yummy foods you want to eat on vacation, and how nice it would be to just not move the scale then, instead of now.

Ok! here it is sister. You get a one day pity party and that's it! First thing in the morning hit the gym and re-focus. Rid the house of all temptation and track every bite that goes in your mouth. You've had success so you know what it takes and we all know its hard but just think how happy you will be on vacation knowing you feel great about yourself. You are the only person who can decide to make the right choice for YOU. You can do it!!!!! hugs.....

Personally, I think you need to stop thinking of food as your enemy and start eating foods that love you. So you want ice cream, there's fat free kind. So you want pasta...what's wrong with pasta? Maybe cut the alfredo, or make healthier version of alfredo. So you want quesadilla...nothing is wrong with that either! Maybe go with low fat cheese.

Basically, I'm telling you to stop thinking that you're "being bad" because that type of thinking doesn't last. Trust me. I'm trying to find food that loves me back too.

What I would recommend you do is to get back to the gym. Yes, you might be self-conscious, yes it might suck because damn I hate the gym too, but it's a good start. Get on that elliptical, stairmaster, treadmill, pool, whatever you like best, and give it your all. Maybe your all will only last 10 minutes, but that's ok. Start working up towards longer endurance.

As for eating, like I said, find food that loves you Maybe check the fat-free, low-fat kind. Trade in your full fat cheese dip for a healthier bean one. Don't think of eating as punishment. It's not and shouldn't be.

PLUS, think of it like this. you've lost 11 pounds and you're in the 100's. You've already made progress! Don't let the progress slip. You can do it!

Hmm. I know what you're talking about. I was doing super good and then last week just stopped counting my calories. Unlike you I didn't control my portions and just ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. And the thing was, I wasn't hungry and I wasn't craving it. I just felt like eating something.

Then I went shopping for my cruise-which for me is next week. It gave me a kick in the butt to get going. Maybe you could try that? Or taking a picture of yourself now so you can see the progress you've made? I don't know. Do something to kickstart your mind and get that fire lit beneath your butt again! You've got three weeks to go and about 5 lbs to lose. That is a completely realistic goal! You can do it!

you're right! you're NOT doing awful, but i do know the feeling...this whole conscious eating thing sure seems to draggggg.

so for you, looking for a way to make some moves, i say veggies veggies veggies!! when i've been slumpy i know that if i spend a couple days filling up on veggie yums it's well worth the sacrifice in perceived pleasure that i am making cause the scale goes wooosh! and that tends to remotivate me (duh ha). not to mention holy crap, if you load up on veg you really do FEEL better!

if you can dig it -- i'd steam a buncha broccoli (i just pour like 3 cups frozen in) and mash it up with some fat free cheese and eat that before or with your meal. that is a lot of food; it's warm and comfy, and for me it's a nice alternative to a dinner salad.

i know everyone's not the biggest fan...but i think spaghetti squash has really saved my butt from expansion 2 or 3 times. i eat it with fresh marinara sauce from the fridge section at the grocery store and maybe 1/4 cup of reduced fat mozzarella. that's practically all veggie! maybe like 200 cals for a gigantic bowl.

the other thing i've done, only once -- but it was great...was take a pretty big tupperware container and chop up/throw in a LOT of different fresh veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snow peas, cucumber, grape tomatoes, maybe even zucchini or squash too, and pour about half a bottle of sugar free italianish dressing on top, shake it up...and you have like 4 pounds of marinating veggies for snacking. lasts days...and for me convenience=safety

honestly, any week where i've really gone for the greens (and i didn't even mention spinach here!!) i've lost far more than the one pound or so i kinda expect when i'm "pretty much" on plan...

you can definitely do this!!! your goal is super reasonable --- and your motivation is there, just gotta move it move it!! and you can!

Varsity, I think all of us have definitely been where you're at right now, I'm actually just coming back from one of those phases. You can get there and you just need to refocus. You're in Onederland now, and I'm sure you don't want to move backwards so: Break's over!

I definitely agree that getting your butt back in the gym should be priority #1. Force yourself, bribe yourself, go kicking and screaming, just go and get a really good sweat on. After you do that, you're probably not going to want to eat back all the calories you just burned.

The other thing that helps me be good food wise is to record everything. If I'm recording, then 90% of the time I'm eating right. If I start to slack off, it's a pretty good sign I'm not eating what I should be.

Spaghetti squash is one of my favorite things on this planet. I eat it exactly the same way and I get almost the same amount of satisfaction as a big ole bowl of pasta minus the huge amount of guilt.

I know I'm probably just repeating what everyone else wrote on this thread - but you can do it! Just dust yourself off and get back in the game! I'm coming from the same exact place: things were going fine, everything was good, i was losing weight and then i just lost it. Little by little I was eating mroe and not exercising and eating bad foods and i felt it all just slip away. But each day is a new day and make this the start of it all again! You can do it! We all believe in you!

Wow, thanks everyone! I got some good feedback here, and I've been doing well so far today. I unfortunately have zero time to get to the gym today because I have classes all day then work, but I've been eating well, and I'm going to force myself to go tomorrow before class.

I've never tried spaghetti squash..how do you make it??

I also have to do what getitotgether said and rid the house of crap, (the best I can anyway, considering I have one roomate who lives solely on chips and fried foods, and another who lives on cookies and cupcakes...)
and get to the store and buy some healthy stuff. I'll probably do this over the weekend.

Anyway, thanks for your support everyone!

I make my spaghetti squash a bit bland by:cutting it horizontally while it is laying flat on the cutting board, sprinkle black pepper or mrs. dash on the squash, place in the oven until ready, ta da. It may seem a bit bland....I used to add a bit of extra virgin olive oil,but I am trying to cut out any unnecessary calories. It does taste good with the seasoning & the flavor of the squash itself. I hope that helps you out

I do the same with my spaghetti squash. I spray it with olive oil and put it cut side down on a baking sheet at 350. It takes a while to cook but you'll know when it's done.

oh yumm it's almost 1am and y'all have me craving peppered SQUASH of all things

how are you feeling varsity?? i'm so ready for the warmer weather to hit so i can pull a grocery/workout combo, walking to the store to pick up some randoms and combining two "chores" i pretty much dread