distorted thinking and diet math
 

did you ever experience this ? i've got about a week+ of healthy eating and i'm finding myself calculating my projected weight loss all through the day. i really get where one day at a time comes from now. in my head i've already determined when i'll be the "new me". not good, never worked before. i'm really trying to stay in the moment and just do the right thing by making healthy choices today. it's so funny (not really funny ha ha) how i get suprised by my weight when i finally decide to be real. and how the bar just gets lower and lower. i remember being horrified at being a size 14. now that's a dream state. i just want to work on being present and real with myself . when i disconnect i fool myself in thinking it's not that bad and it is that bad. at 5'6" i should not be weighing 253 pds. years ago i was floored when i hit 199, again now that seems like a feather. i need help to keep sane and grounded.

yes in the moment! stay there.

I can totally relate to you i remember when i hit 186 and thinking I was the absolute most enormous thing in the world. Now ... man i would love to weigh that ( AND SOON WILL)

I also get caught in the trap of projected weight loss once i fill a whole calender with my projected weight for 1 2 or 3 lbs per week. It was very depressing looking at it and thinking ohhh i should have... i could have been there.

all you can do focus on what your doing now. Do something nice for yourself like taking a walk or doing some yoga, remember you will never regret NOT eating that cookie.

I think it's actually pretty normal to do that when we are getting in a renewed determination mode. I sure did - I've got my whole years day planner filled with little expected "milestones". As long as we can keep a sense of humor about it and give ourselves a little "what was I thinking" giggle if we don't hit them all we can come through OK. Biggest challenge it to keep all those expectations in perspective and not use not hitting one as an excuse to give up.

Oh my gosh Laura i do the same thing. Its like i get obsessed and then burn out and end up disappointed in myself. Right now i am thinking, if i had stayed on track from last summer i would be ready to have a good summer...now i am going to have another fat summer...on my calender i should be 100 lbs lighter than last year...sadly, i am 20 pounds HEAVIER than last summer :-(

Vates, that is brilliant. You will never regret NOT eating that cookie...i love it! I am going to tell meself that from now on. Cool mindset.

I do the same thing time to time as Stacy: "If i had stayed on track from last summer...." "If I had stayed on WW the first time I lost and kept going at it...(which was winter of 2006..so if I stayed on it, I would be at least 50 lbs less now..." All those things...
So I do think like that time to time. But like everyone else said, remember that this is life style change, not just losing weight. If it's not life styel change, then all the loss will come back with extra weight. (I'm the living proof.haha)

This is all so true!! I remember going to a Weight Watchers meeting when i was a member and hearing a woman's story of how she'd lost the 50 lbs she'd wanted to in one year. She said that she lost roughly 1lb a week, which would have seemed too slow for me and i would have gotten de-motivated! HOWEVER she just stuck to it and one year later the 50lbs was gone, and stayed off!

Slow and steady wins the race!

Also, it got me thinking how it's just as easy to put that 50lbs on just by a slow creeping up of 1lb a week...and that's just 500 extra calories per day that you eat but don't burn off!! But i like the positive outlook better!!

I think the moral of her story was not to set the standards too high, but look at the BIG PICTURE even if its a year away!

I do what you do, taragettingthin!!! "If... If..."

I think staying in the moment is one of the hardest things to do. I get so down on myself when I think how tiny I could be if I could have maintained, or kept losing, or whatever. It's the curse of the yo-yo dieter, for sure.