Looking for some tips here. I am having problems staying on plan long term. I'll be POP for a few days and then terrible for a few days. I'm holding steady, but haven't seen a loss in a couple of months now.

What do you do when you start to waver? What keeps you on track?

I don't know about the plan you're on, but for me it's the planning that keeps me on track. No matter how late I go to bed (ie. if I forget) I take a few minutes and plan everything I'm going to eat for the next day. Part of this is because I keep a lot of meals/parts of meals in the freezer, so I know I have to take something out to thaw. However, knowing what I'm supposed to have for lunch, snacks, etc. keeps me from just grabbing things.

Also, I'm a calorie counter, so if and when I really feel I have to have something I just work it in. ie. over the last 3 weeks I worked 4 ice cream bars into my daily calories (and they were really good, 200 cals each - not diet bars). I don't feel deprived very often because if I really want it, I just figure out a way to have it.

Best of luck.

For me it's exercise.
If I make myself go out for a good heart rate elevating walk then I come back and I don't want to go off plan because of all the effort I've just done to burn calories.

See if you can find a chart that tells you how many calories per hour of walking, then after you do the exercise for an hour as yourself if you want to give up everything you've just gained for the day.

Also - picture yourself at your goal weight and what you want to do when you're there. Sometimes I find that helps too.

Keep at it - you can stay on track, just take it one day at a time and the rest will take care of itself.

That's great advice! I never thought of it that way before.... I can't even imagine what I'm going to look like at my GW...but I'm sure anxious to find out!!!!

What keeps me POP is the fact that I can now walk, run, bike and exercise in general without feeling like crap afterward...

What keeps me POP are the compliments I get from people about how I look...

What keeps me POP is the fact that I've (hopefully) added years to my life and will live to enjoy playing with my (eventual) grandkids...

What keeps me POP is the fact that in his mid 80's, my step father plays golf twice a week and is constantly on the go.

What keeps me POP is the fact that I can have my picture taken now and now cringe when I see it later on.. Same goes for the TV interviews I do...

What keeps me POP is the mental victory feeling I get when I say NOOOO! to the burgers and fries (which, admitedly, has been harder to do lately)...

YOU TOO CAN BE ONE WITH YOUR POP....

what keeps me going is the fact that i've come so far and have become so anal about the things i put into my mouth and my workouts that i don't allow myself to stray for too long. yes, i will have the occassional piece of pizza or cake or whatever, but i then eat a bit lighter the next few days and exercise to balance it all out.
what also keeps me going is knowing how much better i feel when i eat healthy things and how crappy i feel when i eat junk.
also, all the compliments, the way my clothes fit, the way i feel about myself when i look in the mirror or pictures of myself..that's motivation enough to keep at it.
and the fact that i can play around with my kids and pretty much do whatever i want without my weight even being a thought in my mind.

this is my third time around joining LAWL and i guess this time around it just clicked and i was really "ready" to change my lifestyle. and LAWL has taught me that. and the way i used to eat is a way that i'll NEVER go back to.
the highest weight i've ever been at was 320 (granted i was 9mos preg with my DD) but it still shocked me at how unhealthy i had let myself get. i never thought i'd get this far with my weightloss, but i'm doing it. and i tell myself everyday that i'm doing it and that i've come too far to turn back now..and i was telling that to myself even right when i started..because i didn't want to quit or turn back to my old ways. i invested in my health and myself and it's been the best investment ever.


ok..i seriously rambled. sorry!

Jill,

The bottom line and the thing that finally made me make an effort that stuck, was my health. I had to take a good long hard look at myself and I researched the health impact of being obese and I was SHOCKED straight. I read that each BMI point is an 8% increase in your risk of breast cancer. I read that you had a similiar increase in colon cancer (not sure of the numbers but it is roughly the same). I thought about the joint damage and how I would likely be crippled and unable to move well (I have several aunt for direct proof that this is the case and I don't want that for myself). So even if I did not have a life threatening disease, I was looking at severly limiting my life. As I lost weight, I realize that I had already been limiting my life in many ways due to my weight. You don't give much thought to it when you've been overweight for a long time, but there are all sorts of things that I did nto want to do because I would feel shame about my weight. Hobbies you don't pick up because who wants to have to admit that they wouldn't fit into the clothes (I still don't know why they make bike clothes so tiny).

Anyway.... overeating is not just causing you a cosmetic problem, since when I just was not dealing with a cosmetic thing, it seemed rather shallow to care about it all that much. It is a very real problem that is probably ruling your life, causing you to have all sorts of health problems, that if you are like me you will only admit were weight related when you lose it and they magically disappear.

So now I can wear shoes without orthodics.
I don't really snore anymore and sleep better and feel better because of that fact alone.
My knees no longer ache.
My feet no longer cause me problems.
I don't worry about going on an airplane and fitting in a seat.
When my company ordered us all t-shirts, I didn't stress that the x large would not be big enough.
I no longer put myself down day in and day out due to my weight (so now I can concentrate on other problems in my life)

So anyway, I guess you have to value the things that being POP is going to bring you, and stick with it even when it appears that it is not working, since most days it does not seem that you got all that much better than the day before, and often it seems like maybe you are worse.

The pattern of eating crap and feeling like crap after has been a real eye opener for me. Small indiscretions do not cause me problems but if I make poor choices meal after meal I am sick for days after. I had two pieces of KFC on my DD's Bday and felt horrid for 3 days! High fat meals cause inflammation of the pancreas and I am sure mine was swollen!
For years I had gastric reflux. After I lost 20# two years ago I never had that problem again.
And (god help me) I love shopping in the regular size sections! If I ever have to step into the "Womens" department again I will kill myself. A size 12 is such a victory that I am able to forgo poor choices.
It is important to remind yourself that you are not on a "diet" but are instead relearning how you eat. It is ok for it to take a long time to shave off the extra weight (no matter what the counselors tell you). It took time to gain it! The pace must match. plus, you have to maintain your new body weight.
Forgive yourself your indiscretions as you would forgive others. Why would you give yourself less slack then you give your friends?

Wow you guys. Thanks!

Barb.. You nailed it about the company T-shirts..

We have uniforms here and get to order new stuff once a year.. It felt SO GOOD last time around to mark "L" next to the shirt boxes rather than "XXXL" and "34" for the waist size rather than "48"... One of the best feelings in the world...

Dan I ordered a medium, and it fit, and it felt wonderful! I've never had a silly company logo t-shirt give me such happiness. So much better than that bad feeling of having to wonder if the largest size they have will be big enough. My company is full of mostly thin people and they would not think that anyone would ever need anything bigger than regular sizes.

WOW guys! Thanks for the motivation!

Jill, your face is motivation enough, you look AMAZING.

Barb.. Continuing the work related thread... We have a big locker full of uniforms in our supply room.. The uniforms there are usually returns from staff members who have changed jobs, etc.. So now I have a rack of too large shirts to turn in.. It's a really cool feeling.. For some reason, however, I haven't turned them all in.. I guess I'm afraid I may need them again some day and that keeps me from getting rid of them..

I have donated some of them to a fellow staffer who is also very heavy.. I tried getting him on the LAWL bandwagon, but then of course, our shops closed last year so that never happened..

I know Liz would like the extra closet space..