I have been doing so bad with my eating the last month or so. The last few months I'd creep up to 140, but always lose it within the week and get back to 135 around the weekend. Well, the last couple weeks I just haven't been able to loose it, actually it's gotten worse. I don't know what I'm doing to myself. The harder I try, the sooner I want to give up and say screw it all...and obviously the scale knows this. This morning I woke up to 145. I haven't been this heavy for about two years now. Why oh why am I doing this??? I just can't controll my eating at all anymore. Tears.....





*200-130 in about 9 months. Maintained 128-132 for two years. Now around 135-140.

It might be time to just restart the whole weight loss program. This could be a really good thing for you psychologically as maintaining and actively trying to lose weight can be completely different things. You can stop looking it it as a failure bogging you down and start thinking of it as a clean slate. You might be struggling through this block right now but know that a lot of people sometimes hit this bump in the road. Have a really good cry, get it all out, and start making a plan to get back down to your maintenance weight. Go through your kitchen, preplan your meals, I even clean my most visited areas to get my head back into the game. Start setting yourself up for success. Get that gym bag ready the night before, destress!

It sounds a bit like you're afraid of regaining the weight so you're freaking out and sabotaging yourself in an attempt to say "See?! I'm going to gain it back anyway!" It's a self-fulfilling prophecy you're creating. You know what 200 lbs feels like, you know that getting unhealthy isn't for you.

Is there something going on in your life right now that is making it hard to lose weight?

BakingChick, I have been where you're at. In my case I rode it all the way up to having over 30 pounds to re-lose. As you can see, I am working my way back down now, but I hope you don't follow my example!

Here are things that I think contributed to my weight gain. I say "I think" because there may be things I haven't considered or that aren't obvious.

1. I believed websites that told me how much I "should" be able to eat to maintain my weight. I wanted to be able to eat that much. But, I found that I gain--maybe slowly, but I do.

2. I didn't realize that I am sensitive to how much and what kind of carbohydrate I eat, in that above a certain amount, I slip into a state where I want to eat even more carbs and I always feel "hungry." Once I got my carbohydrate levels under control (and I don't mean eliminated--I mean a certain target amount of mostly complex carbs every day!) I found that I am not as hungry and feel much better.

3. I tried to make what had worked in the past continue to work. I had a plan, and I had lost weight on it, so it should WORK, right? Well, I could no longer stay on that plan for the length of time necessary to lose weight. I would lose 2 pounds in 2 weeks, then gain 3 in the next week because I couldn't stay on plan. I tried to use this same plan again, and again, and again, for over a year! You'd think I'd get the idea! So, I had to try something different.

4. I was in denial about these things. I thought it was just a matter of having enough "will power." So when I couldn't make things work the way I wanted, I felt like a failure. To put it simply, I had to admit all of those discoveries above.

Maybe this will give some things to think about. Don't be afraid to try something you might never have thought of doing--within reason, of course! No grapefruit diet!

I hope you can stop it now before it goes any further.

Jay

Been there, done that, too. I went through years of losing , regaining and starting all over again. It was when I last reached goal that I asked 3FC members with long term maintainence how they did it. Their answers floored me ! Their reply was they kept it off the same way they lost it. What a concept !. I now continue to count calories. continue to plan meals ahead of time. continue to keep a food diary. I find this much easier than having to start all over again.

Baking - I'm right where you are - I maintained for two years in the mid-120's, then in the last several months I've gained up to the mid-130's. The excess weight freaks me out, which then makes me eat more, which makes me weight more. And so on and so on. Like Jay, I had to admit to myself that what I have been doing isn't working. I've also had to realize that the calories I'm eating are too high for my maintenance, and that the exercise calories burned don't really count for much for me.

We can do this - we just need to revisit our good habits and relearn that food doesn't control us.

I agree with some of the others. A lot of us who have been overweight for a long part of our lives don't know or remember how to "naturally maintain." Most of the maintainers who I've seen have a lot of success treat maintenance like a weight loss plan- they continue counting, or whatever plan they used, indefinitely. I think it may be time for you to go back "on plan," lose the last couple of pounds, and stay on plan while you maintain. Try it for the first 6 months of maintenance or so.

That might be a good part of your problem. Maybe the food selections sets up cravings, urges, mood swings, etc this cellular reaction goes by many different descriptions. Journaling is quite helpful in uncovering a pattern.

I tell my mom this all the time. If you're going to pig out and lose everything you worked so hard for, atleast do it with fruits and vegetables. nothing else.

In addition to what others have said, I think that the wonderful part about your post is that you are not letting the rise continue--you are appropriately concerned about it and are seeking support in reversing it. You could have let it continue, but you decided to take action before it got worse. Well done!

You lost weight before, so you know how to do it. As others suggested, go back to the method you used to lose that weight and keep talking to us here. We will listen if you need to vent and encourage you to stay on track.

Remember all the reasons you opted for healthy, in-control eating before and how you did it. Write them out in a list where you can see it every day.

You can do it, you want to do it and you will do it. We're here to support you!

Thanks for all the suppport gals!!
It seems like such a long time ago since I lost weight, it's hard to remember how I did it. Truely, I didn't set up a plan, I just figured out the right combinations, resisted temptations, and it just stuck. That was the problem with maitenence for me. I slowely added in this and that. My low cal snacks, the only snacks I let myself have, have turned into a trigger food to overeat on. That's the hardest thing for me. Stopping when I'm full, and not going to the box of cereal when I'm bored and just want to crunch on something. I did great yesterday. Until nighttime. But even then, I think it was still better than most days i've had lately. I did a really good workout, ate well, and stopped when I was full. I just have to not munch at night when I've finally put the kids down for bed and just want to enjoy being by myself. I need to back to everything in moderation! I'm great at eating veggies, salads, fruits. But then there's other things, dry cereal, peanut butter, that I have such a hard time staying away from. But if it's alright with you gals, I'm going to vent and lean on you for support! Specially since my husband is losing a few pounds, and I'm gaining. Makes me feel worse about my added chub.

Hi BakingChick,

First, let me give you a big . Then, take a deep breathe. Just put the pause button on things for a minute and let's think about what's going on. The fact that you're aware of this small regain is good - awareness is key! I don't know your eating habits too well, but I encourage you to look at the areas of your life that might be affecting your eating habits. Have you been going through any changes or difficulties at home or with your relationships? Stress at work? Stress with anything you can think of? Getting enough sleep? Drinking enough water? Changing meds? Changes in your schedule? You get the idea... Food-wise, if you journal in any way now might be a good time to pull out your old journals and see what differences may exist.

You say "the harder you try" to lose you want to give up. Can you describe what you are doing to try and re-lose? I don't know you very well, so I'm wondering what this entails - eating less, eating a lot less, eating different foods, exercising extra, etc? I personally have to be careful when I go into "losing" mode because I can cut calories to pretty low levels for a few days, but beyond that I also have trouble and fall off-track (cutting drastically sets me up for failure). For me sticking to more moderate calorie levels is more helpful long-term. And as Karen suggested, maybe certain foods are triggering urges. I've also struggled with this. e.g. For me one cookie leads to ten cookies - sugar is addictive for me.

I see you posted in the exercise forum that you like to ellipticize, bike, and have started running further. Exercise has always been a saving grace for me, also. Even if I'm struggling with eating, I can go to the gym and feel better. The exercise seems to not only stabilize and improve my mood, but really can affect my appetite as well. So I suggest you embrace your exercise in this difficult time! Maybe now is the time to increase your running mileage or try a new exercise altogether.

Hang in there! Don't give up!
Megan

Megan. Thanks for the hugs
I know what my habbits are, and I know exactly what my downfall is. Munching, and feeling full. I do great when I eat smaller meals, but when I get full, something in my brain clicks, and I just want to, no, have to keep eating. And then I've "ruined" it for the day already, I may as well eat everything "bad" I crave, and start fresh tomorrow. Tomorrows; exactly what got me to 200lbs in the first place. I lost my tomorrow mentality when I lost, but somehow regained it back.
I do really good on meals. That's one thing that I can controll. I eat tons of salads, cabbage, fruits. It's the snacks that are my downfall. They used to be healthy - well, healthier than the icecream and chips I used to snack on (cuz I only had a few), but are now my triggers. Dry cereal, pretzels and peanut butter, wheat thins, nuts. Where as I used to only have a serving at a time, these have somehow turned into my binge foods. I can't get enough, and before I know it, I've eaten 500+ calories in just a few short minutes.
And exercise. I'm great with that. While I've slacked on the number of days I exercise (5-6 during weight loss to 3-4 right now), I've increased the intensity 10-fold. For example, on my elliptical, I did 30 minutes, mid level resistance, and burned about 300-310 calories on average. Now, I do 40-50 minutes, highest levels of resistance, and burn anywhere from 500-750 calories. I don't get to run a lot, mostly because I'm a SAHM, and am the only one with them during the week (DH works out of town). But once in a while I can get away with a packed lunch to entertain them while I run the track at school.
I think I may have turned a small corner. It's only two days, but I've done well. I've stopped when I'm full, exercized a little more. I've lost 5 lbs (mostly water weight from a weekend binge and some adult beverages ...haha). Let's hope I can get back to weight loss mode and keep this up

I know I've felt that way a lot! I'm really good at starting over on Mondays... by the end of the week, that's where the trouble lies.

May I suggest you try some different snacks and stop buying the munchy things that are setting you off for a while? I can't even buy pretzels, crackers, chips, and less often cereal because I do exactly what you say you've been doing - I eat six servings at once. I suppose I eat them once in a while, but they are just not on my radar when I grocery shop. Maybe you can "take a break" from them and try different things for snacks, find out what you can enjoy but doesn't set off the munchy monster. I was able to reintroduce some of my trigger foods that I had banished from my house for a while like nuts and peanut butter, but I will never buy crackers or pretzels. I know you have kids and this might be tough with others to feed. If you just got your kids food and told yourself "none", didn't even start with 1 portion, maybe you could stay away?

Great job on getting some of that water weight gone and stopping when you're full! Keep it up! And it sounds like you've got a great exercise routine going too. You can nip this in the bud, I know you can!

I am definately am taking a break from my normal munchie food. It's way too easy for me to totally blow my calories for the day on these. I just went grocery shopping this last weekend, and managed to get out of the store without the usual things I keep in the cupboards, yay me Instead I bought two huge, and I mean huge watermelons. and tons of lettuce, which I usually have anyway Hubby also said it looked like I worked out a lot last week. I didn't. I only got two days in, but managed to not snack as much. So that's a small victory for me