Home / Metabolic Research Center

So close to goal, why am I cheating?

#1

Meiho , 03-08-2009 12:04 AM

I'm finally within 5 pounds of my goal, and instead of surging forward, I am cheating! Can't understand it! Why can't I "just do it" and reach my long-sought goal?

Anyone else been in this situation?

Advice, insights?
Thanks!

Reply
#2

Gma to 4 , 03-08-2009 11:29 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meiho
I'm finally within 5 pounds of my goal, and instead of surging forward, I am cheating! Can't understand it! Why can't I "just do it" and reach my long-sought goal?

Anyone else been in this situation?

Advice, insights?
Thanks!
Meiho: It seems like there are two distinct camps of us on the MRC journey...those who continue to follow the plan all the way to the end and those like you and me who start to cheat. I started to get cocky with how great I was feeling, how many sizes/pounds I had lost and the fact that a few cheats here and there had not really caught up with me. Boy, was I wrong!

My last few weeks OP stretched on forever as the weight barely came off while I was approaching stabilization and starting to cheat more often. Thankfully, I had earned 4 extra weeks on program over a couple of holiday weekends that let me move stabilization forward a month. Even with that, I attended the stabilization party but waited another week to start it. If I could go back and do it again, I'd work harder at the end to make it to my goal. My mantra during the first four days of the program was "I can do anything for four days", then I modified that for the remainder of my time on MRC, saying "I can do this for five months". What I should have been saying was "This is a lifestyle change and I WILL do this for the rest of my life."

I made it to my goal weight and stayed there for 1 week then slowly started to inch back up. It didn't help that I took a trip to Hawaii and probably drank half as much as I had lost in lava flows, chi chi's, pina colada's and mai tai's. That was really pretty stupid with an instant 2 lb weight gain when I came back. The one thing I had learned but conveniently forgot was to make better choices and when I was consciously going to cheat, to do so in moderation.

Stabilization is pretty easy...it's the maintenance part that is hard. This is truly a lifestyle change and those cheats at the end can kick you in the butt when you are trying to maintain. My mantra now is "Suck it up and take control of what you are eating." I've gone up and down 3-4 pounds in maintenance (I tried doing a daily "chocolate sneak" with miniature Hershey's - not my smartest move!) and it is a bearcat to try to get it back off. After four months being on maintenance, I'm still weighing in weekly just to keep me accountable. I am scared to death that if I keep this up, it will average a pound a month (which it has so far!). That is 12 pounds in a year, and I sure as heck don't want to go there!

Take a look at the Maintainer thread for MRC on 3FC. There is a lot of wisdom and support there, including some from "repeat" MRCers who say it is much easier when you aren't "fighting" the program. Our MRC started a series of Maintenance classes, including cooking classes. These have been a life saver for me, as I'm meeting with others who are experiencing the same things. These are led by my favorite MRC counselor who is willing to spend extra time with all of us in maintenance to help us be successful. I hope your MRC center is doing something similar.

From looking at your ticker, you should be starting stabilization really soon, so that is going to help with the cheats when you get to start adding things back into your diet. Hang in there, stay OP, enjoy the compliments on how great you look, and enjoy your healthier life. YOU CAN DO THIS!

Reply
#3

Meiho , 03-08-2009 01:14 PM

Wow! Thanks so much!
Your words are absolutely right on! I just gotta get rid of my stinkin' thinkin' and do this!
I've come to far to let these last few pounds get the better of me. Almost four weeks ago, I had foot surgery, so I haven't been exercising. My husband has been very good about cooking, making my HNS, etc. As a reward for HIM, I made some of those wonderful gooey cinnamon rolls with the orange frosting this morning. He came in and said, "that doesn't look like diet food to me." I said, "You can see that all of them are there, I'm facing away from them, and I will NOT have one." So far, he's eaten 3! (I will put them in Tupperware now so the smell is gone.)
You are right. I need to look at the stabilization and maintenance threads on this board. I'm scared to death that, even when I reach my goal, I'll bounce back up once they start adding foods in. I have a terrible craving for potatoes right now, and pasta. I know I can never go back to eating the way I did before, and I know the saying, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin and healthy feels," but I also feel like life is to be enjoyed, and a simple plate of pasta should not be seen as forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden!
When I'm tempted to cheat, I'll pull up your post. In fact, I think I'll print it out (hmmm, how doyou do that?) and post it in the kitchen.
Thanks for your thoughtfulness and articulate response. I wish you well.

Reply
#4

Gma to 4 , 03-08-2009 03:09 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meiho
Your words are absolutely right on! I just gotta get rid of my stinkin' thinkin' and do this!
I've come to far to let these last few pounds get the better of me. Almost four weeks ago, I had foot surgery, so I haven't been exercising. My husband has been very good about cooking, making my HNS, etc. As a reward for HIM, I made some of those wonderful gooey cinnamon rolls with the orange frosting this morning. He came in and said, "that doesn't look like diet food to me." I said, "You can see that all of them are there, I'm facing away from them, and I will NOT have one." So far, he's eaten 3! (I will put them in Tupperware now so the smell is gone.)
You are right. I need to look at the stabilization and maintenance threads on this board. I'm scared to death that, even when I reach my goal, I'll bounce back up once they start adding foods in. I have a terrible craving for potatoes right now, and pasta. I know I can never go back to eating the way I did before, and I know the saying, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin and healthy feels," but I also feel like life is to be enjoyed, and a simple plate of pasta should not be seen as forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden!
When I'm tempted to cheat, I'll pull up your post. In fact, I think I'll print it out (hmmm, how doyou do that?) and post it in the kitchen.
Thanks for your thoughtfulness and articulate response. I wish you well.
Meiho, Glad I was sitting at the computer this morning when you needed some help! I can't begin to count the number of times the people on this board pitched in when I needed some motivation or even a swift .

In stabilization, you will get to add pasta and potatoes back in a few times that first week, but again the key is MODERATION (which means portion control and frequency). One of the tips I've learned (when I was applying them ) was if I had more than I should at a meal of a starch like potatoes, I went lighter or omitted another starch, like bread at dinner. When you follow the plan like it was set up, it works. It's when I stray that I get myself in trouble. You will learn what works for you, but when you start to "improvise" (like my Hershey chocolate sneaks), you get yourself into trouble. I think my biggest piece of advice would be to do as I say, not as I do .

I follow the MRC 32 thread (but post primarily to the Mainteners thread), so will watch to see how you are doing. YOU CAN DO THIS!

Judy
Gma to 4

Reply
#5

sherryanncard , 03-10-2009 06:55 PM

Thanks for the advice Judy! I am getting close to my MRC goal weight, but I have given myself an even higher goal to meet, and I know I will not meet it by going crazy during maintenance!

I know I found myself cheating a couple of times last month too - the more weight I lost, I guess I felt like I deserved a cheat. When, honestly, I should have felt like I deserved to be a thinner, healthier, happier person!

I suppose that rewarding myself with food is going to be an old habit that is hard to break...there are only so many purses and shoes a girl can buy!

Reply
#6

Gma to 4 , 03-10-2009 08:29 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by sherryanncard
Thanks for the advice Judy! I am getting close to my MRC goal weight, but I have given myself an even higher goal to meet, and I know I will not meet it by going crazy during maintenance!

I know I found myself cheating a couple of times last month too - the more weight I lost, I guess I felt like I deserved a cheat. When, honestly, I should have felt like I deserved to be a thinner, healthier, happier person!

I suppose that rewarding myself with food is going to be an old habit that is hard to break...there are only so many purses and shoes a girl can buy!
Sherryanncard: I'm just glad that some of the things I've learned (and that I wish I would have done differently!) are helpful. I've sure vented on this site many times, so it's nice to know I'm able to "pay it forward."

My rewards were shoes and clothes, but I started going through the clothes sizes too quickly. I switched to facials and pedicures...hmmm, that actually sounds good for the 1/2 lb I was down this week.

Keep up the good work! Stabilization will be here before you know it!

Judy
Gma to 4

Reply
#7

coloradomomof3 , 03-12-2009 12:17 PM

Thanks ladies for the encouagement. I'm ending my first phase of this diet in the next month. I have 15 yet to loose.............10 hopefully in a month, then the last 5 on stabilization. This is a mind game. My mind wants to reward with food.............and old habit. I now have to refigure new ways of thinking. Weird that I haven't done that over the 40 lb weight loss over the last 5 months. Now's the challenge for me tho. Please keep encouraging.

Reply
#8

Meiho , 03-15-2009 06:41 PM

I clicked on those links and got nothing about phentermine!

Reply
#9

sherryanncard , 04-01-2009 02:29 PM

So, here I find myself only 4 pounds away from my goal weight at MRC, with a Stabilization Party scheduled, and yet I have cheated every day this week! Last night, I cheated so bad that I actually got sick (I ate a whole bag of marshmallows and a pack of almond cookies - yuck)! I just don't understand why I am trying to sabotoge myself. Any ideas???

Reply