[caitybates]

after a week of being perfectly on plan (which is very long for me i can usually only manage 1-3 days) ive been eating like crap for a week and a half again. i always say its the last day but even as im saying it i know its a lie. i dont have anywhere near the motivation i did two weeks ago...where did it go?!!? how do i get it back?!?!

also im exhausted! i dont know if its from eating bad again or this is what is making me so unmotivated but can anyone suggest some really energizing meals or snacks? what is the best way to keep me going through the day?

also if im 195 pounds and 5'4'' and 20 years old how much should i be eating? i was eating only like 1000 calories a day when i was 'on plan' and i think i did myself in in the end. i think i should eat more than that to make the weight loss safer and more permanent.

[Priscatip]

You should definitely be eating more. I put your information into a calorie calculator (I used the one on freedieting.com, but there are lots). You didn't mention your exercise, but with little to no exercise, you should be eating at least 1500 calories a day, according to that site. I started at 185, and lost 25 pounds eating 1500 calories a day.

Things to keep you going through the day - fiber filled meals and snacks. Whole grains, whole foods, fruits and veggies. And protein! it's important. And it will be much easier with more calories. I eat whole grain bread, I have a veggie in every meal or snack, I mix veggies into my cooked dishes for more food with fewer calories. And I don't drink any of my calories, besides a splash of fat free half and half in my coffee.

As for getting back on track... well, it will be easier since you'll be eating more. But it's hard. I'm struggling with it right now. For me, writing absolutely everything I put in my mouth down for calories is keeping me in step. And finding little things that are better now that you've lost your 13 pounds may help - my scale isn't moving, but I've got looser pants, bras that fit again, I can see my waist... I think we all have to find our own personal motivation - my personal one is the size 8 bikini I will fit back into this summer. What's yours?

[Botzz]

I agree that 1500 will be a good amount of calories for you, my wife who is currently 171 pounds eats 1600 and loses weight with just about no exercise.

I eat zone bars for a pick me up and as far as the "how to get back on plan" I am sorry this is going to be so blunt but all you have to do is do it, yep just get back on plan right now, not tomorrow or after that candy bar everything else is just an excuse.

good luck!

As Ever
Me

[michelinwoman]

Unfortunately, I think if any of us knew how to stay on plan...we wouldn't have put on the weight in the first place and wouldn't be on this forum. Don't beat yourself up. You're human!

[ICUwishing]

I'll jump in with my own experience - I'm coming down from 174, and I'm having a really good experience with holding between 1500 and 1700 calories per day - weight coming off at 1 to 1 1/2# per week, not starving and not doing near as much exercise as I intend to work up to.

[Glory87]

Hey I have been there, so desperate to lose weight I thought I could do ANYTHING to lose weight. I knew that if I reduced calories, I could lose some weight, so I always took it to extremes because I was so desperate to have the weight off me, immediately. So, I would eat extremely low calorie days, between 800-1000 calories.

And for a few days, it always worked. I would feel pure, fantastic, motivated, not hungry. Now that I've had some time to think about the body and how I would LIKE it to work if I were TRULY faced with a starvation experience (plane crash in the Andes, maybe?) it makes perfect sense that the body would respond (in the short term) to a radical reduction in calories with a boyant feeling of possibility and can-do-it-ness. In your body's case, it expected me to put that energy into FINDING FOOD. I mean, if you started starving and your body immediately lost all energy and started to shut down and you were depressed and lethargic, just how would you go about the WORK of finding food (like in the days before grocery stores and pizza delivery?)

So, I would drastically cut calories, have a couple of days of euphoria and then I would binge. And then I would cut back EVEN more to "make up" for the overeating and I would binge, and cut back and the cycle was horrifying and painful and I felt out of control and like a no will power loser. I didn't understand how OTHER PEOPLE could lose weight when I couldn't even stick to a "plan" for more than a few days.

This time, in July 2004 I looked back at my dieting history to try to figure out why I could lose weight in the short term, but why I could NEVER maintain a weight loss. A few times I hit a "goal" weight - lasted about a week.

I realized I wanted to "diet" in the short term - a quick, painful, hungry, miserable experience, Then "stop dieting" and eat normally. Normally. Wow, it took me 20 years to figure out that my "normal" way of eating made me fat. I couldn't diet and stop and eat normally, I had to diet and make that lifestyle my normal. That meant no more radical 800 calorie days, no more days of foods I hated and dreaded. I had to find healthy foods I liked and looked forward to eating. I concentrated on what TO eat and what NOT to eat.

I lost weight eating about 1400-1600 calories a day. I used a combination of calorie counting, eating whole foods (limiting processed foods, emphasis on vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats) and volumetrics (big portions of low cal foods to stay full and satisfied).

I have been maintaining my weight loss the exact same way (except I eat more calories of the same good foods each day and have a weekly treat meal in a restaurant).

Think hard about your goal - is your goal to lose weight? Or is your goal to lose weight and KEEP IT OFF.