I'm so disappointed in myself. The scale has stalled this week, TOM, and cravings. I've caved. I haven't lost track of my calories but I've eaten too much and every time I did it with my eyes WIDE open. I did GREAT on the 4th but yesterday was a really bad day for me. Today was right back on track and I know that 1 day canNOT undo the past 58 pounds but for some reason I'm just really low about it. Why do we beat ourselves so severely???? I wish I'd get out of this funk and get on with the losing, already!

I wish I had an answer for you, but I can absolutely sympathize. When the scale is dropping, I'm on cloud nine. I'm invincible! I'm the Super Dieter! When it stalls, I take it personally. It makes me crazy and it's in those moments, when you aren't seeing the positive effects of your work -- in the way that you want to, i.e. lost pounds -- that it is most tempting to fall off the wagon. I chalk it up to my intense desire for immediate gratification. Sounds like you caught yourself and gotten back on track. One odd phenomenon, that is all too rare if you ask me, is that the occasional higher calorie day mixed in with my steady-eddy low calorie days sometimes restarts my losing. You can't try to do it, it just seems to happen that way.

Hang in there, you are a mere 3 pounds away from a heaping dose of Onederland motivation!

Wow, I could basically just retype what CC said, but she put it very elo quently!!

happens to us all ((((huggs))))

I feel your pain Tricia. But for me, looking at your ticker is motivation. Look at how far you've come! Look at how close you are to leaving the 200's in the dust! Success is scary, especially in weight loss. I know you can meet your goal by your birthday!
And I want to catch up to you! But I'd rather meet you at the finish line! So lets ditch this funky grey cloud thats hanging over us and get back on track!

Hang in there Tricia We all have tough days, but this is where the difference between motivation and determination comes in. Just decide you need to keep following your plan, and keep plugigng along - you'll see results soon. You're so close to Onederland, and it will feel fabulous when you cross that line, I promise!

The one thing that makes me get back up and keep working is looking at where I began to where I am now. I look through old blog entries and posts and find all of the positive goodness that I had when I began. We all have slip ups and we're bound to keep having them, it's just our ability to overcome them that makes us awesome! Stick with it!

C.

You already know that 1 day can't undo everything you've accomplished. The trick is to make sure one day doesn't turn into too many more. And you accomplished that, too! So, great job!

But then there's the funk and the reason you overate in the first place... maybe think of this as an opportunity to figure out why you overate so you can try to avoid that problem in the future. At least it helps turn a negative into a positive!

So much of this process is psychological, isn't it?

Wyllenn put it perfectly. I too have bad days. In the past, I'd have a bad day, beat myself up over it, and say, "Oh well, it's all ruined now." and just keep having more bad days. Now I know it's ok to slip once in awhile. DH wants pizza? Ok, I'll let myself have 2 slices for dinner tonight. But that doesn't mean I can have Taco Bell for lunch and BK for dinner tomorrow.

So long as the good days outnumber the bad, I continue being proud of myself and my motivation stays high.

And you know, letting yourself plateau for awhile can be a good thing. It lets your body get used to the way things are now. Then after awhile, you ca shock it into weight-loss again by re-cutting your calories and upping the exercise. It's ok to zig-zag down, as long as the trend continues to go downward.

Tricia, I think we all have days like that. Like Heather said, the important thing is that we don't let it keep going. And you're already back on track, so you've taken the first step. As to why do we beat ourselves up? Who knows, because in the overall scheme of things we know this one day isn't going to make a bit of difference in our weight loss. Hang in there, the funk will pass.

Thanks, guys. I know that all of you are right. Just like one good day isn't going to show a big drop on the scale, one bad day isn't going to show up, either. It's stringing them together that does it. So, they aren't stringing together. I'm not letting that happen. I just wish the plateau thing (if that's truly what this is) would have waited until I was UNDER the 200 mark. Ya know?

I'm glad I'm here. You all really have helped!

Do you know the best thing about a bad day off plan? Knowing that you'll get back on.

Do you know the best thing about a stalled scale? They're really not that expensive, so if you need to take it outside and drive over it a few times, you can always go to wally world and get a new one. They're open 24 hours a day. :-)

Sorry you're down - but I know you'll be back up in no time. Your posts are inspiring and so are you.