...I had a good week, lost a few pounds now I can relax a little and eat some more?!?!

I had a very good week after a couple of no loss weeks, I went down 4 lbs which is absolutely fantastic in my book. But as soon as I stepped off the scale my head was going "woohoo we can eat more now!", why is that?! Of course I know better than to listen to that voice, that's what has gotten me in trouble before. So I've been staying on plan and planning my meals, but I can still hear it.

Does that ever happen to you? How do you tell it to be quiet?! LOL

Does a bear poop in the woods?

heh, that's how I ended up with the screen name I did

I think it depends on the person.

In the past couple of weeks, I aborted my food plan. Not badly but I was not on it like I would have liked to have been. I have been moving and I am now moved. However, the time frame of when we were supposed to be out of our "old" apartment was moved up by 10 days. Yikes! It was just my DH and I so every night after work, we would take some of our stuff over to our "new" apartment. Now, I am obese, arthritic and not as in shape as I would like to be. I felt really guilty that my DH seemed to be carrying the burden of some of this.

However, while he walked up and down endless times on the same steep stairs I did put away the stuff. I usually can not stand longer than 45 minutes before my knees and hips hurt. Last Saturday, I did a record 9 hours on my feet. Needless to say, I couldn't walk afterwards either. It took taking the maximum of my pain relieve medicine for 36 hours and lots of Icy Hot to get me back to feeling "normal".

I know this is a long about way of saying that yes that voice does occur. I figured I had to be burning off a lot of the extra calories I was consuming. I mean, I was soaking wet with sweat by the end of the night. That was my "excuse". And, yes, it is an excuse. At least, I am wise enough now to recognize it for what it is.

I listen here about people traveling and still staying on their food plans and quite frankly I feel like they are saints and I am a sinner but the reality of it is. I am what I am. I am a recovering compulsive overeater.

You lose a couple of pounds and still reward yourself with extra food. I move a couple of boxes 10 feet and have homemade fudge because I "need my energy". Six of one and half a dozen of other. It is still an "excuse" for going off yours (and mine!) food plan.

The turning point is when after you fall off the wagon you dust your butt off and jump right back on. I did that this past Monday and I am now working off those "water weight"(you think?) extra couple of pounds. I now know that I won't make my Mother's Day goal of losing 50 lbs. I am disappointed by that but maybe Memorial Day??

I guess, one day you have to decide how bad do you want this. I want it bad enough where I will forgive myself for the detour. I wish I handled "sudden upsets" better but I did the best I could. I did keep track of everything on my food diary and I stepped on the scales every morning. I wanted to face the reality of what I was doing no matter how it made me feel.

Now, after having drank lots of water and corraling my sweet tooth (and pizza tooth) I am losing the 4 lbs that I gained.

I'll do better next time. I hope you will too.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was so happy to reach the 30 pound mark of how much I've lost. So I celebrated for a day or two, and ended up gaining two pounds. I'm trying to get them back off, but need to remember this for the future so I don't do at every milestone!
Beth

Ya gotta get the little voice that yells, "Yay, it's working, it's really, really working and therefore I've GOT to stick with this", to yell even louder .

If it's a reward type voice you think you're hearing, how about setting up some NON-FOOD rewards for yourself? Maybe with every 10lbs lost? Or even every 5lbs? A manicure/pedicure. A new bottle of perfume. A scarf. A new lipstick? SOMETHING - other then food.

But, come on, NOW, RIGHT now is the time to STICK with it. Just keep on going.

Oh and congrats on the 4lbs lost . As the lost pounds keep on adding up, I'm telling you, it feels better then any of that food tastes.

JUST STICK WITH IT!!!!! Ya hear????????? Gosh, I hope that was loud enough.

I think a lot of this type of thing can be caused by your mindset when you're losing weight. When you're thinking of eating well as a 'diet' the mindset is that once you're done you can go back to 'normal'. For me, this time is not a diet. I'm trying to make a permanent way of living, creating a new normal rather than another diet. Which means I'm trying to eat in a way that I can do comfortably the rest of my life. I do let myself eat stuff on occasion that wouldn't be considered diet friendly, but I work it in because I know that long-term I am going to want chocolate cake in my life. I don't know if any of that all makes sense...I used to use exercise or following my plan as an excuse to 'reward' myself, now I just kinda figure eating well and exercising are my routine and not anything special, and I can treat myself with fun foods here and there, so long as overall I'm sticking to the healthy stuff and I'm not eating too much of whatever the craving is.

Can someone tell me how to do this!!! Where do you find that voice??

Seriously though, I know excatly how you feel friendlykat4u. That how my last "diet" got derailed. I lost 8 pounds and decided to reward myself with a nice dinner out at my favorite italian place ... and that turned into lots of chips & salsa when I was upset, ice cream when I was lonely and "indulging" myself in more nice dinners out when I traveled because hey, if I'm away from home, it doesn't really count right ... and beside, I'm lonely so sitting in a nice restaurant people watching is far better than hitting a chain restuarant where I know there's healthier food ....

I haven't learned how to tell this voice to be quiet and even though I know what my triggers are, I've yet to overcome them. I sympathize with you and wish I had a better answer.

Yes, that happens quite a bit. I think that voice in your head may be directly related to the one in my head!

First you gotta murder the first voice with great malicious aforethought and that leaves room for the second voice to move right in and take its place.

Right! ON!!!!!!!!

BLAH!! I definitly do this everytime I lose a pound! That's how I got to where I am right now! I hate it! Good job for not listening to it!

aww friendlykat4u, I do the same thing. Its hard to break yourself from thinking a certain way. I will eat right the whole week, exercise, lose pounds, and then I think to myself "hey, now i can relax. a hambuger and fries wont add anything" and so on. It's very hard to quiet that little voice. But, if you keep saying no to that voice, it starts to get a lot easier.

WHAT?! WHAT?! LOL I get it, I get it. Thanks for that. I managed to shut the voice up and stayed on plan yesterday, and today I'm back to normal. Oh BTW Rockinrobin you're signature has helped me a lot, that "failing to plan is planning to fail" has been the foundation for me this time, thanks!

I know it's hard for all of us, but like many of you have said, this isn't a temporary fix, it's for good.

I still have my reward system messed up, still want to reward myself with food. Not exactly with junk food, I just want to eat more of what I normally eat. I'm going to have to find other ways... Sephora here I come!!!

Used to do that. Recently I decided to give am major reward to myself when I drop a size. I am a major sucker for dresses so my major reward will be a new dress. I found the picture of this nice pink one and every time I see my scale dropping, I get the picture and flirt with the dress. So I don't allow myself to relax. I say to myself, I am closer to buying this dress.

Mind you this is not always easy.