The past few months have been such a struggle. I put 12 lbs back on and it is really getting to me. I try so hard and now my daughter is finally in school so I'm home during the day myself. I do work at night and find that is the hardest time for me, even though I bring food to work with me. I love this diet so much, I refuse to "quit" but I do great for a week, 2 weeks, and find myself slipping again and again. The latest, was Tropical Storm Fay. We were severely flooded in our neighborhood and housebound for 4 days. We saw so much devastation in the neighborhood and we were so blessed that our house was one of the few that came out undamaged. I need to know what makes everyone stay motivated. I bought the new book in April and couldn't wait for that to come out. I honestly can't get myself to finish reading it. Something happens and I end up having to put the book aside for a while. I think the support on this board is wonderful (as this is the only site I can find that has South Beach Message boards, without paying for it). I wish we had a chat room that we can go to and chat with other beachers during the day. If anyone could give me some motivational tips, I would be most appreciative.

Cann I am so sorry you are having it rough.

I can totaly agree with you. Seems like ever since FAY came our way I have been way off plan and can't seem to recoop. I forced myself to re read the book the other night and made a decision I would do a clean phase 1 and start fresh.

Do stick around here because it is a blessing to have this site and all the wonderful knowledgable people.

You can do it I'm cheering you on

As motivation look at old pictures of yourself. Clean out your closet, make sure you have clothes that currently fit you so that you can see the results.

Then make the resolution to respect your choices to eat well. We all go through really rough spots, make poor decisions, get tired of planning and being conscious of everything that we put in our mouths. But it's after those times that you look back and are so proud of how you got through them.

You can do this.....we all can. Just believe in yourself. Hang in there!!!

I'm so sorry to hear that you're going through a struggle. This weight loss journey is tough! I find that my motivation changes and evolves as I go through my journey. Sometimes, I'm strongly motivated by my health and the aches and pains that come along with too much weight on my body and too much sugar in my system. Sometimes, I'm strongly motivated by the desire to impress friends or family that I've not seen in a while. Other times, I'm motivated by the desire to feel sexy and pretty again or to wear beautiful clothes. My motivation is sometimes strong and sometimes almost non-existent. However, my committment to never quit has always remained strong. I won't allow myself to quit despite frequent off-plan detours, slow weight losses, life struggles, etc etc etc. As long as I keep trying, I've won a major part of this battle.

You can do this. Don't give up on yourself. Keep trying. One day, you'll be able to look back over the previous days/weeks/months/years and realize that you've reached your goal and can maintain your loss.

In the meantime, I visit 3FC daily and read posts on several areas including the maintenance thread, I participate in the Biggest Loser challenges here on 3FC, I visit sites with Weight Loss Success stories every day, I'm watching The Biggest Loser Australia on You Tube.

Sorry you're deling with this. I feel your pain. I've had a horrible month and I'm hoping that I get more motivated in September.

I'm sorry too Cann. I really wish I could tell you why I am still at this and still motivated. If I could bottle it I gladly would and share it with everybody. I'm not saying it has been easy but for some reason I have never for 2 seconds considered going back as an option. I do not know if that will last forever, but I sure hope so. I was just so convinced that it was impossible for me to lose weight, I didn't have what it takes, and then so relieved that I found something that seemed to work, that I didn't want to let it go. Looking back, I think my first day of Ph1 I probably didn't really believe that I would be on plan for more than a day or so. I had already failed at SB once. Anyway, here is a list of things that motivate me and seem to keep me on track.

1. Do not give yourself any options. Make sure there is nothing but healthy on-plan food in your house. Even if you overeat, it will be good stuff and no damage will be done. Your kid(s) do not need it. Your DH does not need it. What they need is a healthy mom and to support you in this. They can go out for ice cream. It took me a year to get to that place and feel like I was not punishing everybody for my problem, but it is very important.

2. I rarely eat out. I just find it too difficult and I don't like not knowing what's in my food.

3. I am a creature of habit. My life is pretty boring really (in a good way). I make sure it is a habit to eat breakfast, eat snacks, get enough protein. I don't want to take the time to log everything I eat, but I have a little checklist like this:
Water XXXX
Dairy XX
Veggies XXXX/
Beans X
Fruit XX
Grains XX
Fats XX
Nuts X
For the first ones I am tracking to make sure I get enough, the last 4, to make sure I don't eat too many.

4. Plan everything in advance - once a week I plan the dinner menus. Every morning I plan out the day, takes a few minutes and then I go on autopilot. Not giving myself a chance to think about it when I'm already hungry is good.

5. Never ever quit. Quitting is not an option.

6. Results are very motivating, losing weight, getting stronger, feeling healthy.

7. 3fc support, advice, and reading the goal stories, and what the maintainers have to say.

8. Figure out what treats are important to you, and figure out an on-plan way to have them. Once a week I have some chocolate, a couple of glasses of wine, and some popcorn with a movie. Sometimes I skip the wine and popcorn (never the chocolate!), but knowing I will be able to have them in a few days helps.

I don't know if all of those apply to you, but maybe there is something in there that will help. This is coming from a person who could eat an entire box of oreos in one sitting, and as I posted elsewhere on this board earlier, would buy Halloween candy many times throughout October "for the trick or treaters" and go through probably 10 bags myself, not counting what I STOLE from my kids afterwards. I have NO self control when I am eating that kind of stuff. So if I can do this I know you can too. You deserve it.

My main source of motivation? My butt....naked.

Seriously.

Sure, I want to be thinner because of the health benefits as well, but I can't SEE those when I'm in the bathroom. I can see my butt and thighs jiggle.

Also, my DH is a huge motivation for me. He always tells me how great I'm doing and how good I look.....how can I give that up?

I hope that things settle down in your life a bit so you can gain perspective. It's hard to do when your life is tied up with stress.

Schmoodle- I love love love your idea for semi-tracking! I try to write everything down, but I forget so often... I could definitely keep up with something like this!!! for now, I am going to keep on tracking with fitday and posting in my journal but this is definitely in the works for after I get a good routine down!

I personally have needed to see food specifically as fuel for the body. What does my body need to run at it's peak?
I think the best thing for me is make my decisions for right now, this moment, this meal. Thinking about the long term, how long it's going to take to lose X amount of weight, how long until I get to eat something sweet is depressing to me. But I know I can decide what I am going to eat for a snack this afternoon and I can make a healthy choice and feel great about that. Having children definitely helps me too. Each choice I make plays a part in how long I will live and be a part of their lives. HUGE. I don't want to die young because of crappy choices in something as little as the food I eat. Not to mention have enough energy to keep up with them in the meantime!

I think you have to examine why you are slipping. If you're using food to soothe your worries, you need to find something to help that is non-food related. If you feel deprived, you need to think about why food is playing such an important role in your life. What else are you deprived of? If you're deprived of "me" time, food can't help solve that. If you're deprived of a challenging job, food can't solve that.

Every time you choose food to help something not related to hunger, you're reinforcing that choice. Conversely, every time you choose not to use food, you're reinforcing and making stronger a different path.