in january i made it my goal to lose weight. i lost 16 pounds before i fell off track. now, here i am, 2 pounds heavier than when i started.

how do i get back into the groove? i feel like i have almost no motivation.

when i started i was counting calories, and that worked well for a while. but i ended up in positions when i couldn't count and when i wanted to just eat like my friends and family and do what i want.

how do i get myself to follow these guidelines?

i need help.

Hey!

To quote 3FC member Meg: "If you want it, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse."

The day may come for you, and I hope it does soon, in which losing weight and keeping it off is more important to you than just eating like your friends and family and doing what you want.

Successful losers have to get past that old mindset. They have to do it one meal at a time, sometimes. The idea that you can just eat whatever you want at any time has put you where you are today, hasn't it? It was how I got close to 200 pounds myself.

You might want to try a program like Weight Watchers in real life, where you have group support and a financial stake in success. This might help fill in during those times when you just don't care and want to eat fattening food.

Good luck to you! You can stop this cycle!

Jay

Hello! I am the same way! I have found that being accountable to someone else or a group of people helps me. I also did really well on Weight Watchers but am going to just try to follow WW without going to the meetings with the help of this web page. Let me know if you want to be buddies and keep each other on track!

Its all in the head. You have to make the change there first before you can ever make it on the outside. You have to make the decision and then do whatever means neccessary to stick with it. Believe me i know it is better said than done. I still have major slip ups. But you have to pick up and move forward. Instead of my major slip ups being every other day, they only maybe happen once a week. Keep your head up and choose, Eat what my friends eat and contiue to gain weight or Eat for me and be a healthier thinner me. You can do it once you decide to do it.

Thanks guys, I know what helped me before was the support I found in this forum. Also, my fiancee is getting serious about losing weight too. The only thing is I am still in the mindset of "I don't know if I can do this"

Thing is though, I did it before, for at least 2 solid months, so I KNOW I can do it. I just gotta remember that.

What is your starting weight? What is your goal?

Good luck! You will find it easier with your fiancee supporting you.It is great that he is serious about losing, too. I find that planning ahead is the key for me. I never found a calorie that couldn't be counted.

That's nothing more than self sabotage. It gives you an excuse to fail before you even begin - because you can quit and say "see, I knew I couldn't do this".

You need to remove negative thinking from the equation here and remember that you CAN do this. All of us CAN do it. We are all capable. The question is WILL you?

And if you want it badly enough, as Jay said, you WILL.

Believe me, every one of us here has gone through the same struggle. And many of us still go through it daily. But we're all committed to making it work.

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Of course you can. Weight loss is technically easy to do, it's getting the right mindset that is hard.

For me, it's not really about motivation but about just doing it. I have no excuses, I just have to do it!

My starting weight is 284, my end goal is 150, so I have a ways to go. Right now though I need to come up with a short term goal.

I know it's my brain that's holding me back. I have OCD and it makes it even harder, cause when I get an idea in my head I can't get rid of it. Sometimes I will think of something I want to eat and it will just sit in my brain and pick at me until I do it.

I'm not even that concerned with how I look right now, I just want to be healthy.

Have you considered joining one of the challenge threads here on 3FC? I have to say that the 5# challenges have really helped me. If I think of it in terms of 5# at a time like that, it makes it much easier to stay committed.

Here's the link to the current 5# challenge:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152318

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I once saw something a member wrote about how everyday is the first day of their diet because the first day is always the easiest its usually the third day that you start to fall aprat, so if they think that everyday is the first day then they can always make it through that day. I thought it was a neat strataegy. I think using the little 5lb goals are a really good tool for alot of people.

dlphnmomva - that's a really great way to look at it

thanks

PhotoChick - i will check it out, thanks.

so far so good today, it is only 4:34 though, haha

Don't negotiate with yourself. Just stick to it. And there is NO such thing as a situation where you cannot calorie count. You can ALWAYS calorie count --even if you write down what you ate and add it to your count later. Calorie counting is just the act of being accountable for the calories that go into your mouth. You choose how many of those there will be.

After two solid months of tracking your calories, you know, basically, how many calories are in the stuff you are eating -- at least enough to know that one slice of Pizza is fine, three are a problem. A small slice of cake every now and again will not kill you (unless you are a carb craver...), but a honkin' slice with two scoops of ice cream is a bad idea. At family gatherings, you know what you can eat, can't eat and when you should bring your own food because nothing there is going to work. The question is whether you will do it. And remember, there is nothing wrong with the occasional gathering being Off Plan, It is the rest of the time that matters. I mean, even if you eat an off plan meal once a week or so -- if you are careful the rest of the week, you will continue to do just fine.

You can do this again -- and this time you can stick to it.