I know you all know about all the excuses people use to either not lose weight, or to quit.... I used my birthday as an excuse. It all started with my mom taking me out to celebrate at the chinese buffet. Before I even got in there I started making excuses for myself. "Oh it's my birthday so I'm just not going to watch what I eat, just for today." Most likely because I knew the buffet would be too tempting to say no to. I ended up have two plates (not over filled thank god) but I was still ready to explode!!! Thankfully I made myself stay AWAY from the deserts. Then the next day, came the tart... OH THE BEAUTIFUL DECADENT TART. Seeing as I went to the buffet the day before my birthday, and this girl went out of her way to get me the tart..... I ate it. My mom made me Macaroni and Cheese with meatballs in it for the birthday dinner. And I over ate. The next day my mom went to the food bank and we got a bunch of NONO's. I opened a bag of nachos and ate quite a few. Friday I drank 1/3 a 60 of whiskey and went to mc Donalds and got an egg and bacon breakfast sandwhich on a bagel and Not one but TWO grease infested delicious hash browns. Put extra mayo on EVERYTHING.

That's one HUGE slip. I just thought I should get that out of my system because I'm ashamed and putting it out there kind of means I'm letting go of the shame, forgiving myself and moving forward. I'm only up to 287 from 284 so I guess it could have been worse. Today is a new day. I CAN DO THIS.

It is over, you owned up to it, and now you can move on! You are doing so well and your attitude sounds great. Congrats!!!

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!!

No one, NO ONE can be perfectly on plan for the rest of their life. I'm a four year maintainer, last night I had 3 glasses of wine and 4 pieces of pizza (2 were small). That was NOT my plan!!!

Don't beat yourself up, keep going! The most important thing is to get back on track!

Yeh for sure. I think my back is improved enough to even get on the elliptical even... I just don't know if I should wait longer for my back or not.

It's bad yeah, but no reason to bring all your hard work to a screeching halt. It takes a lot to own up to what you did (not to all of us- but yourself!) and now that you did that, it's easy to let it go like you said.

It wasn't even my birthday on Friday and I did the same thing. I watched cals all day so that when I went to the bar it would balance out. I don't eat when I'm at the bar so no big right? Wrong... because those rum and diets turned into more rum and diets, which turned into frozen margaritas, which turned into finding myself leaving an afterparty at 5am and eating an ultimate breakfast sandwich and hash browns from jack in the box. So it stops there right? the next day i literally drank a gallon of water, cut my cals like in half for the day (since i ate that crap at 5am, technically the same day) and tried to do better. all was cool, i had like 600 cals up till about 9pm. then i find myself eating out of a bag of goldfish i gave my kids, then eating a big piece of brie. then 2 servings of ice cream. like WHAT THE ****. i ate it for NO reason!

so yeah, i totally know where you're coming from. so sunday's our day! no mas! hehe you can totally get back on track!!

happy belated birthday btw.

Ahaha, Sunday is our day And for sure we can get back on track.

Thanks for the belated birthday:P

definitely sunday! it has to be today... i'm like 5lbs from getting my super awesome tattoo.. i'm not stalling it now!

so... *sigh*... it's back to the stepper and weights for me! i haven't eaten yet so i'm gonna hit up the fiber one and yogurt. woo hoo!

what are you gonna eat today?

For "breakfast"/lunch I'm going to have two eggs over easy and 6 whole grain trisquits. I'm not sure what else but it's going to be full of nutrition and in good portion sizes. and my snack???? VEGGIES AND FRUITS!

I had a slip too, involving chips, chocolate cake, and a huge wrap from friendlys. Not too mention a whole lot of liquor/beer...my roomies birthday was yesterday. Not as bad as it could've been, but it had me pretty down in the dumps and thinking of giving up. I vowed not to step on the scale today, lol.

That sounds great.

One thing is, you've always got to be prepared for slips because it's going to happen. You have to accept it, and just work extra hard to get back on the horse. When I tell myself this, I feel so much better and today I'm starting it off right again.

Oh for sure. I forgot to mention the bag of chips me and my friend devoured thursday night while.. inebriated!

I think I should also drink lots of water today, most likely in the form of green tea.

There's a big difference between making excuses and living a normal, not-quite perfect life.

For me, expecting perfection only set me up for bigger falls when real life inevitably intervened, because I didn't have a plan for anything short of perfection, by whatever rules I definted it. So I had only two modes perfectly off plan, and eating absolutely everything in sight until I made myself sick physically as well as emotionally.

Every bite is a choice, and no single bite makes or breaks my long-range plans. No food is bad, and I am not bad for eating them. Some foods make me feel sick, or are detrimental in other ways, so they're not the best choice for me. I remind myself that if I trip on the stairs, I don't decide to throw myself to the bottom as punishment.

I do have a lot of Plan B's though. For example, instead of expecting myself to never go to a buffet again my buffet plan is pretending that I am very picky like my youngest (and thinnest) sister. Not only does she not let foods touch each other on her plate, every food must have at least a 1/2 inch border around it, to insure no accidental drift. I use other tricks too, but I really think that having a plan for less than perfection can help more than feeling you have two choices perfection and vaccuum cleaner.

I think we internalize certain diet rules that we've learned because it's just how dieting "is done." We know that it's "normal" (at least in the dieting community) to see food plans as requiring perfection, and that a slip is naturally followed by a binge. Then we're supposed to feel guilty and start perfection all over again.

Deciding to change the rules can really help.

mmm... eggs... i love me some breakfast! that's why even though i thought it was horrible that i ate that JITB sandwich that i also kind of didn't mind. because it was GOOD. and i didn't finish it all. but between it and the hash brows i ate about 600cals. too much for one meal after a night of drinking! haha

i down water like there's no tomorrow the next day too. i have a Fiji bottle that is 4glasses almost exactly. i drank 5 bottles. haha. so i guess i still got some exercise running around to the bathroom! :P

the other thing i do the next day after a slip is keep my carbs really low. i always have some whole grains (fiber one, a whole grain wrap, whatever) but i only eat a little bit of carbs and then try to eat veggies/protein the rest. NO junk! not even so much as a 100cal pack... hehe

oh yeah, you should also try eating a pound of spinach. no joke. it's so good for you and i can totally make it into like a light lunch. take a block of frozen spinach and micro it for 3 mins. meanwhile, saute some chopped onion, sliced mushroom, and fresh garlic until they start to get done. take the spinach out, chop up a Laughing Cow cheese wedge and add it on top. the add the mushroom and onions, finally put a little i cant believe its not butter spread (like 2 tsp) on top (DONT drain the spinach!) micro it all for another 3 mins. mix it up and EAT! it's sooo yummy. and had about 200cals. mmmmmm....

wow, that sounds absolutely delicious. I would probably use lemon juice and a bit of olive oil instead of butter though.