im just curious, but how often do you go off plan, either eating something you shouldn't, overeating, not exercising as planned, etc.

it seems that i can't even make it a whole week completely flawless. i dont even know why/how it happens. but i'll be motivated and do so well for a few days, and then before i know it, i ate half a sleeve of graham crackers and i feel defeated. and then i'm disgusted, swear it'll never happen again, but it always does.

does anyone ever do this also? is it possible to be successful and continue this path? i would think not. i just get so frustrated. any advice?

Every weekend.

My biggest threat is drinking. I'm not willing to give it up to lose weight, even though I know it's full of empty calories and I should. I stopped having wine with dinner EVERY night (literally, every single night of the week) and now have alcohol 2-3 times per week, but still.

I'm OP absolutely 100% Monday through Wednesday. Thursdays I find it harder to drag myself to the gym and I start to crave Mexican food and margaritas, and my roommate, who is also trying to lose weight, is a big enabler/supporter so we've had one too many Thursday nights out. Fridays there's always big breakfasts at work and I don't have enough self-control to turn it down and of course, there's more drinking at night. Saturdays there's always drinking. Sundays are for bloody mary breakfasts then starting to return to healthy ways.

Gawd, I'm a mess.

once a week at least lol

I guess it kinda depends on what you mean by falling off track.

I aim for about 1400-1500 calories per day. Maybe one day a week will I accidently (heh.. or not so accidently) go over that by 200-300 calories. I don't really consider that going off track though. I just think that's life!

Hmmm.
I agree. Falling off track is in the eye of the beholder.
When I'm OP, I don't touch super garbage food for weeks straight. That being said, a few times a week I'm very likely to overindulge. Make more than an allotted "single serving" of something that I'm chowing down on for dinner, or snack away on too many rice crackers while I'm making myself a meal and waiting for it to cook, just... throwing an extra hundred calories on top of my meal.

That being said, I very frequently fall off the wagon for long periods of time. I'm a bit obsessive in that... I will be on 3FC every day... all the time... for two and a half months. Then for another two and half months, I'll start eating complete CRAP, and lose my motivation, and won't want to come onto 3FC to tell everyone I've gained back the 4 lbs I had to fight off of my body.

I wanna tough it out this time. Stick around all through my 140s, and down into the 130s... I want to make my goal this time, without falling off the wagon and gaining back.
I know that weight loss is a long journey now, and even though I went from 165ish (higher at one point) down to 148, then gained back up to 156... I was back down in NO time. Gotta remember that little gains can be fixed quickly, and then we can keep moving the scale in the right direction. Woot!

for me its once i get past three days im usually good. cravings will settle down and i can stay on plan eating with out too much fuss. but when i do get off and its usually gradual, i will eat garbage for months on end, basically falling off the wagon every single day as every morning ill be saying that this is the day im starting over. im hoping for changes this time. really what i need to learn is to make falling off the wagon just a quick little blip. not let it depress me and make me spin out of control into a bingefest!

I think I overeat my allotment of calories once or twice monthly (2000 calorie days). I have had three days since starting this June '08 that I would say was completely, completely out of control. (3000 calorie + days)

Just keep going. The day is filled with choices. If the majority of them are good ones, you will have success. The number of good choices are in direct correlation with how quickly you will reach your goal.

By the way, I notice the success you have already had. You should be very proud. You are definitely doing well.

i'm with macky.

i do drink on the weekends, like every saturday night. i dont usually drink during the week, but sometimes. so, weekends are hard. i tend to want fast food, and if i go out theres waaaayyyy more of a chance i'm going to eat something i shouldn't. but, i am tired of feeling like crap every monday morning b/c i didnt do so well over the weekend. this weekend i dont really have anything planned, so i think i will do good this weekend. but my new goal is to stay OP on the weekends. i am fed up with being fat and feeling bad about myself.

Wow, this is such a good thread, one of the best I have read in a while. Gave me insights. I relate to pieces (sometimes little, sometimes big) of what each of you have said. I have a hard time doing a whole week without falling off the wagon and I am still in the trial and error stage or what works and what doesn't. I am finding it hard to believe how little I can eat to loose weight. It is kind of ridiculous. And I have been very stuck for quite a while going up and down between two pounds. We'll see how this goes tonight. I have really been having cravings today and this aftrnoon when I got home from work I was REALLY having a hard time so I made a huge coffee with cream, Splenda and Stevia, had a few sips and I am doing better but don't know how this will go tonight. My knees are at stake here so I sure need to bring that to mind when I think about going "bananas."

i do agree that it is all relative in defining what falling off plan means. to me its being out of control. as i mentioned, eating a sleeve of graham crackers before i even realize what just happened. that's OP. my biggest issue that i have is binge eating. so i feel like i really messed up when i go on a binge. i haven't been able to avoid them altogether, but i've definitely been trying to figure out what i'm doing, why i'm doing it, how to avoid it, and make better choices.

I recently started a thread where I said the more I think about being perfectly on plan, the more disastrously I fall off it.

I'm a binger too. I CANNOT restrict any food. I can't say "No fast food. No processed carbs. No soda. No alcohol." The more something is a "NO" to me, I am guaranteed to go all out on some binge on it.

Right now my plan is calorie counting & exercise with no calorie limits or exercise stipulations. I put a chart up where I write down my weight, calories in and exercise minutes/calories burned each day. A couple days ago I ate 2000 calories. I wasn't excited to see that number but I am trying to react as "normally" as possible to my calories--large or small, it's my daily mental exercise to say "that's fine."

Before, I used to be really hard on myself if I could only stay "perfect" for 2-3-4 days. Now I try not to count how many days I've followed my very loose plan--or the saboteur in me will eff it up!

My best advice is to loosen up your definition of a binge. Yesterday I came home starving and ate about 2 servings of peanuts - 300 calories. But to me, it was not a binge. If I called it a binge and beat myself up for it, I probably would've downed half a bottle of my bf's wine and a piece of his cheesecake. That's how binges make me feel. So I just decided that overeating things like peanuts no longer qualifies as a binge.

Maybe your plan is too restrictive? I'm nobody's weight loss hero. I've lost just 9 lbs since I started 3FC in September. But I'm so certain I'll reach goal and not gain it back because I'm figuring out how to lose weight without dieting AND I've been essentially binge-free the whole time. I totally envy those who can lose 1-2 lbs a week and I only lose 1-2 lbs a month but... I know I'll get there.

joyra. you are amazing. i wish i could know you in real life to consult you personally. i am seriously that way. i say no to all these things and i'm constantly reinventing my miracle plan. i need to stop restricting myself so much. i think it just sets me up for failure. and then i get disappointed.

the past few binges i've had, i overate a homemade buffet of items. that's a binge to me. eating a little bit of 15 different items til im uber full. that's a binge. that's not a meal.

anyway, i binged early in the day which in my eyes was great. bc it allowed me to clean up for the remainder of the day. yesterday, i overate early, and wasn't hungry the rest of the day til this morning for breakfast, so i just didn't eat anything else. so maybe it didn't end up being the end of the world. or today, i ate more than i should have around noon. so later when i finally got hungry i made some eggs and vegs. and i felt good about it.

it's definitely a learning process for me, that is. i can't lose 1-2 pounds a week. it's impossible. just will not happen for me right now. i dont mean to sound defeatist and say that i can't do it. but mentally, i think i need to evaluate my behavior and feelings before i allow myself to lose 1-2 pounds a week. i need to stop hating myself so much first i think.

ok that's my thoughts for now. i hope there's more responses to this thread. it's very encouraging.

Actually yesterday I had a planned off day (see other thread lol), but other than that I've been OP except for the occasional night out where I've had one too many drinks.
BUT I am having a VERY hard time binging since I've cut out sugar. It's like all the foods I normally would have binged on I can't eat, and I don't really find healthy stuff leads to a binge for me. I've definitely still had those emotions that normally lead up to a binge, but nothing non-sugary is appealing at that time so it goes away.

I do fine Monday through Friday. Then the weekend comes. And that's where everything gets messed up and I gain back all the wonderful (probably water) weight I lost. I can lose about 2 pounds during the week, and then come again Monday I'm back where I started. It's frustrating, but it's so hard to find things to do with friends that don't involve going to the mall and buying things I don't need, so we eat out a lot. Especially on the weekends. When I'm at school and busy, it's so easy to eat right. But with nothing to do all day comes trouble. I need to keep busy!

Every few days!