Hi all,

I'm new to 3fc but not new to dieting... I'm a recovering yo-yo dieter and am trying to lose 50 lbs. the slow, sane, maintainable way. In the past I've crash dieted (800 calories a day!) and easily lost two pounds or more every week. So this past week it was just incredibly frustrating to look for results on weigh-in day from my first week of dieting and actually *gain* a pound. Yuck!

It's so tempting to go back to the insane crash dieting. A little voice keeps telling me, "You could lose the weight really fast and THEN eat sensibly!" But I know it wouldn't work that way... I would just binge or overeat and gain it all back. I really need some support!

Hi Flarnax ~ The title of your thread caught my eye. Why? Because I started over AGAIN last week and had a 'crummy' first week too. My only saving grace is that my sweet husband is going to start tomorrow with me. I think that will make it so much easier.

We're going to start by not dieting as much as eating healthy. Just think.....if you just ate a more healthy diet and even had some of those snacks here and there and you started this was of eating a year ago.......I'd bet odds that we'd be down that 50 pounds by now. (I want to lose 50 lbs also)

So here's to tomorrow and a really great 2nd week.

I had to stop in and remind you both of the phrase... "Progress not Perfection" and "Practice makes Progress".

Don't be too hard on yourselves. You have the right idea focusing on healthy living and eating habits.
Just wanted to wish you luck in your new effort to mold a NEW YOU IN 2002.

I'm not sure if my story will help any, but here goes...

I started weight watchers at the beginning of last August. After 6 weeks I had only lost about 1.5 pounds. The following months were a little better and I ended up losing 10 pounds in one month. Even though it took me a while to start losing weight I had been making small changes in the way I ate and my activity level. Since that time I have lost almost 50 pounds. It's taken a while, but I no longer have to THINK about making wise food decisions and I'm to the point now where I HAVE to exercise. Sometimes I want to eat badly and sometimes I give into those temptations, but I don't do it everyday and on the days where I eat a little more I exercise a little more.

I hope that with my gradual weightloss and the changes I've made in my lifestyle that this will be the LAST time I have to attempt to lose weight.

Good luck and let us know how you progress through your journey!

Thank you all for the support! You know how sometimes you have the knowledge to make something work, but it still feels so hard to actually do it? Well, reading your messages makes it a lot easier.

Zoe, glad to hear that there is another person on the boards who is starting over. I feel like I failed. But we don't fail until we give up.

2cute, I've read some of your other posts with the "Practice makes progress" saying, and I always liked that phrase. I think that perfectionism not only makes us feel bad when we fall short, but it makes us feel paranoid when we're actually doing well! I don't want to get thin, only to obsess more about food than I do now. That would be sadly ironic!

Amy, thanks for sharing your story. On another board, one woman had been working on her weight for a year, and at the end of the year she was only down nine pounds. But the other way of looking at it was... she kept nine pounds off for an entire year. That's better than I've done.

Anyway, I did well yesterday, but ate some junk food today. Will do better tomorrow.

Good Morning everyone ~

Here's to another Tuesday morning, dragging myself into work. Not that I'm just too tired but I sure would love to be doing some things around the house. Why is it that we don't want to do any of the household chores on the weekend but when Monday or tuesday comes, we are raring to to go???

Flarnax ~ Believe me, this is NOT the first time I've 'started over' nor are we the only ones. But I have passed day 1 with flying colors and feel great about it. How strange that just 1 day of staying OP can give you such a wonderful feeling. I hope you'll look around the other threads and find a place you want to settle in. I am on LOSER'S for CHRIST, Fabulous 40's (opps, there goes my age... ) and another TX group. So if these fit you, come on over.

2cute2bfat ~ I love that line and I'm going to steal it.

Amy ~ Thanks for your story. You gave me hope. I have started over so many times I have stopped counting. I just keep thinking that I want to look good before I'm too old to enjoy the new me. Thanks

Have a great day everyone......

Zoe ~ Soaking up the "SON" in Texas <><

Hi! I'm new too, and I know what you mean about the crash dieting...it is easy to slip into that need for quick results, but when I'm tempted to do that, I remember this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, I think, maybe, that said something to the effect of the most beautiful gems in the world only get that way after years of rough polishing...does that make any sense? The point is, I think of myself as that gem, worthy of years of polishing, if necessary, to be the most beautiful and healthy I can be....I know that the quick fix is only plausible on the $5 Diamond, not the $5 million one...(going back to the gem analogy)

What takes a long time will last a long time...that's what I try to tell myself...the longer I work for something, the harder I'm going to work to maintain it!

Hope that helps!

Mag

Flarnax... hello again. Welcome Magdelena !!
cfblues.... you sound like you have got it figured out... gradual and persisitent will get you to your goal.

I used to think that a perfectionist was someone who had to always do everything perfectly.
I now know that a perfectionist is someone who is ALWAYS stressed and frustrated because it is not possible to be perfect.

I agree with Zoe... we all need to have a group to join in with. You mentioned you have read my posts before... so you know where to find Zoe and me. Or any other group here will welcome you with open arms. Take that jump... and jump into the next phase of your recovery.

Hello and welcome Magdelena ~ hi Flarnax, 2cute2Bfat and cfblues........

Seems that everyone here has a plan and in my mind, that is the first step. For so long, I've just wanted to lose so fast that I went running, half on track and just did whatever I thought best for that moment....no plan, no goals, no nothing! This time I am more focused with a plan, to lose 50 pounds......a long-term goal ~ to do it by the end of the year......a few short-term goals ~ 10 by 4th of July, 25 by Labor day and so on.

Seems we all have some sort of plan and I think we'll do great. Focus and gradual.....yes.......progress and not perfection....yes.

Hope to see y'all soon.

Zoe <><

Uh-huh! Zoe, that's so true. When things get slow at work, I think about my bathtub and the scrubbing it could use.

Has anybody else gained weight from eating out of boredom at work? I know I'm guilty!

Welcome, Magdalena!

Yes, I plan on joining a group... was thinking about the 100-plus group, just because I like the way it's organized. But I'll check out the Christian group, too.

Isn't that an empowering discovery, 2cute? We gain so much weight in the form of worry when we try to be perfect. It's like there are cinderblocks piled on our shoulders.

I think some of the allure of perfection is the ideal of control. Control your relationships, control your career, control your body weight, whatever. But the catch is that once you have one thing under control, there's always another thing in your life that isn't quite right, and pretty soon you find yourself juggling a million things, all of which have to be perfect or you feel like a failure... talk about a recipe for disaster!

Strength comes from knowing you can succeed after a failure, rather than constantly teetering on the edge of the brink.

YES,yes, yes... perfecitionists are "control addicts"... I know this because I am a control freak myself. I even want to control my funeral.

"Letting go"... is one of the best phrases I have learned.
Let go of controling others
Let go of controling traffic
Let go of controling food too.

If I try to "control" my eatting I always lose.
I have to let go and accept my limitations... but accepting the fact I cannot eat all I want, whenever I want... is not trying to control my food. In fact... it is giving up control ... and accepting reality.
Control is trying to eat just one... or to eat all I want today and then promise myself I will never eat it again. (pizza, ice cream, etc) I always lose... not weight... I lose the control battle.

did you notice my options when "I" am in control....
I will only eat one.... or ... I will eat all I want this time and NEVEr eat it again. No balance what so ever.
Success comes with a "balanced" diet, a balance exercise program, a balanced life style.
No more all or nothing here.