So, I always experience this. Anytime I start eating well I get so excited, like unwrapping that new present at Christmas! Then after a few weeks, usually 5 to 6, I guess reality sets in and I know this is for the long haul. I knew there wasn't a quick fix when I started but it's hard not to get frustrated when it's staring you in the face.

It's at this point that I start rationalizing one bite of this, one taste of that, then of course the weight loss stalls. Last week I had a lot of special events going on which through me a little off course, no loss but maintained. I've tried to do better this week but I can tell by looking at the scales and gauging by my pants that I'm still not dropping any. I just feel like the long road ahead coupled with not seeing any scale movement will cause me to just throw my hands up and end up gaining, probably more than I started with!

I'm trying to be as unemotional and logical about this as possible but it's difficult to do at times. I guess I just need reassurance. Did you guys have this sort of phase starting out? How did you push past it and do what you knew you needed to?

This happens to me a lot too. I try to overcome it by setting new goals & talking it out with friends to try and rejuvenate my excitement. Focus on how much healthier you are being and remind yourself that this is not a race, but a lifestyle change. And even if the excitement has died down 'for now'...you will be much happier in the longrun looking back at this period and knowing that you overcame it. Especially when you're at goal and know it's because you were able to get past these mental hurdles!

Look at old pictures and take new ones. Just tell yourself, keep going. Fake it til you make it!

I am the same way! I'm so gung ho and then by this time (5-6 weeks I'm currently at) it fizzles and I'm more tempted to go out, see more friends over drinks and then i do the same and say forget it! I'm HOPING this time it sticks longer and i don't give up either. I was thinking of where i would have been if i didn't completely fall off the wagon last May after surgery I also have things i want to stride for this year. Cape vacation in May, my 20th reunion is in June (if i go), Martha's Vineyard in August and Mexico in December....SO i'm trying to remember these are all bathing suit vacations!!!

I also think this time I'm doing it alone, where in the past I've done it with a friend who loses VERY fast and doesn't follow plan by eating a few hundred calories a day which isn't realistic at all. I wish i had the answers as I'm the same as you.

I keep telling myself how GREAT thin tastes

This is one of the reasons I'm not on Weight Watchers (I belong to TOPS a non-profit international weight loss club that like WW has weekly meetings, but allows members to follow their own food plans). Some folks in my current group even belong to WW and TOPS at the same time (I've considered that, because I really think I would benefit from two official weigh-ins per week (because I'm tempted to go off plan" the day or two after weigh-in and if I had another weigh-in in three or four days, I think I would stay on plan better).


I keep things new by changing my food plan and other elements of my plan. In the "old days" when I got a little bored, I'd quit, then gain back the weight plus some extra, and would start a different plan.

Now I just cut out the gaining part - and add new components to my plan whenever I get bored. I work very hard to keep things fun and interesting for myself.

With WW, you don't have quite as much freedom, but you still have many ways that you can add new and interesting elements to keep the "new car smell" in your lifestyle changes.

Maybe experiment with healthy, but exotic (or at least new-to-you) foods, or different kinds of fun ways to burn calories. Set small, but fun challenges for yourself...

Although my progress has been quite slow "this time," I have eliminated the boredom that always led me to regain.

Really it's not that different from my marriage. It doesn't feel like my husband and I have been married almost ten years, because we work at keeping things fun and interesting. Likewise, by making weight loss fun and exciting, I prevent the newness from wearing off.

Pointspluspioneer: I did the same thing after I had surgery last February. I was in the hospital for a big and couldn't really take care of myself that well and poof! There went all my motivation and commitment.

Kaplods: I understand what you're saying about mixing it up. However, I just think I want to have my cake and eat it too! If my friends are going to drink, and have cheeseburgers and french fries I should to! After all the scales not moving anyway, right? Well, it's not moving because I'm not on plan, whatever plan it may be.

I think I'm lucky enough that I've been able to lose with any plan I just can't push past this hump! I'm hoping that by acknowledging it, even online with you guys, will help me talk myself through it.

I'm trying to avoid traditional "exercise" because I don't want to feel like I'm faltering at two things. I am however working in the yard now that spring is here. Saturday I hauled around big paving stones and 40 pound bags of dirt. I hope that works better than "exercise" because I'm more focused on the immediate improvement to my yard rather than what it may be doing to my body! No matter what there's an achievement.

You sound like me....we know exactly what we need to do, it's the doing that's the hard part!! Unlike you, i plateau very fast and then want to quit. I'm hoping to stay steady longer this time. As for the exercise, i get what you're saying. I used to spin 4 times a week, do step class, walk everywhere and for the past year have had ZERO motivation to move, i've been told i'm an all or nothing gal!! Which is maybe why when i don't see immediate results, i give up But tonight we start softball practice so i'm hoping i'm sore tomorrow after moving around but having fun doing it

My husband tells me I'm detail oriented to a fault, which becomes very much an "it has to be perfect!" mentality which leads to major frustrations. I'm having the same issue in some of my art classes at the moment where there's no right/wrong.

I guess I'm battling this in every aspect of my life.

I think that our whole ideas have to change about food - and I only pulled out this quote because I think that we all feel this way - I know I do!

We should be able to enjoy food and drinks with friends, or a night out with a spouse or partner. The problem is that most of us have gotten to this board, not because of food, but because of our lack of moderation with food. That is basically what WW is trying to teach us. Sure the benifit is losing weight, but one day you may decide to stop counting points. That's where the portioning comes in. When you're out eating that cheeseburger are you going to eat all of even if you're full? If so, then you're right back where you started.

Trust me - I 've been there. Three years ago, I lost 70 lbs on WW. I stopped counting points. I stopped looking at portions. I just cleaned my plate. It's no surprise that that 70 lbs found its way right back to my body. Why? It's because I didn't learn moderation with food - I didn't learn the lesson the first time.

This time around, I'm tryingto learn the lesson. I think that we need to take the focus off the scale and put it where it belongs.

OK - sorry for the ramble

Yeah I am very much an all or nothing person, I am VERY hard on myself in all aspects of my life. I still remember the time I went in to see my prof after an exam to find out my score, and he told me (it was in the A-range somewhere) and told me what a great job I did, and without even thinking, I said something like, "I can do better."

This attempt I have really been working hard to go easier on myself, be more forgiving. It is still definitely a work in progress. When sharing my giddiness over running all of a 5k last weekend, I feel compelled to share my time and acknowledge it could be better. Instead of just being 100% celebration mode for running.a.freaking.5k!

A couple of weeks ago, someone in my meeting said something like, "Why do we say things to and about ourselves that we would NEVER say to a friend?" We'd never say stuff like, "Oh you lost that weight because you were sick, not because you worked hard." or "Oh you ONLY lost 0.2 this week?" "It took you THAT LONG to do a 5k? Slow much?" Well I don't know, maybe people do say stuff like that to friends, but they probably don't have very many friends! The rest of us, I don't know why we are capable of being so hard on ourselves when these things would be just horribly mean to say to other people, try to trivialize their accomplishments.

I know you said you aren't really interested in traditional exercise, but it's really been the glue holding me together so far. My energy is better, my mood is better, and I generally don't want to go through the effort of working my tush off then eating back everything I just burned off.

I have lost like... 5 lbs since the beginning of this year, and after losing 90 between March and the end of Dec, it sometimes kind of depressing. But this exercise stuff gives me something other than a scale or measuring tape to gauge my progress by. When I first did push-ups, I did them on my knees. Then my toes. Now I do traveling push-ups or push-ups with lateral twists. When I first did bench dips, I had my feet flat on the floor, then I was on my heels, then my feet were on a bosu, now they're on another bench. Etc etc. Or how long it took me to walk a mile, then how long I could run for without stopping, then the time it takes to run a mile, etc. Gradually these things improve. And there are of course many things to work on still in the to-do column, but it just feels exciting to think ahead about what I want to be able to do in the near future.

Find something that excites you! Do you like to experiment with cooking? Experiment with the healthiest things you can put your hands on. Would you like to rock climb, then do that. How about giving your man some va-va-voom requiring lots of energy in the bedroom (sorry, I know that's personal)..do you like to garden or organize, than do that. Do you like support and conversation-join a weightloss group or support group of some kinds. Stay busy--emotionally and physically. Go to sleep when you are supposed to. Take care of your environment, yourself, whatever. Keep it fresh. Keep it real. You are going to do great.

I have to say that a huge thing for me was coming to 3FC.

I have learned we are our own worst enemy. I tend to get in a rut and eat the same foods and do the same exercise and have the mentallity that if I stray I will never lose the weight.

Right now I have only lost 4lbs since Jan 1 and it is harder than heck to stay motivated. I have had more bad days than good but every morning I get up determined to do better that day. This is where I have to find ways to keep me motivated and for me it is finding some new exercise to try or a new recipe to experiment with using a food I would never thought of or to try in what ever combination it might be.

Like today I am going to try doing three new exercises with weights that I found on the internet that are supose to work every large muscle group at once including core...will see LOL

Keep us updated on how you are doing

When the newness is gone...

I am not viewing this whole WW thing as a diet, something that will end when I reach some goal weight, whatever that may be. This is a new way to view food. A new way to budget and plan what I eat. More attention to exercise. I expect that if I want to be thinner and healthier than I was, I will have to eat this way FOREVER.

It is not that I will never have a cheeseburger and a beer again - it is that I will plan for it, before and after I eat it. And I will not deprive myself - if it is my birthday or my grandmother's 90th birthday, I will have my cake! But, I will probably choose to exercise a bit extra that week.

How have I kept it fresh after 9 months on WW? How will I keep it fresh?
I find attending meetings can refocus my attention on an aspect of the plan - whether it be considering a new food, or a eat more fiber, or try a new exercise.

In that way, personally, each week, I choose an aspect of the plan to redouble my efforts in attending to. Whether it be GHG (making sure I get in that dairy or veggies), extreme tracking (can't budget if I do not know what i have spent), or add in an exercise that week.

I can't say WW does not work. As long as I do what is asked of me, I have lost weight. When I have strayed from tracking or GHG, I do not lose. I still have a ways to go, and I think the next phase is the hardest, but it is up to me to follow the plan.

You posted this in the WW forum (and forgive me for not knowing this if you have posted elsewhere)...do you go to meetings? I go to my meeting every week just for the possible new perspective I might get, and sometimes it can be really motivating! I've been going for years and most of what I hear is not new, but sometimes it is packaged differently. Or the message is what I need to hear NOW, like a meeting on planning your meals right when you were slacking off in that regard. Sometimes it's that one little reminder that gets you going in the right direction.

Also, I have just started reading the Beck Diet Solution. There is a forum here for it. It is meant to work with any plan--there are 6 weeks of exercises you follow that make it easier to stick to any plan. From previewing, it seems as though this involves writing out what you consider to be the advantages of losing weight, and you must review these very regularly. If you are always reminding yourself of why you are losing weight, I can't imagine that makes it HARDER to stay motivated. So I'm giving that a try too.

I do WW online and do not go to meetings because of the cost and I just don't have time. I spend so much time away from my family during the week between school and work that I find it hard to justify spending more money to do so on the weekend, even if for an hour. Plus, that money can pay for a membership to the university rec center for our entire family.

I buckled down last week and realized that it was just that valley in dedication that I needed to push through to get back to a peak. Sure enough, I went from 240.6 to 237.8 at my at home "weigh in" yesterday. That loss, coupled with the knowledge that I can do this regardless of my waxing and waning emotions helped me get past that 6 week point where I normally say "Forget it!" and starting eating crap again.

I have this too! So my plan is to use the WW structure for portions and to jazz it up on my own. For example, follow BFL or Tosca Reno or go vegan or anything I can think of to make it more interesting.