First of all, hey y'all! This is my first time posting on the 300+ board, so I figure I should introduce myself. I'm Sara, 28 years old, 6ft tall and current 342 (blech) living in Georgia. I have PCOS, which seems to be a HUGE part of my weight issues. I work multiple part time jobs, teaching band and piano lessons at a private school in town in the morning and teaching ballroom dancing at night. I lost about 40 pounds two years ago, was eating well and going to the gym like a fiend. Well in the past year I had a bad breakup, got in a HUGE funk, had some injuries and had to lay off the gym and gained back everything plus about 20 pounds. Ridiculous. Anyway, I'm back on the wagon and back in the gym, and hopefully can stick to it this time. I saw the 290s last time, and I'm so mad at myself that I'm back here.

Second of all, I had a planned cheat meal tonight. I've been really good since I started back two and a half weeks ago (down 9.8 pounds, what up!) and ate accordingly so I could splurge tonight. It was SO not worth it. I feel all bloated now and the appetizer combo that I got didn't even taste as good as it did in my head. Eh well. Now I know.

Hello and

I too started out in this group and still come back here at times to "check in" and to hopefully encourage someone else that they can make it out of here.

You can do it too! I'm now closer to 200 than 300 Yes, it takes hard work and commitment to get there but it can be done.

Keep it up and don't give up! A year from now you will be looking back at all the progress you have made.

You can do this and welcome.. Congrats on your loss so far. That's great. You are one busy girl!!

Congratulations on starting your way to being healthier and for the 9.8Lbs lost Wooo Hoo!!

I was thinking about what you said about the "cheat" meal. I think sometimes we do "romantisize" what things tasted like when we ate them and want them again; only to realize that ... hhmm maybe it wasn't the greatest taste in the world (and especially the after effects Yikes). But I think that it is human nature (and our little voice) that makes us think that the "bad" stuff is so good and so delicious that we just have to have it (putting it up on a pedistal).. but it turns out to not be.

Thank you for your words as it is a great reminder that food in memory is a memory and not always fact )))) I really appreciate it!

Good luck on your journey!

Welcome to 3FC! You are going to love it here, the support forums are amazing and I couldn't have done all I have without these wonderful ladies (and men too!). I'm here on good days, I'm here on bad days, I'm here everyday!

I find now that I am eating healthy and good, yummy foods, I am not as impressed with foods that I used to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I don't know if my palate is clean now or what the reason is. But now, if something doesn't taste drop dead awesome, there will be no more bites (and I have been known to discretely spit out foods that didn't taste as good as I thought they would, I'm not absorbing THOSE calories!!!).

There is so much info for you to read and learn here, find some forums that you can join. I don't post every day in the accountability forums as I find it very overwhelming but I do add here and there. You have to find what works for you. Good luck on your weightloss mission, we are here for you.

Hello Sara. This is a really great forum! I was reading your story and amazed about how similar it is to mine. Same height/weight/loss and regain almost exactly. Funny huh? I got down to 285 which was freaking fantabulous for me and it's killing me now to have to relose all that weight plus another 20.

I also find those splurge meals are less and less desirable. I never realized how awful I felt until I started eating better. I went to Applebee's the other day for lunch with the husband and while it was deeeeeeeeeeeelicious I not only felt terrible about it, I felt bloated and awful all through the day and into the night. So yeah - remember that feeling and cherish it! HA! There's nothing really so good that it's worth sabotaging your diet for. It's just food. Going to bed at the end of the night with a healthy euphoria and sore muscles from a great work out feels a ton better than a bowl of ice cream.

Thanks everybody :-) I'm glad to be here, it's much easier having people to talk to who know what boat you're in!

For me, I think cheat meals do have a time and a place.

There will be times, be it when you are out with friends at a restaurant or at a party when it's just not possible to stick with a salad. Granted, these should be rare events but I'm of the mindset it's better to live at peace with an odd slip or two rather than call the whole game off.

Yeah, that's how I generally think about it too. My mom had a nutritionist tell her once that it's totally normal and ok to give yourself one full out cheat meal a week as long as that's all you do. I've been kind of thinking along those lines but man if that cheat meal last night just didn't taste good! It's a good thing my tastes are changing, but it's a bummer to have eaten junk that didn't even taste good, felt like a waste. Oh well.

And Courtney, that's funny! We do have the same stats! I like your username too, I have a green dress that I wore to a dance event once and now my short friends call me the Jolly Green Giant, haha.

10 years ago I had success losing weight on my own and on Saturday nights I went out and had whatever I wanted for dinner. It worked then but now not as much. I am on medifast now so having a cheat day means losing 3 days while building back to ketosis so I have just stuck to it and 3 and 1/2 weeks into it I don't even think about cheating. I originally had planned to stay on plan completely until the NCAA Tournament started and then have 1 cheat day so I could drink beer and snack LOL. The closer it gets to that day I am starting to think I will stay on plan after all. I don't want to do anything to sabotage what is happening right now.

I totally agree! One of my binge foods used to be zebra cakes, so I got some when I was feeling down, after staying away for a few years. Needless to say, it tasted terrible!!!

Welcome Welcome!
Congrats on your weight loss so far!

I too cant eat cheat foods anymore, i used to but now i realise they make me tired, irratable and bloated - even nauseous sometimes - so i just stay away from them, my cheat foods have now become pretzels and fruit with peanut butter, not what many consider yummy but they are yummy for me and dont make me want to be sick.
find what works for you

Welcome!

It is worth it!

Welcome! It is entirely do-able. I have decided that my past failures set me up for this success.

I agree with this, entirely. I allow myself to have something like a 'cheat' meal at least once a week, except I do NOT consider it a cheat meal. I just consider it a meal. I don't give myself permission to have the super deep fried double-triple combo, so much as a regular meal I enjoy. It is a slightly different mindset, but it helps me to feel like this is entirely permanent and do-able for the rest of my life. Which is has to be.

So, if I am out at a fine dining restaurant, I do not worry about calories; I just enjoy. Chain restaurants I research religiously beforehand. It is just a series of choices that we make, and you can keep making good ones!