Hi there!

I have been dieting for six weeks. The first five weeks went well, I was living a lifestyle that I thought I could keep up for the rest of my life. Reasonable number of calories, reasonable amount of exercise. I wasn't starving myself or making myself work out too much. And I lost 7 lbs.

Now, this past week, I've been overeating. I am under stress, plus I've been enjoying my weight loss success, so I've been "taking it easy." Now I've gained half a pound this past week. I need to get back into my proper eating habits. Any advice?

Thanks!

Hey TBJ333, we all have backslides .... some big ... some little. Don't sweat it. Just get back in the groove.
Somewhere in the Maintainers Forum, they talk about complacency. You know ... "I look pretty good I think I'll wash my pizza down with ice cream" ... we've all done that too.
Keep read and keep posting.
You don't really need to start again. Just tweak back into gear.

What do you consider a reasonable number of calories? In my own experience, when I overate following "dieting" it meant I was lowering my calories too much and my body was rebelling against preceived famine.

I find journaling helps me get back on track..maybe you are doing that already. I just find if I know I have to write it down - sometimes I can talk myself out of it.

Just remember that you are human and that we all go off the bandwagon at one point or another. It doesn't mean that your dieting and hard work are for nothing, it just means that you need to think about all the weight you have already lost and get back into the swing of things again. You can do it because you have done it and have done a fantastic job of it! Think of all the positives of losing the weight...feel better, look fantastic, better and more fashionable clothes, more energy to do all the fun things you have not wanted to or felt like doing, and of course, the self-esteem/confidence to do anything! You can do it!!!!
Jenn

I had the same problem when I went off Weight Watchers . I started with 134Lb and lost almost 6Lb and was very close to my goal. But then I went to a Fair and ate sugery stuff and I gained .4 LB. No big deal right? Well next week I overate and didn't go to my meeting because I knew I gained, on top of that I was so stressed because of finals and I told myself, that's ok, I need the food to get through this . Two months later I couldn't bring myself to go back to meetings. I thought I just need to loose some weight on my own and than I would be back. I just couldn't face the scale. 1 Year later, I'm now 139.8LB and finally back at Weight Watchers, this time I will face the scale and stick to my plan no matter how often I fail. Good luck to you.

Hey TBJ333,

I understand completely where you are since I'm there too! I was doing well on my diet and exercising, and then I got a few curve balls thrown my way and I started to not pay attention to what I was eating. No I'm right back where I started.

BUT! I let myself get down for a little bit, just to get it out of my system, and then I tell myself that I've done it before, and I can do it again. i'm finally come to grips with the fact that keeping pounds off will always be something I have to work at, no matter how much I'd like to be able to eat whatever I want. So just keep at it - you know what works, you know you've done it before so it's not an impossible task. Something else that helps is reminding yourself that eating healthier is better for the body - we're not just losing weight but cutting down on risks of various diseases, building up our immune system, etc. etc. so we can enjoy life more. (can you tell I'm telling this to myself at the same time? ) Hopefully that provides the incentives to get back on track.

Good luck!

Thank you all! FYI, I try to stay at 1550 calories, but I average about 1600-1700.

Minnimaus, grr, you've made me admit it... I skipped my WW weigh-in this week! I'll learn from your example and get back to my good habits and commitment to weighing in. Thanks for the kick in the butt.

And thank you all for the reminder that we're only human... what's a temporary few-days slip up compared to the years of overeating that made me gain weight?

OK, tomorrow I will check back in here and be able to say that I succeeded today.

Here's my two cents. I am a very emotional eater. When times get tough, I want to turn to my old friend, food. It is very difficult to learn new ways of coping with stress, sadness, anger, fear, etc. I never learned to just feel my emotions. I always stuffed them down with food. Now I can come here and put down in words what I'm feeling instead of eating something to numb the discomfort. I also keep an online journal (private) where I write down all the things that are bothering me. It is better for me to examine my feelings out in the open, instead of trying to neutrilize them with food.

Are you eating the same meals over and over again? If you've been living off of Lean Cuisines for six weeks, try making some of your favorite recipes in a lighter manner. Better yet, try something new. When I get bored with my food, I tend to have trouble sticking to my eating plan. I've been actively trying to lose weight since April. I started out using a lot of prepackaged food. I'm not a very good cook, so this worked well for quite a while. I've finally had enough, though. I can no longer live on boxed/canned/frozen food. I am cooking a lot now. Not everything I make is great, but I enjoy the variety and taste of freshly prepared foods over the canned/frozen/boxed stuff. It also puts me in control of the ingredients.

One more thing - I've done this weight loss/regain thing more times than I'd like to mention. I've discovered that the "diet," if you want to call it that, never ends. Overweight folks who lose the weight can never become complacent. We are all works in progress. I shook my fist at the world and cried out, "Why me? Why am I different? Why can't I eat like a skinny person?" Well, like my parents told me, life isn't fair. I am different from a person who has never had a weight problem. I can't change the difference, but I can work with it. I do believe I can succeed. So can you.

Autumn Night, thanks for your wise words. See what happened to my promise to post here the next day? Blargh, I keep screwing up. Yes, I've been varying my food. My problem must be emotional eating. Somehow I never thought of myself as an emotional eater. It seemed as though I just liked food. But really, I do eat out of strong moods -- positive or negative.

Yes, I know that I am working on a lifestyle change. I call it a diet, anyway. The reason is that if I call it a lifestyle change, I get suckered in to thinking that positive thinking and a ten-minute walk per day will be enough to reach my goal. I know that small changes like that are important, but frankly, the small changes have to be in food and in significant exercise. (I know it might be different for others, but this situation is reality for me.) So I say "diet" in order to keep myself mindful that I need truly healthy eating and regular, significant exercise. Otherwise, I become complacent, just like you said.

I'm not giving up. But I'm being real that sitting here typing about losing weight isn't enough.

Thanks for your support!

WWWHHHAAATTT? Just posting here on 3FC isn't going to make me lose weight? Dang....

Shoot! I better put down this snickers bar. Just kidding. Chick in the hat, whatever you're doing is sure working!! You're so close!! Congrats!

Seriously though TBJ333, I have been having the same problem as you. I lost some weight before joining here, started tracking my food and posting and was doing well, then this last week has just been terrible. It started with a bad day where I ate poorly. then every day since then I rationalize eating poorly with the fact that I've already screwed up so much this week. I know that that kind of thinking is stupid and that it's what has gotten me here in the frist place. I'm a very all or nothing person and that is one thing that has got to change at least somewhat or I won't be successful with weight loss. I can't have a day where I don't exercise or eat a poor breakfast and let that turn into a day of screwups, then a week. So my thoughts are with you as you try to break out of this rut. Good luck girl!

Me, too - pretty much all of September was a wash for me...October is a new leaf...at least I'm maintaining, not gaining...thank goodness for the gym...underneath the flappy skin things are starting to form...hopefully they are muscles

TBJ -- Heh there! Why don't you come over and join us on the 21-day challenge thread on the support groups forum. We'll keep you accountable at least! Check us out. We're a hopping thread!

Here's a link to the beginning of the current thread, but we're now over 300 posts long. Hope to see you!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65526