i know what my problem is. self-sabotage.

anyone else do this?

i'll eat healthy, drink my water, walk the dog, work out-- do all the things that make me feel good-- and (gasp) lose wieght. it seems like as soon as i really notice i've lost weight/am losing weight i'll start doing things like eating late at night, skipping workouts, not drinking enough water-- nothing too major, just slacking. 170 seems to be my magic number-- i get within 2 lbs of it and it's a christmas/mardi gras/birthday slackfest like you wouldn't believe. i then re-gain 5 or 10 lbs, decide i need to knock off the slacking and play the whole game again. i KNOW that i do this. and it's not like i have a lot left to lose once i get around 170. i'd be pleased w 160/165. what the heck is my deal and how do i riegn it in?

I totally understand where your coming from I do that too. But what I think that happens I get scared of whats going to happen because It's hard to look at myself sometimes knowing how much I have accomplished and i think that scares me and i start doing that to myself cuz I am comfortable of being fat cuz I know myself to be like that and getting thinner worries me cuz you dont know how ppl are going to react to you cuz there so use to seeing you fat and now that im geting thinner they might not think i am the same person.

I do this too. I think that knowing that you do it is a good step in trying to couter act it. For me I think there's part of me that's scared of being fit and thin, but I just have to overcome it. It's hard, and I don't know really how to make it go away.

My two cents;

I also have this issue, and guess what? it's the same #

I think for me, it's more of a realization of how much work it's going to take to get past the number 170 and knowing that I'm going to have to continue to work hard to maintain that number. So rather, I'm taking the easy way...cheating here and there, yet doing enough to maintain or be around 170. So for me it's a way of keeping at a # that I can get by on, even though it's not my goal weight of 170 I've become complacent.

Me, too! Same problem, same darn number! I guess I've just become too complacent, too. I'm *pretty* happy with 170, but I can still see some areas where weight needs to come off. But, I can make it at 170 -- I'm not too fat, I look decent enough in clothes, I'm in pretty good shape. Recently, though, I just realized I've wasted too much time at this number just being fairly happy. Why not get goal and be extremely happy? So, I'm trying to up my workouts and watch my food more closely. I guess it just took a realization for me to quit wasting time and get to it!

Yes, every time I fit into a smaller clothing size, I don't do as well on my diet. Part of me wants to deny that I will have to work hard the rest of my life to maintain a lower weight. I want to think that after the weight is off, I can go eat as much as I want.

People in the maintainers' forum always comment on this phenomenon...

I am at my awful magic number right now, hovering between 199 and 200 everyday. It is so frustrating that as soon as I meet my goal, instead of continuing to work hard I slack off.
And 199 was my mini goal too!
Thats why I've been working since February to lose 15lbs and now that I finally did (and I actually lost most of it in the past 2 months or so) I had to go and slack off for like... a month.
Thankfully, I am back on track now but I hate thinking that I am the one who slows my weightloss so much.

I even do it on a daily-weekly level. Let's say I had a great work out, ate perfectly all day.. something inside of me wants to eat junk food at night even when I'm not hungry, but MORE than if I had just eaten "normally." The weird thing is that that is how I have kept from gaining too much weight back in my month of slackness. When I don't do well for the day I am much less likely to eat junk food at night. And it isn't a hunger thing it is a.."Wow, I was good all day, I deserve and reward and that reward is ICE CREAM!" thing.

it is sabatoge, and I'm my biggest sabatour. I used to blame my parents or friends for haveing stuff around me but really its just me. I'm at my magic number right now and I can't get to it or below it. I know what I got to do but why oh why can't I. I don't think I'm scared to be thin or anything I just don't know. I get all gung ho and go get em and then as soon as I get close, I mess it up....hmmm what is it?
If you guys figure something out, let me know.

You know, I've been thinking about this lately, and here's a little story about me to show you a little theory I've developed lately...because I've done exactly the same thing a few times in my life . (BTW, I think 160/165 lbs is my magic/evil number).

Here's my tale:

I've never been thin. Ever. Until (I guess) now...I'm approaching "thin," I think. When I was a size 18, a size 10 was as small as I thought I'd ever get -- but I seriously doubted I'd make it that far. So when I hit a size 12 in August 2003, I had all these thoughts in my head like "Okay, that's gonna be it for me" and "Well, I've never been smaller than this, so I guess I'm done." So I went OP -- not WILDLY OP, but OP nevertheless -- for 18 months when I moved to the UK. When I came home, I realized "hey, maybe I CAN get smaller!" But I swear, I never in a million years thought I'd make it to a size 10. But I did -- and I was shocked, elated, etc. Then it slowly dawned on me: "hey...size 8 is out there, too." But that seemed utterly impossible, I mean I've never been a size 8 in my life! That's CRAZY talk! I swear, I went straight from kids sizes to a 10/12. And around the time that I was struggling with this, I found 3FC and realized maybe I COULD do it...just maybe...

And now I'm a loose size 8.

Do you see the theme? WHAT was getting in my way? ME. And THE WAY I TALK TO MYSELF. I'd never been below a size 10....it wasn't part of my life experience or reality. I couldn't picture myself below a size 10. So in a weird way, I guess I was sabotaging myself because I didn't believe I could do it. I was willing to settle for what I had been before.

It's a mental battle, it really is. And I think if you change your way of thinking -- accept what is TRULY possible -- you'll see a change.

Just my theory .

PS:
What's next? Size 6. But that seems utterly impossible, I mean I've never been a size 6 in my life! That's CRAZY talk! (wink, wink)

Yeah I am guilty of the same thing..... it's almost like I get to happy and then I think well just one treat... and before I know it weeks later I've put on my lost pounds... and I am back to square one

I've never put weight back on once I've lost it (more than a couple pounds, at least) but I definitely know about getting stuck at a plateau and staying there thinking it was better than before. This time I've realized I actually CAN get down to an ultimate goal (140lb) where before I would justify, oh I must have a large frame and 180 will be fine. Or, wow I actually look okay in a bathing suit at 160. That must be my perfect weight. It just takes a little more work to get down to where I know I can be. (and will be SOON)

I know the feeling! In February I was at my all time lowest weight, only to relax a little bit and have it go back up! I'm only now getting near it again!

thanks for all the great insight--

i think another part of my problem is that while i'm trying to change my lifestyle and all the rest of it, i'm also having to learn that feeling full is just that-- it's the absence of hunger. it's not feeling stuffed to the gills. it's nice to feel hungry when meal time rolls around... normal people feel that way-- they don't just eat because the clock tells them to, or because they feel like having a snack. as i lose weight and my appetite changes i forget that a lot, and also get stuck that way.

i heard a really interesting story on npr last night about a book on.. well, on food i guess. the authors travelled all around the world talking to people about what they eat, and they'd take pictures of families surrounded by what was a typical week's worth of food for them-- families from japan, the us, finland. whatever-- anyway the point is that they gave this really interesting factoid-- that while parents in the states teach their kids to 'clean their plates', parents in japan tell their kids to eat until they're 80% full. the translation is probably off, i'm sure it sounds lyrical and poetic in japanese. but, if you think about it makes perfect sense-- if you eat untill you're not quite full, it lets your brain catch up to the way your body processes the food. is it a coincidence that japan has the most centenarians per capita?

anyway. that's my bit of trivia for the day. enjoy.

punk rock - I am going to Japan this afternoon! I will bear that 80% number in mind! I got down to my lowest ever weight this morning and I don't want to blow it!

I think we all should just GET OVER IT! Most of us will always have to watch what we eat and exercise for the rest of our lives...If we want to be healthy!

The sooner we begin to realize that this is going to have to be a way of life...just like we HAVE to work. The sooner we can get past all the sabatoging....