What the heck happened to me? My former habits slowly started slipping back (except exercise, I've kept that up) and now I've gained back 14 pounds. I don't have any excuses this time like "I'm about to start my period so it's higher" or "I had a salty dinner last night." No, I've seriously gained 14 pounds in the past 2 months. I feel it. And I'm pretty disgusted with myself. I can't believe that I undid a lot of the hard work I had done. But part of me isn't surprised, this has been in the making since I ran my big 5K. I spend months focusing on that one thing and didn't really think ahead. Once I hit that milestone, I didn't have another goal to shoot for except getting to goal weight. I kept losing but I wasn't tracking my food much, I starting slipping junk food in there more. It started being like, one week would be a disaster and I'd spent 3 more trying to fix it and lose. So yeah, I see where the downhill descent started.

I'm dealing with a fairly stressful semester right now. My relationship with my mom deteriorated since then. I've had to buy a new car. My best friend came home after working in a remote location for 5 months. I think all of those things have played a part, but really, it's life. It played a small part but I think the biggest part was me. I lost sight of my goals, and I let the little initial high of eating something that I normally wouldn't win over the big goal of finally getting to my goal weight, or all the little milestones I would hit along the way. It's the EXACT same thing as smoking cigarettes. When I realized that that "initial high" from smoking wasn't worth the crappy feeling in the end, I kicked it.

Today I'm going to make a food plan. I really believe that that's where I've been screwing up. Not having a plan for the day puts extra stress on me by having to figure out a meal in a pinch, ESPECIALLY when I'm already hungry. Also scheduling in more exercise. I need to start running more. I've been doing some trail running but not any distance running which I miss.

Anyway, my question to you all is, for those who have been here or not even, how do I get back? I'm sort of embarrassed to be posting this here. I know you guys are all supportive but I don't want you all to think I'm some quitter or something, because I'm not. I just got lost.

It happens! For me the biggest test is not whether I can stick to my plan, but whether I can get back on the horse after letting it slip for a while. You are doing the right thing to get it under control before it goes on any longer!

When it happened to me - I lost my plan during a stressful period of work, stopped going to the gym, started overeating, and put back about 6 pounds over two months - I just started over. I made the same changes I had made when I started my plan in the first place. I started thinking about portion sizes again and stopped being a pig. I made sure to always have fruit around so I wouldn't be tempted to run out for less healthy snacks. I made time to cook on the weekends so I'd have meals ready for the week. I cut alcoholic drinks back from one every other day or so, to one every other week or so. I went back to the gym, first aiming for three days a week and then for five days a week. And so on.

If it will help you, just think back to when you were first starting out, what worked for you, and start over again with those same baby steps. Unlike your 5k, this is not a race. Just start doing what you already know works to reverse the trend. You can start losing again. And once you do, you'll like it so much that you will find yourself right back in the groove. You can do it!

I so understand! I was just there. I kicked my butt back into gear on Monday but in the last couple months I horked on 16 pounds - oink!
My reason for sliding backwards is so dumb - I wanted to get to 249 so bad...I'd be closer to 200 than 300, I'd be halfway to my goal and my BMI would be under 40 (well, at 247 it will). I thought I was almost there in January - until I found out MY SCALE WAS 17 POUNDS OFF!!!!! Which meant I was closer to 270 than 250. I had surgery the day after that so I was out of commission for 3 weeks...couch...tv.....started snacking. I had a total love affair with soy chips. I still ate pretty good but WAY too much food. Fast forward to May or so and my husbands schedule changed. For years he worked 2:30pm to 1am so I was just having Lean Cuisine for dinner. So suddenly I started cooking dinners for us and was definately going over my calories. That continued for a bit and then around the end of September something inside me just snapped and I just started eating whatever...chips, candy, muffins, ice cream....you name it and I ate it but I felt like crap because I knew I was wrecking myself and the hard work I'd already done. What really got me motivated again was finding this group and all the successful people here, as well as fear of being 326 lbs again. I finally said ok something has to give or I am just going to keep going this way. What I am doing different this time is planning out what I will eat for the entire day before I eat a single thing in the morning. Then I know what my calories will be and I check things off as I eat them. I always tracked but I wrote things down after I ate them. I find this works a lot better because then I don't find out I only have 200 calories left for dinner. I restarted on Monday and am down 5.8 lbs as of this morning.

I know exactly how you feel, sometimes I feel like a big yo yo. My weight goes up and down so much it's disgusting. But than I always manage to kick myself out of that funk mood I'm in and get back on track. Just stay at it, we're all here to give each other support and keep each other motivated to win this battle called weight loss.

I'm pretty sure that most people here have gone off plan at some point or we wouldn't need the support that we all provide one another here. I've gotten lost plenty of time, but the difference is that I didn't come back here and post. I didn't reach out for help. I just faded into binge oblivion and didn't come back here until I was 10 lbs. away from having gained it all back. Finally, when I stepped on the scale and saw 210, I came back here. I was really scared because I couldn't see an end to the behaviors. Oh, and did I mention that I didn't continue with my workouts like you have?

So...you're doing much better than I had done....just do what you need to do. Recommit yourself to doing everything you know that needs to be done. Pinpoint the triggors again because sometimes they do change.

You can do it! I'm sure you've heard that before, but this is so completely doable, even though it doesn't always feel like it. I do think it's mostly psychological....like that scale being off....that would have really messed with my head too. I need a plan and if something happens beyond my control I really struggle.

Yes, you gained some weight back but think of how much further along you still are when you started before. Now, you're in a much better place to recommit and do it!

Read my signature. I've been there and I understand. **HUGS** I gained 10 pounds this summer (a *great* time to hate the way you look, by the way!). I couldn't even fit into my beloved size 10 jeans anymore....10 measly pounds rocked my entire world.

What I did to turn myself around is to start over from the beginning. I rejoined Weight Watchers Online and I started tracking again like it was day one. You can do this, too. You just need to recommit to it. Just decide, like you did when you first started, that nothing is more important than this and that failure is not an option.


ETA: I'm surprised to see so many of us had this same experience. I'm glad we have each other.

I think you've already had the most important realization - the horrible, uncomfortable realization that you've undone some of your progress and feel embarrassed about it. I wasn't motivated to lose weight until I realized that I had slowly gained over the span of a few years all the way back up to less than ten pounds short of my all-time "absurdly huge" high weight.

Tomorrow is a new day - you know what worked for you before, so get to it ASAP! Don't spend a week fretting over it - that's a week wasted during which you could have been redeveloping your healthy losing habits and running.

Until I was in my 40's, my weight had always been under 118. Then I went on a medicine and I was hungry all the time and my brain was screaming EAT! I gained at least 25 - 30 pounds over several years. Then I had a medicine switch and my brain stopped screaming and my hunger pains went away and I got down to a 110 and maintained it for a year. Then back on the 'evil' medicine and over 3 years back came on the 25 pounds. Right now, I'm working with my doctor to find a combination of medicine that addresses my root problem, but doesn't tempt me to eat all day and all night.

A week and a half ago I gave up eating sugar. Because if I eat 1 cookie, I end up eating 10. I'm just compulsive about it. There's no stop button. There's never the sense of being full. Then this past week I gave up wheat because my trigger is also bread. Eat 1 piece, eat 5 pieces.

Just cutting out those to things has really helped curb my appetite.

My advatar shows what I look like now of the left with the long hair. The right is what I want to look like again.

THANK YOU ALL! You ladies are amaaaazing. It helps so much to have you all supporting me.

Just so you all know, I did jump back on plan. For some reason the scale this morning said 191. So that's cool, maybe that weigh in last week was SOMEWHAT of a fluke. I finally went out shopping again for my food. I haven't been doing that; I've been eating what's in the house here which is nothing healthy. I forgot how much easier it is to eat healthy when healthy options are available. I even stocked my dad's house (who I visit on the weekends) with healthy foods, which visiting him has been a constant source of stress because he literally sustains himself off of salami and Budweiser.

Anyway, I'm doing well. Thanks everyone!

I think you hit the nail on the head. For me, pre-planning what I'm going to eat for the day is one of the keys to successful weight loss. In utilizing pre-planning I've found a tool that removes a great deal of the stress created by dieting. Stress is a HUGE eating trigger for me, so anything I can do to relieve stress needs to take priority for me, and will help me get one step closer to my goal.