Hello, chickies! Just got back from a lovely vacation in Seattle, Washington...now my favorite city on the planet. I did great while on vacation: I exercised every morning, we did plenty of active stuff (walked EVERYWHERE) and ate relatively well (mostly OP). But now I'm having trouble. Not sure if it's PMS or stress or what, but I've made some very poor nutritional choices lately...burger king for lunch yesterday, snickers blizzard from dairy queen last night, pizza for lunch today, snickers bar for a snack, mostly diet soda and almost no water. I went for a walk this morning, but didn't go to the gym at lunch.

SO, my question is, when you feel yourself slipping or getting burnt out, what do you do to bring back your motivation??? I KNOW what I need to do...staying OP has thusfar been relatively easy...but I don't FEEL like doing it anymore. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

If I look at a b"fore" picture I am more motivated to stay OP. Also, if I feel my motivation isn't as strong as normal, then I avoid fast food places or places where I would be tempted to eat off plan.

You know you can do this, Laurie! You have been doing so well!

Yeah, look at an old pic - I know that mine really gross me out.

And no fair saying "Snickers" more than once in the same post! I am only human, you know!

Ooh yeah, this is me. I was feeling really sluggish for awhile. We had lots of cold wet weather and I didn't feel like exercising and just wanted to eat 'comfort food' like roast chicken and cottage pie and put cheese sauce all over my vegies which is totally off plan then I went for a walk with my sister and caught a glimse of my reflection in a shop window! I realised that I am still overweight and yes I do need to eat OP and exercise so I signed up for the August challenge and lost 6.6 pounds that month (slightly over my 6 pound goal).

Signing up for challenges is a great idea. Take measurements, pics, weigh yourself, track your progress. When you fall off the wagon, look at what you've done to improve yourself and how far you've come.

One of the ladies on here keeps a trinket in her pocket that she rubs whenever she feels like cheating. It's just symbol of the reasons she's doing this.

Try signing up for a different type of exercise. If you normally do yoga, try kick-boxing or vice versa. Try different recipes. Spice it up.

My only motivation is I want to feel good about myself and eating fast food and brownies all day long doesn't make me feel good at all.

And I'm with WendyJo, do NOT under any circumstances use the "s" word twice in one post! Are you trying to kill me?!?

I second that. I'm about ready to say "Screw the before picture. I want a Snickers!"

Motivation is a tough one. I find I have something akin to an on/off switch when it comes to healthy eating. I am just finding out what switches it to off and trying to figure out what can switch the motivation on again.

One thing I know is that insulting myself, or shaming myself, doesn't work. Pigs oinking when I open the fridge, pictures of myself from the least flattering angle, advice from my mother - anything negative will send me spiralling into months of Off Plan eating, whatever the plan.

I'm having SOME success with journaling, trying to work through the reasons I've gone Off Plan. Some quotables strike me well and motivate me for a while. Sometimes it's just a matter of stopping everything and turning off the distractions and thinking about this life and what I want it to be. Then forgiveness and the baby steps back to plan.

I tried keeping a smooth, blue stone in my pocket as tangible representation of my goal, but it keeps going through the wash! It's a pretty clean goal anyway.

I agree with the things people have said. Pictures, journaling whatever it takes. After 9 months of being OP I slipped and it has been very difficult to get back into it. I'm having a hard time finding the drive I had before. My goal now is to get the toxic crud back out of my system and be on top of the cravings again. I have 4 days off work and that will make things easier for me. I have got to have absolutely no treats. I guess I am one that won't be able to indulge "once in awhile" because I must not know the meaning of "once in awhile."

Anyway, this site has helped me immensely. I wore my smallest size pants to work today and they were uncomfortable. Serves me right. I don't want to give up that pant size.

Think of what you are giving up. Is it worth it? It's amazing what we'll do to ourselves just to satisfy such a small surface area as the tongue. I love the taste of many things (especially MM's) but is it worth it? I'm givnig up an incredible amount of self esteem, happiness and feeling in control by being the overeater. Is it worth it?

This week, the phrases I will use are:

"Is it worth it"

"Are you willing to give that up?"

"Yes, that tiny little cheat DOES matter!"

Say it with me ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the thread. It's good to stop long enough to reflect and get back in control.