Hi everybody, I'm new and at first I was doing so well lost 12 lbs in less than a week and now I'm not loosing. I gained a pound back I'm walking on the treadmill and doing the weights. But, I must confess I did eat half a pizza (4 pieces) over this past weekend. And now I'm paying for it.
How do I watch myself with food and not go out of control.
I don't know where this all started from to begin with. Thirty years ago I was so thin and pretty. Now I'm just a mess, in every way
Disgusted with self

OK 12 lbs in less than a week is a lot of water weight, your body is stabilizing most likely. 1-2 lbs a week is ideal, you cant expect to keep losing at that astronomical rate.

4 pieces of pizza, while not ideal didnt make you gain a pound back.

How do you not go out of control?

1) Pick a reasonable plan that you can do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. Nothing so restrictive that it drives you crazy

2) For many people writing it down or food logging helps immensely to get a handle on how much they eat and how much they need.

3) slip-ups happen. Acknowledge them and move on.

What is your program? There are a lot of people here who can help you!

1-2 pounds a week is ideal, any more and you're losing either water or tissues other than fat--neither of which is good.

depending on how large the 4 pieces are --- it may or may not have led to a pound of weight gain (3,500 calories), but it certainly doesn't help with weight loss either.

I agree with ennay on her advice: pick a plan that you are comfortable with, and letting go of slip ups and moving onward. And don't expect instant results, it didn't take any of us overnight to get out-of-shape, getting back in shape would be just a gradual & steady a process.

How do you watch your food without getting out of control? Create a fool-proof environment, get rid of ALL the food thats tempting, don't let yourself be around it. And then one day it'll be easier to say no. You can do it, we all can.

I had to stop thinking about it, and just start doing. I don't dwell on the fact that my bf can go thru Taco Bell drive thru and I cannot.. we go thru Starbucks drive thru, and he cannot have that.. and thats my "treat".

-Aimee

To give you a perspective, 12 pounds is the equivalent to 42,000 calories. There is no way someone could lose at that rate beyond the initial water weight. You have to eat 3,500 less calories to equal one pound. That means if you reduce your calories by 500 per day and do nothing else, you'll lose a pound a week. If you continue to watch what you eat, you'll start a slow and steady decline once your body stabilizes.

SwimGirl has it right. You have to get rid of all the temptation. If you really need a treat, first come to 3FC and read some posts. It amazes me how that helps me stay on track. If you still need something, go somewhere and get a small amount of it, eat it there and come home without any leftovers. That way you won't be tempted later.

How many calories per day are you eating?

I never figured up my calories/day. I eat either all protein and switch back and forth from carbs to protein. Confused I just. Just have a hard time giving up bacon.
Breakfast is either 2 bacons and a boiled egg or bowl of cereal, milk and coffee with cream.
Lunch is can of tuna or salmon over lettuce with basil vinegrette dressing.
Dinner is a strip steak and salad with ranch or blu cheese dressing.
Snacks is apple tangerine, banana or sugar free jello
I don't keep a log, but I'm starting one.
I just go nuts on foods like I did the pizza, yesterday we had a valentine cake and cupcakes at work and I had one cupcake and two pieces of chocolate cake. It's things like that I have a hard time controlling.

MiddleSister

One day will not blow everything. Seriously ... you just have to be good waaaay more often than you are bad
Relax, post, read and get back to the good stuff.

It IS hard but you really dont have a choice but to get back on the wagon immediately and try to reflect on and learn from your mistakes. You now need to recognize that pizza and baked goods are triggers (I'm sure this is no great surprise) as is being in a situation at work where everyone's eating the goodies. But you can't anymore. Maybe down the road when you've lost your weight you can have one once in a blue, as do slim people who maintain their weight. But for now its only going to come in the way of you losing.

What could you have done to plan on eating one slice of pizza (which I dont find so bad) but then getting away from it so you dont hae anymore? At work, what were you thinking about that told you you could go eat those cakes. Maybe you said "well everyone else is having one" "I'll be missing out on cakes and they wont be around later" (Yes they sure will). Whatever you were thinking needs to be challenged.

Weightloss is a long hard road with lots of bumps. I've been up and down 4 pounds this past month and realize I've only lost 2 pounds in total because of the ups. But I'm determined not to stay this way so after a few days of "being bad" I carry on and get back to it. Hopefully this message will motivate ME to get it going quicker so I can reach my goal come June. I wanna be sexy again this summer so bad!

I think in order to lose weight you must decide once and for all if you are indeed ready to give up the unhealthy foods in high quantities. That's not saying you can't eat pizza. I love pizza and wouldn't think of giving it up forever. There's no need to. I have 1 slice every now and then. Whatever food you are giving up is nothing, nothing compared to what you will be GAINING, a chance at a longer life. A healthier and happier and more active and more productive life. With less worries and more joy, much more joy. Before long you will be into your new lifestyle and won't even want the other stuff.

Ridding your home of all high calorie food is a great way to begin. It's very important to keep your home stocked with healthy foods that if overeaten can't cause much damage. It's a process and it takes time to get used to. I think it's also very important to like at this as a total lifestyle change. Not a diet. Diets have a beginning and an end. Lifestyles continue and go on. I found the first few weeks very difficult I will tell you. Get through them anyway that you can. Once you pass the 3 week mark it gets sooo much easier. You will see a weight loss at this point, you will feel better, the cravings will practically cease. You will gain control. All this will propell you to go further.

It is also imperative to add some exercise and movement to your day. I started out very slowly and increased as I went on. Don't make it intimidating so that you won't want to do it.

I'm just now noticing your menu for the day. If you could eliminate the cream in your coffee, that would be helpful. And the blue cheese dressing with the salad. You need to learn to substitute. Also make sure that you are eating 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks, every 2 -3 hours, so that you don't get hungry. If you know that you have your planned snack coming up it may help you in passing on the cupcakes and chocolate cake.

Don't let slip ups get you down. They are to be expected. Beating yourself up over it is non-productive. Time to get back on track. You can do this. You really can! Good luck.

Try switching from regular bacon to Canadian bacon until you can get control.

Regular bacon isn't protein, it's fat.

Giving up beloved junk foods is hard, but doable.

And like the others have said, 12 pounds is a lot. It's not something anyone can sustain.

Sit down with yourself and make a plan. Decide on a diet that you can live with for the rest of your life.

Honestly, if it were easy, we'd all be slim and fit.

I find it helpful to read books about nutrition.

I also used to drink cream with my coffee, but I gradually 'weaned' myself by switching to whole milk for a while, then 2% milk, and now 1% milk. I can't do skim in coffee.

I also find drinking my 8 ounces of water a day to be incredibly helpful.

Keep coming back! And if you need a buddy, PM me.

PS - I love your name, because I'm a middle sister too!

Congratulations on that first 12 lbs. Try not to get frustrated that the other weight loss won't be near that quick. I lost 8 lbs. the first week and then it slowed to a 1-2 lbs. a week once the water weight was gone. It took me several yrs. to gain all the weight and it took me over a year to take it off. That was fine. It gave me time to adjust to a lifetime of proper eating and exercise.

Since you seem to like to have quite a lot of meat, you might check out the Atkins or South Beach approach. Personally, I was a very hearty eater so I used Atkins to lose my weight. I now count calories and stay at 1600-1700 a day to maintain my wt. loss. I have found ways to substitute the foods I love. Ex. Pizza, I now use a whole wheat small tortilla with 1TBSP pizza sauce, an ounce of shredded cheese and 10 pepperoni, baked in over for 15 min's. It is cheesy and good and doesn't add up to much calories or carbs. I also used to love full fat ranch dressing. It was hard to give up. Now, I use Newman's own light balsamic vinagrette. Switching from a creamy dressing helped me a lot. I don't like the taste of the low-fat ranch or low-fat blue cheese. I still use cream in my coffee but limit it to 1 teaspoon. I now use wheat products in anything that is available in. Such as wheat bread, wheat pasta, whole grain brown rice, whole wheat pancakes, wheat hamburger buns. Also using ground turkey in substitution for ground beef works great for most recipes. Such as stew, spaghetti, chili. For me the key with calorie counting was to get as much fiber as possible and as low of fat as possible.

You can do this. I know it is very confusing at first on what to eat and how much. Fitday is a miracle for helping with calorie counting and letting you visually see what you are getting each day. And it is free to use.

I am totally like rockinrobin, I eat 3 meals a day and 2 or 3 snacks a day to stay full.

Don't beat yourself up over the cake and cupcakes. I have done the same thing myself and had to just let it go and move on. (I still remember eating 4 pieces of my DH's birthday cake back in November). Yes, it didn't help anything, but that is life and we have to move on.

I had an interesting experience last weekend. I started the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss plan just a week and a half before going to Las Vegas for my cousin's wedding. I knew it was going to be a test of my resolve.

I'd been doing amazingly well since I started this program, but up until that moment I'd had complete control of my environment (I work at home), so I didn't have to face any temptation. And then I found myself at a wedding. The first thing to greet me when I sat down at the table at the reception was choclate: Each place setting had a HUGE piece of chocolate in the shape of a slot machine. :-) And sprinkled all over the table were chocolate coins. Next came the food; they started cooking some pasta at the buffet table right next to us. The smell of the garlic cooking was intoxicating. But the pasta sauce turned out to be a cream sauce, served over white pasta. Couldn't have that. Neither could I have the rolls, the chicken, the prime rib... The salad had some sort of vinegarette dressing on it, so I dug down into the sides to try to get some greens that were fairly dry. I got a pretty big helping of the green beans (which, when I sat down to eat them, I discovered had butter on them). So far, so good. Then they brought out the champagne. :-) OK, I passed on that AND the free bar. I drank water and black coffee. Then came the cake, which everyone kept raving about because it was so good. I passed on that, too.

But here's the interesting part. Before, I might have given in and eaten some of the things (or all of them!) that weren't on my plan. But, as I was sitting there, I realized that I could smell the chocolate, and the pasta and the prime rib. I could smell the cake. I could even smell the champagne. And, believe it or not, I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of that. I was enjoying them without actually eating them. And I didn't have to walk away from the wedding filled with remorse because I ate something I shouldn't have.

In the past, when I've let myself eat a lot of crap I knew was bad for me, afterward I realized that I didn't even enjoy it that much, and that it wasn't worth it--at all. Since I've been on this pretty strict vegan plan, I'm discovering that I'm enjoying my food a lot more than I did before. Right now, for instance, I'm eating a baked sweet potato. It has just a little salt and pepper on it, and it's delicious. As sweet and yummy as any piece of cake could be and--best of all--no remorse tomorrow for having eaten it.

This is the first time I've been able to stick to something so successfully. I don't know what the difference is. But I'm not going to question it. :-)