Cheating on the diet. How to stop?
 

For 5 months I lost 1.5 to 2 pounds a week and never exceeded my carb or fat allowance. Then all of a sudden I just started to cheat on either high fat foods or high carb foods up to once per day. I'm not losing weight and I'm not gaining weight. I'm on a plateau that could stop if I behaved myself. But my mood is preventing it. I start to dream of "lobster ravioli with pink sauce" or 2 slices of low carb dessert and I must have it. I'm only 10 lbs from my goal and yet I don't think I'll ever get there. I've been increasing my exercise a bit, but its not enough.

Any words of advice?

"Words of Advice?" - knuckle down and get back to it. You've done it before, now do it again.

I don't want to sound mean-spirited because I'm really not, but there are times when we don't need advice; we just need a kick in the ass to do what we know needs to be done.

We've all been there, and today's your turn.

Good luck

I gotta agree with Geoffers--get back on plan and git-r-done!

I take one day a month "off" and that seems to be OK. Taking one meal a day "off" isn't going to get you where you want to go.

Regards,
Michael

With 10 pounds to go you should be starting to look at how you want to eat for the rest of your life. If you can lose that weight slowly as you move into maintenance your chances of keeping it off are greatest. Maybe it's time to tweek your diet to meet your needs.

I second Kumochi's thoughts. If you are in the mindset of being too restrictive, you are more vulnerable to sliding off plan. Plan some healthy, not-too-bad enjoyable treats for yourself so you don't feel so deprived. Maybe do that for a week or two, just stay below your maintenance level by 250 calories or so, then when you get past it, you can buckle down to the tough stuff again.

You gotta get back on the game before it's too late. I have been there I know. just do it.
Mai

I'm in the same boat. In my case, I think it's because all these years I've been telling myself that nobody wants me because I'm overweight, but now that I'm not carrying the extra weight, I have to face the fact that nobody wants me because nobody wants me. That's depressing, so I feel like "Who cares if I'm fat?" Obviously, The work needed (in my case)is on the inside, not the outside. Can't believe I'm "putting this out there".

I can soooo feel your pain on this issue, because I'm right there with you. I lost very steadily from 12/26 thru 7/4 this past year. Then I sort of let myself get less strict, we had a couple of vacations planned, the garden was rolling in and my metabolism and exercise had picked up to the point where I really do get hungrier than I did at my heaviest. Then we headed into the holiday season, and I just never got hold of the reins really well from Thanksgiving thru Christmas. This week is the first one in a long time where I feel really confident that I'm getting back on track. And do you know what helped me? I tackled a nagging project, today I finally got the elliptical fixed. I know that sounds dorky, but it broke the first week in November, and none of the other workouts I do burn quite as many calories/minute as that thing. In a way it was really good for me to change things up, but now I need to get serious and behave myself, because I really want to reach my goal, and so do you. So get busy, focus on the positives (not the "I can't have this and that" negatives) and lose those last 10 pesky pounds. Don't make me pull out the can of whip ass.

You're a very brave woman to put all that out there. But I think you're wrong. It could be that you're alone because so far nobody you've met has been your soul mate. Did you ever think of that? Uh? Sometimes soul mates take their own sweet time in showing up.

Thank you for sharing and being so open and brave! I honestly thought I was too fat, ugly, weird, etc. to never get married b/c I never went on dates at all. I had kind of resigned myself to never getting married, but then of course I met my husband, a very unlikely match, different race and background and 19 years older than me, but now we are going on 7 years!

OMG! This sounded like me. I grew up and was told that I was fat, ugly, black (b/c my skin was darker than the rest of the population), nobody would want to marry me. I never thought that I would married and have children. At one point in my life, I thought that I would just got pregnant and have a child of my own b/c I love children so much and I wanted to have my own child.
Then I met my husband. He is the kindest man on earth. He said all kind words to me. He is the first person said that I was beautiful. he loves my skin and never think I am fat.
Since then, I felt very confident and belive that I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

Nottango, You can do it. YOu just have to belive in yourself and be patient. Your soul mate is on his way.
Mai

You know it's kind of funny because I never cared what other people thought about my looks. When I gained weight no one ever called me fat so I never thought I got that fat. Then I saw pictures of me at the beach that someone brought to a party. I was MORTIFIED!!! :eek:

I got on track and slowly worked to get back into shape only to have an injury set me back and then (of course) ... I met the hottest guy in the world and for the first time in my life I worried about how someone else thought I looked. It sucked so bad and drove me nuts worrying that I wasn't good enough for someone just because of my physical appearance. :(

I decided it's just easier to just go back to not worrying what other people think about my looks. :p

And you know everyone is beautiful to someone. :)

If your BMI is within 20-25 you might not need to slim down further.

hi Cthebird,

You say you start dreaming of the cheat food and then have to have it. I've been there many times and as I'm sure you already know the trick is to get your ass moving when you start thinking like this.

The craving will pass, acknowledge the fact it might be nice but that your not going to have it and move on to doing somthing else, asap. This is my trick at the moment and its helping me give up smoking as well as staying on plan.

BTW- there are some very honest and heartfelt posts on this tread. There is so much more to us than just body size/appearance, I think sometimes we forget that our weight is a manefestation of other issues going on within us. We cannot ignore it. Thanks for sharing.

I think weight loss is like plastic surgery -- it may improve our appearance, however it will not correct all thet is wrong in our personal world. Some of us have used weight as a defense mechanism and when that protection is gone it's hard to look for other reasons for problems in life.

If you can look at the move to fitness as being for you alone it helps. We can't control the outside influences. Even those in relationships often have their diets sabatoged by their partners. My ex used to give me chocolates and complain about my weight at the same time!

Good luck in getting back to doing this for yourself.

I agree with a lot of people in here- It is hard when we start having cravings. However it is possible to simmer down the cravings...i try to clean! Yesterday i got home work work and had liek 2 hours to kill before my bf got home and we had dinner- so i decided to clean the floors and organize a few things..before i knew it dinner was ready!

Hey, thanks everyone. I felt like I needed to follow up. I'm a typical complex woman, and the train of thought I shared was one of many that go through my brain. I can assure you that if you met me, you'd see a cheerful, confident woman, which I am much of the time. I really have been losing weight for my own health (who can afford to be sick in this day & age?!) and have given much of the same advice I received to others in my life. Thanks again - love this forum!

Thanks to everyone for your great advice and your kicks in the ass. I really needed that. Since I wrote the thread I've cut down on low carb desserts (just haven't made as many) and high carb foods. Most days I'm staying within my limits except perhaps the days I don't log my food. Those are the days I'm most depressed. But on those days I'm not gorging, so it isn't too bad. I've lost about 2 lbs during this time. Not a lot, but I'm heading in the right direction.

:( I was where you are 2 years ago and I BLEW IT :mad: I told myself I did so well that what can one little slip do? Lead to one more and one more after that....girl get a grip. Now I am starting over gained back the 45lbs I lost and gained a whole lot of sadness and anger! Please don't give in to temptation.....stay the course....I will never feel like I made it ever again...it will always be a lifelong battle.

Lately have realized how addictive white carbs can be... I too got way off course, in a big way - started with holidays, then illness... am on my fourth day back on track after just over a month.

In that time I didn't binge (not really a binger, just make bad choices when I've planned badly), but tricked myself into 'just a nibble' here and there, of all the wrong things.

Amazingly I didn't gain weight - even lost 3 pounds - but am finding myself *really* struggling with carb cravings, though previously I'd eaten low gi for a year. I do feel lumpy and bloated.

A few low-gi plans have an initially restrictive phase (dr poon, south beach) that's meant to sort of 'detox' you from carbs. I never took much stock in that notion - thought it was just a way to get fast and motivating first results, and make normal eating feel doable in comparison. Maybe it's worth revisiting, though... these cravings are for real!

I crave chocolate like no bodies business. So what I do so I don't binge is I eat 1/2 oz of chocolate every night after dinner. On Sundays, if I don't cheat for the whole week, I eat a fudgecicle that's is 100 calories. I feel like I'm pampering myself everyday because I buy extra delicious stuff and having these little treats help me focus throughout the day to not eat junk food or bindge, I've actually not had a problem since I've started my diet 3 months ago. I feel like I'm actually enjoying the two or three bites of chocolate every night and find it really rewarding.

The best part is, if you plan your "cheats" into your diet then you can plan the rest of your days and focus on your reward at the end of the week.

I try to tell myself that cravings are all in my mind.

Yesterday, I got home late from work to my darling boyfriend taking a steaming roll of cheese-covered garlic bread out of the crisper. I think I stopped dead in my tracks. We had planned on making a nice whole-wheat pasta for dinner (along with a salad) that I was looking forward to (as I was needing some carbs - I had had a couple of low-carb days before that), but I was -not- expecting garlic bread! He said he'd made it for himself, I think he didn't realize that the sight and the smell made my stomach growl.

And then I closed my eyes and I thought for a moment about what I -really- wanted. Did I want garlic bread? No. What I really wanted was all of the comforting things I associated with garlic bread - family dinners, or cozy nights on the couch with some bread, wine, and cheese. Of course I like the taste, but I like the taste of a lot of other things too.

So what I did, was I asked him to please keep the bread away from me and near him, and to just give me my dinner ;) He did, and I found that I didn't really miss it once I had eaten and was no longer hungry, and he had a couple of pieces for himself.

I don't know, telling myself that it's not the FOOD I want but the COMFORT or the EXPERIENCE that went along with it (but not the weight!) seems to help me a lot. Your stomach just tells you when you're hungry, it doesn't crave one particular food or another, I don't think. It's all in your head, and I am taking control of my brains! You can do it!