Why is this so hard for me? HELP!!!

[carolinagal]

I am trying to address why on earth I CAVE in after a few days?

I was on Day 3 of Induction. I was eating right & I just told myself I cant do this & that was it---it was over! I was devouring a bag of microwave popcorn and a sugar laden soda before I knew. Ive been yo-yo dieting most of 2009. Im really gung ho then BAM Im off the diet & eating crappy!

Back in January, I pictured myself at least 30 to 40 pounds lighter by July & I havent lost a pound because I CAVE in

I havent always been overweight. Just in the past 5 years or so have I gained.

Im 5'4"
In 2004 after my 1st pregnancy - I weighed 190
In 2007 after my 2nd pregnancy - I weighed 215
Now Im up to 220 or 225?

[tfek70]

That is the million dollar question. I have had so many false starts I've lost count. Kinda like quitting smoking. Keep at it, one day it will stick. You just have to totally dedicate yourself to it and realize what a small sacrifice you are making considering the huge benefits you will receive.
After induction, this WOE is almost normal if you are creative in the kitchen and stay prepared. I've done the math in other posts, but two weeks of your life is like 0.00047% of the average person's life. It's worth it and so are you.

T. J.

[EverLosing]

I think it's different for everyone. For me, it's always been about how badly I wanted it. I looked at a package of Oreos today and let me tell you, I wanted some! Then I thought about the size 9 jeans draped over my weight bench. I want those more. I'm going to the doctor next Friday for blood work and I want those great results MORE than the cookies. When you're ready to accept the sacrifices for the results, it will happen for you. It has to be mind over matter. Sometimes I call it mind over fatter. That helps me keep things in perspective. I know what I want and that cookie sure as ain't gonna get me there!! When you find yourself craving or thinking of caving, pick up DANDR and read. That has always helped me in the past. It's kind of like your WOL/WOE Bible and chances are, you're not going to read it and go cheat a few minutes later. Go to the celebration forum and grab some hope from some of those posts. Seeing the success of others makes your own ambitions seem achievable....because they are!!

[Keetje]

Dear Carolinagal,

There are some days when I look at how much I have to lose and think to myself...'it's just too much, I will never do it!' then I run down to the supermarket for a super sugary snack....or a pile of super sugary snacks.

As Everlosing said above, it's different for everyone - some people want to get slimmer and into smaller clothes and look FAB, others do the plan for very sound medical reasons, others want to shed the weight to keep up with energetic youngsters - we all have our motivations for why we want to lose weight....

But on the other side, perhaps somewhere inside your head there is a little voice telling you that you DON'T want to lose weight - maybe you are scared of being an ordinary weight, perhaps your sugary snacks are a bit of personal time (very hard to come by with two youngsters in the house!), some of us feel that we do not deserve to be a healthy weight and happy. With me, my sugary snacks are a sort of retreat from the world - I work quite hard and take a lot of responsibility in my life and sometimes I just want to blank it all out...so it's sofa, sugar and a book. Some of us (and I think this also includes me) are just plain addicted to sugar.

Try and have a think about your reasons - if it is because the mountain seems too high to climb, try breaking your goal down into little manageable chunks (great advice given to me when I first got here). I am a bit of a yoyo myself as well, sometimes I am on plan, other times I am off. So I am trying to do what I did when I gave up smoking - I decided to borrow a bit of wisdom from Alcoholics Anonymous and take my weight loss one day at a time. I said to myself 'today I will not smoke' - it made it all so much less scary. I thought in one day chunks (sometimes one hour..one minute) and that got me through.

I may not be the most well-behaved of Atkins dieters and still have tons left to lose, but I am still about 15 pounds lighter than I was this time last year - this is progress considering that every year before that for about 15 years, I gained.

Try not to give yourself a hard time - sometimes getting things right takes a lot of practice - and some of us are still practicing!

Go to bed tonight full of resolve to have a good low carb breakfast tomorrow and get the new day off to a flying start.

Good luck!

Keetje

[chinadoll]

Keetje made some great points. All of us cave once in awhile but being committed to making the changes and being willing to set aside what you want right now vs. what you want for your life is key to success. I went 57 days without a cheat and since that first cheat I have found it harder to stay on, but if I do stray I get right back on. Earlier this week, in a moment of weakness, I bought low carb ice cream. I knew portion control would be an issue and inside of five hours I had aready eaten a cup and a half (in the old days it would have been half the carton or more). I realized that it would probably be the whole carton by the end of the evening so I took the stuff out of the freezer and ran hot water over it to wash the rest down the sink. I will never buy the stuff again. It is just to hard for me to resist. I also vow I will take someone with me to the store and instruct them not to let me buy any junk.

You have to build some strategies in to help you resist temptation and you have to find the reasons inside yourself that make the end result worth the sacrifices you are making.

[Gottabringmeback]

I agree with others, you have to really want it. I really can relate because I tended to do the same until I really hit my rock bottom. It was time to change my tires, but only one...the drivers side. WHY you ask? It was WORN OUT BECAUSE OF ME! None of my clothes fitting me didn't seem to do it, others saying thigs didn't, me not wearing clothes I like or taking pictures but that did it. I wore out the tire of my car. All the other tires were fine. So that was it. Ask yourself if you're really ready, find out what triggers you to eat like that, tell everyone and their mother that you're fat and going on a diet for sure *make you feel worse when you stop and others say, oh what happened?" and last but not least, read the ingridients of all that crap and realize your body is your temple and you need it in top shape. Think how confident you'll be at your goal weight and get this going. It's not worth cheating and I had to learn the same way as you. Best of luck!