On the verge of giving up

[Blackbubblequeen]

I'm on SW and before christmas I lost 1st 2lbs in about 2 months , I was thrilled and was determined to keep the weight off over Christmas. Unfortunately, I stayed two weeks with my boyfriends family who are all very active so can afford to eat mounds of chocolate, puddings, cheese, pastry and everything else that I love to eat but know I shouldn't. In amongst this was Christmas itself. And I have to say, I went complete off the rails and ate so much rubbish that I made myself feel ill most days! I just think my body wasn't used to it. I think in the back of my mind I thought it wouldn't matter too much as I was going mountain walking for a week over new year so I would repair the damage.

So after Christmas, we went to Scotland for a week and a half. But what I didn't factor in was our stay at a hotel. We stayed for 4 nights and had 3 course meals each night and full english breakfasts each morning. Despite the fact that I was walking on average of 10-15 miles per day I still managed to pile on a horrific 13.5lbs :cry:

To this day I am still struggling to get back on track, I was so upset that i'd let myself down so much when I jumped on the scales after xmas. And ever since then my motivation has been nil. It doesn't help that my boyfriend constantly has his chocolate stash topped up - he has a whole shelf in the cupboard! I always say that I've stuck to plan but I know that I haven't. This week I ended up going out for pizza, eating out twice and partaking in a cake and cocktails party with lots of junk food. I decided not to go to my meet up last night to avoid the horrific truth I was inevitably going to face.:break_diet:

I'm on the verge of giving up as i've lost a measley 5lbs since Christmas and i'm up and down all the time. I'm spending a lot of money that I don't have (i'm a struggling student) to come to the meet ups and buy fresh food when I could buy unhealthy food much easier. I would love to be able to spend my days in peace without worrying about what I eat all the time. Even the worrying doesn't seem to be working, I eat it and then worry afterwards!

But instead of giving up completely I decided to come onto the forum and hopefully get some inspiration and support that will help me. I know in the long run that I'll never achieve my goal of losing weight if I give up...

 

[Emmaline]

Hi Bbq, Well said on that last remark!
You say that you are a student so I am supposing that you are quite young... and NOW is the time that it is best to get rid of that excess weight as, beleive me, the older you get the harder it is for the weight to shift!
I know that there are lots of temptations out there but in my experience the feeling of being able to override these and stick to your chosen path is great!
You can always remind yourself that all these "goodies" (sweets, choc, puds, etc. etc.) will still be there when you get to your goal.
When you get to my age (77.. and no matter what I do I cannot get the pounds to shift)...you will wish you had taken the opportunity and, apart from anything else, been able to enjoy being a slim you with all the benefits of being more agile, feeling great in no matter what you wear and a host of other things....
Go on kiddo...you can do it...I dare you..

 

[gemarchie]

I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling, and are tempted to give up. I know how difficult it is when you're facing temptation and feel out of control around food.

I don't like to feel that I'm on a restrictive diet, so I use what's called flexible restraint. It means that you don't think of your eating in all or nothing terms, but allow yourself at times to eat things that you would normally avoid. Obviously you can't eat as much of everything as you want, but have times when you are a bit more relaxed. I did this when I lost a stone a few years back on WW, and for instance if I went out for a meal, I ordered a main course that I really enjoy that's higher in calories than I would normally eat, and not feel guilty about it because I didn't want to feel deprived. That way you can sometimes go off your plan, and the odd time you do this wont really affect your weight loss. I lost the weight slowly, on average only 1/2 a pound a week, but I got down to the weight I wanted to and did keep it off for years.

I've got a couple of books (which I need to reread and put into practice!) by Gillian Riley. The short one is called Beating Overeating, and the longer one is Eating Less. I think her approach really makes sense. You basically say to yourself that you can eat anything you want, but if you do you have to accept the consequences, you have no choice in that regard. I think you then ask yourself if the food is really worth the effect it will have on your weight and health, making you feel bad that you let the food control you, etc. It's a while since I read the books so I'm a bit hazy, but this gives you an idea of her approach. I'm going to revisit them as I thought there was a lot of good sense in her work, and her books on Amazon have great reviews. She also has a good website (called Eating Less, I think) with glowing testimonials from the courses she runs. I'd love to go on one of them. I did a search for Gillian Riley on here, and there are some posts by people who have read her books.

I hope this is of some help, and please don't give up. You have made good progress in the past, and it would be such a shame to jeopardise that because you haven't done so well recently. Try to take it one day, or even one choice, at a time rather than just focusing on your long term goal which can be a bit too daunting, especially at times when you're struggling. Good luck, and keep posting.