how to get back on track?

please list some of the things you have done personally to get back on track. We want to make sure to share these with others.

-PT

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Sat. Nov 1, 8:38pm

You-Turn

One of the books I read on my journey was You: On A Diet. And just learning the concept of making a U-Turn helped me. Mentally turning my back on destructive behavior and facing a healthy choice and a positive path makes a huge difference. Last night for example, and eating Halloween candy when I had decided not to eat any. I immediately started drinking water, had my SO hide the candy in his office, and planned out healthy meals for today. I made a You-Turn, and know I am back on track today.
~Vail

Link

Saturday, November 01, 2008, 9:29 PM

Exercising.
I was on a major binge streak for over a week, and I felt fat and blah and didn't want to exercise. However, I made myself get on the treadmill and walked. When I was done, I felt good, and that stopped me from further binging.

So even when you don't want to, make yourself at least go for a walk, even at a slow pace. Tell yourself you'll do it for 15 minutes only. The important thing is to get started.

Saturday, November 01, 2008, 10:45 PM

Sometimes I like to go shopping -- it's completely masochistic, b/c I see so many beautiful clothes that I can't fit. But it does act as a kick in the butt to get me "back on the wagon".

Sunday, November 02, 2008, 1:31 AM

I watch weightloss shows like the biggest loser or x-weighted those always get me motivated.

I surf the net for peoples stories about binge/compulsive eating since they always sound so awful I realize that what I'm doing is making me feel as bad as the people in those stories.

I buy a womens health/workout magazine, they also inspire me.

Sunday, November 02, 2008, 9:13 AM

Make a plan for something different.
I can stay on track fitness wise but I get thrown off diet wise every month or so. When that happens I make a plan and then go buy what I need so my fridge and pantry are stocked.
The last week has been bad for me so today I am starting South Beach. It is totally different than what I was doing the last 9 months (cal restriction, mostly vegetarian diet) so I am excited about it. Last time I was in a slump I went and got the Becks book. Anything that will re-kindle your exciement and motivation.
-kasperas

Sunday, November 02, 2008, 11:52 AM

No energy!

Yesterday I walked 2 miles on the treadmill & today I was a slug. I just feel so down & I`m not happy with myself & I need inspiration...

Friday, November 14, 2008, 4:49 AM

I have found that if I keep myself busy at work or at home it helps me get back on track. I also go back and think about all the "what ifs" if I don't get back on track. Like ending up on meds...having to buy bigger size clothes again since I have gotten rid of them now. I also think about who all I will be disappointing outside of myself...like my kids, my mom, and my boyfriend. But mainly disappointing myself. That usually gets me back on track...and coming back to PT and rereading some of the threads and comments from my group and team. It is so hard to get back on track but so well worth it!

Friday, November 14, 2008, 5:44 AM

Look at pictures of myself in all my fat glory. They help me get back on track because it reminds me of the size I NEVER want to be again.

Friday, November 14, 2008, 1:22 PM

Getting back on the horse

Sometimes I blow it by eating like a crazy man. I remember doing that one night after I'd been good for three days. I woke up the next morning and my tummy felt really awful. I couldn't eat breakfast, then when it was mid morning and I was getting hungry I drove down to the market and got some pineapple wedges and some watermelon. That was delicious and then I had a great salad for lunch.

I was back on track!!

Saturday, December 06, 2008, 8:37 PM

I make a very specific plan. I'm going to workout x times per week. And I tell my PT group members about it, so they hold me accountable. Whenever I go off track, I usually stop logging my food, so getting back to that definitely helps.

I hate the guilt of having to log junk food!

Saturday, December 06, 2008, 8:54 PM

i started a very active private group that excites me to want to lose weight. all my previous groups just didnt do it. i think the interaction between all the members gets you going, if they can do it so can i. seeing their successes reminds me that i can have that success if i put my mind to it. and having their encouragement when i am off really helps.
the bootcamp calls also is a plus. i look over my notes that i took and it reinforces some of the things i "forgot" and helps me focus more.

Sunday, December 07, 2008, 10:06 AM

the hard part is starting

I promise myself I am just going to something tiny and little. Like if I don't feel like going to the gym, I tell myself that I am just going to do a really easy workout, like twenty minutes on the elliptical and stretching and nothing more. I find that once I get started, my momentum carries me through.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 3:48 PM

Food hang over

I think what has helped at times is to look at my behavior more critically, am I secretly eating heavy foods when no one is around? am I eating late at night till I feel sick? All of this reminds of watching a documentary on addicts...and I guess that's when I had to admit I have a food addiction. I notice that every time I binge ate, I had some type of hang over symptom e.g I felt gross in the morning, sleepy in the middle of the day. I realized that my friends who were healthy did not feel the same way during their day and it's mainly because they have balance. I think finally admitting that you have lost control and need to analyze your mindless eating behavior has been helpful.

Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:30 AM

Not an Option

I dont remember who said it or where i read it, but i was reading a thread (i think here actually) and someone said "no matter what, you cannot give up. that's not an option." and for some reason ive just adopted it as my new mantra. and its bailed meout a couple times already! for example, my fiance and i were invited to a concert and over the course of the night i drank my day's share of points in Pabst Blue Ribbon. I felt TERRIBLE the next day. But, instead of pigging out on junk food i got some V8 Splash and a Dunkin Donuts 300 calorie flatbread breakfast sandwich and was on my way into a successful, healthy day. And instead of Diet Coke, i decided on some herbal tea to help me recover :)

Saturday, March 07, 2009, 5:58 PM

The biggest change I've made is not to use a "slip" from my program as an excuse to go nuts. I post honestly and ask my group and team mates for help, if I need it and I get right back to the plan. That day, not the next day. Then I forgive myself and let it go.
Exercising daily is also quite helpful because feeling better physically and fitting into smaller clothes is VERY motivating for me. I remind myself of long term benefits and just get right back on the healthy path. I use "tough love" with myself. I don't beat myself up, but I am holding myself accountable for sticking with my plan. I'm liking the results. Fifteen pounds since Jan. 1.

Saturday, March 07, 2009, 11:04 PM

Weigh ins every 2 wks made me totally accountable in last year's NDYW Kmart weight loss challenge....without those I am floundering. Tonight I sat down and made a list of the dates until summer vacation.....20 wks.....possible 40 lbs.....and now I can visualize the next 5 months as my training period. "Write it down/Make it happen" is actually the title of a great book teaching you to accomplish the changes you want in your life. I will make my own chart of the next 20 wks and enjoy the journey there....all the while getting the junk food out/nutrition in and learning to love feeling healthy.

Monday, March 09, 2009, 3:29 AM

How to get back on track?

I have been on track since February 20th. However, I got off track by going to Red Lobster and over-endulging in the bread basket on March 12th. The next day, I ate an entire bad of Baked Lays Potato Chips and felt miserable. To get back on track (1) I admitted that I had fallen off track (2) forgave myself (3) ended the evening with a bottle of water and a combination of black/blue/straw/rasp berries mixture + 1/2 pack of Splenda--delicious. The next morning, I resumed my Walk Away the Pounds routine and have been on tack since then.

I always remind myself that I may fall off track but I will not stay off track. In the past, one or two days easily turned into weeks and sometimes months of bad eating and lack of exercise. Now, my bad habits last 48 hours or less.

As PeerTrainer has reminded me, weight loss is a marathon and not a sprint. Thanks PeerTrainder for the tools and suppport.

TFG

Monday, March 23, 2009, 9:54 AM

Idea

I liked the idea written to just do well today - so I did today and it is really motivating to do well tomorrow. LIke AA - One day at a time...

Saturday, April 25, 2009, 8:36 PM

How to get back on track?

I spend time educating my self on the science of nutrition and weight-loss. Understanding that I needed to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound and then keeping track of what I was eating to make sure I was not over eating was huge for me.

Eat every two hours or so. By eating fruit between meals I have been able to keep my portion sizes down. Make this change permanent. Eating this way forever will allow you to keep the weight off.

Find out what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is. Never consume less calories than your BMR. This will ensure that you lose the wight at a healthy rate (1-2 lbs a week) and will keep your body from going into starvation mode.

Exercise - This doesn't mean you need to go out and run several miles to get a workout. Any physical movement is great. But don't over do it. Injuring your self will reek havoc with your weight loss plans.

I wear a pedometer and shoot for 10,000 - 15,000 steps a day. Creating a reasonable calorie deficit and walking has worked well for me.

And most important, realize there will be days when you screw up. No body is perfect and we all have days where eat too much or don't get any physical activity. Don't beat yourself up about it. Don't let one or two bad days allow you to abandon your goals. Start again the next day.

Sunday, April 26, 2009, 9:04 AM

Falling Off The Wagon

I have been tracking my own behavior for almost a month now. My "Ratio" was 9 good days to 15 bad days.
9 to15

I have changed it now to
5 to 5

My goal is 15 good days to 9 bad ones.

Excuses galore, too tired, craving fast food, I have the hole pizza I cat let it go to waste.

Friday, May 29, 2009, 4:41 PM

For the last few days I went a little over board - I had cookies and blondies and totally stuffed my face. 3 days in a row I did this even though I knew it would upset me, that I would regret it, that it would impact my weigh in next week....then finally on the 4th day I said, "If I have one cookie or one blondie I'm not allowed to have a side dish with dinner" -- I'm happy to say that last night for dinner I did have my side dish of stir-fry potatoes/broccoli :) and to reward myself for resisting temptations I had 1 sugar/fat free pudding with light whipped cream on top. Yum :)

Taking away something I liked (my yummy side dish) made me work extra hard to resist the cookies/blondies. Although it's only day 2 after my flub up, I'm confident I'll be on track for a while...

Samshan19

Friday, June 05, 2009, 12:41 PM

Positive imagination

It may sound silly, because I used to not like them, but since I joined pt, I _love_ seeing all those before-and-after ads that appear on it. I find I can now concentrate on the "after" image and think "she did it, so can I" - whatever the product may be they are selling. So in addition to logging and staying accountable to myself that way, and the great advice and support here, I do like to use the ads to help me visualize (or re-visualize).

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 7:28 PM

In response to:

I liked the idea written to just do well today - so I did today and it is really motivating to do well tomorrow. LIke AA - One day at a time...

I agree, only I don't think it's 'one day at a time'. I believe that it is "one choice at a time". We are given dozens of choices every day - and we have the free will to choose whichever one will A) make us happy, healthy, and move us into a positive direction or B) hold us back from being the best people we can be.

I think people get overwhelmed when they see this journey as a "life long" commitment. It's not like that for me anymore --- right now I am committed to making good, healthy choices for me one choice at a time. I KNOW that I can do that. Committing to 1 step right now is easier than committing to climbing the whole mountain.

Keeping all of this in mind helps me to not only stay on track, but to get back on track if I somehow manage to get off. I can say, "alright - so I've made a few bad choices. What's my next one going to be?"

samshan19

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 8:23 PM

I realized that I had eaten fast food 3 days in a row. I was tired of not being able to look at my "skinny pictures" because I was so ashamed of having gained all the weight I had lost. I stopped hanging out with my girlfriends because I didn't feel cute anymore. I was no longer excited to go on date nights with my boyfriend because getting dolled up was no longer fun. I'm 22 years old...I should be loving life and living it up...not hiding from it....

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 10:12 PM

One of the best things I've ever been told is if you don't want to work out but know you should, just put on your workout clothes, all the time telling yourself you don't have to go. Once they're on it is so much easier to go do something than take them all off again without. For me it works every time.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 5:00 AM

I agree with the PP.
I also tell myself to just take my butt to the gym and do something really small, like a few minutes on one of the machines - and I ALWAYS end up doing more once I get there. Sometimes if I plan my workout before I go I will feel overwhelmed and just won't go - but if I go with zero expectations of myself I feel less pressure and will be more relaxed during my workout. The last thing I want to do is associate going to the gym with negative emotions.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 1:53 PM

after a binge

Normally my binging is done in the last meal that is dinner time. The next day I recover and and eat sproutes for breakfast-boiled spinach and other veggies for lunch and baked cauliflower and beans for dinner. That looks after the previous day's binge. Then I promise to behave myself in future.
Jivi Sabi

Saturday, July 18, 2009, 11:09 AM

my thing is taking it one moment at a time.. choice by choice.

*lynneta*

Thursday, July 30, 2009, 5:30 PM

Food Hang Over

I totally understand that. Sometimes after a really big binge I would have a sore, sensitive stomach, sometimes a sore throat where I had eaten so much and a headache. I have always said I am like a bulimic but I can't be sick (I hate being sick, it frightens me). Its really strange that overeating can bring on such side effects. I have found that eating without distractions helps me (I used to eat and read or watch TV, shovelling food in without really taking notice of it). Like a drug addict, just to get the effect, which would ultimately make me feel dreadful! I have been on Peertrainer for 6 weeks now and have managed to loose 9lb (I haven't been this weight for over 2 years!). There are still times when I do feel like eating more, but logging my food daily and reading other peoples experiences has really helped me. There is a real comfort in knowing that other people are having the same thoughts and worries and also some really useful ideas about coping and over coming them.

Friday, January 15, 2010, 4:49 PM

getting back on track

It really depends on how far you've come before you fall off. If you've come a good way then look at where you started and what you've accomplished up to the "bad" point. If you just started maybe you were not ready and you need to think about your reasons why you chose to loose the weight and recommit or wait until you feel the time is right. One way that I personally reset my self is with two statigies. The first is I believe in having either a day or at least one meal a week that I cheat. It is planned cheating. I can eat anything I want. This keeps me looking forward to that day so I never feel deprived. It also helps keep me going long term. What is interesting is that if I am getting nutrient dense foods during my "good" times, then I really don't have such a bad cheat day. Sometime I might not cheat at all! If we give our bodies what nutirents it needs then we don't have a chemical imbalance that makes us feel depressed or guilty which makes us eat from emotion. I have been following the "Picture Perfect Diet" by Dr.Howard Shapiro. Another very important aspect for me to always, always, do a one day fast. I can have all the "fresh" juice, herbal tea, veggie broth, water, I want. This help to reset my hunger levels. Actually feeling what it feels like to be "empty" is rather interesting. One you first do this you may want to even have smoothies to take the edge off your hunger but NO SOLID food. Then the next week and each week try to have fewer and fewer "foodish" liquids and just do water. Your body loves the chance to detoxify and have a break and not be constantly digesting. If I get really hungry as a last resort I will have fresh fruit like an apple or better yet just going to bed helps too. So with my system I get to go from one extreme to the other. NO food to anything I want. It keeps me going. I have lost 13.5 pounds in 5 weeks.

Friday, February 05, 2010, 3:53 PM

slip-ups

i was complaining to my group about a binge day/night i had when i went out to happy hour and beyond with some friends, and one of my group members said something to the effect of "it's not the slip-ups that count, nat, it's when those slip-ups become habits". it seems so simple, but it was really motivating! it keeps me from beating myself up too badly while forcing me to make sure all the little things don't become habitual. yay!

Thursday, February 25, 2010, 10:09 AM

U- Turn/Veggie Eating and MORE!

I love that concept of making a U-Turn. I keep that book on my bedside table and came across that concept recently too!

Have been making a gargantuan effort to eat more veggies according to the ideas presented by Jackie, and now Joel Fuhrman...literally ran to get the book at my local bookstore last week. It's helped my momentum start. I plan out meals in advance, and even figured out what I may eat when I go out with with my family back in Boston next month.

So glad someone else noticed the U-Turn...LOVE that!

Thursday, June 02, 2011, 1:34 PM

A reminder on my fridge

My girlfriend has had breast cancer and chemo and surgery 5 times. She is an amazing optimistic, fun loving woman and her presence in my life nurtures my soul. She gave me a picture that I have on my fridge. The picture is a large bird, like a pelican, standing on a lake shore. It is trying to swallow a large frog. The frogs head is in it's mouth but the frogs hands have a strangle hold around the pelican's neck. The caption below says, ,"NEVER GIVE UP"! It makes me laugh every time. When I look at it I also remember Josh saying, " there is no failure only feedback." Then I give my head a shake and get back on track!

Sunday, June 29, 2014, 10:16 AM

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