All or Nothing!

I seem to become either totally motivated seeking a perfect program with no slips or I dont care. I dont want to be so rigid. Im in my perfection mode right now. I want to be healthy but I want results. Ive cut my calories to about 1500 and I exercize 1hr a day. I lost 6 pds the first week and then I gained 1 back which freaked me out. I guess Im writing because food was an emotional crutch and Im having kind of a down day and I desperately want to maintain my program despite having a down day. Anybody got any ideas or mantras that get you through the tough times?

you sound just like me...one thing I am working hard on learing is that there is not perfect day...no perfect eating, no perfect work out...we are humans and we are not perfect.  That being said one thing I do or try to do every day is make a list of what I am grateful for...and really try to feel the gratidude. 

We have to remember there is so much more to life than calories in and numbers on a scale.  When I find myself focusing too much on a meal I slipped up on I have to try to pull myself back to reality and realize that one day, one meal one piece of junk food isn't going to change my entire healthy plan. 

Sometimes we just need to take a big step back and look at the whole picture....

good luck

How about this.  On days when you are feeling down and want to eat more, choose things really low in calories.  Shrimp is a good food - I love it, and it's really low in calories and low in fat - high in protein.  Also, those little cakes people use for shortcake are 100 calories...I have 1/2 of one with 1/4 cup blueberries and 1 tbs. fat free cool whip - I think that's about 90 calories...and again, I love it. If you can find a few things you REALLY enjoy eating that's not loaded with calories, that helps.  It helps me, anyway.

You have to think of it as a healthy eating plan so like diana said, rather than screwing everything up, just make small changes in your eating habits and eat alot of good food rather than one large amount of junk!

don't give in and screw everything up - just go for the alternative, low fat options of what you are craving!!

Stay Healthy!

Definitely agree with jamiesgibson... it's not possible to be perfect. I've known this for years and it just made me frustrated and angry to think about it and how I would always fail at perfection no matter how hard I tried, like there was something wrong with me. Recently I've realized that not only is it impossible for me to be perfect, but it's OKAY for me not to be perfect. We're not meant to be perfect, the only place it exists is inside our minds. Nothing is perfect, really, and there isn't anything wrong with that.

I try to tell myself that what I consider a "slip-up" is just normal variation in diet and exercise and is NOT a negative thing as long as I keep up the general plan in the long term.

When I get close to maintenance calories (2100 for me) in a day, I remind myself that it's probably a good thing to confuse my body every once in a while so it doesn't think that it needs to preserve its fat stores on my normal 1500 calories a day. I make sure to really enjoy whatever it was that took up the extra 500 calories and NOT feel like I am cheating, binging, or falling off the wagon. Granted I'm talking about 500 extra calories, not 2000 extra.

When I feel like I just cannot force myself to go work out, I tell myself - "Get up right now and just do 30 minutes of exercise. It's only half an hour - it'll be over before I know it, and it's not like I'm doing anything more important right now!" Of course once I've gotten started I usually feel fine with continuing past 30 minutes, it's getting off my butt that's the problem.

I totally sympathize with you. I've lived my entire life either beating myself up for not being perfect, or just saying "screw this, it's not working, I give up". It has been SO hard for me to follow a healthy weight loss plan of sensible diet and exercise and not hate myself for having a little extra to eat or for missing a workout. I try to think of it a lifestyle change, not a multiple choice quiz. Each small decision I make is not graded RIGHT or WRONG, it's just part of an overall shift towards health that will lead to weight loss. Fluctuations are natural.

Wow, I totally didn't mean for this to get as long as it did.

Good luck with staying positive!!