I need a boost to get back on track.........

After losing 60 lbs from Jan to the end of Nov, I maintained my weight throughout Dec and Jan, and then gained 10 lbs in Feb. I really need to lose 30 lbs more to get to my goal weight. I have vowed to start over every day for the past 3 months, but I keep messing up and going over my calories everyday. I feel like I have no control!!!!!! I am getting so frustrated and desperate. I feel like if I could start losing again, than I could get back into the mentality again and reach my goal.

I am looking for suggestions for a weight loss supplement that I could use for a month that could help me get started again??? Anyone have any tips???

Supplements are a waste of money.  If there was a supplement out there that worked, none of us would be in here fighting the good fight, and over 60% of Americans wouldn't be overweight.  There's no supplement out there that will make you make smart choices during the day.  You have to do that yourself.

Starting over is always hard.  I recently had to jump back on the wagon myself.  The problem with taking a break from your healthy habits is then when you try to go back, it's as hard as starting all over from the beginning.  The good news is that everyday that you do well, it gets easier and easier.

You have to make up your mind and just do it.  Surrond yourself with healthy food, make a plan for the day, and stick with it.  If you can eat right and exercise for just one week, I promise you it will be a much easier after that.

anyone else??

I agree with the above.   Supplements won't help you lose weight.  Finding a way to make eating better, watching the portions and getting some exercise enjoyable and rewarding will.  If 'dieting' to you is synonymous with 'miserable'....  joyless food, feelings of deprivation, crippling hunger-pangs, boring exercise.....  you'll do nothing.  Who wants to live like that?

My next suggestion is also the same.   Don't wait until you're back in the 'mentality' to get started ... as the ads say... "just do it."    Starting with a healthy breakfast... think what you'd really enjoy eating, work out how many calories you want to spend on it and then enjoy it.   Same with lunch... same with supper.....  Think of an activity you like doing and do that... doesn't have to be in a gym if you'd prefer something else.

And there you go, you've started again and you're back in the driving seat.

Keb! Join a support group... HAHA- you know like the one you and I are in TOGETHER and you created???

I've been wondering where you have been. . . use that to be held accountable by US!

Tell you what, I am leaving for Mexico on Saturday. I will be missing next weeks weigh in. When I return on the 7th, lets "get back on track" together. As much as I'm going to try to EAT healthy, it's the DRINK healthy I'm worried about at an all-inclusive, if you know what I mean!

I will most definitely need to get my butt back on track. (I'll even tell you how much I gained)

Are you tracking your calories and activity on CC right now? Also, how many calories are you going over each day? What is your calorie goal?

I'd really love to help....

I agree with plaidpooka and gi jane about supplements and the hard truth.  There's really no substitute or short-cut.  I lost 88 pounds and then spent 1.5 years gaining back 50 while "trying" again and again to get back on the wagon.  So I know how impossible it feels to find that whatever-it-was that kept me on course the first time.

AND, one day I did just start again, and now I've lost the weight I gained and I'm working to lose the last pounds toward my goal.  There's a forum called something like "what if motivation wasn't needed" that talks about choosing healthy habits and not allowing unhealthy choices to be an option.  Like gi jane said, don't wait for motivation.  It's really hard, and just that simple:  Just walk over the bridge one day to the healthy side.  And then do it again the next day, and the next.  To break an unhealthy habit we need to stop reinforcing it.

So one or two concrete pieces of advice: 

1) Plan your food.  Do not "see what happens".  It's boring, but I've gotta have a menu, and all the foods in the house for the menu.  I make myself go to the grocery store every Sunday and I buy everything I need.  Then I don't go near a grocery store again all week.  I actually save a lot of money that way.

2) Find non-eating activities to fill the time you used to spend eating.  Exercise of any kind actually does reduce cravings and obsessions.  But even if it's watching t.v., reading, painting, playing video games, digging ditches - you must replace the eating activity with a different activity.  Just make sure it's not one you used to do while eating (t.v. and reading were not good activities for me when I first crossed the bridge - both of those were way associated with eating - now it's okay but not at first).

3) Since you've been on CC before, reconnect with the people who supported you before.  If you journaled on CC, re-read your old entries.  Re-acquaint yourself with the healthy side of yourself, remind yourself of what worked and why it was important.

Good luck!

My best advice is to read these forums, I find them a wonderful source of inspiration and it's also something to do when I otherwise would be mindlessly eating.

Original Post by mad4moon:

2) Find non-eating activities to fill the time you used to spend eating.  Exercise of any kind actually does reduce cravings and obsessions.  But even if it's watching t.v., reading, painting, playing video games, digging ditches - you must replace the eating activity with a different activity.  Just make sure it's not one you used to do while eating (t.v. and reading were not good activities for me when I first crossed the bridge - both of those were way associated with eating - now it's okay but not at first).

When I remember, I work on needlework in front of the TV (assuming it's not something that needs my attention 100%).  For the more mentally involving programs, I find that a cat plunking herself on my lap is also a fairly effective way to keep me away from food.  :-)  Or, I watch TV downstairs from the exercise bike.