Success brings sabotage for me.

I have this problem that as soon as I start to do well and my weight goes down, I sabotage myself.  I'm at a failry healthy weight right now (145 at 5'6") but would like to get down to 130 at some point.  But, every time I see the numbers start to go down I get this itch to justify bad choices and end up sabotaging myself, bringing my right back to where I started.

 Does anyone else have this problem?  Has anyone had it in the past and overcome it?  If so, what methods have you used to overcome it?

 

 

Just remind yourself of your goals. I try to tell myself that once I get to my goal, I will have more room for errors. I want to be at 130 so if I wait until I get there and have a couple oops days, I probably wont get any heavier than 135 (as long as I have more good days than oops days of course) and it will be a lot easier to get back down to 130. Right now I'm at 139 though, so I allow myself less days to mess up.

YES!! I do exactly that-in fact I searched the forums for someone who did it as well. I get my weight down was 108 (5'3") and then, I don't know what happens but I get panicy-I think I'll get sick or something and some trigger in my head just makes me eat. I HATE it! I wish I could figure it out. The only thing I can (so far) akin it to is my mother's voice telling me if I don't eat I'll get sick (as a kid). Does that ring any bells for you?  I wish I had more answers for you firefly.  Anyone else out there with this problem?

Hi all..I have to say that I too have struggled with this issue and still do to some degree..I have finally battled it through to lose 20 pounds with the help of a personal trainer..but I am sabotaging all my hard work right now by binging and just telling myself tomorrow is another day and I so far have managed to maintain my weight loss for about a month now without it going back up drastically. I think what it comes down to is somewhere in your head you are comfortable with the way you look at least enough to let the reigns go..with the mentality that you can do it tomorrow..I think the best way to handle it is to decide ..Am I comfortable with my weight as it is ..or should I really lose the weight once and for all?  I think once you commit to it you will lose it completely..but you have to fully commit. I don't know if this was much help to you..maybe take a picture of yourself and compare it to what you could look like..maybe that would help. Best of luck to you!

This sounds psychological to me, and I can relate.  I have done the same exact thing.  There may be issues that need to be dealt with in your mind/heart, before you maintain a certain size.  

I don't know if this is what you mean, but for me, when I started losing weight (I've gained it all back) and really seeing results, it was very hard for me psychologically.  

There were issues I had to deal with in regards to my self image.  I was afraid of being seen as only an object, that I would all of a sudden cheat on my husband, that nobody would like me if I got thin, etc.  

This may or may not be the boat you're in, but another reader that may happen to look here might.  

If this is the case for anyone, I would suggest journaling out your thoughts on a T graph.  Separate all the reasons you want to look/be a certain weight/size into good/healthy and bad/unhealthy reasons.  

Take the unhealthy side and really work through it, really think through why you think/feel that way.  Struggle with it, wrestle with it, let it come full circle through your mind until you can honestly say you no longer have that desire at all.

That's my two cents. 

Thanks for the ideas-I think you're all right-it's physcological-and the word "comfortable" sprang up-it may be that I don't see enough attention for the weight lost and get tired of doing the work of counting and planning and not getting the oo's and ah's that I did at the beginning??  groannnnn I wish I could figure this out. Thanks again!

Hey!  I posted something similar early this past year which I think I entitled "stuck looking 'pretty good'".

After some significant loss, and feeling pretty darn good about myself (I'm now back into my size 6 pants!), I no longer have that sense of urgency to lose weight, because.. my clothes fit, I feel healthy, I work out, etc.  My goal weight is 135 and I'm 5'6 (now I'm 145ish, same as you!), which would put me in a size smaller than all my clothes are.

Part of me thinks that since I don't have muffin top, I treat myself to an occasional muffin top, hahaha, which is keeping me stuck here.

I've joined a weight loss group on the Games and Challenges forum, and so far have been losing a pound a week... we'll see about this week.  Part of me is thinking, should I just buy size 4 clothes so that I "feel fat" enough to try harder?

Odd.  Let me know how you do with your struggle, maybe you can help me :) :) :)

Yeah, I do it too. I only have about 8 pounds total to lose, but as soon as I get 5 off, instead of being more determined than ever, I start to "reward" myself for all of that good behavior.

I think I'm coming up on my TOM because I've got this horrible urge to eat much more than usual, and I knew it was a matter of time before I cracked. Which I did last night. I had bought chips for a party we're having (the first time I've bought them in a month- they're my greatest weakness). I should've put them away as soon as I got home, but I left them lying around. Hubby and I put a movie on, and before calorie counting, it was a ritual to have chips with a movie. So I grabbed a great big bag of my least favorite flavor (in a half-hearted attempt at self control) and ate half the bag. Then I had some chocolate as well.

I could kick myself, because I know that I'm doing it yet again. So today I decided to be extra good to get back in the right frame of mind (I saw an increase on the scales).

For me, it's not psychological in the way that blondmama suggested. I used to maintain 115 with no effort, so I'm used to being at that weight. I want to be used to it again!

dls, that's great about your pd per week loss!

Yes! I was actually just saying this to my girlfriend yesterday -- I eat worse when I've lost weight than when I'm dieting. I tend to treat and reward myself for good behavior and/or eat all of the things that I want to binge on when I need to lose a few. Although I admittedly eat less when I've lost some weight, the amount of crap I'm eating kind of balances it out, and then I get discouraged when I don't see the scale go down. 

I can't say I'm over this problem by any means, but I've been trying to combat it by being super aware of everything I eat and what kind of nutritional value it has rather than just my caloric intake. 

Thx for the encouragement QueenMedia :)

And I KNOW what you mean about the forbidden foods.  We had tortilla chips and that blasted jar of salsa con queso in our fridge from a party.. And I seriously binged like mad.  Like.. any sort of salty carb with any sort of melty cheese needs to NOT be in my house.. But I can't always bring myself to throw them away, and the next thing you know.. Crunch crunch crunch...

Ugh.  We will overcome this.. I'm telling you, I'm seriously about to buy two pairs of tight pants (on sale) and wear them all the time so I feel like a blob and don't feel as though I "deserve" a reward!

 

i'm going thru it right now but i just try to continue to focus and realize that i'm not 100% at my goal yet. i fall off the wagon alot but i just try and do better the next day. i'm also starting to realize that i keep buying my trigger foods (PB, cashews) and i'm just going to start reducing those things because i know it's hard for me to stop at 1 oz or 1 tbsp.

i tried on some jeans that usually are very flattering yesterday but my stomach was too big for me to comfortably wear them. that was kind of a wake up call because i'm damn sure not trying to up a jean size so today i got my 2 liters of water and my workout clothes so i can do some damage in the gym today. i realize that i'm letting myself get comfortable and i'm not gonna wait until i gain all the weight that i've lost this year back to do something about it...