I have no willpower!

I HAVE NO WILLPOWER!!!!!!! But I want willpower

I start a diet then I just gradually go off of it. I always seem to have a reason - whether it's birthday treats at work or I just can't pass up the pizza(steak,mexican - you name it!!) I have checked in to what seems all of the diets on the market.  I have tried pills in the past but now I am on some prescription meds that I can't combine with the diet pills. Weight Watchers gives me too much freedom to cheat. Nutrisystem is too expensive. I just did check in to Medifast but do I really want to pay $75(+/-) a week and still have to buy the extra food for the lean and green meal required each day plus buy groceries for my family on a weekly basis. That's going to get expensive quickly. 

So this is what I did. I got all of the information on the Medifast diet. It is based on 850-1000 calories per day during weight loss. To me that is a little dangerous for a long period. Am I wrong??

I am going to try and use their diet as a base and build on it so that I am eatng around 1200 calories per day. To me that should be healthier. As long as I am losing I will be happy. It's just when I quit losing that I get into trouble.

Really to be honest - it's not the number on the scale that bothers me it's the size on the tag that bothers me the most.

So all of you 1200 calorie people - approximately how much can I lose per week?

Start off right now saying that you DO HAVE WILLPOWER... whatever you say to yourself has a way of coming true... I've discovered that when I say "I can't" then it's self fulfilling and then I don't...

Find low cal versions of the foods you love... 1 slice of pizza and a garden salad will fit perfectly into healthy eating ... grilled shrimp with a mango salsa and pinto beans at a Mexican restaurant...

I've lost 6.2 lbs in 5 weeks ... going out to eat, going to parties, etc... and still lost

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Diets don't work on a long term basis.  Sure, you may drop 20 lbs in a month real quick, but in the long run, your body will start craving some of the things you have been cutting out and you will put the weight back on.

What counting calories is all about is eating healthy.  Its not a quick way to lose weight.  Its not an easy way to lose weight.  But what it is is a healthy way to lose weight. 

You have to be in control enough to allow yourself to treat yourself to mexican food once and a while.  And when you do, you have to explore the options of which may be healthier and still satisfy your cravings.  Get some frozen yogourt instead of the ice cream.  Get 1 scoop instead of 2.  If you don't treat yourself once in a while (not every day!!!), you'll go insane and make it that much harder.

As for losing the weight, I'm a man, so its a bit different scale.  From May 1st to August 17th I have dropped from 223 to 196 eating an average of 1800 calories a day (750 under my maintenance intake).

Under 1200 is a BIG no no.  It will damage you more than anything else.

EDIT - 1 lbs of fat is 3500 calories.  If you drop your daily calorie intake by 500, thats 1 lb per week.  You can up that a wee bit, but anything drastically different is considered unhealthy.

This is a guide though.  Different body types and different people allow for variance in this.  But if you are unsure, stick to the guide

akamom2, what gert said!

What has worked for me (my quest: lose 50 pounds for my 50th birthday) is making changes one at a time, and setting reasonable goals for which I don't need to be perfect, just better.

If you look in my journal and scroll down a bunch, you'll see my August goals thread, and below that a bit, my July goals thread. They might give you some ideas.

I try to focus on process, not on results, as I cannot control how or when my body loses weight, but I can control what *I* do. So a goal for me might be to increase my water intake by drinking a pint between my morning coffee and lunch (and indeed, that was one of my July goals).

I know that implementing a lot of big changes quickly often doesn't work, so I make most of my changes small ones, and make them over time. Walking to the subway from work one day a week, for example. I did that, and now walk there two days a week. Not a big thing, but a little doable thing that I actually do!

I find that being successful at a small change helps me make bigger changes; success breeds success. Another one of my July goals was to go talk to the fitness specialist at work. Just talk to her! I did that, and ended up working out a couple of times a week, though that was not one of my goals for the month.

Regarding weight loss per week, the recommendation is to aim for 1-2 pounds a week. That said, I lost 10 pounds my first month. Many people lose more than 2 pounds the first week; sometimes it's as many as 5, or even more!

In addition to the number on the scale, you might want to measure yourself now so you can track those numbers, too. There are times when the scale doesn't move, but your measurements reflect progress, and that can be comforting when your weight isn't changing!

You CAN do this!

I agree with both of the comments above. 

Truly you can not think of this as a diet, as this process is never ending.  Diets end plain and simple.  When they do end you will gain the weight back.  Forget the word diet it no exist for you.

Now on to your healthy life style.  Small changes do add up.  If you can begin with the little changes as Bigtwinky suggested you will also notice your cravings will change.  Once you stop eating the full fat foods you truly no longer want them.  You actually begin to feel the grease from food as it touches your lips. 

Add more fruit and veggies to your meals.  You will find they help fill you up and give you the nutrition your body requires. 

Water, I can not say enough about water.  I began here in February and so far I am down 28 pounds.  I am 5"4' and I too hated the clothing size I was wearing.  The scale has slowed for me but the feeling in my clothes keeps getting better.  Things are getting too big for me to wear and I love that feeling.  Water is one key to how things began moving for me.  I was not drinking enough of it.  I am now drinking between 80 to 120 ounces a day.  It varies for everyone and you have to find your number.  I know if I did not drink enough because the scale tells me.  If I drink enough my body stays hydrated and everything flows better (no pun intended).

I hope you don't mind I added you to my friends list.  We can do this with the help of each other. 

And yeah, what bigtwinky said, too! He obviously types faster than I do!!

And since he brought up his calories, I'll mention that I'm eating up to 1750 calories 5 out of 7 days of the week and losing weight comfortably. Honestly, I don't even find it difficult! And I do eat a little junk every day....

I am new to this site, but I have to tell you that I did some of the same things you do, I would start a new diet and tell my self OK this time I'm serious....and I would be for about one week, then I would fall right back into my old eating habits. My problem was that I would eat very few calories then I would go on severe binges. I have no idea how to eat, or what the right combo of this or that is and shoot I don't even know the meaning of protion control.

I stumbled on to this site in my quest to find yet another magic diet and I am sure glad I did. The first week I GAINED almost 3 lbs!! Oh my I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but I listened to what the people on this board were saying and it made perfect sence. My body had been in startvation mode and when I started to eat, it held on to those calories to prepare for another famine. After it realized that in just a few more hours it was going to have more food it started to use the fat. I started at 141, went to 144 and today I am at 139. I eat every 3-4 hours and with the help of the website and the people on it I am slowly starting to learn how to eat the right foods and make better choices. I am no where near perfect, but I am better and the best part is I am soooo proud of myself, I am doing this on my own with out putting $$ into someone elses pocket. I don't need gimics and because of that I have stopped lying to myself. I was convinced I needed to hire a nutritionist to send me recipes every week....WHAT was I thinking??

Try this one out....If I can do it anybody can, I am the biggest prcratinator out there and I made constant excuses. I have seen people lose a tremendous amount of weight and had myself totally convinced they had a secret I didn't know about.....truth is it's no secret, it's common sence onceI took  take the blinders off it couldn't have been more obvious!!

good luck to you I KNOW you can do it!!

I found this site two months after enrolling at LA Weight Loss and having a very discouraging result with their program... and I've lost 8 pounds since mid June. I'm older and sedentary except for going to Curves 3-4 times a week. I eat at least 1200 calories a day and don't get worried if I eat 1300 some days.

You can do this! But you have to be honest with yourself that you want to do this, that you will record what you eat, that you will nourish yourself and be patient.

I'm rarely hungry. And I if do get cravings - I drink water first, and if they continue, I eat a bit.

I've learned tons from this site - more than I could ever expect from LA Weight Loss....so come here and work at it with us!

The truth is, the motivation comes with litte successes...

You start with 'one day at a time'.  Once you see the first bit of weight fall off, you have to build on that motivation...

It's like quitting smoking.  You have to be ready to make the serious committment.  You have to want it for the right reasons.  And you have to be persistent.

Another thing to consider is. Well, so you ate the cupcakes. So you had a Chicago pizza and washed it down with 2 pitchers of beer. The important thing is it's not the end of the world. Start anew on your healthy eating regimen. So many people I know have started diets, had one slip up and then beat themselves so mercilessly about their lapse that they simply euthanized the diet rather than just chalking it up as a mistake and moving along.