I am a lurker on this board who has always been inspired by your stories, your struggles and your victories. I have fallen off the wagon beginning the week before Christmas. I am starting to put weight back on and this makes me miserable yet I won't stop eating. I seem to lack the motivation to get back to low carbing yet I desperately want to. Can any of you kind souls out there offer me some advice and words of encouragement? Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

i know exactly what you mean...

You know when i cant get started again after falling off the wagon - i look myself straight in the mirror and say outloud - 'what do you want? you tell me' then talk myself through what I want to achieve - my goal and my body image that i want.

kind of as though i am talking to someone else.

ok thats crazy - but it gets me back on track...

xxx

The only advice I can offer is to do it one day at a time. Tell yourself that you will stick to low carbing for today and then do it.

I also find thinking about the alternative, which for me is weight loss surgery, to be very motivating. If you end up having to have weight loss surgery, you will be forced to eat a lowcarb diet and in addition you will spend a lot of money on the srugery and you are like to have various surgery-related health problems. If that idea helps you at all with motivation, click here for a very informative (and I think unbiased) site on weight loss surgery. While there are stories here from people who are glad they did it, there are also lots of scary stories.

Good luck!

I have the best piece of advice I can give: LISTEN TO LIZ175! (And all the other kind comments you will get from caring others...but Liz' hit home with me. One day a time. It works if you work it!)

The biggest step has been made. You came back.
Congratulations and welcome to the forum.

Dear Abby runs this in her column every year and I find it very helpful to refer to from time to time:

JUST FOR TODAY, I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all my problems at once. I know that I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts that depress me. If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct those things I can correct, and accept those I cannot.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind and courteous to those who cross my path, and I will not speak ill of others. I'll improve my appearance, speak softly, and not interrupt when someone else is talking. Just for today, I'll refrain from improving anybody except myself.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will do something positive to improve my health. If I'm a smoker, I'll quit. If I'm overweight, I'll eat healthily -- if only for today. And just for today, I'll get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it's only around the block.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will gather the courage to do what is right and take responsibility for my own actions.

Do you have a low carb food that really fills you up?? I found that I had a hard time getting rid of cravings after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have a real big thing with chocolate. Well I have a Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse that I make. It isn't real sweet but it is REAL filling. After eating it I didn't want to eat the rest of the day because it kept me full. I know it is a Chocolate thing and some people get cravings from eating sweet like things but this particular thing stopped my craving. I don't know why but it did.

Have a great day!!

Mary,
Please tell us the recpie for your ch chesecake mousse.
I could go for that about now!

Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse.

I take a Cup of Cream and whip it up til it forms peaks. Add 3 pkts Splenda and 2 Tablespoons Cocoa to it. Then I take 4 ounces of Cream cheese and Microwave it like 20 seconds to soften it. Add the cream cheese and mix it all up. It gets pretty stiff. It is also good if you make an almond pie crust and make a nice little pie. It really takes care of my sweet tooth when I need to.

Have a great day!!

Hi,
wow liz that hit home and is now posted on my wall...motivation you know!

I wanted to add my two cents...do you have change of a dollar, ok now to what keeps me motivated....how do you feel...now...how about when you were actively low carbing....I say that to myself every morning and every time a speedbump arises. hope it helps....stay on the boards...everyone here is super!
Nancy

The pleasure - sheer 110% pleasure of putting my body into smaller clothes is reason enough to keep heading forward!

I also have been very bad over xmas and having a really bad flu doesnt help matter...

but i am determined!

Size 8 here i come!

xxx

I'm a firm believer that being successful leads to being more successful. And in order to feel successful, you have to have a way of seeing or measuring it.

If you think about areas in your life where you are feeling successful, like finances or your job, what gives you the feedback that makes you a success? For finances, is it that you have paid all your bills this month or that you have increased your savings account?

With low carbing, you need some way to see or measure your success. Logging your foods at fitday, for example. Using that example, let's say you are eating 200 carbs per day (i.e. you fell off the wagon). Keep logging and keep trying to reduce your carbs per day. Soon you will be feeling successful and more motivated to reduce the carbs per day.

I think a lot of the reason this way of eating loses people is the all or nothing mentality of going low carb. You don't have to eat only 20 carbs a day to be healthier and lose weight. If you are eating 200 carbs per day now and you cut that back to 150 or 100, you will start reaping the benefit of this way of life. And as you cut back, you will reduce that addiction to carbs even more which then leads to being able to lower your intake even more.

Yes, it's quicker to just stop eating the excess carbs, so if you can just do it, then go for it. But it's not necessarily easier for some people. So just do something every day towards making yourself more successful with this way of eating. It's the journey toward our goals that make life interesting!

Check out the Before You Cheat section ofthe confessional booth. I know what it's like to be out of control and it makes you feel helpless.

The biggest key for me is writing down what I eat. And especially now that the rest of the world is seeing it, it makes me think about it even more.

But even if you don't publish it, write it down BEFORE you eat it. It gives you that time to contemplate and get back in control.

Only you know why this is important for you, if it's an occasion, your health or whatever else. If you're a Mom, you already know the reason...

We love you and wish you lots of luck.

Thank You all so much for your words of wisdom--I really needed to hear it. I just wrote down everything that I can remember eating over the past month and a half (the bad stuff) and I must say that I am disgusted and feel that I am ready to make a new commitment to a low carb lifestyle. Thanks so much again!

Loumom...welcome and good luck! I was right where you were, except my out of control eating lasted a lot longer than yours did. I had an extremely hard time starting and I broke it down into even more than one day at a time, because when I restarted, even one day sounded like a lifetime to me. So I did it at first just by meal. At first it was...I'll make myself a nice LC breakfast. It felt good and by lunch, I was ready to committ to a nice LC lunch. Then supper, and then an evening snack ( evenings were the worst for me and still are so I always plan a big snack for the evening). After a few days of this I started feeling good about what I was doing and the struggle got less and less!