I need help jump starting healthy eating again

Find a 21 Day Fix group and join! It helped me so much. I was full of excuses and just couldn't get motivated. You probably have fb friends who are coaches or who are doing a challenge. Post about it and see. I love my coach--she's not a hard sell at all. 

I know I sound like a broken record about this program but it's helped me feel so much better and helped me break the cycle of eating/feeling bad about my body/eating some more. I did 4 rounds, dropped 20 lbs and 4 dress sizes, and I feel great. I'm now onto the 21 Day Fix Extreme, the newer one. I love it. I think the best part is that you really can do anything for 21 days. Then you get a bit of a break, if you like, and it's on to another round but it doesn't feel overwhelming.

I have started something new to me so maybe it will help you, too. STOP eating when you are full. I used to clear my plate. Now I take less food, eat as much as I want and stop when full. I can always have something later and so far I haven't needed to. Does this work 100%? No. But so far so good.

I lost 35lbs a couple years ago and have gained 10 of it back. I eat reasonably healthy, and I do exercise on regular basis. the problem is that I fall off the food wagon far too often. I don't exercise enough to effectively lose weight-given the amount of calories I eat. and I cheat more often than I should. simple carbs are my waterloo-I simply have a VERY hard time staying away and my portion size of healthy foods is too great.

tracking everything I eat is very important for me, as is planning every single meal ahead of time so I don't make the wrong choices.

also, I try not to employ the all or nothing mentality. I beat myself up if I am not doing EVERY single thing I "should" be doing. I get down on myself when I fall off the wagon and the disappointment makes me do things that sabotage myself. 

I find that a gentle yoga class helps me a lot with the self loathing-my teacher talks a lot about being compassionate to ourselves and I really try to take that to heart.

ahiller your weight determines how many calories to aim for, and how many of each container you get. You can Google or check pinterest for the container sizes, how many you should be able to eat (though if you're not able to do workouts, factor that into how many calories you're consuming, because the 21DF operates on the assumption you're doing one workout a day), and fix-approved recipes and food lists. Basically it's whole foods, eat clean, very light on starches and dairy, heavier on the protein and veggies. I'm rarely hungry but you do have to give up lots of refined foods so it requires some planning.

I was doing ok...holding my own. And then my FIL passed away last week. My eating has gone to hell in a handbasket VERY quickly. Eating donuts at least 3-4 times over the last 2 weeks. Eating out for dinner 2 times. And lots of sweets. I feel icky and while I haven't stepped on the scale, I KNOW I've gained. But my MIL is going home on Sunday...and I'm hoping I can easily get back into the healthy eating and exercise. I had been posting a healthy eating/weight watchers thread daily and I hope to start that again soon. Check in with us there! The ladies there are super knowledgeable and kind!!

      I agree with Papergoddess-what really changed my life for good was changing my diet (way I eat not going on a temporary diet) to a healthy permanent style of eating. A year ago in February 2014 DH and I watched "Forks over Knives" on Netflix. It is an amazing documentary! It is entertaining and really educates you on what meat, diary and unhealthy foods do to your body. Seeing the science and the studies convinced us to try a 28 day challenge of changing our diet to a whole foods (no processed food) plant based diet. At the end of 28 days we felt so good we decided to keep going.

Before this challenge I'd already stopped drinking soda and gave up all fast foods. I'd also stopped buying processed foods while grocery shopping. Between those 3 I'd dropped 35 pounds in two years. I'm hypothyroid so I lose weight slowly.

Anyway, DH and I are still following the "Forks over Knives" diet which is basically a vegan diet, or that they call a "whole foods plant based diet. It's been a year and a month. I've lost an additional  10 pounds. It's not a lot, but I'm 6 pounds from "healthy weight" and 12 pounds from goal weight. The main point is I feel great, extremely healthy and I'm no longer yo-yoing. Especially notable is my cholesterol went from 229 to 186 just 2 months after starting this diet. This style of eating I intend to stay with the rest of my life, and that's the whole point.

To lose weight permanently you have to change your style of eating, not just go on a temporary diet-at least that's what I believe. You don't have to go vegan or vegetarian. But giving up processed foods, fast foods and soda in favour of whole foods, more fruits and vegetables does make sense to me. We also eat whole grains now including our pasta.

There is a website called www.100daysofrealfood.com that has a lot of information about choosing healthy foods.

Debbie in MD.