For my first 5 months I feel like I had this whole new lifestyle down! I stuck to plan and if I happened to veer I remembered that moderation was the key. I'm in a stall, been here for over 2 months now. Partially because I've strayed so far I don't even know where to get back on path. I got pretty down the first couple weeks of my stall and had a pity party. My vice is chips and cookies now. Chips have always been an addiction of mines but I was never a cookie or sweets person so I don't know how that happened. I'm really worried with the holidays creeping up. Has anyone else fell so hard so early on but was able to bounce back? Advice and opinions welcomed.

I'm definitely not waiting on him to get approval. Was just stating that he'll understand better once he's had surgery. I'm working on getting back on track. Believe me my husband is the sweetest person you'll ever meet but if he's hungry he's going to go for whatever is easiest and that means my already prepared foods/meals. I'll stick w/ my idea of putting them in the veggie compartment in the fridge.

I'm definitely not waiting on him to get approval. Was just stating that he'll understand better once he's had surgery. I'm working on getting back on track. Believe me my husband is the sweetest person you'll ever meet but if he's hungry he's going to go for whatever is easiest and that means my already prepared foods/meals. I'll stick w/ my idea of putting them in the veggie compartment in the fridge.

I hope that works! Sounds like you're ready to get back on track.

You can do this!

After looking at your stats, I can't see why you titled this "failing horribly". You've lost 76 pounds in 7 months! Very, very impressive. You must be doing something right.

I am a slow loser. I had surgery last February and I haven't lost as much as you. Still, I consider my loss very much a success. I'm not yet exercising formally, but am doing a lot more housework, yard work and walking at work. I had a 2 month stall around 5 months out, which finally broke when I got a stomach bug and couldn't eat for a day. That restriction that I could no longer recognize came back at that point and I'm losing again.

You, my dear, are no failure!

Thx Rena. I'm ecstatic about what I've lost. No way could I have done that on my own. But I felt like I was failing b/c I got so off track and had lost focus. I've been losing and gaining the same two lbs for a couple of weeks now and the idea of gaining back every lb is scaring me into getting refocused.

I've read so many posts and comments where ppl would say they could pretty much eat whatever they wanted and still lose so I think I got a bit laxed and started thinking I could do the same (in moderation) but nope that doesn't work for me. I'm not one of the lucky ones :/ lol

Try quest protein chips, the macros are great and I loved the taste of pretty much all of them..then you don't have to feel guilty .. Just google it

Try quest protein chips, the macros are great and I loved the taste of pretty much all of them..then you don't have to feel guilty .. Just google it

Yuck ????????????didn't like those chips at all, waste of money ????

Track every single bite. I am 20 months out and I have tracked the good, bad, ugly for all that time. chips are sliders for some and go right down with no restriction. You just need to pick a different, more dense snack. There will be plenty of time to have chips again when you start losing again and when there is room in your calorie limit.

Because I track everything I can easily tell why a gain occurred (I am in maintaining mode. I don't say at goal since that sounds like there is an end and there really isn't ) Usually the scale goes up if I have indulged in too much sugar. Or i see that most of my calories by far were Snacks then I know too much grazing. But the trick is absolute honest tracking of every single bite. I tell myself that as long as I track it I can eat it with no guilt. That is my safe guard to not only lose weight before but now also to maintain.

Try quest protein chips, the macros are great and I loved the taste of pretty much all of them..then you don't have to feel guilty .. Just google it

I've heard of them. I checked my local GNC for them but was told they hadn't gotten them in yet. I've been hearing mixed reviews on them. I've had protein chips before and thought they were disgusting but supposedly these are much better.

Track every single bite. I am 20 months out and I have tracked the good, bad, ugly for all that time. Chips are sliders for some and go right down with no restriction. You just need to pick a different, more dense snack. There will be plenty of time to have chips again when you start losing again and when there is room in your calorie limit.

Because I track everything I can easily tell why a gain occurred (I am in maintaining mode. I don't say at goal since that sounds like there is an end and there really isn't ) Usually the scale goes up if I have indulged in too much sugar. Or i see that most of my calories by far were snacks then I know too much grazing. But the trick is absolute honest tracking of every single bite. I tell myself that as long as I track it I can eat it with no guilt. That is my safe guard to not only lose weight before but now also to maintain.

I usually stop tracking once I mess up. Smh. I guess I don't want anyone seeing my inconsistencies but that seems to be hurting me. I locked myfitnesspal so now a passcode is needed to view the foods I log so maybe that will help me with staying accountable.

I would NEVER give anyone else access to My Fitness Pal accuont. That's information and feedback that I need, but no one else needs to know.

At least, that's what works best for me. YMMV.

With regard to keeping your husband and kids out of prepared food - why not just make the same food for everyone. No junk food in the house. All food is 'on plan'... since they like eating it anyway.

@@VSGAnn2014 I don't mean access as in they can log in and out of my account. I mean as in 'friends' can view my food diary. I didn't find out til recently that you can lock it.

@@scstxrn we all basically eat the same thing. But when I meal prep it's just for my breakfast and lunches that I take to work. So we eat the same for dinner w/ slight variations. When I prep my lunches for the week I eat the same thing everyday. There's no way I could prep meals for my family of 7 for the whole week. And things like deviled eggs that I make for a snack they eat them fast and then go looking for mines so hiding is my only option.

@@scstxrn we all basically eat the same thing. But when I meal prep it's just for my breakfast and lunches that I take to work. So we eat the same for dinner w/ slight variations. When I prep my lunches for the week I eat the same thing everyday. There's no way I could prep meals for my family of 7 for the whole week. And things like deviled eggs that I make for a snack they eat them fast and then go looking for mines so hiding is my only option.

I have a drawer in the fridge and a basket in the cabinet that are hands off. It's not that I feed them that differently, but I need to know they haven't eaten ALL of the quest bars/jerkey/think sliced cheese/thick sliced turkey/Greek yogert/whatever. My kids are old enough that they understand--DH is another story! He's decided quest bars are his new favorite! He's quite frugal so I thought sharing how much they cost might discourage him.... Nope! Sigh!

I don't think you are failing miserably at all.

I have written about this many times, but at about 8 months post op...i faced a cross roads, a decision. I was looking and feeling so great. weighing around 190 looking incredible compared to weighing say 300+ so the compliments were flowing. However, I have to honestly say I still had a fairly comfortable protective layer of fat on me. I had to face it - was I okay as a fairly typical middle aged "mom" (not obese, looked pretty good, physically comfortable, but still overweight). Frankly,I would have been just fine if i stopped RIGHT THERE. Seriously - that IS SUCCESS!!!!

I decided that I wanted to go for the gold so to speak and try to get to a normal BMI. That seemed impossible in some ways, but why not try, right?

I did two key things.

1. I spoke to my very good NUT (who sadly moved away!!) about specific dietary changes and

2. I learned from some smart dudes on this very forum how to change my workouts to get better results. i moved to high intensity interval training.

So, I am maintaining in a normal BMI range and it wasn't so hard for quite awhile. As I approach my 3 year post surgery anniversary, I am finding it harder, even though I am still under goal.

My point - you are not a failure at all - you are a success! You just have some decisions to make now....what is it you REALLY want?