How to stick to my weight loss plan?

[Anonymous]

No matter what I do, I end up overeating after 5 or 6 days after I start a diet. It's not like I'm starving myself, I heve between 1200 and 1600 calories a day and I run or do cardio exercise daily. I simply can't stick to the plan and after a few days I have like 2000-2500 calories, which totally demoralizes me. When I get the urge to overeat, even if I know I shouldn't do it and try to list all the disadvantages (like I will feel bad after, I will feel bloated, this will take me back to where I was at the beginning etc.), I still can't overcome it. Aaaand I end up binging. How do I stop this? Overeating is bad for my health and also makes me gain back all the weight I lose.

[Hrothgar]

This was an answer to a similar post, and it applies to your question:

My Mother is an exercise science physiologist, and she taught me that cardiovascular workouts are great warm-ups for exercising, but unless you do some weight training you're not going burn off the fat - or keep it off - in an efficient or effective manner. Also, women tend to gain water weight which is best countered by drinking a lot of water to flush it out. Plus, eating after exercising, while your metabolism is high, is better than working out after eating. Never eat fattening foods before going to sleep; it's a surefire way to gain weight.
Another thing that helps to keep the weight down is to be sure to eat whole foods (i. e. non-processed) and take the time to enjoy your meals: don't scarf it down and run off to do something else; sit there, enjoy every bite, and remain seated after eating for a little while before going on to other activities.
It's also wise to eat plenty of meat, because the body expends more energy breaking down meat than it does fruits, vegetables, and starches. I'm not recommending you only eat meat or have a huge steak with minimal sides, I'm recommending you eat some meat with every meal to be sure your body is using the energy from the food to break it down, rather than storing the unused energy as fat.
Finally, it's better to eat many small meals throughout the course of the day than it is to eat a few big meals.
Look at the French: they eat tons of butter, heavy cream, and other fattening foods, but they're mostly in shape because they eat whole foods, they have small meals and take their time to enjoy them, and they stay active.

[kaylaS91]

I used to be exactly like that, and honestly since I was 13 my weight would yo-yo back and forth. Everything changed around this past September when I discovered the gym and actually began to enjoy working out. Try to get a friend to accompany you to the gym or for runs so that it won't be as much of a chore in the beginning, but also a social outing. Try to go work out 2-3 times a week for 3 weeks, after which you should start seeing some results. Your body should become noticeably toner and just fitter in general. Once you start getting results, that will come to be motivation in itself. For me, after 3 weeks of going to the gym 3x a week with a friend and getting results, I found the maintenance of this overall weight-loss to be pretty motivating as well.

Another tip I found was to buy a month pass from the gym you go to. My gym pass is $43/month, so I found that in order to break even in costs from how many times I would have to go as a drop in I have to go at least 9x a month. That is reason enough to push me to the gym at least 2-3x a week.

[kittyforlife]

Well seeing as how you are "under 18" I wouldn't worry about it too much. I don't know what your physical aperance is like, but I do know that teens should be eating about 2,000 cal. A day. This is a big stage for your body and mind to grow. If you like to eat large quantities of food, eat the right kinds. You can grub out on a huge tofu scrambler, and not consume too many calories, or a giant salad. Its all about what you eat.

[523206720]

Having cheat meals might be a better option for you. look for tasty foods that are low calorie and have one whenever you feel like cheating. Or promise yourself that before eating the extra food - you will burn off whatever you are about to eat in the gym. So if you are going to have a 400 calorie soup - you will first burn off 400 calories in the gym.

[willow74]

I'm the same way... except I starve myself for several days, and then break and gorge myself, then the cycle starts over.

[Asker]

I used to be like that too, but now I decided to do it ''the healthy way''. I hoped I will get results with this, but it's just like before...

[CrazynKinky]

If you don't want to give up the food you love exercise more. You just need to burn more calories a day then you take in