Help! I'm almost there. I have lost 30 lbs, 10 to go. But, I keep falling off the wagon. Any suggestions?

Yes, ask yourself what matters the most. If your answer is your health, and the loss of those ten pounds, then stop falling off the wagon.

Gotta love those direct answers...from men, who don't tend to suffer from emotional eating.

I'm right there with ya. I have no answers, I'm falling off the wagon on average every 5 days now. I had wanted to lose a few more pounds, but now I'd be happy with just being in control of my eating! Good luck to us both!

Congrats!

I do this too. I'm down from 140lbs. Sometimes I think aww...I look pretty good, and I can get away with [insert crap food] and get back on track tomorrow. Lately I've realized that this is me saying "yes" to remaining as is, slightly chubbed, and "yes" to foods that don't serve my body's needs - and I want to say "yes" to being slim and trim and lean and fit and healthy! So I've changed my "yes", I guess. So far, so good.

Daryl’s reply is brutal, but true.
ElleH’s reply is close to my situation. When I look at how much better if am now than a year ago, it is easy to say “this will do”. I do feel quite satisfied with how far I have come.
Waywardsis has it. But for me it is every three days. In only three days on PP, I can see a wonderful results, but on Day-4 it as if I totally forget how great I felt on Day-3.
How annoying is that !?

As someone who is very close to goal, I sympathize with those elusive "last 10." Sometimes, of course, we've just become fixated on an arbitrary number on a scale, but usually, there really are some areas of extra pudge which won't budge .

Often it helps to make a dramatic change. Really do something different, especially with your exercise routine. If you've been concentrating on aerobics, switch to weight lifting (or the reverse). If you've be exercising very, very hard 5-7 days a week, cut back, or if you've been letting it slide, hit it really hard for a couple of weeks. Do something your metabolism isn't expecting.

Dieting fatigue sets in after weeks and weeks (months?) of discipline. If you take a break from healthy eating, you might undo your hard work, but you (body AND spirit) probably need a change. (For my money, ignore the advice about getting your priorities straight. There's nothing wrong with your priorities, you're just in a rut.)

Also, it can be worthwhile to see if your last few pounds are mostly "false fat," that is, water retention caused by eating too much salt or, perhaps, some food type that you can't really digest properly. I took my weight from "the last 8-10 lbs" down to "the last 2-3 lbs" by eliminating ALL processed foods from my diet. It sounded impossble, but it was really only inconvenient.

Good point about the "false fat". I still have inflammation from something in my diet...grrrrrr

I've been falling off the wagon too. too much darn stress lately. Last week I hit below 140 for a day or two. Only because I forgot to eat one day and then couldn't eat because of nerves another couple days... then when I did eat, I ate bread and I've even had some chocolates. I've been going strong since September and this is the first time I've fallen. I don't have a definate answer but all I can say is don't give up. Don't let the fact that you fell off detour you from your journey... it's just a bump... forget it and get back on. You can do it... you've come this far; don't lose it now.

I had been away on vacation where there was an all-inclusive-buffet. The wheels fell off !
If I go over a certain total calories per day, I will gain. Every time.
PP works, but I must keep track of the total calories per day. Which I am back to doing.
Amazingly enough, I can eat chocolate, without punishment, but bread is unforgiving.
Many thanks for the encouragement, I'm back on track.

start smoking! lol... kidding!!! drink a ton of water... water helps breakdown food in your system and it also helps you flush your system... making you lighter... you can actually lose weight, just by drinking a bunch of water!!! yay water...

If you've already lost a ton of weight, and gotten healthier, maybe reconsider whether or not you really need to lose those last 10 lbs. It's possible that your weight has stablized at a healthy weight for YOU, even if it's not the weight you were in high school, or the size some stupid chart says you're "supposed to" be.

Portail,
I am in the same position, lost 30 lbs and have the last 10 lbs to lose, just stay focused. Remember that you have gotten this far by staying on track, don't give up now...you are almost there!!

Yeah, this last bit is absolutely the hardest. I figure I've got between 10 and 20 lbs left to lose, but I really can't tell how much (I have more muscle now than I did years ago, so maybe I won't reach the same weight as before). And from what I read, weight loss really is s-l-o-w compared to earlier losses when one is heavier to start with.

For me, what is frustrating is that over the last few years, and particularly in the last 18 months, I have so severely chipped away and almost entirely eliminated the bad stuff from my diet. I can't eat gluten (I get sick) so that automatically eliminated bread etc. (no wheat/rye/barley). I realized that I don't do well with starches, so they're 98% gone. I no longer eat sugar except occasionally in a dessert or something. But no daily use of it. I no longer add salt to anything. I've got a pretty good handle on the small portion sizes. I am SOOOOO good and disciplined compared to previously, and I exercise fairly regularly with weights and cardio, but my weight and fat levels seem utterly stuck where I am no matter what I do. I know I've lost SOMETHING, fat probably, because I bought several pairs of jeans a few months ago, and now they are almost falling off (yaay!!!). Yet the scale is stubbornly the same. And looking at myself without clothes, ICK, still the same fat in the middle. I'm vaguely thinking my goal body weight might be about 130 to 135 lbs. because that's what I weighed from about age 21 to 36, and when I look at photos of myself from those ages, I looked so slim and I'd love to be like that now! But maybe it will be 140 or so because I have more muscle development now. Who cares?

What is frustrating is trying to figure out how to get weight/fat loss moving again. I'm mainly attempting to get to a body shape, not a particular weight. I want all the mid-section fat to disappear. Whatever weight that is, I don't care. But the frustrating thing is that it's so hard to get anything to change. I think I'm a skinny fat person....I'm 5'8" and don't look all that overweight in most clothes (awful in a swim suit, though!). But on my Tanita Fat Scales I measured 37.9% fat this morning, and on my hand held fat analyzer I measured 29.5%, so what gives, which is closer to reality? At my chiropractor's office I got on his $5,000 professional Tanita fat scales and I measured pretty close to my own Tanita scales measurement of 37% approx. I see women who look very obese with fat % lower than mine, so I can't figure this out. All in all, it's very frustrating. How do people do it? :-(

best way i avoid falling off the wagon and to avoid comfort eating is gorge on some pickled gherkins when im felling down. the intense taste of the vinegar i find deeply satisfying wether im craving suger or fat.

you could also try fasting for 2 days, not only do you burn fat exclusively but you detox yourself alot.

I'm really close to my goal, too, and find myself eating things "off plan" more than I used to. I think it's because that sense of urgency is gone. Everything that drove me to lose the weight has essentially been fixed. I can wear normal sized clothes, my blood work is all normal, my feet don't hurt, I can run again, I AM HAPPY!

I am having the internal debate between "you are at a healthy weight that is easy to maintain, learn to love yourself here and don't kill yourself to get to a weight you can't maintain" versus "what the hell are you thinking! You've made it this far and you're going to give up NOW? Geeze, you slacker. You may as well just gain ALL the weight back. Sheesh." It will be interesting to see which side wins.