When you trip on the top step do you throw yourself down the rest of the stairs?
So you ate too much bread at lunch. Have a healthy dinner with lots of veggies and protein and no carbs.
Move forward. Don't dwell on what you did wrong, but think about what you can do to be better next time. Maybe the thing to remember here is that right now you can't stop at one piece, so it's better to NOT buy the loaf and bring it home.
So now you know for next time.
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Last edited by PhotoChick; 09-16-2008 at 03:22 PM.
Well, to be perfectly honest, and I realize I should, I feel like I already blew it. I had yogurt this morning for breakfast, everything was fine. Then, as part of my job (I run the office of a preschool) I do the snack shopping for the school. So I was at the store and saw some nice sourdough bread. I brought it home on my lunch break. I had been intending to make a tuna sandwich. Instead, I melted some cheese on one of the slices of bread. It was so good, I then broiled a Morningstar mushroom patty, and made a sandwich. So that was 3 slices of bread. Plus the cheese and the patty. Then, I had 2 more slices of bread. So that's 5.
I guess I'm thinking I'm obviously a carb addict. Did I blow the day? Should I not eat anymore today? I can still do an exercise video, and calorie-wise I'm not really over 1500, unless I'm counting wrong (which honestly, when I'm in denial is not unlikely).
If I'm hungry later, what should I have?
You will NEVER blow an entire day. Ever.
Like Photo said, so you had a little too much bread. So what? Balance the evening out with a well rounded dinner.
Maybe you might want to add a little something to that breakfast? Yogurt isn't a lot of food. Perhaps you were very hungry at lunch and your body was craving more food.
Photochick, I know, and I know about the stairs. And I wish I could be in the place you all are at now.
OK, deep breath. If I think about all the wisdom amongst you, and think about all you've been saying, this is what I know. It's not just day by day, it's minute by minute. And all of you are doing the same thing. I can't think "I wish I was like you". You all are working hard too! And so can I.
I shouldn't have bought the bread. Well, I didn't buy the chips, or the cake, or the cookies. So that's progress, right? I'll try to convince myself.
OK, deep breath. If I think about all the wisdom amongst you, and think about all you've been saying, this is what I know. It's not just day by day, it's minute by minute. And all of you are doing the same thing. I can't think "I wish I was like you". You all are working hard too! And so can I.
Yes yes yes! It's absolutely minute by minute some days.
I wish I could be in the place you all are at now.
Keep in mind that most of us are in the place we're at now because we USED TO BE in the place you're at now. We had to work through the same issues and came out the other side. And if we can do it, so can you.
Honestly, I'll share with you - the struggle you just faced with the bread? I go through that every single time I walk in the store with sour cream and onion potato chips. They are my addiction. 2 or 3 times a week I walk past them (and good lord it's football season and they're RIGHT THERE AT THE FRONT OF THE STORE) and I say to myself I'm not going to buy chips today. Not "ever again". Just today. Just for this day I'm not going to buy chips. Because I know if I buy a bag, I won't have one serving. I won't even have 2. I'll sit there and eat chips until I feel like I'm going to throw up. I'll finish the whole bag.
So every time I go to the store I fight the urge. And I walk through the store with this little voice in the back of my head saying "mmm ... sour cream and onion chips ... so crispy, so yummy, so good ... they're on sale ... you can have just a few".
Every. Single. Time.
And 95% of the time I am make it out of the store before my inner voice convinces me. 5% of the time, I can't resist. But ... I've also learned that 5% of the time if I *have* to be weak, instead of buying a whole big bag, I stop at the convenience store on the way home and buy a single serving bag. That way if I *have* to have them, I won't eat 10 servings.
Ok, another thing ...
Quote:
I know about the stairs.
You know the words, cause you've heard them here before. But do this: visualize it. Seriously. Stop what you're doing and think about it. You're walking down the stairs at home, at work, wherever there are stairs. Think about tripping on the top stair. You trip, you grab the railing and you regain your balance. Now think about intentionally throwing yourself down the stairs because you're so clumsy to have tripped. Really THINK about how silly that is. Risking broken bones or even a broken neck because you're upset that you tripped.
Now ... think about how silly it is to say you blew the whole day 'cause you ate 4 slices of bread.
Quote:
I shouldn't have bought the bread. Well, I didn't buy the chips, or the cake, or the cookies. So that's progress, right?
This is WONDERFUL progress. So instead of beating yourself up for eating the bread, you can say, ok, I ate a little too much bread, but I caught myself and I didn't follow it up with chips and cookies. Yay me.
Finally (I know, I know, I know - shut up PC, you've said enough!):
Quote:
Should I not eat anymore today?
Competely, totally, and 100% eliminate this type of thinking from your mind. Forever. Because you know what happens? You decide at 2:30 in the afternoon that you've been "bad" and you're not going to eat ANYTHING ELSE TODAY. And you feel all virtuous. And then about 6 you're hungry. Really hungry. Like your stomach is about to crawl out of your throat and attack the fridge hungry. And you think "well, I'll just have something little". So you open the fridge and your stomach takes over and you eat everything.
And the more you eat, the more you say "What the ****. I was bad at lunch, so I might as well just give up for today. I'll do better tomorrow."
Then 2 hours later you lie in bed and feel guilty and like a miserable failure because you're such a loser that you can't even go an evening w/out food.
Gosh, you wouldn't think I'd been there before, would you?
The answer to a slip is NEVER self-deprivation. We're not trying to punish ourselves. We're trying to be healthy. Sending your blood sugar plunging is not healthy.
So ... deep breath, as you said. It's not "tomorrow is another day". It's today is still a good day. And for dinner tonight I will be healthy.
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Last edited by PhotoChick; 09-16-2008 at 03:55 PM.
I say get back on plan. I never skip a meal, over exercise or punish myself for going off plan. I agree with Photo--if you choose to NOT eat later cause of a little bread indiscretion, then what? I would be starving, binge, etc., but if I make my next food choice a health planned food choice, I will be ok.
A little extra sourdough made no one fat. A day or meal off plan made no one fat. It is consistent choices over days, weeks, months, years that make our bodies what they are.
"The key to healthy eating is moderation and managing what you eat every day. Don't rely on crash diets. Don't worry about what you ate yesterday. Don't put off good eating until tomorrow. Just try to eat what's best for you in the moment. Focus on now."
Again, thank you all!!!! I am so glad you are here. Maybe one day I'll be as wise and I'll be able to "pay it forward".
So, I didn't starve myself for the rest of day, because you are all correct, and that would have led to endless midnight eating, and then endless, bottomless, guilt and depression.
Instead, I had left-over split pea soup, a grilled chicken thigh with a little brown rice.
You saved my day.
I realize I generally think I can't do this. Today, you all made me feel I can.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Are you getting tired of hearing it?
Again, thank you all!!!! I am so glad you are here. Maybe one day I'll be as wise and I'll be able to "pay it forward".
So, I didn't starve myself for the rest of day, because you are all correct, and that would have led to endless midnight eating, and then endless, bottomless, guilt and depression.
Instead, I had left-over split pea soup, a grilled chicken thigh with a little brown rice.
You saved my day.
I realize I generally think I can't do this. Today, you all made me feel I can.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Are you getting tired of hearing it?
THANK YOU!!!!
Wow, what a rollercoaster ride you were on today! I wish I could have posted sooner. Though, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't have said anything better than what our wonderful forumsisters said.
I just want to throw the spotlight on something you said above... you generally think you can't. You need to change the way you think. No diet, no matter how well-thought out, will give you long term success until you train your mind and stop the self-sabotage.
I just checked out The Beck Diet Solution from our local library (thank you, Pandora for turning me on to it). I decided to try it, because cognitive therapy has been helping me so much with building healthy self-esteem. In the first or second chapter, I identified one lie I'd been telling myself that has had a negative effect on my attitude toward dieting. This might sound familiar...
"I want eating to be subconscious, like breathing, something that goes on in the background and doesn't complicate my life, which is complicated enough as it is."
I guess I should have figured this out, but it took Beck's book to knock me over the head with it - eating is never subconscious. Whether I'm making good decisions about what to eat or bad ones, I'm always making a conscious decision about what to eat and when.
Well, duh. But I really didn't look at it that way 'til today. When I read that, the light bulb came on. "I have to make a conscious decision every time I eat. I might as well be making the best decisions I can when I make them."
Anyway, the point here is that the approach that Beck takes, using some simple tools to train yourself to think differently about dieting and exercise, is truly effective. You don't have to be following any particular diet to be using it. You can count calories, use Weight Watchers, South Beach or anything (that is healthy and reasonable) and gain a lot of benefit from training your brain with these tools.
If you can't afford a new book right now, you might try a used book store or doing what I did - looking it up at the local library. And even if you don't decide to use the Beck Solution, I highly recommend you learn how to train yourself to think more positively with some method or other.
I would also like to point out that your error might not have started with lunch. Learn from this experience and try something different: i.e. having more at breakfast. (Did you really get enough protein and calories from that one yogurt to start your whole day off? Something is telling you you probably didn't.)
BIG
Last edited by twilit tera; 09-16-2008 at 11:28 PM.
What works best for me is counting calories. I use spark people, it's a really good website for tracking, and if you want, you can have it make up meal plans for you too. I like it because I can plan out my day better, like yesterday, I had pizza for dinner, and I was able to do that because I saved most of my calories for dinner. So, it's a good site, it even tracks fitness too.
It's absolutely minute by minute some days.
I guess I should have figured this out, but it took Beck's book to knock me over the head with it - eating is never subconscious. Whether I'm making good decisions about what to eat or bad ones, I'm always making a conscious decision about what to eat and when.
