Ugh! I can't believe I used to eat like this all the time!!

  • I had a job interview today at 3:30pm in Seattle, about 1 hour south of the town I live in. If you know anything about city driving 3:30 is a horrible time to schedule an appointment. The drive home in the rainish-snow took 1 hour 45 minutes. I was starving (and a bit emotional since I got fired a week ago!) so I gave up any plan to eat healthy when I got home. I drove through Jack in the Box and got a big Sourdough Jack, curly fries and a diet coke. I ate ALL of it. At first it tasted really good, then about half way through the burger I started to feel disgusted partly because it was just so big and greasy in my stomach AND because I haven't eaten like that in a long time.

    I really am mad at myself for eating it AND horrified that I used to eat like this 2-4 times a week!
  • My father-in-law once told me that he loved wearing cowboy boots because it felt so good when he took them off. I think your ex-eating habits are very similar --- and once in a while you have to shove your poor, aching feet back in there to remind yourself of how bad it was before. You proved to yourself that eating bad food didn't help with the stress or make you feel any better. Not a bad thing to discover.

    I hope the interview went well and that you will hear good things back from these folks. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
  • good luck on the job Michelle!

    guess what? we're neighbors!! woohoo!
  • I'm really hoping you get the job! How did your interview go???

    Well you slipped up. You ate crap food. Did it solve your problems? No. Did it make you MORE stressed when you are already so stressed you can't handle it? Probably.

    Drink your water, make a menu plan for tomorrow and STICK with it. *mega hugs*
  • I tooooootally know how ya feel. The other day I was out and about passing out resumes and trying to find work. I just finished my 2 year diploma for Medical Office Administration. It was a realy rough 2 years and I figured it would be so worth it in the end to finally have a career. but there are absolutly nooo jobs now. I had to fight back tears while applying to futureshop and MacDonalds. Then I ate waaay too much that day. I mean it was the first time I had felt that suffed feeling in weeks. I cried before I even finished my plate. I thought the food would make me feel better but it just made me disappointed in myself. And a little nausious to boot.

    I guess the important thing to take from it is that food is for nurishment not comfort. And I finaly got that. And I'm so glad I did.
  • i don't know why some of us think food will make us feel better... maybe it used to? i honestly can't remember if when i would binge it would REALLY make me feel better! now it definitely does NOT. but the thing is, you KNOW now that it doesn't help. which will help you in the future.

    it's all about the stepping stones....


    good luck with the interview!!
  • i also tend to trun to eating when stressed and over whelmed. It has helped me to try to plan for nonfood soothing when I am stressed. For example if I know that I am going to an apointment that will land me in traffic I look for a park to take a walk while the traffic clears or I pack fruit and nuts in a limited amount to address the hunger and hold me over for the meal I have planned at home. Or I will take a book or magazine or swing by the library and read until the traffic is less of an issue. I know most people cannot avoid evening trafiic especially if you need to pick up children from daycare or have other commitments.

    I am not always able to wait it out but my real point is to try to think before hand about healthy behavior that might sooth you in traffic or other noncontrolable stressful situations. Other ideas I have tried or seen here is
    -listening to great music and sing along loudly as you wait in traffic,
    -listen to books on tape,
    -breath with awarness,
    -pray,
    -phone a friend if it is legal to drive and talk in your area
    -repeat mantra outloud or in your head- I often repeat "it's okay" or I've got this"
    -Stop at a coffe shop for tea and bring your laptop surf this site while you wait for traffic to clear (lol, i am in Atlanta so really traffic never really clears here and I have no laptop but I keep a good book or magazine for the waiting).
  • I had a really similar experience during my holiday travels.

    I went out to a really great restaurant with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, with every intention following my on-plan restaurant strategy - ignore the bread basket; split a reasonable* app OR have a salad w/dressing on the side; order a reasonable* main course and leave half on my plate if it's a gigantic portion; enjoy a few bites of dessert and have no more than one or two glasses of wine.

    Turned out that wasn't what he had in mind, and he didn't have to twist my arm very hard to get me to go along with him. We ordered what I now realize is an obscene amount of food, but used to be totally normal for me during any nice dinner out - hit the bread basket, share multiple apps and a salad, have a full entree, share a dessert . . . wash it all down with plenty of wine.

    The food was great, and I did enjoy it while it was happening, but I felt completely over-stuffed and gross afterwards. And when I was entering it all into FitDay I REALLY started to feel sick. Almost 2,500 calories worth of sick. I used to do that several times a week. No wonder I got to be 300 lbs.

    *Reasonable for me = nothing deep fried and nothing covered in cheese or a heavy sauce.