You all seem like such a strong group, maybe you never go off-program! But I know I do, and I have tons of excuses to validate myself! If I weighed in on a Tuesday morning and didn't lose, I always had a reason. Like, "well, I had my niece over the weekend and we had to eat out." Even though, I know if I ask her what she wants to eat, she never tells me so Im the one that always talks her into eating Chinese food! Or, "well I went to a birthday party over the weekend and had to eat what they provided." No I didn't! How long can a party last, a few hours? I could have eaten beforehand and just indulged in a small piece of cake. My point is, there's always an excuse to overeat if you look hard enough!! When I realized this, I made a list of my most common excuses and hurdles and thought of ways to overcome them. The next time I have my niece for example, I'll just have to take a stand and make sure we eat out somewhere I can get a big salad or some grilled fish. I found this list-making exercise very therapeutic. I thought it'd be interesting to see everyone else's list, if you make excuses like I do! Maybe I'm the only one, but I doubt it!! haha This post reminds me of a little story: A Christian woman started a new diet on Monday. She started off to work and realized that she'd soon pass her favorite donut shop. She prayed for the Lord to help her resist. She did fine that day but the next day she was overwhelmed. She prayed, "Lord, if You want me to have a donut, please provide me with a front row parking spot." And praise the Lord, after her 8th trip around the lot, she got one!!!
Usually that I deserve it somehow - I'm traveling for work and it sucks and I have an expense account, so I should have a glass of wine and dessert. My other biggie is social situations where there is a big buffet of free food. Surely, if there is FREE FOOD offered, I should eat it, who passes up free food? I really struggle with that scenario.
Hmm...excuses. They're great, aren't they? Except that they don't keep the calories from turning into fat
Free food used to be a struggle for me. But then I changed my thinking to...how many calories will it cost me? When I phrase it that way, the food is never worth the price.
Stress is another challenge. But I've really faced up to the fact that I'm obviously not dealing at all...or taking care of myself...by trying to drown my feelings in food. So this time around, I'm taking it one day at a time, trying to take better care of myself, and sometimes when I'm stressed, I just let myself be in a pissy mood and sit it out.
P.S. SoulBliss, I'm going to take your words of advice to heart as well, if you don't mind Thank you!
Last edited by just_a_dreamy1; 03-24-2008 at 12:33 AM.
Boredom is my overeating nightmare.....If I have nothing to do I tend to nibble! My nibbling could be an entire bag of chips or a whole package of cookies......watch out if I am bored!
The way I avoid it now......I don't have those things around the house mostly......but if I do have them in the house like right now there is a bag of chicarones(fried pig skins) which I love and can woof down the entire bag in no time......but I haven't even opened them.
I have healthy nibbling food....fresh fruit.....vegies to munch on(ready, cut or cleaned) ..... I have certain things set aside for snacks....like LF triscuts & a wedge of laughing cow cheese it is roughly a 200 cal snack but I get protein & calcium from it and very little fat! If Im in the mood for a sweet snack......I have premade SF jello cups (I make them up on the weekend, saves me money) both pudding and gelatin.......or Blue Bunny SF & FF ice cream......
Now this weekend I did overeat more than normal....but before Easter I took a look at my calories for the week and discovered that I ran short overall the week........enough for actually one entire days calories.......so I "could" endulge on the holiday food........I am so grateful I will not have to skimp this coming week to make up for my extra calories I ate yesterday! If I had not had extra calories prior to going into the holiday I would of worked out more intense the begining of this week to help make up the negative calories.....
Mind you the food I ate was still Low Cal and portion controled.......however I had seconds which I don't normally do and I had dessert(LC & LF) which I don't normally do either......but i did enjoy myself & it was well worth it knowing prior to eating I had 2000 calories extra for the week! I actually only ate 1000 over so I am very pleased with myself!!! Any "normal" (prior to my caring about what I put in my mouth) holiday, ONE I would of made a ton more food without a care about fat grams and calories.........and I would of made my "Death by chocolate" or some other scrumptous calorie-fat-ridden dessert and when it was all said and done I would of consumed way closer to 5000 calories versus the extra 1000 I did eat.
So I guess if we have the mindset of what I put in my mouth is important and we need to be mindful of what it is.....is it healthy, is it fatty, is it high in calorie.......then that is the first step in stopping ourselves in overeating.
Stress is my biggest reason. Somehow I think the food will make me feel better. And my reserves are down, so when the little voice says "I want THAT." I don't have the mental energy to fend her off.
Some strategies to deal with it: If I know it will be a stressful day, I am sure to pack up extra veggies -- it helps to have something to munch on.
Although it's hard for me to turn to exercise, when I do the benefits are threefold:
1) I didn't eat
2) I burned calories
3) There is no guilt.
Stress eating is a big obstacle for me and one I'm still dealing with. Along with all the others!
Boredom & not planning well enough for a situation. Those are usually the two things that happen. With less & less frequency as time goes on (thank goodness!).
I'm so happy that you've decided to take a look at your behaviors and try to come up with ways to modify them. Marvelous! That's taking your health into your own hands!
I'm one of the one's that has an excuse for just about everything
~time of month
~stress
~bad day
~boredom
~tired (too lazy to make something healthy)
Normally by now I would've quit my weight loss journey (because of a binge), and I would've been saying~I'll start again next week. Finally, I'm sticking to my guns and I've been really good!!!! No excuses...any more!!!
In the Jewish religion..eating is pretty central to a lot of our holidays and observances..and it's not just the gathering as a family to eat..but it's the foods themselves.
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year): appled and challah bread dipped in honey...which extends to apple cakes and honey cakes and roughly 3 dinners and 2 huge lunches in the 2 day holiday.
Yom Kippur: this is a fast day...so we eat before the fast begins and then when it's over (25-26 hours later)...we GORGE on carbs and whatnot.
Hanukkah: fried anything. I have made the "lowfat" potato pancakes and even made them with sweet potatoes..but the fact is that the NEVER taste quite as good as when they are cooked IN the oil. Spraying the super hot baking sheet with Pam does not produce desired results. The pancakes are also usually served with sour cream and applesauce...and then there are the little fried donuts.
Purim: a super festive day...with its own pastries. Hamentaschen are 3-cornered cookies filled with...whatever...fruits, chocolate, peanut butter..you name it. It's also a day where drinking is encouraged (in the spirit of the holiday) and you give out gifts of more food to people...plus we have a carnival at the synagogue and carnivals mean carnival food...cotton candy, popcorn, sno-cones, hot dogs...
Passover: a "restricted" diet of no leavened products...but it's also tricky because it's also no beans, rice and soy....so you're stuck with matza for 8 days...2 HUGE family dinners with multiple courses and desserts...and Passover baked good are made with potato flour instead of from grains...and they use a lot of oil to get them nice and tasty.
Add to that the secular calendar and all of the eastern European influences that came with the recipies...and there is a calendar year's full of excuses. Little old jewish ladies DO NOT CATRE if you are on a diet...especially when they come at you with "Oh you have to have a slice...I made it special for today..."
I don't know if I ever made excuses, I just ate. Maybe I did rationalize it, but I think I just ate because I wanted whatever it was. The last two 'excuses' were New Years Eve and my birthday (Jan 4th). I've been on plan since. Of course my plan allows me to sneak in those 'wants' by adjusting other items. Today I really wanted that third ice cream bar in the freezer, so I switched things around a very little and had it. Although it's probably a good thing that there's only one left. I was going to have it yesterday but decided to have more lamb at dinner, and really preferred the fruit salad and biscotti at night that I had instead.
.....I'm upset. That's the excuse that probably gets the most use. But, I'm starting to use that as motivator.
The other big excuse is, it's hormonal. (pmsing)
What are your fav excuses for overeating?
