I'm new to this... watching what I eat, trying to make healthy choices, incorporating exercise, keeping track of what I eat and when, and most importantly being honest with myself about it all. I knew I'd need to start out slow and change my mindset, and the thing I'm having the hardest time with is not thinking "I blew it."

I work at Starbucks, and lastnight we were given a bunch of goodies (brownies, oat fudge bars, etc.) that were going to be marked out. My thinking was "I'll take them to my friends tomorrow" but lo and behold, they called to me and I didn't say no. I usually try to keep no-no foods out of my house because I know I don't have the power to say no yet. So I ate them, and while I still squeaked by under my calorie count, I know that it was a bad decision to eat them.

So what I'm trying to do is not think "I blew it, might as well give up, let's find some ice cream/pizza/chips." How do you deal with that voice in your head, and either stop listening to it, or replace it with a better one? It's so frustrating!

Neon,
Find the balance, ok so you had some goodies that weren't really good for you. Throw in some extra exercise for the next few days to balance it out. Don't beat yourself up, learn from it and move on. Don't find this is an excuse to turn back because a few goodies aren't worth the good of yourself.

Faith is right on the money! Don't give up. I find a way to incorporate a treat once in a while into my calorie count. While my weekness is my mocha...I find if I make it my "weekly treat" and I get a small one...I can have it. For me it's a lifestyle change, not a diet...so I would say, figure out how you can make an "occasional" treat work into your plan. Keep on striving and don't give up!

Neon I am with you!!! I have done terrible the last week. I need to just get back on track. And it's great you were under your calorie count even with indulging in the treats. I guess try to think of the possitive. I think getting through the first month is going to be a challenge for me. I do great for a week then bad for a week. Maybe if I can get two good weeks under my belt that will help!

I think one of the most important things to remember is that "Food can't talk". They didn't call to you...you made the totally conscience choice to eat them, because you wanted them and at that exact minute you did not care about your diet, your eating or your health...YOU wanted the sweets and nothing else mattered...Nothing.

It's pretty easy to get in the mind set that you "blew it" when you turn your life over to sugar...when it is so powerful that you give it control over your health, body and soul. How to fix it is to take back the power. You take control. You just have to do it. You just have to decide that you are more powerful than a brownie. (You are, you know!)

It's unreal how much better I feel just hearing that people know exactly how I feel.

So so far I'm learning I have to just let it go and do what I can to make my next choices be good ones. I think I'll push to incorporate a bit more exercise today to hopefully counter it.

The once a week treat thing is SUCH a good idea, what's hard is that I work where my weakness is! Lol. Used to be that tons of my calories and fats and sugars came from the fancy drinks I'd get at Starbucks. So now I'm trying to choose teas and rich coffee that I don't need to sweeten... and I've made an "okay" list for my once a week special drink. It's so frustrating, but I just keep saying that time will make it easier, and that it's for my health.

I love this idea of "maybe if I can get two good weeks under my belt." I think that'll be my new approach... like, how many good choices in a row I can make, how many good days in a row I can have, and then eventually it will be a good week, then maybe a good couple weeks... then maybe the good will outweigh the bad?

In the past I've always been a quitter, so that's why my biggest goal this time is to keep my health as the goal, and not allow myself to quit. I might stumble, but I won't let myself give up.

Hmm. "Food can't talk."
So next time I hear the food in my head, remember that it's in my head.
And the voice telling me to quit, that's in my head too.
I can use my own voice to counter that.

i love "food can't talk."

"you wanted them and at that exact minute you did not care about your diet, your eating or your health...YOU wanted the sweets and nothing else mattered...Nothing"

this is me all.the.time. eating in a daze, as though it's somehow out of my control. NO it's a totally independent, conscious choice of MINE.

thanks lori! reminds me of something i read in another thread here...that when you start to go to that "nothing matters lemme eat" place, say aloud "Cancel. Cancel. Cancel." haha, it all seems very silly, but sometimes a good loud shaking is what we need.

good luck neon. great days/good days/bad days...there will be all kinds, just don't stop!

I have converted my Mocha into Sugarfree and Fatfree...takes a few of the calories down and I find that I can only handle a small one now because they are so rich!!

Thanks Lori...you have given my inner skinny girl more amo! I can hear the arguement already!! (Inner Skinny Girl ~ Food can't talk...stop trying to use excuses on me! Inner Fat Girl ~ But I swear...the cookie was threatening me...we have to eat it! Inner Skinny Girl ~ Our butt doesn't need that cookie...and if that's the case and the cookie was talking...the chocolate chips were screaming for me to save them from death by you!)

the other thing to consider is that saying "i blew it" involves judging yourself. harshly. there's another angle you can take here, which is that you learned 1) you're not yet able to allow that kind of stuff in your environment (good to know!) and 2) you have a tendency to see just the negative in what you did (as opposed to, i made a somewhat poor choice nutritionally, but i stayed within my calories! good for me!) also good to know. so you've got a place to start figuring out another response - as long as you're willing to let go of the judgement and start getting constructive.

When you have the thought to "take some for someone", say no they will have to get their own junk food. When my Director has a meeting in the conference room she will have food left over. She tells everyone to go eat something. It happened yesterday and I told them I had my lunch unless there was a fruit or veggie tray. No veggie tray no fruit tray no visit to the conference room. So when you get "goodies" in your environment think about how it will feel to say you were victorious over the "goody" tray. It feels better than they taste, TRUST THAT!!!!!

neon,
I don't know if this will work for you, it does for me. I got one of those little chunky style notebooks and started writing with Day 1, I write how I'm feeling, my exercise for the day, extra. I'm now at Day 81 and I haven't went off my plan once. Why would I? I've got 80 days under my belt, 80 days. I write in it everyday, sometimes it's just a note and exercise, some days it's rants but either way it keeps me centered. I then took the year and broke it down by sections, 1/10, 1/8 extra..there are 14 "milestones" in all. I've already achieved four with the fifth coming up March 14th, then I'll be 1/4 of the way through. Man it feels so good to see those little milestones piling up.
Just a thought.

It's such a good idea, but part of why I'm afraid to do something like that is because I really don't want the people around me to know what's going on yet. I don't want them to see the little notebook, or wonder what I'm jotting down if they see me writing... I've "tried" in the past, and failed. That's why this time I'm not trying, I'm doing, does that make sense? That doesn't mean I believe I'm going to be successful at everything I do every step of the way, but it means that I'm committed to this change.

Everyone in my life loves me, and I know that, but only a couple people love me in a supportive and honest and non judgemental way. My friends say "oh but you're wonderful how you are, you have such a pretty face, and you're so much fun to be around, etc." Or they say "ugh, as long as you don't turn into one of those people who only talk about their diet, their weight loss, etc." Or they say "oh well good for you" but then pile the junk food around me because I know they see me as their indulgent friend. You know, you eat ice cream with your fat friend, you get junk food snacks at the movies with your fat friend... I went to a movie with my best friend the other day and had a baggie of almonds in my purse, and refilled my water bottle before we went into the theatre... he was like "um, do you want me to grab you some chocolate or popcorn?" and when I said no thanks he offered to pay... like it was the money issue, not the health issue. And that's why I'm doing this. It's not because I suddently realised I don't like how I look, or something has changed for me on the surface, it's because my mother was just diagnosed with diabetes and it has scared me into action. My mother is thinner than me, more active than me, and has generally been healthier than me overall. So it made me realise that I am young enough to kick start myself, and get myself to the healthy place I need to be when it comes time to start a family, and live out the rest of my life happily and healthily.

Whew. That was long winded. All this to say that I'm currently writing down everything I eat, positive or negative, when I'm eating it, what exercises I'm doing, and how I feel at the beginning and end of the day. I'm intrigued by your milestones system, though. I don't think I follow. What kind of milestones are you tracking along the way? I think the idea of having checkpoints along the way would be VERY encouraging!