Hi Paradise Oh my gosh alcohol+taco bell is one of my very greatest weaknesses. It's a recipe for disaster! I'm sorry you had to deal with that, self-control is a hard thing to muster in the drive-thru at taco bell.
Here's what I do (when I'm on track and doing well): I'm a food obsesser anyway, really i obsess about anything that I'm passionate about, and I have to be passionate about my diet in order to do well, which means thinking about what I'm going to eat and calcuating calories through-out the day. I think ahead to the situation, and I think worst case scenario, and I go to restaurant websites and read nutritional information. Sometimes I'll "binge" on the site, picking a huge meal of the most fattening stuff I could possibly want and tabulating the calorie amounts to show myself what kind of damage that lack of control can really do. Then I find one or two things that are relatively low-calorie, and I allow myself to have only those things. I go ahead and plan for it, realize that it won't do that much damage to my day, and then go about my business. More than 50% of the time, when it comes down to the decision of whether or not to go to the restaurant or indulge, I'll choose not to because I've already told myself I can. And if I make the choice to go ahead and get something, at least I'm armed with knowledge and it's easy to stick to a plan because, come on, how delicious are tacos? And each only has about 190 calories. That's a real treat, and I get the satisfaction of fulfilling that food craving (which i think is a satisfaction you should fight if you can, but sometimes we can't) without the sickness or the guilt, because It's still an on-plan day.
Now, I am and always have been a calorie counter, and I've never done medifast so I don't know the intricacies of that diet, but I've just found that a little bit of wiggle room and lienency with yourself makes sticking to a plan much easier. It's when i feed into the "you're a failure" mentality that I inevitably veer off course.
Good luck babe! I'm also struggling through college social life vs healthy living/eating, and there's a new obstacle every day. Stay strong, I'll be thinking about you!
This makes me wonder...am I trying to sabotage myself, or am I just such a pathetic person that I can't stay on plan?
I think you are normal. You wanted to enjoy the party, and part of that is social eating.
Where you got all wacky is with how you talk to yourself. Why are you being so mean to you? Calling yourself pathetic, a failure, etc.
It took me a while to learn my own strategies. Here are some:
Call it a maintaining day rather than a losing day.
Eat before going.
Workout before going.
Drink lots of water.
Look up the values online if it is to be at a restaurant.
Decide my one fun food -- drink OR dessert.
Don't hang by the food just to have something to do. Be ok not talking, and be ok not doing anything at a party. You don't have to be doing something every single second.
Beerab and Katy, I think you're right about eating before. I'm starting to learn that if I try to skip meals and substitute in cheat foods, I end up going overboard. Maybe if I ate normally and just added in the few hundred extra calories for whatever I was planning once in a while, it wouldn't feel like such a big deal and cause me go to all out of whack.
I definitely do this- I get my one meal a week where I eat out (usually on plan as much as possible) and even if the calories end up being like 1200-1500 instead of the 800-1000 recommended I still do well. I'm currently averaging just over 2 lbs a week and that's fine with me!
Beerab and Katy, I think you're right about eating before. I'm starting to learn that if I try to skip meals and substitute in cheat foods, I end up going overboard. Maybe if I ate normally and just added in the few hundred extra calories for whatever I was planning once in a while, it wouldn't feel like such a big deal and cause me go to all out of whack.
I think this is an excellent point. I can't budget calories for a splurge, because if I set myself up like that, waay too hungry when time for the splurge, I invariably overdo it. I don't splurge too often, but when I do, it's on TOP of my normal healthy meals.
Munchievictim (cute name ) and apostrophe, I don't know how I missed your responses before! I must have had a response window open and didn't refresh or something. I love your idea, munchie, about having a pretend binge. I think that might help me see what I could be about to do. And apostrophe, I hadn't thought about working out. I work out so infrequently that doing it before a potentially bad food situation might convince me not to waste the calories I burned.
Try it one week- have your one meal that is as on plan as possible but still a meal out- I think you'll find you feel good. I suggest doing it for dinner so you don't spoil a whole day by getting triggered to overeat the rest of the day if you feel that may happen. And that way after dinner it'll be easier to finish out the night and go to sleep I find that one meal helps me out during the rest of the week - I plan it for each Saturday.
Hi, I used to do Medifast and I know how tough it is to be on that plan. I hope you have the success you are looking for on Medifast. I lost some weight, but later decided it wasn't for me.
Two burritos isn't that bad! I know it's more than you're allowed on Medifast but it's not that bad! We all have slips, and I think its okay to indulge now and again.
Do you work with one of the weight loss coaches that comes free with Medifast? At least that was the deal when I did it, I got weight loss coaching sessions. Maybe they can help you with times when you want to cheat?
seabiscuit, I contacted a health coach through one of the women on the Medifast boards, but after a few days, about 10 grammatically disastrous e-mails and several demands to buy a book and order more meals (though I still had several weeks' worth) I decided to jump ship. I should give a different coach a try.
maybe being consistent with your exercise could really help you. i know that really helped me when i was having trouble with emotional eating. and like you said, after a great workout, we don't want to eat all those calories back. also, as you educate yourself about different calorie counts in foods, you'll often decide it's not worth wrecking your diet, and find ways to make that taste/craving into a healthy version.
remember, you're not failing. just keep trying, get back up. the most important part of dieting is getting back up. falling down is part of life, it happens. you can do this. you can do this. you can do this.
Oh my gosh alcohol+taco bell is one of my very greatest weaknesses. It's a recipe for disaster! I'm sorry you had to deal with that, self-control is a hard thing to muster in the drive-thru at taco bell. 
) and apostrophe, I don't know how I missed your responses before! I must have had a response window open and didn't refresh or something. I love your idea, munchie, about having a pretend binge. I think that might help me see what I could be about to do. And apostrophe, I hadn't thought about working out. I work out so infrequently that doing it before a potentially bad food situation might convince me not to waste the calories I burned.
ParadiseFalls-
