Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 02-13-2009, 09:43 AM   #31  
Senior Member
 
Thighs Be Gone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,629

S/C/G: HW/232 SW 215/ CW 133/GW 120's

Height: 5.7 and 1/2

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JayEll View Post
Hey!

Every time you say no, you are helping to break yourself away from these harmful food habits. Eventually, you will no longer feel those cravings. Really! You couldn't pay me to eat McD's now.

Jay


GREAT NEWS! This is so right. It gets easier. Really it does. Anyone thats been down this path a ways will tell you that.
Thighs Be Gone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 09:45 AM   #32  
Hi From Canada, eh?
 
Trazey34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Canada, eh?
Posts: 2,370

S/C/G: check the ticker :)

Height: 5'8

Default

Just because I eat something bad or choose not to workout one day, doesn't mean I have faltered on my commitment. Only for that ONE DECISION, I made less than an optimal choice. In the end if my good decisions outweigh my less than optimal ones, I will still be heading in the right direction.

that's awesome! i'm getting that tattooed on me!!!
Trazey34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 10:30 AM   #33  
Working my way back
 
corazonas's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Tx
Posts: 729

S/C/G: 185/150

Height: 5'5

Default

it just takes time... sucks but it does. i used to eat a LOT of fast food. so i would start letting myself go less and less. then ordering no fries and a salad, or chicken sandwich and fries... i kept taking baby steps until it got to the point that i don't even really want to go there anymore- i make better food at home!
corazonas is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 10:37 AM   #34  
Senior Member
 
Windchime's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 2,088

Height: 5'11"

Default

Good thread! Like Rock Chalk Chick, my tactic is usually to say, "Not today, maybe next time." If I really feel strongly that I need a treat, I buy myself a one-serving size like one York peppermint patty instead of a whole bag of chocolate covered peanuts. Substitution foods have been a lifesaver for me. I eat a Skinny Cow ice cream nearly every night instead of a huge bowl (or two!) of regular ice cream. Or I'll have a 100/cal bag of light popcorn instead of a huge bowl of homemade popcorn popped in oil with 2 Tbl butter--I used to have that 2 or 3 times a week!

I try not to take an all-or-nothing approach. I know that won't work for some people but it helps me to not feel deprived. I try to eat well all week, but on Friday's a coworker and I like to hit the taco stand so we'll do that today. I'll have 1 taco instead of my usual 2, and fill in with other healthy stuff. This way, I still get to enjoy lunch with my coworker which is important to me.

I love this place. I learn so much from you all.
Windchime is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 10:43 AM   #35  
One pound at a time...
 
ChocLabLover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,216

Default

I have been reading through everything that has been posted and have been thinking about what to post.

Once thing that is very clear, at least to me, is that weight loss is such a personal journey, and there is no such thing as one size fits all (already mentioned I believe).

Whether you use the word commitment or motivation, in my mind (JMHO) it is just semantics anyway. I think what it really boils down to (and I know this has been said many many times) you need to find what works for you, which essentially boils down for me what are the trade offs that I can live with?

For me (and like others) it is a "NO" approach. I wrote it like that for a specific reason. That is me telling myself NO very loudly to the temptations that I get on a daily basis. For many years I have tried the other approach, that moderation is the key. It definately works for some. Me, not so much. I have come to realize that I am sort of an all or nothing kind of gal. I now realize that I simply can not have that kind of food in my house or where I am easily tempted. I have tried all the other strategies-drink more water, shop when you are full, eat before you go. It just does not work for ME. I have finally reconciled myself to the fact that I need to completely change my mindset if I was going to succeed once and for all.

Once I had that in my mind and faced and accepted it, I found losing the weight this time much easier, especially when I had a goal to work towards. I will never be able to eat like I used to, and let's face it, that is what got me to 268 lbs (and above) before. So you can call it commitment or motivation, lifestyle change, I am not sure. For me (as corny as this sounds ) it was a vision of a new life. How I really wanted to be.

I am starting to love myself again (wince, very corny). I am not avoiding mirrors, I am in love with my body, which is a first for me. I can get a much bigger rush now shopping for clothes and looking in the mirror and not avoiding the camera then I EVER did with food. Maybe I have replaced one addicition with another (possible) but this is an addiction I can live with.

Very thought provoking thread, indeed.
ChocLabLover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 12:16 PM   #36  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Gretchy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 193

S/C/G: 240/230.6/216

Height: 5'4"

Default

Thankyou everyone! You've all provided me with a lot of great ideas to try and things to think about!

One things for sure: I am NOT letting my little trip to McDonalds yesterday stop me from doing this.
Gretchy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 12:25 PM   #37  
poco a poco
 
Nada's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 495

S/C/G: 246/166.5/158

Height: 5'5"

Default

Sometimes I feel like I must be one of the lucky ones--I'm not an all-or-nothing dieter. I actually don't feel like a dieter at all. I just made a series of small changes until I had almost totally revamped my eating habits. I don't do deprivation well and I don't do perfection well, so I've learned not to try to impose either on myself.
Nada is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 01:13 PM   #38  
Tammy73
 
Tammy73's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Milton Ontario Canada
Posts: 172

S/C/G: 254/215/145

Height: 5'6"

Default

What a fantastic thread. I have to say THANK YOU to all you ladies.
I was totally craving sugar (I'm a HUGE candy addict) and I was thinking about going over to the variety store next door to grab a couple of candies.
Anyway, I started reading the tread and thinking about everything that was being talked about and I got so involved in the thread (read it from beginning to end) that my candy craving has passed. YAY!
This site is so amazing, it never ceases to give me exactly what I need when I need it. Thanks again!
Tammy73 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 01:28 PM   #39  
Senior Member
 
kaplods's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Wausau, WI
Posts: 13,383

S/C/G: SW:394/310/180

Height: 5'6"

Default

My problem with the word commitment and it's role in successful weight loss is not in saying that commitment is a requirement for weight loss, but saying that it is sufficient, in itself for weight loss, especially when it is used in the sense of saying the reason a person is not having success is because they lack commitment. I was on the dieting rollercoaster for 36 years, and and I didn't lack commitment during that time. I lacked the appropriate knowledge, and not for lack of trying, because I was, for most of those years (even in gradeschool) a student of weight loss theory. I read everything I could find, and over those years have read hundreds and hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of books and articles on the subject. I've been a virtual graduate student of health, nutrition, and weight loss for decades.

Part of the reason I think I went 'round and 'round with weight loss is that I bought into the stereotypical view of commitment. Trite phrases like "any diet will work if you work it," and so I kept trying the same ol' stragegies. I didn't think outside the box of traditional dieting methods because I thought all I lacked was the willpower or commitment or motivation or whatever. I kept thinking I just had to try HARDER, and all I ended up with was a bruised ego and a lower metabolism. I was Don Qixote, fighting windmills and the windmills always won.

I never thought (for many years) to go against doctors recommendations, or common wisdom or even state of the art weight loss theory. Everything I thought that I knew about low carb dieting was that it was bad and unhealthy. My own experience with it was horrible, because most low carb "diets" start with some sort of induction or beginning phase that limits carbs so drastically that a person with a tendency towards hypoglycemia and/or insulin resistance can feel extremely ill, which was my experience, proving to me that low carb diets were bad.

Finally finding my own successful path had more to do with luck than with any effort or smarts on my part. All the knowledge I'd accumulated so far, played it's part also. Even my years in "fat acceptance" gave me the confidence to step outside the box of conventional weight loss wisdom (and cultural "rules" such as a fat woman never gets on a bicycle or goes swimming because it's too shameful).

It took so many things to get me where I am today, that I don't want commitment getting any more than it's fair share of the credit that is due. Yes, it was a key player, but there were many other factors that also were just as important. And I think giving commitment or motivation (or any one factor, for that matter) too much credit, is that it can make some folks completely stumped as to why they are failing (or worse - why they think they are failing, when they may actually be making fine progress, but their expectations are such based on what they think they know about how weight loss is supposed to be done. How many times do we see people quit because they aren't losing quickly enough, not realizing that their progress is entirely normal - or at least normal for them). They may wrongly assume that they don't have the required commitment or motivation, when it might be that another key factor is missing.

It's like when I read people upset about the genetic research into fat giving folks an "excuse" for being fat. It hasn't at all done that for me, it gave me a little window of insight into why I may have had so much trouble from early childhood when no one else in my family (or anyone I knew) had the trouble with food and severe obesity that I did (I'm adopted, so there's no guarantee that I inherited "fat genes," but it certainly is in the realm of possibility).

I believe that the factors that affect weight loss are many, and their role for each individual very different. It truly is like a puzzle - or truly more like a mystery or a crazy quilt than a typical puzzle. Because most puzzles (if you think visually) have similar sized pieces, but in fact each piece in the weight loss puzzle may be a different importance for each individual. Every person's puzzle has a commitment piece, but how big that piece is for each person will vary. Trigger foods and avoiding them might be a puzzle piece that isn't even a part of some folks puzzles or may be of varying sizes from person to person.

Putting together your own puzzle requires picking the right pieces and learning their size and importance to solving the puzzle. I think that for too many years, I focused on the commitment and motivation pieces (because I was told over and over again that they were the most important and largest pieces). In fact, so much that I never saw or sought the other pieces. Those pieces accidentally fell into my lap, and I know I wouldn't have found the solution to my puzzle if they hadn't.

Last edited by kaplods; 02-13-2009 at 02:19 PM.
kaplods is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 02:07 PM   #40  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Quote:
I look at this as more of a DECISION than a commitment
Oh yeah. For me, I absolutely made the decision to lose the weight.

Upon waking up from the apparent fog I had been iin for over 20 years I just realized (finally) that I didn't HAVE TO BE FAT, IF I DIDN'T WANT to be. And then I made the decision to lose the weight.

And when I "decided" that I was going to lose the weight, THAT"S when I made the commitment. To do and seek and search and find what works. And to not stop until I did. And I believe this is very important as well -I needed to MAKE it work. So like Jay said, I too realized (finally) that just because I wanted something didn't mean that I had to have it. That was BIG for me. BIG.

So for me it was the decision 1st and the commitment shortly thereafter.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 02:22 PM   #41  
Senior Member
 
H8cake's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 724

S/C/G: 265/132/150

Height: 5'5"

Default

I do believe that everyone is different. I'm one of those that has to stay away from certain things. I can't have a little, it just leads to more. When I first started losing I read Zelma's goal story and she said she would tell herself "It's not an option Zelma". So many times I would tell myself this, I don't want to stay on this treadmill for 30 minutes - It's not an option to get off! I want sweets!!!- It's not an option to eat that! It does get easier the more I flex that discipline muscle. I was sick yesterday morning and didn't get on the treadmill. Last night at 10:45 when I had finally finished everything I had to do for the day I got on the treadmill and stayed on for 45 minutes. It wasn't that hard to make myself do it since I do it 5 days a week and have for over a year.
I thought maybe it had been long enough that I could eat small amounts of sweets, but I was wrong. I have to get tough with myself again, no more cream cheese icing at work! It's much easier to have treats when they are in portions that are controlled, like in a restaurant or a skinny cow ice cream. If I start on the sweets at work there's no looking back. Some situations are harder to control than others so I have to set rules for myself.
H8cake is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 02:25 PM   #42  
returning to myself
 
iminhere's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 413

Height: 5'6"

Default

something that caught my attention is when people decide to go off plan for some favorite food, they will say "I decided to splurge" , or "I decided to treat myself"

we seem to have no problem calling THAT a decision.....

well...I have DECIDED to SPLURGE on skinny clothes someday soon.....and I have DECIDED to TREAT MYSELF to a trim healthy body.

that's no judgement on anyone...it's just my plan for success and my commitment to that plan.

and it IS a commitment...I will tell you all, here and now, what my commitment is.

that every morning I when I wake up I will recommit to a successful weight loss day.

that every day I will eat according to plan and exercise.

that I will not find excuses to eat off plan.

that I will NOT beat myself up through this difficult journey...I will be my own best friend.

and that if I DO falter (and I won't) I will be kind but firm with myself and get immediately back on plan...not tomorrow, but immediately.

I will do everything I can to make this journey as easy and enjoyable as I can.

Last edited by iminhere; 02-13-2009 at 02:32 PM.
iminhere is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 09:26 PM   #43  
career counselor a-gogo
 
rodeogirl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Washington, USA
Posts: 1,037

S/C/G: HW:~330 325/ticker/145

Height: 5'7

Default

The thing that works best for me is to have zero foods on the "bad" foods list and just stick to my calories.

If I have a bad food list I spend way to much energy remembering what foods are on it and arguing with myself if something "counts"

Counting calories is way simpler for me and makes the decision a non-issue.
rodeogirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 09:49 PM   #44  
Senior Member
 
Buttercup's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Washington DC metro
Posts: 291

S/C/G: 275/245/140

Height: 63inches

Default

Oh man, I can so totally relate. I LOVE this thread too because it has so much wonderful advice and food for thought. I "wanted" to lose weight forever and then would feel bad after I ate something bad. (usually in secret) My favorite thing to do was to pick up a colassol creme filled donut, a piece of cheesecake, or even chocolate cake while grocery shopping and then sit in the parking lot to eat it. I felt powerless and would have alot of remorse as I threw away the evidence. But...now I can walk right on by! What a power trip it gives me!!! I still crave it but I LOVE the feeling of being able to say "NO!!!!" Don't beat yourself up over a slip up. I have learned to start over and not do it again. Each day is a new and wonderful beginning!!!
Buttercup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2009, 11:28 PM   #45  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Gretchy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 193

S/C/G: 240/230.6/216

Height: 5'4"

Default

"It's not an option." I like that. I say that phrase so so many times a day at work. "I know you want to climb the shelf, but it's not an option." "I know you want to get up and play but you don't have that choice, it's nap time."

If I expect toddlers to understand 'that's not a choice right now' then why should I expect any less of myself, a full grown adult?
Gretchy is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:47 PM.


We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.