To me, this is where people always falter--because it takes planning to always have things on hand-you have to notice when you run out and replace them right away--if you put it off just "one more day", you end up with no healthy alternatives and make poor choices. It's not the exact same type of planning as "On Tuesday, I will eat . . .", but it's planning all the same.

Yeah, I never, ever let it get to the critical state. Never. Never. I'm too afraid to be without my *equipment*. I wouldn't go to a tennis match with out my tennis shoes and racket. I couldn't adhere to a healthy lifestyle with out the right tools on hand.

If I'm out late and return home close to supper time and therefore don't have time to chop and dice, that's when I'll turn to frozen string beans to roast instead of fresh. That's when I'll turn to that container of soup I froze two weeks ago. And so on.

When I do my produce shopping, and yes, it's several times a week, it's not always knowing exactly what I'll be eating Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But when I'm buying cauliflower, broccoli and string beans - I know that I will eat one of them Monday, another Tuesday and so on.

For me, failing to plan IS planning to fail. I could not do it any other way. It also brings me peace. I've thought about it ahead of time - it's off my head, not like, "oh gosh - now what?" I would be too easy for me to order up pizza (and garlic knots :)).

As I alluded to above, it's also important not to reward yourself for not planning. As I worked through how to do this (which was/is a long process!) I realized I had a lot of "rules" that didn't make sense--like if I came in from a 12 hour workday and realized I didn't have anything to eat, one of the "rules" was that I didn't have to go back out and get something healthy. It was almost like I couldn't go out and get anything--the rule is, once you are home for the night, you don't go back out.

So if I came home and realized I had nothing healthy to eat, it was ok to eat whatever I could get my hands on (or order delivery). It's like I was incapable of realizing I could just go back to the store (much like the OP never realized she could not eat and still feed her daughter--same sort of "duh"). But what that meant was that not planning meant I got to eat tasty food! Which is encouraging my subconscious to make sure I don't plan next time, either.

It sounds so stupid, but it took 15 years to realize I could PUT MY PANTS BACK ON and go back out to buy something healthy. That, I think, is the willingness you talk about.

For me it's pretty difficult to plan ahead. We travel internationally and domestically a lot so many times I just don't know what options will be available to me (for instance, if we're at a conference, I really can't predict what food options there will be). Basically, I have set rules that I go by. Absolutely no sugar for one and I pretty much eat only whole wheat products. Really, sugar is my biggest weakness. With the exception of pizza hut aside, I rarely eat fast food (don't like McDonald's, rarely crave french fries etc. ). At home I cook almost everything from scratch even bread, pizza dough, sauces etc. I also exercise a lot (4-5x a week, sometimes 6 either running or doing an exercise video with weights). Plus, we don't have a car so I walk every where either chasing a toddler or carrying her. She's also still nursing often so I get calorie loss from that (not sure how much).

Going to target is pretty rare for us (actually it was the first time I've ever been there, hence, not knowing what was available). The plan was to go in the morning but I just couldn't get DD out the door. Where we live there are no fast food restaurants that we go to (the target is across town). There's a pizzeria, a sushi shop, and a sandwich shop that we do go to sometimes (normally just the Japanese restaurant and that's just because DH hates when I cook fish at home because it stinks up the apartment, so we go there to eat fish) but at the 3 places I always order the same thing and know the healthy meal to get. Pretty much, we never do errands around lunch time or, since we don't have a car, it's something close by so we eat mostly at home.

I also try to eat foods that will make me full. I'd rather eat a smaller amount of full fat yogurt instead of a larger amount of low fat yogurt. So I do eat stuff like butter, etc. A big part of my weight loss is eating foods that fill me up quickly (vs. sugar, which was making me feel hungry all the time).

My Mom took me shopping one day and I planned to eat a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch at wendy's. We got there and they were out...ack!!! There was nothing on the menu I had planned for. So I got a water and she ate. When we left we went to sam's club and I bought some grapes for me for lunch. LOL not a great lunch but better than blowing my calories for the day.

That took will power! LOL! Gosh, what would I have done? Fortunately where I live there's always a second option, another place to order from.