[MEH1969]

Everyone here gave good advice. I'm just starting, but I calorie count too.

My mom has successfully lost over 40lbs and kept it off. Some things she suggested:

1. Eat the same things or mostly the same combinations of foods for breakfast and lunch if you can. This helps in that you are prepared, you know how many calories they are. Then, you can have more leeway at dinner (or if you go out for lunch a lot, make your dinners mostly the same).
2. You MUST make fruits and vegetable a mainstay of your eating. Most people will not be successful by sticking to 100 calorie packs of bad food choices and 'frankenfoods'.
3. Eat clean. Don't eat highly processed food; they will have a lot of sugar and sodium.
4. If you eat at a fast food place, get a grilled chicken sandwich, have them hold the mayo. For example, my kids like McDonald's as a treat. Instead of having my old usual of a Big Mac and fries, I instead get the grilled chicken sandwich, hold the mayo. I also get a Fruit and Yogurt parfait. No fries. Or, the chicken sandwich and a small vanilla cone if I want to feel indulgent.
5. Don't keep trigger foods around.

[anawhatsme]

this is all great advice.
thanks everyone.
i posted a ne thread just a few mintues ago.
i am really struggling with getting into the swing of things.
what's wrong with me??!!

i was waiting for my ticker to post stats, but just to let you know, i was 290.6 to start and last time i weighed in, i was 283.2.

i had gotten to 273 with weight watchers but fell off, and am getting closer to 290 again.
GAH!

tomorrow is my weigh day and i just polished off 2 homemade donairs.
and a glass of pepsi.
i can't seem to break my junk addiction.
i quit smoking in february and have totally replaced it with junk food.
now i seem to have some form of junk food (often multiple forms) daily.
i'm almost scared to go without it.

help?

[Rainbowgirl]

MEH1969: I really like your mom's suggestion of eating similar meals. I type out my food logs for each day and I find it's really helpful for nights I'm too tired to bother thinking about what to eat the next day. I can just open one of the logs and eat that because I know I'll likely have the ingredients in the house and I know how many calories are in it.

By recording your daily intake like this (as in having a menu before the day begins) I find it keeps you on track better because you know exactly what's coming up next rather than going "I should eat a snack but what am I going to have?" and potentially reaching for a bad food choice in desperation. Also, when you get enough of the logs, it saves a lot of time from having to create a meal plan for the next day or figuring out the calories.

[carter]

Originally Posted by anawhatsme

this is all great advice.
thanks everyone.
i posted a ne thread just a few mintues ago.
i am really struggling with getting into the swing of things.
what's wrong with me??!!

Nothing is wrong with you; everyone here has had the same struggles. Food is really tasty and comforting, especially high-calorie, low-nutrition food. We all struggle to break the patterns that got us fat. If it were easy, there wouldn't need to be an internet board full of people who spend years trying to achieve it.

tomorrow is my weigh day and i just polished off 2 homemade donairs.
and a glass of pepsi.

Is there a way you can avoid having such things in your house? If other adults in the household want to keep treats around that are not part of your plan, can you ask that person to hide them from you, or set them aside in a cabinet or drawer of the refrigerator that you can tell yourself is "not yours" and "off-limits"?

Planning is key, knowing what your meals are going to be ahead of time and then sticking to it. If I made something like donairs for dinner, I would serve one to my partner and then serve myself the filling without the bread. I would make sure to have an enormous portion of vegetables on hand as well - my meals are about three-quarters vegetable, by volume. One thing I have learned about myself in this process is that I love eating giant piles of food, and so in order to succeed I have to make sure to have giant piles of food in front of me that won't bust my calorie budget.

If that means eating an entire half a head of roast cauliflower in one meal (with a few ounces of meat for protein) then that is what I do. It has worked for me so far.

i can't seem to break my junk addiction.
i quit smoking in february and have totally replaced it with junk food.
now i seem to have some form of junk food (often multiple forms) daily.
i'm almost scared to go without it.

If you are feeling scared, then try not to think of it all at once. Instead, think in terms of one choice at a time. Think, "not today" or even "not now." I find it's much more manageable to say to myself, "you know what, I think I'll pass on that birthday cake right now" than it is to see "I don't eat birthday cake anymore! I can never eat birthday cake again!" The latter tends to lead to "woe is me" thinking. The former makes me feel empowered, strong, and more importantly - doesn't end up with me stuffing cake into my fat pie-hole.

How did you manage to quit smoking? That's a super achievement. My guess is that you did it by not having cigarettes around, and by doing something else every time you found yourself wanting a cigarette. So do the same here: Don't keep junk food around. When you get a craving for junk food, get up and go for a walk, or clean the kitchen, or pack your healthy, on-plan lunch for the next day. Set yourself up for success by having lots of fruits and vegetables and yogurt and boiled eggs and other on-plan snacks around that you can turn to when you are truly hungry.

You can do this.

[anawhatsme]

thanks carter.
your message was very helpful!
i am going to do as you suggested and use the 'not today/not now' trick.

thanks again!