My biggest obstacle is eating at night. It's not really that I eat at night but what I eat at night.
I am turning that around slowly but surely.

I wish I could narrow it down to one or two problem areas. It seems I have numerous obstacles/challenges.
I eat emotionally...when I'm bored, tired, anxious, happy, excited, stressed.
I eat when DH and I fight (which is a LOT lately...whole other story and lots of eating associated with it).
I like to munch all day at work (hand-mouth thing).
I don't like cooking much, so I'm not good at pre-making food for the long term...I do it for a few weeks, then I'm tired of it.
I like a late evening snack, particularly in the bathtub with a good book...one of the few self-indulgent things I do for myself.
I don't like thinking about meals and meal preparation, end up waiting too long to eat, then grab anything/everything to satisfy hunger.

See...lots of great EXCUSES!.

I'm new here...thanks for sharing all your challenges. I don't feel so alone!

Moondance, hang in there. I know what you mean about being good about food preparation for awhile and then getting tired of it. My biggest problem is that I have kids and a husband in the house who insist on the fact that they should be able to keep fattening things around and I should just use will power to stay away from it. Prior to this marriage (I do love my husband by the way, LOL) I kept slim by not keeping trigger foods in the house - no chips, ice cream in the house whatsoever. I ate what I wanted for lunch and then usually wasn't real hungry for dinner. I'd cook my kids whatever, usually mac and cheese and hotdogs (not my favorite) so I wasn't all that tempted. If they wanted a treat real bad and had been good, I would take them to the convenience store, let them pick out a treat and then that would be it. No leftovers, no bags or boxes of things that would tempt me. Easy. My husband at least has gotten better and he will eat Weight Watchers treats for an after dinner snack now. He doesn't need to lose weight, but it does make it easier that they have tasty treats so he doesn't feel like he's sacraficing(sp?). I know I just need to get more active, that's at the heart of it!

Anybody have any "tricks" that help them stay motivated to exercise?

Nice to see this thread still alive
 

AspiringButterfly: I have a suggestion. My husband can eat anything so I have a cabinet with his junk food in it, chips, candy you name it and then I have a cabinet for my good for you low fat/calories stuff. I don't go into his cabinet except to load it. it really helped me.

As far as exercise, I look at it as a treat to get away from the house and take my walks, not as exercise. I love my walks where i can either listen to my music, talk to God, reflect on the day, whatever I feel like. It is my time. I usually walk for 30 to 45 minutes, either on the treadmill at the gym or after work in my neighborhood. My favorite is early morning on the weekends. I get up, slap on my head phones and out the door I go.

For me changing my perspective made walking fun and I don't think of it as exercise.

Hope that helps!

First of all, Susan all the best with your upcoming op.

My biggest challenge has always been potato chips. My solution is quite disgusting so don't read any further if you think it might offend you.:o

I used visualisation and it has worked! I envisioned a plate of potato chips covered with body hair and dandruff all over it. I really thought about it, so I felt quite ill. Now, I don't even look at potato chips because that thought comes straight into my mind. I'm thinking about doing the same thing for wine - another biggie for me.

It is good to see that other folks have challenges, and the ideas that are used to overcome them. I must say that the visualization technique for potato chips is rather graphic, and will use it if I ever have the need to do so. :)

I think my biggest challenge would be my cycle. I can usually figure it out as I want to eat an entire cake/tub of ice cream/pot of custard etc etc at that time. The last couple of months I have allowed myself to have sugar free cozy shack puddings. I figure eating chemical sugars once in a while is okay as it is not a regular thing.

Stress is bad for me too. Not because I overeat though, but because I can either forget to eat, else end up with the food going right through me which means I am constantly hungry and grazing. Most times though, I lose weight with stress..and not a good weight loss either.

I am also challenged any time I see sugar based cakes, squares, or goodies. It is real hard for me to resist them. As well, I work in a restaurant and have a hard time turning down saganaki, french fries, deep fried calamari, and mayonnaise. Those have to be my biggest weaknesses at work. I do better now though, restricting calamari to a couple of pieces, saganaki to a bite or to, and half a tablespoon of mayo mixed with ketchup with half a cup of ff every few days....keeps all my work cravings to a dull roar. Thankfully, I have no problems resisting baklava!

:)

Dolphinlvr, thanks so much for the encouragement! I started doing the treadmill and zone out with my ipod and find alot of times I can go longer than the time I alloted for myself just to finish one more song. I'm starting to enjoy it and it is nice to have an escape. I'm constantly surrounded by people, family, etc. and it's nice to have some "me" time which is something that has always been hard to come by.

I also like your suggestion about moving the junk food. My husband finally had a lightbulb moment last week and has had me start getting him healthy snacks to take in his lunch. This has helped me soooooooo much. I have also talked to him about not having to have a full blown dinner made every night. I hate cooking anyway and thought it wouldn't hurt him to make his own dinner once in awhile. So far he's okay with that. I think he's just finally willing to do whatever to help me lose weight. It benefits him too if I'm healthier and we both need to eat better. We're not spring chickens anymore, so it's easier to convince him to have heart healthy stuff around.

Again, thanks for the suggestions and encouragement, it's soooooo appreciated! :0)

Fighting the midnight snack urge...

AspiringButterfly
 

Carole:

Glad my suggestion helped you. See walking can be fun. You should join the 40's October chatter once in awhile. It's been really quiet lately and you can meet more people.

Hope to see ya there.

Karen