[Country Charm]

Why do I sabatoge myself?
I know that this WOE is a committment and maybe I am just not ready to commit. I have been overweight my whole entire adult life ~ I will do good on the South Beach for a couple of weeks ~ then something happens and sends me spiraling back downward ~ or should I say upward, on the scale that is. I will lose 5-10 lbs. fall off the wagon and then gain some or all of it back!!!! I came here for support and inspiration. I feel really good when I eat the SB way ~ but get bored. Heheheheeeeee I seem to be answering all of my own questions. I get stuck in the same foods and phase 1 becomes boring to me. Any suggestions to spice up phase 1?

Thanks everyone!

[Schatzi]

CC, First I send you hugs .. We all know how you feel , you're not alone... Most all us have made bad unhealthy choices or "sabotage" our good work.. The question of why we do it , well, each one of us has to find our own answer to. Once you find your why, develop a strategy to address it. For me just being very aware of what I am putting in my mouth and if it was nourishing to my body has helped me stay OP.And when I go off, I know why I am, and I know I will get right back OP.
Try turning some old thought processes around .. like being bored with the food.. I was bored with what I did with the food, so it was an opportunity for me to explore the Recipe boards to find new ways to make good food. There's so many things you can eat on Phase 1.. Rethink traditional breakfast items..why not have chicken or last nights leftovers Rethink celebrating your weight loss with non food rewards. Instead of cake .. treat yourself to a beauty bath with a cup of herbal tea.
It's all about Rethinking and Reinventing , love. It's a process.... You can continue on your present path... and get the same results you've been getting... or you can choose to do something else...

Only you know if you are ready to change your habits and life style and only you know if you are willing and able to do the hard work it takes to change life long destructive behavior. The only thing I know is that all of us KNOW your plight, and all of us are here to help you, support you and inspire you ... but we can't do it for you. You gotta do this for you.
When your ready, your beach towel will be here!

[3!girls!for!me!]

I have just started phase 2 and find myself not straying from phase 1 food choices!! Do you have the cookbook? I enjoy, as does my family, all of the recipes I have made from the book and from this forum. I have mainly just changed up my breakfast to incorporate a whole wheat english muffin or the whole wheat muffins with fruit. A friend of mine tried to change her eating to SB but she does not like to cook and found that she couldnt stick to it because she became bored with the "quick" foods. I dont really like to cook either but I have had such great results in the 2 1/2 weeks I have been doing this, (I am down 11 pounds ) that gives me the motivation to look for new things to try so I dont get bored. Do you like to cook? If not maybe thats part of the problem. Hope it works out for you!!!

[Sheba's Mom]

Hey Country Charm big hugs for you. I know how you feel. Sometimes life just gets you down or up and you turn to food. All my life food has been either a reward or for comfort. It is hard to change your way of thinking but it will slowly get there if you tackle one thing at a time.

I agree with Schatzi about changing what and when you eat. I really hate breakfast foods (with the exception of oatmeal) so I always make sure I either have left over dinner for my breakfast or I eat turkey slices, cucmbers and a cheese stick (TCC) for breakfast. I can eat TCC every day for breakfast for several weeks before I get tired of it and switch for a few days to dinner left overs. However, it has taken me a long time to find something that I really like for breakfast. My lunch is almost always leftovers from dinner the night before or I specifically make something I know I like on the weekends and freeze it so I have lunches to take with me. Dinner is where I experiment. I always make something new each night or something my hubby and I really like and don't mind eating again and again. I guess what it comes down to for me is that I keep a variety of things I like each day and also try something new each day to keep things changing so I don't get bored with what I am eating.

I also agree that we need to find a different reward other than food for ourselves. When I lost the first part of my weight I thought yippee let's go celebrate and immediately thought of food. Which at that time I didn't realize was a problem and we went out and ate anything and everything and then felt like crap. I have since started retraining myself in what a reward needs to be (hard work sometimes). I love to read and crochet so I reward myself now with a new book or a new crochet pattern or yarn shopping. When we are hopelessly broke I reward myself with extra reading time or crochet time or whatever it is that I really want to do at that time.

When I get down and want comfort food I have found that if I go exercise, just get off of my fluffy butt (thanks Ruth), and do something it usually helps get rid of the want of comfort food. When something is really bothering me I tell someone. It might be just writting it down on a piece of paper, coming here and venting to all you chicks or talking to a co-worker or my hubby. I have had to learn not to keep it in, that I need to "talk" about it or I end up comforting myself with food.

You also need to look at doing SB the rest of your life. I thought I wanted to do Atkins but realized that I really don't like meat that well and knew I couldn't do it. So maybe SB isn't what you need to do maybe it is something else if you are getting bored easily with what you are doing?

I have found that it takes a lot of thought and work to change the way you have eaten and thought for all of you life. Ultimately it is up to you but we are here to listen and let you know what works for us. Good luck!!