Drop the 'forever' mentality! Thats a plan killer!
I have to prepackage my meals and snacks (ALL) 3 or 4 days at a time. 2 isn;t enough to exert the effort in my opinion. So I cook, track, baggie, and package. Then (especially TOM) I track my foods into my fit day for a few days. If I have anything outside of planned meals, it will take two seconds to track it.
Set yourself up for success.... because you can do this!
I loved the comments here--my experience exactly. It does get monotonous at times, but as Eclipse said whenever I've stopped I've gained it all back, and as luckymommy said, when I stop tracking it is a red flag because it means that I am about to do something I regret.
So you all have said it so well, and I just need to say amen!
Maybe some people don't have to be so careful, but I am not one of those people. I do not have a lot of leeway in how much I can eat. If I start sneaking in just a little unaccounted for here and a little there, before you know it I'm off down a bad path and who knows when I'll come back. The last time I went down the path I came back 4 years and 40 pounds later.
I may give myself permission to give myself a day off when I have a special occasion, but I write down in my journal that I am deliberately giving myself a day off, and I never, ever take two days off in a row because I know how that goes.
o.k.,I feel like the bad one here.I'm not giving up on counting or complaining that it takes too much time,I just wondered if I was the only one who felt that way?Like I said before,it's only my long days (3am-10pm)that wear me down.I love this plan,I've lost about 12 pounds so far & I'm happy.
o.k.,I feel like the bad one here.I'm not giving up on counting or complaining that it takes too much time,I just wondered if I was the only one who felt that way?Like I said before,it's only my long days (3am-10pm)that wear me down.I love this plan,I've lost about 12 pounds so far & I'm happy.
You shouldn't feel bad at all. I bet you can ask anybody who is on any plan if there is something they get tired of in that plan and more and likely the answer will be yes! I hope instead of feeling like the bad one you get what you came on here for. the knowledge that nope you are not alone in being annoyed at count calories.
o.k.,I feel like the bad one here.I'm not giving up on counting or complaining that it takes too much time,I just wondered if I was the only one who felt that way?Like I said before,it's only my long days (3am-10pm)that wear me down.I love this plan,I've lost about 12 pounds so far & I'm happy.
Please don't feel bad. I should have added in my earlier comment that I have days that I just want to say heck with it all! It would be so nice to enjoy food, as much food as I want, and not have to worry all the time. We know where that gets us though.
Last edited by hometowngirl; 03-13-2010 at 03:00 AM.
If your plan is making you well and truly miserable, you need a new plan. It's important not to think of this as an either/or--"either I stay like this and am miserable or I go back to eating like I was and be fat." There are so many other choices. A lifetime plan takes some serious open-minded creativity because you have to come up with a whole new way to eat--it's like moving to a new town and having to come up with a new place to live, new places to shop, new places to send your bills. You are truly starting from scratch, and if you make your new choices too quickly, you won't like them and you won't like the new place.
Some questions: do you like--like really, really like-the foods you are eating? Do you look forward to them? If you hate what you are eating, you'll fixate on what you used to eat. Read recipe threads here and see all the different things people eat. Go out of your comfort zone. Most people only look at about 5% of the things in the grocery store as food that they would ever, ever buy, but everything there is eaten by people every day. Quit dismissing things out of habit. (this was hard for me).
What are you eating that is such a pain in the butt to log? I eat very, very simple things and weigh everything. If you click my fitday link (and I recommend clicking everyone's link--great way to find ideas), you'll see that virtually everything I eat is one ingredient: baked chicken, strawberries, carrots, tilapia--and it's recorded by weight. Weight is much easier and neater than volume. Get a kitchen scale (and learn what the z/t button does).
Third question--are you eating enough? Constant, grinding hunger is NOT a requirement and must be avoided. If you are hungry all the time, you need to change your plan, because it's only a matter of time before you give it up: the crankiness, the inability to concentrate, the tiredness of real hunger are not sustainable and would frustrate and depress anyone.
hometowngirl & DisgruntledOne,thanks,I was begining to think I was in the wrong place for support.
I really like this plan & I do plan my meals with stuff I do like.I'm eating veggies that I've never ate before & my coworkers think I'm silly cuz I keep tha Calorie King book in my purse & read it all the time to get familiar with all the different options for my calories.
Thanks again.
I use a nutritional software. I really like it and it takes just a few minutes to prepare it in the morning and then adjust it once at night if I changed something I ate during the day.
Do I ever feel like quitting the counting? No. I have toyed with the idea, but I haven't been able to give up the count or the record keeping that it provides. I count no matter what I eat, some days are more than others, but if I didn't count the bad and the good, I'd wouldn't be able to see why there are fluctuations.
beliter, don't feel bad. I'm sorry you didn't feel supported by what I and others said. I really do feel like chucking it all sometimes. I was just trying to give you some reasons not to chuck it all! You've lost, what, 13 lbs so far? That's awesome. What you're doing is working! Don't give it up!
Sometimes I feel like not writing it all down. But - if I am not keeping track, I do not do well in the long run. It doesn't take that much time, really. I do it in a journal that is with me - so it's easy to write it down and keep a running total. I figure if losing weight and eating healthfully is really important to me I should be able to make time for it.
If I had a health concern that required some time - I would need to do it. I think, for me, healthy eating is a health concern.
I also have a secondary food plan. When I go on vacation or out of town - I use food exchanges. That's easy and is a nice break once in a while.
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 03-14-2010 at 11:21 AM.
I am bad at estimating portion sizes if I don't weigh my food, so I think I am just going to have to do this forever.
(I find it easier to use a food scale than to constantly be using measuring cups).
