[jean3]

hi i am new here and for the longest time i have been wanting to take off the weight but all the temptations that come with being a stay at home mom get me every time. so what i need is will power to say no. i think that this site is really going to help. can't wait to see the numbers going down.

[pamatga]

I work from home full time. We also have only one car which my DH(husband) uses to go to work. I am here in this apartment almost 24/7. I get out about 8 hours on the weekends. That is divided among getting groceries, going to church and eating out once a week. As you can see, I have still managed to lose weight. I do not believe it has been because I have extraordinary willpower.

However, I have benefited from having specific "tools" in place in my life:

1)I try to post and read on this website at least once a week. More if I can.

2) I make sure that I have all of the foods and only those foods that I need to follow my food plan. My food plan is such that I prepare the same foods for my husband as I eat. He just eats more of certain foods than I do.

3) I plan exercise or physical activity around my job and my life but it is a part of my life.

4) I ask for emotional support from my husband, who gives it gladly. I share my life on here in a direct, open and honest way. That is who I am. Fat or thin. That is probably who I will always be.

5) I pray to God for divine help. When I lose, I thank everyone who was a part of that weight lose including the people here, God, my husband and yes sometimes the stranger I have just met.

You can do this. Being a stay at home mom has challenges but I remember having candy dishes on every desk at work with "Help yourself" Post its stuck to the dish, holiday pot lucks, office birthday parties or just plain Donut Day, etc. Everyone has some kind of challenge they have to deal with. Just remember that.

Good luck and Jean3

[Glory87]

The whole concept of willpower is a funny thing, I used to wonder why I didn't have any. I felt like a loser, an out of control eater. What helped me was understanding the biological imperatives behind why we are attracted to eating foods which seem "bad." My body craves foods which provide quick energy (white carby stuff) and long term fat storage (baked goods). This makes perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint when there wasn't a huge supermarket 5 minutes away. When there was food in front of our hungry ancestor - she ate the entire thing and stored away the extra for later.

When I look at my body like THAT I marvel at it's amazing ability to take care of me. Of course, my body hasn't clued in that I live in the US in the year 2008 and I really don't NEED it to take care of me like that anymore - I have access to plenty of food (I do realize that there are many people in the world that are not that lucky today).

So understanding that my body isn't out to GET ME but wants to HELP ME gave me some tactics for working with my body not against it. In the past, when I dieted, I used to really cut calories in hopes of losing lots of weight quickly. My body interpreted that as an attack - a famine, a sign that something was WRONG WRONG WRONG and would "help me" by making me binge helplessly (well, it felt helpless). When I changed my life in 2004, I stopped the super restrictive dieting and gave myself permission to eat enough healthy, super nutritious calories to satisfy my body - and the weird binges completely stopped.

I also realized that certain foods are just triggers for me - the white carbs, the fatty foods, baked goods. My body interprets these foods as awesome food storage possibilities - a single bite makes me want to stuff my face. To work with my body, I limit those foods and try never to keep them in the house. When I don't eat them, I don't crave them and I feel successful and not out of control. I can't have pretzels, crackers, candy, cookies or most cold cereals in the house. When I start eating them, they are VERY hard to stop. Does that mean I have no will power? Well maybe. Or does it just mean that 100,000 years of genetic imperative is stronger than me? Maybe - and from my ancestor's perspective, that is a GOOD thing.

I am here today because of all my body's tips and tricks that I hate. My ancestors needed those skills to survive famines and bad harvests and long boat rides to a new world.

I rarely use the word "will power" to refer to my relationship with food, because even after 3 years, I occasionally eat offplan. I get tempted by free cheese and crackers at work or a dinner party with scrumptious roasted garlic butter and sourdough bread. I realize that life is full of unexpected treats and temptations and in our society food is companionship, celebration, comfort and even love. I will eat offplan but I will forgive myself, maybe learn from it and always get back on plan at the next eating opportunity.

Good luck!!

[Lizzard]

Originally Posted by Glory87

I also realized that certain foods are just triggers for me - the white carbs, the fatty foods, baked goods. My body interprets these foods as awesome food storage possibilities -

Oh man, "awesome food storage possibilities," that cracked me up....Glory87, that post of yours was just one nugget of wisdom after another -- it really solidified in my mind a lot of what I've learned and have been thinking about the past year. Super helpful, thanks!