[ems70508]

Morning! Hope everyone is having a great morning. So last night I was binge watching Sons Of Anarchy on Netflix and realized all of them have amazing bods! So I pulled my free-weights out from underneath my bed and did strength training while watching. Felt awesome. Then I stuck my feet under my bookcase and did some crunches. PHEW. My arms are shaking this AM! It's a great feeling to wantto work out....Knowing that I'll be able to see results. I guess before I always thought...why lift weights?...you won't see it under my fat! I really am seeing a finish line...such a great feeling and I wish it for everyone here.

ecdcslim you're so so close, congrats!

[Steppy1974]

Thank you ecdcslim for the tea hint. I love teas! I'll check it out. Good luck with your WI.

Lighthouse and OOJoy- Thank you for the kind words. Night time is the worse when it comes to cravings. I'm not sure why. All day I do well but then again I'm at work with exactly what I packed for lunch so there is no alternatives, well with the exceptions of people bringing in doughnuts. Then I just grab my snack and walk around.

[shrinkingsusie]

Has anyone heard from Saskgirl lately? Haven't seen here around for a while.

[schenectady]

Originally Posted by Steppy1974

Happy Friday fellow IP'ers! I've been staying OP but it's been hard. I have been depressed and I've really have been wanting to eat foods that I THINK will make me feel better. Doesn't help that I ran out of yummy bars to help. I paced the kitchen and then decided to go to bed early. That cured it right away, I went right to sleep.
I'm SO glad that my order of goodies will be coming in on Saturday IF not tonight.

YAY Smooshie!! Keep it up!

Sorry to hear that you are facing this challenge. Within the past months until after the holidays, depression would come and settle in for bits. My typical response would be to spend some time with Ben & Jerry - I finally realized I have to give up their peanut butter chocolate forever because I cannot handle it.

Instead, I have tried to keep a mental inventory of ways to cope with being so down and it basically involves staying away from the kitchen as much as possible. Long bath, trip to the library to peruse the shelves, pedicure (not so needed since I can now see and access my toes), long drive, call a friend...they will be different for all of us.

It does help keeping this in my mind so that I can take action when I am down so that I can fall back into one of them. We will all face those moments and it will be the sign of my growth when I deal with them successfully. Every time I do that, I make progress.

[lisa32989]

Originally Posted by Ruth Ann

It's in post 16 of this thread Lisa.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...-ip-foods.html

Thanks Ruth Ann. I was looking for a website someone posted, rather than this database

Originally Posted by Steppy1974

Happy Friday fellow IP'ers! I've been staying OP but it's been hard. I have been depressed and I've really have been wanting to eat foods that I THINK will make me feel better. Doesn't help that I ran out of yummy bars to help. I paced the kitchen and then decided to go to bed early. That cured it right away, I went right to sleep.
I'm SO glad that my order of goodies will be coming in on Saturday IF not tonight.

At least you KNOW intellectually that the foods you want are substitutes for filling a hole inside you that food can't fill.
It is so hard to learn new ways of coping when we've removed our "drug of choice" (food).

schenectady gave you some good ideas of other things to do to fill the void. Perhaps you can think of more. I'm going to buy a full spectrum bulb for my desk lamp at work. I really felt better on vacation when I could be out in the SUN!

[ecdcslim]

Originally Posted by schenectady

Sorry to hear that you are facing this challenge. Within the past months until after the holidays, depression would come and settle in for bits. My typical response would be to spend some time with Ben & Jerry - I finally realized I have to give up their peanut butter chocolate forever because I cannot handle it.

Instead, I have tried to keep a mental inventory of ways to cope with being so down and it basically involves staying away from the kitchen as much as possible. Long bath, trip to the library to peruse the shelves, pedicure (not so needed since I can now see and access my toes), long drive, call a friend...they will be different for all of us.

It does help keeping this in my mind so that I can take action when I am down so that I can fall back into one of them. We will all face those moments and it will be the sign of my growth when I deal with them successfully. Every time I do that, I make progress.

WOW, this is great. I have a neighbor, a very vibrant older woman (78) and a widow and she's been so depressed lately. I'm going to quote this to her when DH and I take her out to dinner tonight. Thanks for this, it's a gift!

[ecdcslim]

EMS70508, thanks for the encouragement - and I'm going to move my hand weights into the TV room tonight when I get home!!

[SuzieV]

Originally Posted by schenectady

Sorry to hear that you are facing this challenge. Within the past months until after the holidays, depression would come and settle in for bits. My typical response would be to spend some time with Ben & Jerry - I finally realized I have to give up their peanut butter chocolate forever because I cannot handle it.

Instead, I have tried to keep a mental inventory of ways to cope with being so down and it basically involves staying away from the kitchen as much as possible. Long bath, trip to the library to peruse the shelves, pedicure (not so needed since I can now see and access my toes), long drive, call a friend...they will be different for all of us.

It does help keeping this in my mind so that I can take action when I am down so that I can fall back into one of them. We will all face those moments and it will be the sign of my growth when I deal with them successfully. Every time I do that, I make progress.

It is a rough time of year, especially with the sun is not helping out. A few other options are: taking a shower or just washing your face, taking a walk, sitting with a pet or watching funny cat videos on youtube...they definitely put a grin on your face. You just need to break the cycle before it spirals you downward. Now go smile at a stranger or give a friend a hug...they might need it too!

[djs06]

Originally Posted by Steppy1974

Happy Friday fellow IP'ers! I've been staying OP but it's been hard. I have been depressed and I've really have been wanting to eat foods that I THINK will make me feel better. Doesn't help that I ran out of yummy bars to help. I paced the kitchen and then decided to go to bed early. That cured it right away, I went right to sleep.
I'm SO glad that my order of goodies will be coming in on Saturday IF not tonight.

YAY Smooshie!! Keep it up!

I can so relate! It's definitely a circular thing. You feel [insert emotion here] so you eat, which you think will make you feel better, but actually it just 'feeds' the [emotion] when you're actually done eating and it isn't 'helping' anymore. I'm a total stress eater but it ends up making me MORE stressed to be stressed and THEN be stressed out about eating too much and gaining weight! Ugh, and we can make these connections and still find it tough to get out of the rut.

What helped me was calling a friend (or even emailing to vent!) instead or doing something that was good for me. Yoga has been a HUGE help for me, too. Find something you love that makes you feel good and makes you feel like you're treating yourself!

ETA: I wrote this before reading the responses! schenectady is right on!

[dak1lls]

Originally Posted by ecdcslim

Steppy - I just discovered this, my go to when I want something sweet and decadent - "Red Velvet Cuppa Chocolate Tea Bags -ave your cake and sip it too! Indulge your sweet tooth with this healthy, caffeine-free infusion. Rooibos is blended with chocolate and beet root bits to taste just like the classic red velvet cake. The perfect cup to accompany birthdays and other celebrations." I'm totally addicted, it's warn and filling and delicious and it's a free drink!!! You can buy it at World Market or order it online from The Republic of Teas!

I really hope the scales show that I've reached goal tomorrow. I had 1.8 to lose and my scales say this morning, butt naked, that I'm .4 lbs away so feeling very nervous. I just booked a ski trip with my best friend for the 5th of March and I wanted to be through Phase 4 by then. I will need to up my workouts and add cardio to be fit - and I was counting on being able to do that with the carbs you're allowed in Phase 4. I guess I could just move to Phase 2 anyway but I really want to hit my goal. Wish me luck!

That tea sounds wonderful. I hope I can find it where I live. My one big weakness has always been cake!

You are so close to goal! Congrats to you.

[dak1lls]

Originally Posted by Steppy1974

Thank you ecdcslim for the tea hint. I love teas! I'll check it out. Good luck with your WI.

Lighthouse and OOJoy- Thank you for the kind words. Night time is the worse when it comes to cravings. I'm not sure why. All day I do well but then again I'm at work with exactly what I packed for lunch so there is no alternatives, well with the exceptions of people bringing in doughnuts. Then I just grab my snack and walk around.

Night time has always been hard for me as well. I know many people eat their snack sometime during the day, but I always saved mine for after dinner. I preferred something sweet and treated it as my dessert. Everyone is different, but it was a way for me to feel less deprived by having a treat at night. I would wait until 7:45 to have it. I always considered it a challenge to wait until exactly that time. lol.

I have been on maintenance since October, but after many indulgences during Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have decided to do P1 for a few weeks and then phase off again. I realized I was having so many cravings, due to the amount of refined carbs I had indulged in, and just generally feeling icky from eating bad stuff. I feel so much better again! I am back to my 7:45 treat and I really understand the night time thing.

[skinnybride2be]

So I was feeling "creative" today (I almost never cook) and was like "hey, I have this radish, i'm going to make radish chips." they came out... so bad.... i should have taken a picture. I had two cups of veggie on the pan, all seasoned and ready to go. One, they didn't really get crispy at all, they were still soft and squishy kind of, so I left them in longer to take out the moisture and make them crunchy, they burned. I had about a handful of editable radish left, but even that was bleh at best.

[64peppergirl]

I took my daughter out for her birthday lunch yesterday at P.F. Changs and we had the nicest waiter. I told him I was on a special diet and could only have certain veggies, no meat or fat. He just compiled a list of the veggies and they then steamed a combination of asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms & zucchini - and served it on mixed greens. Delicious! Needless to say the waiter received a huge tip!!

[IdealProteinNewbie]

Originally Posted by 64peppergirl

I took my daughter out for her birthday lunch yesterday at P.F. Changs and we had the nicest waiter. I told him I was on a special diet and could only have certain veggies, no meat or fat. He just compiled a list of the veggies and they then steamed a combination of asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms & zucchini - and served it on mixed greens. Delicious! Needless to say the waiter received a huge tip!!

Love when waiters are helpful! Way to go!

[willsea]

For those of you with major cravings day or night what has helped me into maintenance is Brushing my teeth. Clean teeth have saved me from many things over the past year. I even carry a toothbrush in my purse b/c I can bush my teeth in a restroom after an evening out with friends when everyone else is having dessert.

Tea's are great and something my coach suggested if I craved salts or sweets; as there is a tea to satisfy every craving. PLEASE BE CAREFUL not all teas and coffee's for that matter are 0/0/0, Read before buying.