[Meg]

Pookie, I think the world would be better off if it lived by your slogan: No Buffets, No Way! (picture a round sign with BUFFET in the middle and a slash through it)

This thread is “must” reading -- there’s an amazing amount of insight and honesty here. My reaction when I read through it was – wow, it would be impossible to lose and keep off weight without knowing what your own triggers are! It’s key to the whole process – otherwise, we’d be bumbling around in the dark, constantly falling into one trap after another.

Once again, so much of weight loss/maintenance happens in our heads, not our bodies. I get incredibly frustrated with so-called “experts” who think that all we need is “education” about dieting and nutrition -- and then we’ll have an ah-ha moment that carrots have fewer calories than cheesecake and effortlessly spend the rest of our lives as slim people. I don't think so!

Hmmm ... my biggies have already been covered -- I think that Mel and I are twins separated by the state of Pennsylvania since I can identify with every one that she wrote. My worst ones are too hungry and too tired. Then the will power part of my brain shuts down and some kind of cave man instinct of “eat much food now” kicks in.

The only one I don’t think was mentioned is the alcohol trigger. When I drink, I lose all self-restraint with food and will eat everything in sight. Fortunately, I rarely drink and when I do it’s away from home, but I’ve put away several gargantuan restaurant meals after two Cosmopolitans. Solution? Either not drinking at all when I go out (which is what I usually do) OR acknowledging in advance that it’s a free dinner and I’m going to have several glasses of wine and dessert.

[BerkshireGrl]

I see a lot of my old time favorites have been played here

For me, my big triggers:

1) Sitting in front of the TV after a stressful day at work. Most every day at work is stressful because I have a job that has a constant deadline, heh! What I have done for the past 3 years was come home, and eat a huge dinner to "relax".

Solution: Now that I am learning to re-align myself to JUST watch TV, and eat in the dining room before, it's getting easier. It's exactly like the Pavlovian dog, yes! Gotta train my mind to have TV = Entertainment, not Gluttony.

Also getting new activities BESIDES zombie-fying in front of the TV! Like reading, writing, checking out 3FC, having a good workout at the gym.

2) Drinking (as Meg mentioned.) If I drink a drink, I'll have another. Then my dieting mindset is gone. I just don't care anymore about calories or health. It's all about feeling good and indulging.

Solution: Drinking 1 drink - or none - when out at a party/dinner, no more after that. None kept at home.

3) Being out with friends at dinner, and watching them plan to and then eat whatever. ESPECIALLY if I'm really hungry and perusing the menu, and hearing them talk about the 2,000 calorie appetizer, and fried cheeseburger and mountain of fries! Get thee behind me!

Solution: Either make sure I'm not faint with hunger before I get there by emergency healthy snacking, or just trying to think of keeping 29" thighs (or keeping "belly fat rolls" in my mind like a mantra.)

Another thing I'm learning is that it does not take 3,000 calories at dinner to make me full! Just because I'm hungry, a normal feeling, doesn't mean I need a heaping plate of food. Soup, salad, half a sandwich, it all works the same way.

4) Dieting burn-out. Luckily I have had this bite me only once since restarting on Oct 16th (with a big pizza and more on the 22nd, which happily, was not a thrilling an experience as before. Kinda gross really.)

I can get really bored with recording every bit of food and drink, and planning exactly what I'm going to eat when... and I miss my old "comfort" foods.

Solution: Suck it up. Mindless eating got me to 216. To get thin, I must do this, and come to see it as healthy and good self-work. I did it hardcore for several years before and know that it helps me. I'm also trying to psyche myself into seeing it as a Battle Plan to win... picturing myself as Joan of Arc, plunging forward on a horse, holding a sword up, me against the fat!

[Sweater Girl]

Other triggers for me?

The "I am doing so well trigger". You know, the I know I am losing, everything is looser, I have more energy etc so this meal/snack/whatever won't matter. I slipped a little yesterday, not badly. At least I am not binging after a meal out.

Skipping WIs. I did that yesterday, more due to being kind of not feeling well and I just didn't feel like going, plus I knew I was retaining due to TOM. Skipping WIs kind of is a trigger for me.

I also get Mel's life sucks one (or the life's not fair one, they are similar). I was so stressed at the beginning of the month due to some problems my parents were having, a dash of low self-esteem (which is dumb, I am smart, pretty and working darn hard on my athleticism, but I digress), losing a chunk of change from a work stoppage (that should be over for now)... I find it so easy to turn to food too. I wasn't too bad, but I did self-medicate at DQ a couple of times. At least there is no ice cream at my house.

And then there's teh "I just want to be able to eat whatever I want, so f#@$ healthy eating". Okay, this one only happens when I am sick and could care less. It's only happened once in the past 4 years and I was having a bad cold at the time.

Cheers!

Ali

[Meg]

The "doing so well" trigger reminds me of kind of an opposite one -- the "not seeing the scale move" trigger. When you're doing everything 100% right but you don't get the pay-off of getting on the scale and seeing that it's down. So I find myself with the "screw it" mind-set, which goes something like: apparently my diet don't work no matter how good I am, therefore I might as well enjoy myself and eat what I want. Stupid, I know, but it's a compelling little voice at the time.

For some reason, if I get on the scale and it's UP, I do worse and if it's DOWN, it's easier for me to stick with my eating plan. Figure that one out.

[teapotdynamo]

Meg, I'm exactly the same way. It doesn't really make sense, does it? I get more results when I'm getting results... that's why I have to really watch it durning plateaus (got a little one going right now after two weeks of 3-4 pound losses). I've constantly got to remind myself to PUSH THROUGH IT until I start getting results again, rather than the "%$@! it -- Nothing works" attitude.

This is such a great thread, for both maintainers and people who are still losing!

[bluedaisy91]

Mine 2 big ones are the kids screaming and boredom. I'm a stay at home mom and my husband works all day and it gets a little lonely not having anyone to talk to. Not that the kids don't keep me busy, just miss adult company.
Maggs

[vmelo]

Mel, I guess I hadn’t identified all my triggers because yours sure sounded familiar to me! I can particularly relate to the “I’m doing so well trigger.”

Almostheaven, I used to love buffets until I saw this special on television about how all kinds of nasty bacteria can easily end up on buffet tables. !!WARNING – Gross example coming up!! Then, I thought about all the nasty things that could occur at the buffet: a little kid could have just picked his/her nose and then touched some of the buffet food (I’ve seen little kids grab things off of the buffet & put them back). Or what about when someone sneezes – where do all those molecules go. Yes, I know someone could still sneeze in the kitchen of a swanky restaurant, but I just feel a little more comfortable knowing that my food is not “open to the general public”—LOL!

Sarah, I totally agree with what you’re saying about not needing 3,000 calories to be satisfied. It’s the old “my eyes are bigger than my stomach” thing.

Originally Posted by Meg

I get incredibly frustrated with so-called “experts” who think that all we need is “education” about dieting and nutrition -- and then we’ll have an ah-ha moment that carrots have fewer calories than cheesecake and effortlessly spend the rest of our lives as slim people. I don't think so!

Meg, I totally agree with this. I used to teach drama, and I remember asking students to respond to a quotation by Socrates about this very topic. I can’t remember the quotation verbatim, but it was something along of lines of once people know what’s good for them they’ll do it. I was curious to see how many of the students would agree with this (many did) because, on the surface, it seems as if it would be true. Those of us who have been on the weight loss rollercoaster, however, know that it’s not as simple as that.

Originally Posted by Meg

My worst ones are too hungry and too tired. Then the will power part of my brain shuts down and some kind of cave man instinct of “eat much food now” kicks in.

I can SO relate to this!

[vmelo]

Originally Posted by bluedaisy91

Mine 2 big ones are the kids screaming and boredom. I'm a stay at home mom and my husband works all day and it gets a little lonely not having anyone to talk to. Not that the kids don't keep me busy, just miss adult company.
Maggs

Okay, I've got a solution to this one --- log on to 3fatchicks & talk to us!

[Meg]

I can't even begin to count how many times 3FC has kept me out of trouble!

[Dawnajoy]

Mine are similar to most of yours.

1. Getting too hungry.

2. Failing to plan. If I don't plan my meals, and bring lunch and snacks to work with me, things go awry quickly. Some days I can find plain protein and naked veggies in the hospital cafeteria and some days I can't. Bottom line is that I can't count on it. Planning is everything. Big payoff for a little time spent preparing.

3. Night eating as relaxation and reward. What helps me? Lately it is sugar free hot chocolate. I use a huge cup, and add cocoa powder and sugar free davinci or torani syrup to one packet, so it is a huge amount of warm, filling liquid for 50 calories. Sugar free gum helps too. (I do it at work after lunch too. It's the "I'm done eating now" signal).

4. Social situations, restaurant eating, away from home weekends, etc. What helps? Planning, and simply making the best choice of what is available each time. Still working on this one, but making steady progress.

5. Trigger foods: They don't come in the house. If I want ice cream, I eat it away from home (Cold Stone has a Sugar-Free/Fat-Free Sweet Sinless ice cream that isn't bad, I get it with fresh berries on it). I recently brought Halloween candy into the house - big mistake. I packed it up and had my daughter hide it. Sad, but true. If healthy foods are available and prepped, I am just as happy with them.

There are probably more, but this is what comes to mind right now.

Dawna

[Sashenka]

I agree with all your triggers.
My worst one - I am on goal and doing fine (and jump into temptations), I am stressed (so I will eat), I do not like the food my Mom is cooking (she is visiting right now and I never liked her cooking, so I will eat something else after), food around the house (with slim hubby and 3 kids it is ALWAYS something tempting), I am hungry (so I will eat sausage and cheese), I am between ballet class, 2 soccer games and shopping (so why not stop at Tim Hortons and have a meal and here is donut smiling at me).
But my worst one is - favourite foods. I am not even sure what is better - it is present or it is absent. When I have access to it - it is fine, I usually keep myself in line and buy a small package a week and eat it in one day, but it is still small package a week. What is worse = when it is not available. Than I try to satisfy with another one, which does not bring the satisfaction, and I try bigger amount. Next day I think - well, my favourite food is not available, so I take another one, and so on. So the whole week is blown away and satisfaction is not there anyways. Well, you get the picture. I do not know what solution is here, as I am missing my favourite food for 3 month now, and I gained about 4-5 pounds, while before, when it was in the stores I kept my goal weight...

I also have to say - I am guilty on eating in supermarket - like getting hand full of favourite food and just eating it there. I found that because I feel guilty of stealing, I will only take 1 handfull, which is better than if I buy a pound. So for me it is a solution, not a problem!

Another trigger is - hunger due to eating too fast. I am a "gulping" eater, so I do not feel full at all, and keep eating more and more. Even though I try my best to eat slowly, often when I am stressed it is not working, so I gulp my food without even feeling that I ate. In 15 min I feel hungry again, etc. Very hard one to overcome, especially since I gulped my food always. I am still learning how to look at the food (and than it should look beautiful) and how to actually enjoy it.

Thanks for all your "triggerpostings". Really helpful! Great board!

[Only Me]

Thank you for this thread, I'm just figuring out this maintenace thing. I think it's more difficult than losing. It's easier to eat less than I need. Figuring out how to eat what my body needs without alternating between starving one day and stuffed the next is much tougher than I expected. And trying to do it without falling into old habits is even tougher.

Kids screaming and arguing with me every step of the way when I'm already tired. Being tired seems to get me to let down my guard and eat too much, even if I don't really like the food and even if I'm not hungry.

Stress of any kind really--time pressure, $ worries, worries about friends or family.

Baking at home under less than ideal mood circumstances. If everything's going well, I can eat one or two (mini) muffins or cookies and I'm happy. If it's been a bad day or week, I need to stay away from my baking supplies.

Not having some sort of "treat" available in the house. In the last 7 months I've gone from consuming every bit of junk I buy in the house as quickly as possible, to being able to tell myself, it's there if you want it, it'll be there tomorrow too. It still takes willpower not to pig out when I've had a rough day, but most of the time, I'm happier with a few chocolates, etc. in the cupboard. (Except maple cream cookies. I'm afraid to buy a whole pkg of them because I tended to eat the whole pkg in a day or two, by grabbing one or two each time I was in the kitchen--which is often with 3 young kids to feed. And I've never found individually wrapped servings of them which would probably help me to limit myself.)

Drinking alcohol. A couple of glasses of wine and I want to pig out.

Social situations. (often related to above) I now make veggie and/or fruit trays when hanging out with friends.

[MrsJim]

Can't believe I haven't responded to this thread yet! Been a busy girl these days it seems...

...and ya know, that's been a big key for me - staying busy. Recreational eating has been a MAJOR bugaboo for me - that's one of the things that got me obese in the first place - if I didn't have anything better to do - open the fridge and see what the Snack Fairy left... It's not so bad at home because I have a FAIRLY clean environment - not as squeaky-clean as I'd like but I do have a hubby that likes to eat stuff I don't feel I should be having on a regular basis - if I was living on my own, I probably wouldn't be buying stuff like cold cereal, frozen Lean Cuisine Pizzas, or bread. The way I solve that problem is by purchasing stuff that doesn't 'call' to me, as often as possible - bread is definitely a redlight food for me, unless it's rye (yuk!). Fortunately Jim really likes rye bread, so that's what I buy for his breakfast toast. Another recently discovered 'snackie' of his is Wasabi Peanuts - I don't think I'll ever try them since I feel that wasabi is only for sushi (don't tell me differently, because I don't WANT to try them!).

But back to the staying busy part - that's a big part of my strategy. Not only staying busy, but staying busy with non-food-compatible activities. One example - back in June I started taking Pilates and Yoga classes, mostly in the evenings after work. I make a point NOT to eat two hours prior to class and each class lasts an hour - so there's three hours that I CAN'T eat - and in the evenings yet - like a lot of other people, eating at night or after work has been a problem child for me in the past and even nowadays, I struggle with it - generally when I don't have anything else to do!

Something else that I constantly work on is what I call 'sneak eating'. Since I was a kid and my parents put me on my first diet, I've become a practiced, ingrained sneak eater. On nights when Jim has a gig or recording session, the moment he leaves the house oftimes I literally have to fight the urge to open the fridge or pour a giant bowl of Wheaties or something. I know it's just an ingrained habit - typically what works for me is to do something incompatable with eating - at night it would be taking a hot Calgon bath and going to bed with a book or my journal I can't eat in the bedroom for some reason...

Parallel to 'sneak eating' is my preference to eat alone (I'm pretty sure that also extends from my childhood where I felt that I was being judged by what I was putting in my mouth). I still prefer to eat solo, but that's definitely a WIP. At least it's not a pizza or ice cream or a sack of McDonald's burgers & fries - it's generally what I PLANNED to eat in the first place.

Originally Posted by Only Me

Thank you for this thread, I'm just figuring out this maintenace thing. I think it's more difficult than losing. It's easier to eat less than I need. Figuring out how to eat what my body needs without alternating between starving one day and stuffed the next is much tougher than I expected. And trying to do it without falling into old habits is even tougher.

Take heart! Like learning to ride a horse or a bicycle or even an infant learning how to walk and talk - maintanence takes PRACTICE, work, and diligence. Lots of practice...and before you know it, eating healthy and exercise become ingrained, healthy habits. I've been doing this longer than most of the folks here - the maintenance thing - and I've seen many, MANY posts bemoaning how tough it is to stay on the Straight and Narrow.

I have 4 words for you - just take it from this 15 year gal!

It Does Get Easier!

There's a solution for 'most every problem - find the problem, work out a solution (and we're all here to help and support each other in that) and then IMPLEMENT that solution. Maintenance takes WORK and yup, there's sacrifice involved. But IMO - it's totally worth it. Think of it as taking OWNERSHIP of your weight loss and your hard work - do you OWN your weight loss or are you just RENTING it?

[featherz]

My husband says I am rigid and obsessive about eating so I don't have too many trigger problems, at least not yet. After maintaining for a while and possibly becoming complacent that may become a problem.

I think I could agree about the stress, tho - if something very bad happens I'm likely to just say 'what the heck' at least once!

My salvation is that I actually LIKE the foods I am eating. I made my diet around foods I PREFER to eat for the most part. Plus I have one or two 'free meals' (not binges, just not 'clean meals') allotted for each week, but I don't always use them. Last week I went out raring for a free meal and ended up with a small portion of spaghetti and chicken breast - hardly a cheat! I made my cheat meal cookie dough later :P

I'm also eating 2000 calories a day divvied into 6 meals for maintenance (I exercise a lot) so that helps cut down on the snacking.

If anything, my downfall would be fresh baked items containing chocolate - especially muffins. Prepackaged snack foods and fast foods I find easy to turn down, but something sweet chocolatey and warm? Yikes.

[srmb60]

I have logged food into fitday.com before I've eaten it, to decide if I can afford to do that. I almost always come here instead of dessert.

Like lots of you, availability is my down fall. If it's there I eat it.

I watched a box of pecan Turtles today until after ten. (why do folks give nurses chocolate?) I finally decided that one wouldn't hurt. I picked up the box to realize that it was a slot box for answers to a pop quiz we were supposed to do for in-service education!