Right on!! why waste our precious calories on food that is not worth it!

and HEY to a fellow Vermonter! (well...lived here for 30 years )

Fi - I am recalling one of my crazy customer stories!

Her - I want a sandwich..but I don't like your bread.
Me - ...alright...
Her - can i just buy some of the ingredients and take it home?
Me - yes, of course.
Her - Is that real turkey?
Me - YES it is real turkey breast.
Her -OK I'll have a few slices of that. What else would be good in a sandwich?
Me - Would you like some cheese?
Her - No! I have that at home.
Me - OK. Um, lettuce?
Her - I have that at home too.
Me - (getting irritated) How about tomatoes?
Her - ew, winter tomatoes? I don't like those. What else?
Me - (really irritated and sarcastic now) Do you like our green peppers?
Her - What kind are they?
Me - the green and crunchy kind.
Her - That sounds good!

I don't have anything special to report today, except for the fact that Kathryn Hansen, the author of Brain Over Binge, posted my story about using her technique to her blog: you can read it under "Tips for Beginners...Continued (Inspirational Testimony)". I think the technique I describe would be useful not just for binge eaters, but for anyone who struggles with cravings and urges to overeat. Enjoy!

Chelsea: It is so great to hear from you! Sorry you have been struggling lately. Best of luck to you as you make decisions about your career. Trust your gut!

LawGirl88: to our group! Glad you found us here! Interesting that you switched from Lexapro to Viibryd. My niece has terrible anxiety and was put on Viibryd, but it hasn't helped her yet at all. She wants to switch to Lexapro. She is probably too thin right now, so not sure how it would affect her weight. Anyhow, I can relate to gaining a lot on meds. I gained 60 pounds in a year's time on a Zyprexa trial several years ago. Still working to get that and more off. It is such a "catch 22" to need the meds that sometimes cause weight gain as a side effect. Then the weight tends to make us more depressed and anxious, so we need more meds. Vicious cycle! It really is a lousy reality of life with depression/anxiety and meds. Best of luck to you as you work with your therapist on distractions from the obsessive anxieties! You can overcome your anxiety AND lose the weight!!! Keep on posting. We are here to support you!

Holly: Funny story about you and your customer! She sounds like a real piece of work!

Fi: So cool that your story was featured in the Brain Over Binge blog! You will help more people than you know! You are a good communicator.

wow! that is fantastic!

good morning to everyone I am really glad that I am feeling good (duh ) I have tried VERY hard in the past few days to curb my 'I want something sweet NOW' impulses and have kept to it. I definitely have a problem with controlling my food, as opposed to working out..I always have my go-to excuse of working in a deli, with the scents of food constantly attacking me..I'm not given a food break so I eat in the stairwell in about 1 1/2 minutes...AND if I eat in front of my bosses (husband/wife) they comment on my food, and they are known 'fat haters'. Ugh. So I make a breakfast/lunch wrap and take it in the car, and park 100 feet away from my work at 10:50 am, and eat in the car, then drive to work And I have to resist the 4:00 or 5:00 pm mad urge to eat a cookie.

oh vermont mom that is too sad for your horrible work conditions. do you know when i was teaching i was the union rep and i knew about workcover issues (our 'rescue' haven in australia) anywaym, you current condition would have caused a HUGE uprising jere…can't you look around for a better job? it's only a shitty deli for crying out loud! hey, there must be lots of different stores near by where you are respected as a PERSON and ACTUALLY HAVE A STAFFROOM TO EAT IN! and nobody frowns at your food either. gosh you are trying so hard too. well done for all you great efforts. i would want something sweet if i were there…i would be like the side of a house and lucky to FIT in the stairwell!!!!!


sorry everyone….i just get so cross when people have to tolerate poor work conditions because of the stupid power imbalance. money always drives it. blah!

good morning everyone! hi how are you all? it's sunday morning here…a pearler of a day too, by the looks. the sun is shining and the skies are blue. how awesome!

just had to call in the dogs because they are making too much noise. DH has gone to the dump. he'll be back shortly. walkers. with dags is all. our dogs (3 of them) make a terrific racket when walkers go past our fence. well, i mean to say..what a nerve! we get a lot of walkers because we are on a corner, and by the edge of the block sob it makes sense. until they get scared out of their wits by a black german shepherd…..bahahaaaaa LOL


bfn


saraphin xxx

fi, i read some of that brain over binge stuff, because i just realized IT'S WHAT I DO! BINGE. OH GOSH AT 55 I'M ACTUALLY LEARNING SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT MYSELF!

the other night i binged on ice cream, biscuits and ovaltine. i made me=y DH throw away the ice cream next morning.

next time, i'm going for that yappy dog! i actually, have a yappy dog so i don't need to imagine too much!

i'm going to try and go, say, 30 days with out bingeing. whoa. 30 days that's heaps. ok, i'm starting now.

i just need a thingy for my signature. i'll try now. bye f n, saraphin xxx

I believethanks!!!! How interesting about your family member. When I went on lexapro I was also tooooo skinny. The majority of my weight gain those was after 2 years of us. Ugh!
vermontchick How sucky that your bosses have an attitude? Have you tried to pack a sweet granola bar or something that reasonably healthy but won't get any comments and can curb the midday sweet tooth? That way when you get home after work it won't be like you've suffered all day without food and thinking about the yummy cookies you could be having!!!

Today's been okay. Short day at work and told myself I'd do some me work with my affirmations and therapy reading after work so that should be happening at some point but hey it's only 4 in Cali I've got plenty of time right? Let's just hope I don't put it off all day. I know working on that stuff will help!!!!

Slept in again this morning and then went shopping with my daughter. Then out to dinner with her and to my nieces' house to visit. Got home late. Haven't done any cardio today, as planned. I need to get on that treadmill tomorrow for sure!!! Food was pretty good today. In general, I have been eating much healthier lately and not stuffing myself quite so much. So that's PROGRESS!!!

Holly: You should be able to eat whatever your little heart desires at work..... or anywhere for that matter!!! That is horrible that you have to eat in the stairwell or in your car in 1 and 1/2 minutes. You do deserve better than that! Stand up for yourself! And, yes, as LawGirl88 said, take a granola bar or something healthy to eat later in the day. You really need to eat several small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism going, as you probably know. Glad you are feeling good!!!

saraphin: We are having terribly cold weather ~ and worse coming soon ~ in Ohio right now. It is supposed to get down to -17 this Tuesday, with 40 below wind chill factor. BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be staying indoors as much as possible. The kids are supposed to go back to school Monday, but if it is going to be as cold as predicted, they will probably have Monday and Tuesday off. We are also supposed to get more snow Sunday. Funny story about your pups! We have 3 dogs, too! I love them to pieces!!! Yes, my pups go crazy whenever anyone walks past the house, especially if they are walking a dog. They are funny and they sure keep me company during the day, as I am a stay-at-home mom. Good luck on your 30 days without bingeing!!! YOU CAN DO IT..... ONE day at a time!!!

LawGirl88: Did you do your affirmations and therapy reading? It's about 8:30pm your time, so the day is wrapping up. Hope you fit it in!

Waving HELLO to everyone else! Hope all is well!

Working on therapy reading as I write this. Thanks for checking in ibelieve it added extra motivation to do it knowing you guys were cheering me on. And got to a page in the book that was specifically about obsessions and behaviors like mine! I was meant to sit down and read it today!! Going to try this ticker method it recommends I'm a bit nervous about it but we shall see how it goes!!!!

Ibelieve Was it nice to spend time shopping with your daughter? You'll get to the treadmill tomorrow I'll check in with you for sure!

Wishing everyone a wonderful night.

I'm doing well in general, but I'm kind of frustrated about my muesli situation. (For those of you who recently arrived, I was on strict Atkins induction for a while in the fall, and then went into a brief but very severe depression. Then I suddenly recovered, and I attributed my recovery to the fact that I ate a bowl of muesli. Some people who go on strict Atkins do get depressed. But alternatively, it could've been the change in my meds. Sort of superstitiously, ever since then, I've modified the Atkins diet to include a bowl of muesli every day around noon.) Yesterday I had a weird experience shortly after eating my muesli that I'm pretty sure was a panic attack. Some people who get depression also have panic attacks, but they're super rare for me, and when they do happen, usually there's some kind of trigger event that sets off the escalating anxiety. Yesterday there was no trigger at all: the panic state just blew in like a sudden storm. Well anyway, as a result, I got sick to my stomach, and eventually my whole gut acted up.

After I described it all to my husband Bob, he said maybe there was something off about the muesli, or about the cream I put on it, and that's why I got sick. I didn't think that made much sense because I had all the other symptoms of a severe anxiety attack. So today I sat down at noon again and had my bowl of muesli. I didn't have a panic attack, but my gut acted up again!

So Bob volunteered to be a guinea pig, and he ate a bowl of my muesli with cream. That was hours ago, and he hasn't gotten sick. So now we don't know what the heck is going on. I'm tempted to just bag the muesli and go back to eating only eggs, meat, cheese, occasional nuts, & salad greens. Maybe I'm not one of those people who get depressed on Atkins, after all. I sure would like to be on strict Atkins, because I like the food and I lose weight really well on it. I think I'll take the risk and see what happens...

saraphin— I'm thrilled to hear that the Brain Over Binge materials are motivating you to go binge-free! I am so relieved to have that nasty monkey off my back, I just can't tell you...Remember when you do get the urge, the trick is to separate yourself from it, but not fight it. If you fight it, the urge just gets stronger. Instead, you take the role of being an observer, that's all. Let it yap at you all it wants to. If you just observe it, it will fade, sooner or later.

[QUOTE=saraphin;4911100]oh vermont mom that is too sad for your horrible work conditions. do you know when i was teaching i was the union rep and i knew about workcover issues (our 'rescue' haven in australia) anywaym, you current condition would have caused a HUGE uprising jere…can't you look around for a better job? it's only a shitty deli for crying out loud! hey, there must be lots of different stores near by where you are respected as a PERSON and ACTUALLY HAVE A STAFFROOM TO EAT IN! and nobody frowns at your food either. gosh you are trying so hard too. well done for all you great efforts. i would want something sweet if i were there…i would be like the side of a house and lucky to FIT in the stairwell!!!!!


sorry everyone….i just get so cross when people have to tolerate poor work conditions because of the stupid power imbalance. money always drives it. blah!

/QUOTE]

This made me cry a little to hear someone so passionately on my side THANK YOU serafin and Lawgirl and IBelieve... You are right it is horrible and wrong and they have no right to be like that...I did bring plain yogurt yesterday and had that around 2 pm and that helped. However I BINGED when I got home, just because I had such a long day on my feet, stupid customers, etc. Ugh.

Seraphin I love your expressions, Im so glad it was a 'pearler' of a day yesterday for you!! I will remember that expression when it is summer here and I am on my motorcycle and at my other job that i like

Fi, I am so sorry you are puzzling over what is upsetting your tum and making anxiety!!

i'm sorry i don't have time to address all of you fantastic chick, I need to shower and get ready for work (and i WILL find some food to bring and make sure I eat it without hiding ) as I am a human being and i need to eat during 7 hours, for cryin out loud.

Well if I didn't have enough reasons to be serious about getting the weight off, now I have a really big reason: I had an episode of angina last night. Oh jeez... It's not the first time I've had chest pain resembling angina: the first was in July 2012, when it was scary enough I was hospitalized and had all kinds of blood tests and tests on my heart (echo, stress test, etc.). I got a clean bill of health that time—no cardiac damage, heart working just fine.

What happened last night was I did my leg exercises a lot faster than usual because Bob and I had a "date" to meet upstairs, and I got up to go climb the stairs while my heart rate was still elevated, and I was carrying a heavy bag full of stuff. By the time I got to the top of the stairs my chest was hurting—that intense crushing pain that is pretty unmistakeable for angina. (It isn't at all like my depression pain.) I had to lie down in bed and just try to relax and take deep breaths and ride it out. The pain radiated to my left arm and also up my neck and into my jaws on both sides. It was no picnic, and the darn thing lasted for well over an hour. Bob thinks it was even two hours before it subsided completely. The duration bothers me because the previous episode I had only lasted 15 minutes.

So I guess I better make an app't to see my internist. My father had bad coronary artery disease leading eventually to heart failure: he died at 80, which was way longer than his doctors thought he would make it. Sheesh... family history, plus being this much overweight... I don't know whether they're going to want to do a catheterization study at this point, or what will happen. At the very least, I should be able to get a medication (nitroglycerin?) to help with the pain, if it happens again.

I've been very tired all day today, and as you can imagine, I've been pretty worried. I wonder if my recent increase in exercise—walking a mile and a half on Wednesday—has anything to do with it. I'm going to be very careful about not letting my heart rate get too high, at least until I get my doctor's opinion.

Damn it all! I want to live to 90 or more. Everyone on my mother's side of the family are very long-lived. I have a great aunt who is 102.

Sorry to be so grim, y'all.

Fi: Oh, my goodness, what a scare you had!!! How do you know the difference between angina and a heart attack? I would have thought I was having a heart attack from what you described. I am so glad that you recovered okay, and ~ yes ~ I sure hope you will contact a good cardiologist to get thoroughly checked out! Better safe than sorry!!! I hope you get your muesli situation figured out, too. Could the anxiety attack, gut pain and vomitting be related to the angina attack at all? Just wondering. Please proceed with caution and take good care of yourself!

LawGirl88: Yes, I had a wonderful time shopping and going out to dinner with my daughter! I treasure our "alone" times! I have not yet done the treadmill today, as I said I would. But I've been known to be walking on that daggone treadmill at midnight, so I haven't given up for the day yet! I absolutely HAVE to get it done by the end of the day tomorrow (Monday)!!! I was supposed to work out with my trainer Monday, but we have terrible weather coming, so I switched it to Wednesday (and Friday). But I need to get my own cardio in between training sessions. Our training sessions are mainly strength training.

Holly: Good to see you posting! Be kind to yourself at work. I have been reading about how we teach others how to treat us by the way we treat ourselves. So true! I need to constantly remind myself of this very lesson, too! We need to make ourselves a PRIORITY, because we are worth it!

Trish: Did you find our new January thread? I am worried about you. I hope you are okay!

Chelsea: What is new with you? Hope things are looking up for you! I am sending you sunshine and big hugs!

good morning...

Fi! that is so scary! I also immediately wondered what is the dif between angina and a heart attack, we are worried and hoping this can be taken care of!

Kathleen, I think it is fantastic that you will tackle the treadmill even at midnight! I hope your weather is not horrible, maybe it will miss you.

Lawgirl, are you in a warm spot in Cali? and yay to you for trying to improve with your reading .

Hello to everyone else.

I get so frustrated with my boss for other reasons. Yesterday , a young man dropped a bottle of iced tea by accident. My boss went to see what happened, then got the guy a broom and dustpan for the customer to use to clean up!! Then came back to the deli to say "and I bet Michele (the cashier) won't charge him for it!") The young man came over with the broom and dustpan full of broken glass and was apologizing..then when he went to pay, he apologized again, and said 'and I guess I had TWO teas' and the boss was right there and did not say a word, so the young man was charged for the broken tea I felt so bad for him .

And the boss guilted a lady into putting a dollar in the tip jar. I don't really believe in the tip jar at the deli counter; and the owner of a business should not be soliciting tips for himself!! yet right when a lady was picking up her two sandwiches, he says loudly, 'we busted our butts today Holly and no one gave us any tips' and she looked started, went to the cashier to pay, then came back and put a dollar in I felt bad for her!!

you will all notice that I complain about him so much; I will shut up if it's a problem the thing is, i love my summer job but do need a place to work when that seasonal position is closed. The deli/bakery is very glad to have me and its a secure position.

I hope everyone has at least an OK day and at the best a great day

Good Morning all! Crazy, wet, rainy winter day here - ughh! Despite the weather I am feeling pretty good, though, so I'll take it.

VermontMom: I can't believe the attitude of your boss. I'm no human resources expert, but I'm pretty sure they are required to provide a break during your shift. AND whining to gain tips for himself seems really petty.

Fi: I really hope things are improving and that you are feeling better. How SCARY!!

IBelieve: Sounds like a great, fun day with your daughter. We all need to treat ourselves - probably more often than we allow.

Is it just me or do we seem to take care of everyone but ourselves?