I'm having a really, really bad day. The first since finding this site. I've tried doing everything but I know I'm going to cave very shortly and it's going to be a big sugar hit. I don't know where it's come from but since I got up this morning I've had my food monster head on and it's getting stronger.

Talk me out of it!

HEY DONT GIVE IN!! If you have a huge sugar urge just have something sweet. Like a small piece of dark chocolate or try drinking a diet coke. I know everytime i have a sugar urge the diet coke helps! You can Do this dont give up! I hope this helps!

Go for a walk, go do some weights and bang them heavy weights around to forget whatever ails you, take a bath, go to bed, knit, do a Sudoku, a crossword puzzle, read a book...

Sometimes a small amount of sweet will help, but sometimes it will just send you off the deep end... This is what often happens to me...

HANG IN THERE!!!!! This too shall pass

Thanks guys! Lose25, I've had a diet coke and I believe it's heped. I'm going nowhere near chocolate though. One piece? You can eat one piece and then stop? You're some kind of freak

Ilene - I keep repeating "this too shall pass" as it was one of my late friend's favourite expressions.

You've really helped, thanks. This is going to be a really long night

I've had those days -- woa!!! Anything you can go do? If all else fails, I've been known to throw the stuff away (unfortunately, I also have to cover it with crap -- coffee grounds, soap, etc.) because, I'll admit it, if it's still in the container and on top I've been known to dig for it!! Do you have anyone you can call to talk you out of it. Would like a cup of hot chocolate help? If you do cave, that's okay we all do it, just don't beat yourself up over it and move on, tomorrow will be better. I think we all get cravings and unfortunately some of us just can't stop once we stop -- that's me!! No matter what happens, if you make it through, amazing for you, if you unfortunately don't, it's one day out of so many that will be great!! Good luck.

Keep posting here!!

Every time you face this and resist, you strengthen yourself for the next time. Build that "resist the urge" muscle! You'll feel great tomorrow!

Hi again! Did you succeed?

The best thing to do to deal with cravings is brush your teeth, then do something active. If you're just sitting around, you're more likely to want to eat something. If you're having a bad day, put on some great music and dance around like a crazy person. Guaranteed to make you feel better. And has the added bonus of burning calories! Hope that helps!

Hi Doughnut -

Be strong!

I know it's even worse that this struck on a weekend day, when there tend to be fewer things around to distract you, but YOU CAN DO IT!

Stay away from the sugar at all costs. . .I'm like you, once I take that first bite, it's all over for me.

However, I find that artificial sweetener doesn't cause me to keep eating, and sometimes I can convince myself that it's "enough" - one thing that sounds weird, but has worked for me in the past, is to take a batch of air-popped popcorn and sprinkle it with Splenda and cinnamon. It's sweet but not sugar, it takes a long time to eat (go one kernel at a time!), and even if you eat the whole batch it's only about 250 calories.

Is your other half around? Can he distract you?

It all went terribly wrong and I think I've consumed my own weight in biscuits over the last couple of hours. I now feel wretched and guilty and wondering how the **** this has happened when I started so well.

How do you pick yourselves up again? This is one thing I've never managed to do which is why I've stayed chubby. I always fail at a diet because when I fall off the wagon around the 3 week time (oh look, bang on schedule ) I always think sod it, I've blown it. I know that I have to approach things differently to achieve success but I don't actually know how to do that. Does that make sense? I know what I have to do but I just don't know how to do it.

To steal a line from Su-Bee, SIGH

Ok, NO. All is NOT lost. Here's what you are going to do.

Drink extra water for the rest of the day, and if you have another meal coming and IF you're hungry for it, make it a small, sensible one. No point going into binge-starve-binge mode.

Then from there, just keep eating according to plan.

And do NOT, above all do NOT, get on the scale today, or tomorrow, for that matter. You are hereby forbidden to weigh yourself until Wednesday, at least!

Su-Bee you are so right!!

Doughnut -- At this point, we all have the same choices after a binge -- we can continue to feel guilt and horrible about our action and throw in the bag, which in turn makes us feel worse and wastes all the wonderful effort you've put forth so far or we can move on, start over and learn from our mistake and what triggered it. I had a horrible night Friday, great day yesterday and rough night tonight, but I know if I don't get back on track, the alternative is that I will continue to gain and feel like crap and I'm not interested in that option any more. Stay away from the scales at all costs! One day of "goofs" probably won't even affect your weight, after a few days it will be all forgotten. Good luck!!

Thanks guys - so much!

Well I went to bed right after I last posted and i woke up with a storming headache which is absolutely my own fault. Had a good day and then came back in a bit of a grump from a rubbish day at work and started thinking biscuits

Anyway thought I'd just quickly have a look on here before weighing myself and eating the biscuits I didn't finish

So, Su-Bee, I hath obeyed thy order and hath not weighed myself! I laughed and felt suitably chastened as I was looking at the scales at the time. I won't weigh myself till Wednesday. Promise Mum.

Shelby you are absolutely right. What the heck was I thinking? That eating the rest of the biscuits was going to help? Biscuits are now crunched up in a bag with a load of salt of top of them.

I am therefore in new territory. I broke my diet yeterday and for the first time in about 18 years I'm back on track anyway. I'm liking this site.

Yay, Doughnut!

That is awesome! I am so proud of you!

Falling Off The Diet Wagon

by Jonathan Bowden, M. A.

"One of the most discouraging aspects of weight loss are the inevitable slips. Everyone has them. For some people, an occasional slip engenders an all out binge...followed by guilt, self-recrimination, a sense of powerlessness, and a feeling of "What's the use?"

Sound familiar?

I call it "falling off the diet wagon," and if you can change how you think about it, you don't need to be victimized by it anymore.

Let's start by looking at a simple children's game called "Chutes and Ladders." Here is how it works: you use a spinner to advance from space to space toward the winner's spot. Along the way there are ladders-which leapfrog you over a lot of spaces-as well as chutes-which send you back in the opposite direction.

Some kids play this game with a laissez-faire, "whatever" attitude, taking life as it comes with all its ups and downs, pitfalls and triumphs. They learn the wonderful moral of Chutes and Ladders-half the secret of life is just showing up. Keep playing the game, and eventually you will get where you are going.

Some kids, however, get very upset when they land on a chute. They are ready to quit the game, pick up their proverbial marbles and go home. For some reason, they believe that life isn't supposed to have any chutes. When they land on them, they are very disappointed and feel like giving up.

Weight loss is like a huge game of Chutes and Ladders.

In dealing with hundreds of clients over the years, I've discovered that the biggest difference between the winners and the losers in the weight loss war isn't whether or not people have "slips" and go off their program. It's not really a question of "if" they have them, it is a question of "when."

What really makes the difference is how you deal with the slips when they happen.

Her's an example. You have been absolutely wonderful on your plan for three weeks. You've been sticking to your exercise routine and feeling pretty terrific. You go to your best friend's wedding and have a glass of wine. Before you know it, soemone is insisting that you try those delicious little canapes, and before the wedding singer can say "Tanta Elka Cuts The Cake," you've managed to down about 4,000 calories from stuff you wouldn't have been caught dead looking at during the past few weeks...pates, desserts, breads, stuffings, you name it.

Most people think that's where the action stops. Actually, it's where the real action begins.

First, a reality check. Have you done a lot of damage? Not really. You may have put on a pound or two. Big deal. You can knock it off in no time, and go right back to work on yourself.

So what's the problem?

The problem isn't what we did, but what we make it "mean." We tell ourselves that our "transgression" means that we have no willpower, that we will never succeed, that our efforts are in vain.

Let me suggest something more empowering.

Suppose, instead, that we learn to see life's occasional "chutes" as just that-stumbling blocks that everyone hits on their personal path to personal power, nothing to be afraid of and certainly nothing to give a lot of meaning to.

So you had a chute. On your next spin you might hit a ladder.

Most important of all, you can't win the game unless you keep on playing.

And every minute gives you a new chance for another spin. Take it.

And don't look back.


*this article was found by 3FC member Silence...I thought you all might enjoy it as much as I did.*