I have learned... that I do much better on Phase I than on Phase II! Not just weight-loss wise, but cheating-wise. Somehow I'm less tempted to cheat on Phase I.

I've learned that I'm very, very good at not bringing junk into my house... but that once it's there, I'm terrible at resisting it!

I've learned that cookies are my #1 trigger food and I CAN NOT have them around. Period.

Choices, there's so much of me in your post! I'm a good one for making excuses, and I have to change that! You have given me the motivation I badly needed right now to get back on track. Thank you!

Good for you! I think there is some of all of us in your thoughts.

I've learned something small that is translating into something big: I never needed the bread. Shocking to me. Now when I remove the bread from the sandwich and am totally full from the protein and veggies, I wonder why I ever ate all that bread in the first place, except "it was there".

I've also learned to try new things and for that I am grateful.

Choices, I'm right there with ya, Sister! (btw, I lived in Olympia for a year a long time ago!)
I just have not felt the urge to cheat at all (not strongly anyway!) I think I was at a point that I was so disgusted with myself by gaining 50 lbs over the last few years that my mind was determined NOT to let it go on till I developed major problems.
My Daddy died a year ago this week. He was overweight..started gaining weight in his 30's. He deveolped knee problems..3 replacements. Then diabetes, then conjestive heart failure and finally in the last few months of his life, kidney cancer. He was a brilliant, vibrant, funny person who loved to travel and sail and it was pure **** seeing him suffer so...bedridden for the last few years of his life.
He used to make me so mad...when I would visit my parents, he would "harp" on my weight gain, ie "You are getting FAT!" and he would harp on my sister too. (Mama weighs about 110lbs, so she didn't get harped on!) I would almost dread going to visit cause I knew I would get the "fat lecture". About a month before he died, he told me that he did not want me to go through all he had and I really had to lose weight an of course I knew he was right and promised him I would. It took a year of grieving and stuffing my face for comfort before one day I woke up and said, TODAY IS THE DAY!!! No more!! It had been exactly one year to the day since I made that promise and that's the day I started researching and decided SB was the way to go for me. I didn't want to do anything dangerous or go on some stupid "diet" where I would lose weight drinking stupid "weight loss drinks" and gaining twice as much back. I wanted something for life. I have not cheated ONCE since then.I feel so good and have so much energy that I don't want to put any poison in my body ever again.

Now, this may sound strange, but the night before I started SB, I woke up in the middle of the night and I smelled gardenias all over my bedroom. (There were no gardenias in the house) At first I thought I was dreaming then realized I was wide awake and the gardenia smell was strong. When my parents were dating right after WWII, my Daddy would always bring my Mama gardenias to put in her hair and because of that they always had gardenias planted around their house. I carried gardenias when I got married...they have always held a special place in our family. I honestly think that gardenia smell was Daddy reminding me to keep my promise.

I have been trying to get my sister to start SB, but so far she has resisted. I know she won't until her head is where mine was and all the harping in the world won't work. I just don't want to see my baby sister (who is heavier and shorter than me) to go down the same road as Daddy. She told me her nutritionist said it would not be good for her to "go without fruit" for 2 weeks. I want to take the nutritionist and ask her if 2 weeks without fruit is as big a sacrifice as getting diabetes and heart failure. I hope that the next time I see my sister (we don't live in the same state) that she will get motivated by seeing the results I'm getting and after I cook some really yummy stuff for her she'll see she will not be deprived at all!

femmecreole, I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my mom about 18 months ago, again, morbid obesity and resultant medical problems. I don't have the strength to go that way, so I'm gonna take the easy way out - lose weight and take better care of myself. My friend has a wonderful saying - "If I don't take care of my body, where will I live?" I want to live like that.

I too have morbidly obese sisters (3) and I've learned that them bugging me or me bugging them just doesn't work. Don't sell weight loss, just live it. Everyone will do it when and if they are ready.

The biggest lesson I've learned so far is that I don't need perfection to prove that I am a worthy and lovable human being. If my dad or anyone else has a problem with, it's their problem, not mine. I'm learning to forgive myself and move on. Major lesson for me. I've tripped over that so many times and then used it as an excuse to binge.

I've learned I don't need starches in my diet. I'd like them, but I don't need them. I know I will never be able to sit down and eat a bushel of pasta again. I've learned that I enjoy fresh, simple, clean food. I've learned that processed food doesn't even taste like food. I've learned to like me more. Okay, that's what I've got so far...

I'd like to thank everyone for posting. I'm just on Day 3 of Phase I, so I haven't got any pearls of wisdom to share yet. But I did enjoy reading everyone's posts.

I have learned:
- that I love chocolate dipped strawberries beyond reason. And two really is enough. YUM!
- that cooking is easier than I ever would have guessed. And I can make a wicked good salad.
- that grocery shopping can be a mental exersize when comparing carb counts, fiber, protein, etc.
- that saying things like "I feel bad b/c I ate (fill in the blank)" fills me w/too much guilt and shame about my body and I have spent far too much time in therapy to ever do that again. So I will not say that "I've been bad" if I stray off the path a little. I haven't been bad, I haven't been weak. I just ate the wrong thing.

Wow - I have found so many "sisters of the struggle" here and I feel ya girls!! I have learned that:

1. Carbs/Sugars are an addiction for me, so I treat them like I'd treat an addiction - I focus on eating healthy today, right now, for this hour, minute, meal. I will only be ok if I forgive and forget any past "mistakes" because they don't matter anymore and I can't predict what tomorrow will bring, except that I know I'll be stronger if I eat right and exercise!

2. Paitence truly is a learned virtue. It's like being pregnant - if it took 9mons to gain the weight, it's not gonna be gone in 9 days!! So, I focus on not getting discouraged because it's not happening fast enough. Doing the right thing, for the right reasons, eventually gets you the right results!

3. The first step of any journey is the hardest. If I go ahead and start the 30 mins of exercise, I get it over with v/s sitting around dreading it and not enjoying t.v. anyway!!

4. Support is necessary and it won't always come from those around you because they know how to interact with you the way you are and are scared of not being able to have that same interaction if you lose the weight! That's why forums like this are GREAT!!

5. Most important, I learned that I have to believe that I am worthy of being a healthy person at a healthy weight. I have stopped hiding behind my weight because I have nothing to hide!! I am fabulous and I don't know if it is growing into a person that I love or what, but I finally believe it!! (I also remind myself of it many times a day, so that I don't forget)

While I could go on and on...I think that for this moment in my life, this is what is guiding me!

Thanks to you all for your wonderful encouragement!

Wow, there's really some deep, thoughtful and moving stuff posted here. Thanks, Choices, for getting the introspection started. It's so important for those of us who eat mindlessly to think about things and talk about our feelings.

I've learned, as I lose 30 lbs. for at least the 10th time in my life, that I can't ever let the days go by one after another, thinking "I don't care about this today", until they turn into months and year as I binge myself bigger and bigger.

I've learned that I am a carbohydrate addict and I don't ever want to feel that monstrous overwhelming craving again that I get before I've even swallowed the first bite.

I've learned that a fast food meal, jammed into my mouth as I drive home in the car, is neither healthy nor satisfying nor as necessary as I think it is when I turn (almost like a robot) into that drive-through.

I've learned that I too have to take it one day at a time and find a way to deal with life without overeating every time I get stressed out or lonely or tired or frustrated.

I've learned that it's so much better to wake up feeling energetic than with heartburn and regret over what I ate the night before.

I've learned that I can't do it alone, and that is why I need--and am so incredibly grateful for--all of you.

Thanks, chicks. You know, over the last 30 years I've weighed as much as 230 (before I quit looking at the scale but kept eating) and as little as 120. I've lost and regained various portions of that weight probably a dozen times. But I want to be done with it now. I'm tired of this stupid struggle, and I want the lessons learned to be lessons remembered. Finally. Always. And I'm just going to stay here until I get it right.


L

I've only been on SBD for 16 days, just started Phase II, and I'm learning so much every day, and still have lots more to learn. In the past two weeks I learned that I can live without sweets and that I can stay on a diet for that amount of time. I learned that salads can actually taste pretty good, and that lots of the veggies and things I was avoiding taste good too (I think my tastebuds were in hibernation). I learned that I can sit at a table with 7 other people enjoying hot fudge sundaes, and just have a cup of coffee and feel okay about that. I learned that my husband can be pretty supportive about SBD, but that some friends aren't. I learned that it's possible to lose five pounds (I wasn't sure) and that if I do it nineteen more times, I'll hit my goal. I learned that obsessing about the scale is not productive and that I should set some non-weight related goals. The first one is to be able to take my ring off! I also learned about a great place on the web called 3fatchicks.com where there are lots of nice people that are going through the same thing, or that have gone through it already.