Hi all. I've been doing so well for the last 3 weeks. I've eaten well most of the time, with the exception of a couple of times. Today hasn't been so great...I am afraid it will get worse. I've been really stressed, yesterday and today, because I have to write a stupid paper and I've put it off and now I have to submit it to my professor via e-mail tomorrow (and it's late but she is willing to accept it late). All this stress is making me want to eat.

Do you want to know what I had for breakfast? 2 cups of Von's Signature Soups Baked Potato soup (840 cals). For lunch, it was not so bad: 1 serving homemade lowfat macaroni and cheese (482 cals, it has lowfat cheese and is loaded with spinach). But what topped it off and was totally unneccesary was what I ate with my mac and cheese: 1 oz of baked Ruffles (120 cals) and 1/4 c fatfree french onion dip (47 cals). I know the last two things are the least damaging calorie wise, but it was just over the top and it's the REASON that I ate it that is bothering me: I ran to it for comfort. Same with that soup. The mac and cheese was planned, it was leftover from dinner last night. Plus, I got a parking ticket today, so I am just a ball of anger and that is bad for my eating! Ahhhh! And...I am drinking coffee, which probably is making me more angry/anxious. How am I ever going to keep my weight off (once I lose it!) if I keep running to food for comfort? Ack.

Woe!! Don't be so hard on yourself! You recognized that you did it, you know why you did it and you're not making excuses for yourself. You have right now. It is over. You have right now and what is ahead of you. You can get back on track and look ahead and plan what to do next time you feel like you want to run to the food. Next time, ask yourself if your long term health is worth the 10 minutes that you will spend eating what you know is not a good choice. Ten minutes or a lifetime? Is the guilt and anger you are feeling worth it? Instead, a ten minute walk will get rid of the stress and make you feel so proud that you made a good decision rather than succumb to the negative one. That feeling will last a lot longer than the taste of any food!

Hang in there!

"Unless you're willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won't happen." ~Phillip Adams

don't beat yourself up- tomorrow is another day! Tomorrow you WILL do better!

Clue...you are right. You are SO right. If I would have taken that walk, I am sure that I would have felt better and not eaten that stuff. Or I could have called a friend, or my hubby. You see, I didn't even think about this stuff. It was as if I had blinders on and all I saw was the food. No, the guilt and anger I am feeling definitely isn't worth it! But I did make a better choice for dinner: we made pita pizzas (about 350 cals). That was sort of comfort food: carbs, cheese...it's PIZZA (my mind said). Thanks for reminding me that I do have choices when I feel like eating. It's easy to forget.

Yoyomom...thanks for your support. I am going to pick myself up and have a better day tomorrow (and the rest of tonight)!

Dieting is a lifestyle change. We will not learn everything overnight. Sure you ran to food for comfort now, but as long as you get back to the diet, you will eventually learn how to control these instances. Maybe you'll learn to go for a walk, or call a friend, or whatever. As time goes on you'll teach yourself these things. I am sure you are doing things differently nowadays then when you first dieted. With the dieting, your stomach is shrinking, your taste buds are changing, everything is changing. When you get to the maintaining level, as long as you have a mindset that you'll never go back to where you were, you will be fine. At that point your body won't crave the junk that you do now, your stomach will not be able to handle what it does now.

I feel with a 220lb weight loss, I can speak freely on this, as I have already noticed these changes. I may have an occasional slice of pizza, but there is no way in **** I can devour the whole damn pie again. My stomach has shrunken. Besides, like I was just telling a friend earlier... *If* I were to go to a Pizza Hut, or a McDonald's, I am zeroing in on the healthier choices, as I have lost my appetite for the fattening stuff.

Who cares you let yourself go today? You already slapped yourself, now just get back on the bandwagon. These things will happen. There is nothing wrong with treating yourself every once in awhile, that is the type of thing that keeps us sane. We cannot live the rest of our lives eating salads and drinking water, we need the variety

You live, you learn.

You've gotten some more dieting experience under your belt, and you now know what to do if the occasion ever arises again.

Tomorrow is a new day.

You know what it is? I am afraid. I have successfully lost weight before only to slip up and gain it all back. I am afraid of doing that again. I am on a good path right now, but I am afraid of falling and not being able to get back up, like before. I'm so sick of being overweight, like us all. I just don't want to fail again.

Ohh, guilt and anger. Please don't let those gnaw at you! It's food. Just food. Nothing more than food. Please tell yourself that! It's not an enemy whose intent goal is to make you stumble and fall, it's carbs and fat that have no conscience whatsoever. Life is too short to allow ourselves to give power to those things. They're not worth it, and YOU are worth so much more than that!

So your day started the wrong way and lasted the wrong way. Okay. Tomorrow's another day and a new opportunity: seize them, and go along with them. There is no 'perfect diet', no 'perfect dieter/eater'. We all make mistakes now and then; the difference between successful maintenance and totally relapsing (and regaining) is how long a person takes to fall back on his/her feet and not let a couple of mistakes ruin everything. I know it's easier said than done, I know it might sound harsh, but we're all humans... we just cannot be perfect, especially not all the time.

Maybe put it all in perspective? 3 weeks--21 days--of eating healthily, vs. 3 days of not eating healthily. It isn't *such*a catastrophe, is it? If tomorrow you get back on track without asking yourself any questions, it will make 22 vs. 3. Then 23, 24, etc...

You've been angry, now it's behind you, so please don't go on being angry at yourself any longer. It's really not worth it. Just start a new day like a new pportunity, and I'm sure in no time, that stray eating will be far behind.

Dear trooworld,

The path to success and to failure is through your mouth. Keep that in mind when you decide to eat something. And it is a decision! Unless someone holds you down and forces food between your clenched teeth, it's up to you! You have the power!

We all have times when we make those unfortunate decisions--"doing more research on the problem" is what some call it. I did it myself a couple of night ago when I felt I "had" to have a bowl of cereal in the evening. Was 290 calories I did not need, and of course I put it in my food log. So when I look back at last week and wonder "Why am I not losing faster?" I can see where that bowl of cereal hit the calorie average. That's just reality check.

Go on to today, trooworld. Leave that behind! It's not a disaster unless you sprint off the edge with it.

Hang in there!
Jay

Here's my somewhat warped perspective on things like that.

I think it IS okay to get angry and it IS okay to feel lousy about errors in judgment and behavior.

Sometimes, it makes sense to be mad at yourself.

The trick, of course, would seem to be perspective. Get mad but don't hold a grudge. The emotional response is normal and it can be healthy so long as you handle it appropriately.

In your estimation, you screwed up. It only follows that you'd be irritated for doing so. Capture a solid memory of how you feel about yourself when you do that and remember it the next time you feel like making the same mistake. Your feelings about falling off the wagon may become an incentive to continue to walk the straight and narrow.

I know most people would advocate immediate self-forgiveness and looking forward to making smart choices the next day. That's great, in my estimation, and is probably wise. Just remember that it is okay to be a little upset and frustrated in the first place.

My opinion and nothing more.

Steve Shrinkarino!

Take this as a lesson for the future. What did you learn from this experience? How are you going to deal with this situation when it comes up in the future? Come up with some great strategies for dealing with cravings or days when you know you're on the road to falling off your diet.