I have been on this site and my new "program" of healthful eating now for almost two weeks. Many years ago I lost 90 pounds and kept if off for a while - but I never learned how to really change my eating as much as I should have. I would save my calories often for foods like bagles and just eat less - and I was always hungry, but I worked out at least two hours a day and that seemed to stave it off a little.

Now I have signed up with Fitday and have been putting in all of my foods and it is AMAZING to see how I tend to FUDGE towards foods that are not so good for me but still stay within my calorie allowance. The real eye opener is the section where I can see the percentage of vitamins I am getting each day---uh, what percentage?. So I am determined to add more fruits and vegatables and not feel as if I will die if I don't have some bread each meal - or if I don't have three weight watchers fudge bars (I realized that at least half of my calories were towards foods that were not helping me). How have you all dealt with letting go of those comfort foods?

Wow, i am the same way. I dont know what to tell you about giving up those comfort foods. It is amazing how little things that are condiemts add up so easily, like adding cheese and mayo to a sandwich. Or having a cookie here and a cookie there, even if they are sugar free, they still add up.

The only way i know of making this a lifelong thing is to have my splurge day once a week. That way i know on monday, when i am craving speghetti with meatballs that i can have it on friday. Therefore, i dont crave it as much. By friday that craving has moved on and i am craving something else.

But it is a struggle for me too about having the bread with each meal and a little something sweet after dinner. I dont know how to reprogram my brain about that one.

Well, I finally realized that those "comfort" foods, were not all .... so comfortable. The more I ate them, the more I wanted them. It was a horrible, vicious cycle. I HAD to end it. So I completely elminated the bread, cookies, cakes, pasta, sugary stuff, rice and the such. I wasn't satisfied with a measly little portion, so my solution was to get rid of it completely. That little portion just made me want more.

I also wanted to stay within a certain calorie allotment per day. But, I wanted to make them the most worthwhile calories that I could find. Full of vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber. You just can't do that with bagels and cookies. I also like VOLUME. Eating one little bagel for 250 or probably more calories was not satsifying to me. I'd be hungry again in no time at all. Eating a huge bowlful of veggies full of long lasting fiber, for 100 calories - IS. Same thing with protein. A 200 calorie chicken breast is both nutritious, AND filling. It's an unbeatable combination.

Bottomline, eating foods void of nutrition just doesn't work for me. Once I got rid of all that junk, I found my cravings for that said junk practically ceased. I needed to wrap my brain around the fact that I just couldn't possibly have it both ways. I couldn't eat junk AND lose weight (and then KEEP it off) at the same time. I feel as if I've sacrificed nothing, absolutely nothing by totally giving up the garbage. I am so much happier and healthier now and I feel tons better. I wish I would have figured this out years and years ago.

Good luck to you on your journey. It's so worthwhile and FUN.

I'm sorry - I don't mean to change the main thrust of the thread, but "FUN," Robin? I'm learning a lot about myself, and I find the journey incredibly rewarding, but I guess "FUN" is not an adjective I'd associate with weight loss. I guess when I exercise, I really enjoy it, but other than that, I'm very interested in what you're doing that's making it fun for you. Maybe then I wouldn't find myself struggling as often, and nine months from now, I'll be speaking from the "almost there" perspective.

Oh LaurieDawn, this is FUN. I'm having an absolute BLAST. I did this first and foremost for my health, without a doubt, but I tell you having people not recognize you, and compliment you constantly and go on and on and on, having people wanting to know how you did it, having neighbors tell me I'm the talk of the town - it's FUN. Shopping is incredibly, incredibly enjoyable. I have so much fun doing it. Having my husband praise me and find me irrestistable and call me new nicknames like slim and tiny - it's FUN. Going dancing, socializing, instead of dreading all those things, I now find them so much fun. I can go on and on (I do tend to do that sometimes ).

Funny enough, the thing that you say you enjoy, the exercise, I wish that were the case for me, but I don't really enjoy it all that much. I'm thrilled when it's OVER and I'm thrilled at the level that I've gotten to, but I really don't enjoy the actual DOING part. Oh well. And of course I love the results of the exercise.

This has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me and so very, very enjoyable.

Question Robin, how do you cut out all bread? Do you eat high fiber whole wheat once in awhile?

I look forward to your list of fun things!

I agree with you about fitday, seeing all the charts really help me.
How do I deal with not eating all the comfort foods? Like Robin said the more you eat them the more you crave them, now that I am not eating chips, cookies, ect.. I don't crave them. Now giving up pasta , at first, was difficult, I am part Italian, Pasta is part of my blood, but I have noticed not eating it every week has made me loose the craving for it. I have not eaten pasta in weeks and feel great. My stomach does not always feel full, and bloated, so I am ok without it. Once a week,usually, I will get a bar of dark chocolate, and eat it, or something I like, but it won't be junk food, or pizza, or bread. I don't eat much bread either, but am ok with it. I do eat protein bars, and that helps me with extra protein. So I deal with this a little at a time,and if, or when I slip up, I will just get back on this, and keep it up until all this extra weight is gone. cheryl

It was a difficult choice, I must tell you because I LOVE bread. The thing is I don't like soft wimpy 40 calorie bread. Or 70 calorie bread. So, no I don't eat whole wheat bread. I like hearty, crusty fattening bread. And that just didn't fit in with my plans for a healthy and fit ME. So, I decided the best thing to do was to give it up all together. Same thing with pasta. I love the stuff. In the old days I could easily have eaten 1/2 lb at a time. And like I said, I'm just not satisfied with a small portion and now I would rather eat more nutritious foods for my calories. They keep me satisfied longer.

It's all about tradeoffs. And choices. Although I gave up those yummy foods, I ADDED in many different yummy foods. That was really key for me, to find foods that I really, really love, just healthy ones in place of the yummy - not so healthy ones. . I don't really miss them either and I most certainly do not look at it as depriving myself. AT ALL. I hear people saying all the time that they don't want to deprive themselves, but you see I look at it as taking real good care of myself and treating myself and my body with foods that I know will benefit me. So, I have ZERO feelings of depravation. I am so very much enjoying this life that any things that I've given up are nothing, nothing compared to what I've gotten back.

I didn't give up all those foods. I certainly CHANGED a lot of them. I was always a carb queen: sourdough bread, mac and cheese, pasta, pasta, pasta.

I first changed my portions -- nothing like writing everything down. It seemed that I could control myself from going crazy with the carbs doing this, which was nice to know -- I always thought of myself as uncontrollable around these foods, but that is only occasionally the case.

Then I started making the foods healthier. I tried the whole grain breads and found I LOVED them! I tried Barilla plus pasta -- a winner! And brown rice is so nutty! I tried oatmeal, and steel cut oats instead of my regular cereal. I really do not usually miss my old standbys, because I love the new foods too!

So, I do eat these foods -- usually several whole grain servings a day. But I no longer eat them at every meal. I've been surprised by how satisfying chicken and grilled veggies can be! But when I am writing things down, I tend not to overeat on them.

Now, if I was willing to ban these foods, I might be even more successful! But I'm satisfied with how I'm doing, and this is therefore a reasonable compromise for me to make.

Experiment with what works for you. You may be like me and be able to have these foods around (ice cream, however, does not enter my house!)... or you may find that if you want to be successful you have to ban them. Everyone needs to figure out what works for them and their goals.

Thanks R and W! I am so tired of subway but we were going there because it is convenient. Guess I am going to have to plan ahead better.

I don't eat pasta normally, that's one good thing!

Not saying Atkins is the answer but when I was on it and being faithful I learned a LOT about what I craved and why. Those first few days on induction are a b!tch but once your system has flushed out the carbs you really do crave them less. I found a rhythm to times of day and times of month that my hunger level would change dramatically and I learned to push hard during the "not hungry" times and cut myself a little slack during the "starving" times. I also learned that cheating with simple sugar carbs had craving effects that lasted for days. Like every other diet I've been on I eventually crashed and burned but I did learn a lot about foods that fill me up (like veggies) and zero-nutrition foods I needed to kick to the curb.