I thought we had better start a new thread cos the old one was getting a bit long.

About climbing on the scales.... I weigh myself each morning - but I only actually write it down once a week - just so that I can see the difference.

Perhaps we need to talk about tips for ways of preventing ourselves from eating the stuff that we shouldn't be munching. I would love to hear tips from you all about how you can keep up your diets in the face of sweeties, chocolate bars, cheese, takeaways and all the other normal type foods that families have in their homes. I am really struggliing with this. How do you cope when your partners or kids are eating things that you crave to eat??

The original girls - Veggie, Ali and Delaney might remember that m husband has put signs up on the fridge and various kitchen cupboards with DON'T written in huge letters and I have got a screensaver with it written on and it kind of swirls and dances around so I am reminded all the time. Has anyone else got any good ideas???

I really admire anyone who can have stuff in the house and just not eat it. At the moment I am pretty much in control but I really can do without having goodies in!! I have a 6 year old son so we have biscuits in and so far I am able to say no to them, I am not so good with crisps, tortilla chips,pringles etc. There is no way I can live with a bag of fun size chocolates either!!

I try not to deprive him of anything but as his Dad and myself have always had problems with our weight we try to get him to keep to a healthy diet, we are lucky he loves fruit and veg!!

Husband is on the healthy eating plan too, he lost almost 12 stone many years ago but has gained about 5 stone so it is back to the old routine.

i am lucky that he understands about weight loss/gain etc and we do try to help each other ...at the moment............when we are good we are very very good but when we are bad we are gannets!!

Sarah - I too climb on the scales every morning but only take a "true" weight on Tuesday mornings.

I haven't done as well this week, with Dave being away I've tended to nibble a bit more here and there - not feeling to good about the whole diet thing this week

With regard to stopping myself eating the goodies we have in for the kids, I just say to myself "nothing can taste as good as being a size 14 will feel" I know it's a corny line but it works for me. I buy tons of chewing gum (low sugar) and I'm constantly blowing bubbles much to Dave's disgust and I've also been known to clean my teeth - that always helps me stop eating. But the new one for me which is really working is diet coke - I drink about 3 cans a day and it really fills me up. I actually saw a woman on Jerry Springer about a year ago who lost about 8 stone by eating popcorn and diet coke!!!!!

I also have a photo of myself in the kitchen (not out on display, just somewhere I can get it easily) of me in about 1988/89 on holiday in Corfu - lying on the beach all thin - that really gives me a kick up the bum!!

TQ - it's great that your husband understands about all this weight loss - he must have really worked hard to lose 12 stones.

Better go - it's really late. Stay good.

Oh Diet Coke and sparkling mineral water used to help me so much! i used to fine they really helped unfortunately for me I have had to stop having any caffeine and fizzy drinks. I have managed to go without for a year now but it has been hard. I really miss my black coffee especially in the mornings!
i sneak in the odd coke every now and again though.
My other half drinks gallons of pepsi max each week!!

TQ - why did you stop with the caffeine - is there something I should know? I drink 1 cup of coffee a day and, several cups of tea, 3 cans of coke and the rest is fresh juice and diuted juice.

I've just been watching Kilroy - it's been about obesity ruining health - I think it was fate that I turned the tv on, I don't usually do that in the daytime. It really spured me on. One woman was saying that the NHS should treat people who are obese (I think she was talking about people who weigh over 20 odd stones) like they do anorexic people 'cause it's all to do with eating disorders, it was really interesting - one woman has lost 5 stone in 8 weeks by having a gastric bypass. I'm not sure if I could go through such evasive surgery, but she seems happy.

As I'm on my own this week my parents dropped by late yesterday afternoon (my mum thinks I can't cope on my own) they live quite a drive away so it was a big surprise. We ended up cooking a huge chicken, stuffing, mashed pots with butter and full fat milk loads of veg, wine and strudel and custard for pudding, it was delicious but I felt a bit guilty when I went to bed last night. I'm back on track today though

I've changed my diet club to Tuesday and a few of my friends have all signed up to come too - quite looking forward to it now, plus, because I'm going to get weighed on a Tuesday instead of Monday I have the chance to get rid of the weekend binge

See you later.

Gosh - I hope your parents don't come over too often, Delaney!!!!!

I agree with the thing on Kilroy which said overweight people have got an eating disorder. I think anyone who eats too much on a regular basis has got an eating disorder - eating to much shows that we have got an abnormal relationship with food. I know for a fact that to me food represents a display of love and when I cook and people don't eat it ALL, I sometimes feel like they are throwing my love right back at me - especially if I have taken a long time preparing it. I am trying very hard to get over this because it does seem so silly, but I do love to see clean plates..... I remember as a kid being told that 'if you are a good girl I will buy you a cream cake/icecrea/hot dog'. I also just remembered something else - when my Mother smacked me or told me off she would feel often feel guilty and then buy me some sweets. Looking back all the good times were associated with food one way or another and in the bad times I comforted myself with food. God - no wonder I have got problems with it.

I don't like to have food and drinks with caffeine in either - nor does DH. It gives him headaches and stops me from sleeping. Over Christmas when I had a lot of chocolate (which has got caffeine in) I was sleeping very badly and when I don't sleep properly I find I just don't have any will power at all and I think that contributed to my weight gain.

Same with booze - I really love red wine - one glass is OK but any more - evn if I manage to fit it in to my calories and somehow it seems to just steamroller my willpower and I end up picking and nibbling.

Hello all

Diet coke and water is what I live on occasionaly tea I am not giving up caffeine cutting down on food is one thing oh and alcohol of course have to have something left most of my family live on tea I'm not as bad as that thankfully.

My problem is probably that my mam loves food and has just passed this on to her children she always cooked large meals she still cooks the same size meals for her and my dad that she used to cook for 6 just about anyway.

12 stone is fantastic weight loss for your hub Tup...so he has put "a bit" back on he has kept the rest of!!

I just weigh on mondays thats the only true weight as far as I am concerned once a week same scales...ok I sneak a look during the week but try to ignore what it says!!

I think different people react to caffeine in different ways. Vicki (daughter) can drink any sort of drink and then sleep fine afterwards. The only time she felt a caffeine buzz was when she was working in Starbucks and, as part of their training, they have to try all the different flavour coffees and make comparisons. Not being a coffee drinker Vicki had a huge amount of trouble with this (all she could taste was the bitterness of the coffee) and was told she had to go and sit at a table alone and practice. She said that she drank the equivalent of 6 mugs of strong black coffee within an hour and felt really strange for a couple of hours after.

I'm the same as your Mum, Veggie, I cook huge dinners as well. It must be very hard for you to persuade your Mum to do you smaller portions. Nowadays I still cook huge dinners but I always make them very low fat, with small amounts of meat and filling up the plate with lots and lots of vegetables. I can't ever do what some people can do and have, say, a McDonalds burger at lunchtime and have something light later on - I still need to feel completely full up at least once a day.

She doesn't cook for me being veggie but my sister is invited round a lot to polish off large chunks of meat feel sick again

I had to cut out caffeine because I have had major problems gynae and otherwise since the birth of my son, my bowel /analcanal was damaged during a birth trauma and I have been having a few problems to say the least!

(hope no one is offended by this post!!))

I had 2 major ops last September and am doing fine now

i had symptoms similar to IBS and cutting out caffeine along with physio was the first thing I had to do. i found it very hard especially trying to lose weight, giving up coffee and coke and sparkling drinks just seems like torture, especially when counting calories!!

I felt like I had a permanent hangover for 3 weeks when I gave up the coffee, I still really miss it. I was told after the op that I could have a cup each day but I haven't. I have kicked the habit and I am an all or nowt type of person so I don't want to have just one, it would never work!!

I still sneak in an options choc drink now and again but I am up all night with my bladder if I do

I still eat the occasional bar of chocolate too

Hi everyone


just a flying visit. I'm on my lunch hour and had to pop home to grab some lunch, I was still half asleep when I left for work this morning I didn't think to take a sandwich with me. but at least forgetting it gave me chance to dive to the gym for half a session, I will go on my way home and do the other half.

Weigh in was a good one for me again this week. another 3lbs gone
That now means I have lost 9 stone 1 lb
So I am really happy today. can't wait to see the scales tell me a loss of 10 stone, that is going to be my next mini goal

Well better run
have a good day everyone

Ali

Oh well done Ali! You are really getting there! that 10 st marker will be here before ypou know it. My 4 1/2 lb loss has really spurred me on this week, where there's a will there's a way..I have to find myself a Will

Luckily Sarah my parents don't come over to often at all. I usually go there so I can leave when I've had enough abuse!!!

Call me "thick" if you like but I never knew you could get addicted to caffeine - alright I admit I've heard people say it but I didn't think they meant it I've never suffered from having a hot choc/coffee before bed, infact I have 1 coffee a day (not too keen on it) and I like it before I go to bed!!!

Sorry to hear of your troubles TQ - after having a baby the last thing you need is to not be 100% fit.

I've had IBS now since we moved to Scotland (since come back) in 1996, I thought I had cancer or something and was really scared to go to the drs - after about a year!!!! I finally went and I was diagnosed with IBS. It's pretty horrid but I don't think my symptoms are as bad as some peoples. But I have to say since being on this sensible eating plan since Jan 2nd I've had no symptoms at all. ANOTHER reason to stick to it

Veggie - my mum is the exact opposite to your mum, she never makes enough - we're always starving and you get a tiny dollop of mash or 1 slice of meat - then again she does have her own eating disorder to deal with.

Sarah - when I went to the eating disorders clinic last summer we discussed using food as a substitute for love, from what I was told I think that is the most common cause of being overweight and making too much food when you're older. I don't think that's where my problems come from though, mine come from boredom. I was left a lot as a teenager whilst my parents went out a lot, my brother had friends in our tiny village but as I went to school about 15 miles away so were my friends - I remember sitting at home most of Saturday and again on Sunday and eating everything in the house I could get my hands on. I remember walking to the corner shop and buying 5 bars of choc and polishing them off on the walk back home. Miserable time. But everythings OK now

Gosh, I've ranted on a lot today, sorry. See you later.

TQ - Will Smith will do for me - phwooooooor

Delaney - will this picture of Will do???

Hmmmmm!!! I see what you mean!