Hi! I've been struggling this last month with staying on track. A typical day has me being very good until I get home in the afternoon, and then I start to lose my willpower to stick with the program/measure portions/etc. (Forget weekends. I almost always just give up :-()Emotional eating is the big problem (bored, tired, procrastinating, happy, whatever! :-Z), so I've been thinking about strategies to employ to get serious about the program. Any thoughts? Going back to the WW tools for living, I thought about using an anchor first, followed by visualization of what it would feel like to be at goal, followed by "doing something." I'm not sure what (journaling, etc...) I'm thinking of the times when I find myself standing at the fridge -- not really hungry, but wanting to eat.

I'd love to hear how everyone else gets past the rocky points in their days (a low pt. snack, an activity, tool for living, whatever).
Holly

I know how hard it is to stay on track. Go easy on yourself because NOBODY even your leaders and Sarah Ferguson, the weight watcher poster girl, can be faithful to the program ALL the time. It's all about balance.

So don't beat yourself up or throw away the day in teh afternoon when you may start feeling you've blown it because you start to overeat, or ate something you're now wishing you hadn't.

Read the boards, I find they help inspire me as does some of the back issues of Weight watchers mags.

I also try to get out of the house, away from the kitchen etc. Course I don't take any money with me given the number of bakeries, restaurants, cafe's and convenience stores on my street

Some people also suggest working out, phoning a friend etc.

I also try on clothes that didn't fit or were to tight awhile ago to track my progress or list reasons why I need to stay on program
(the cute summer clothes are coming out, family and friends coming for easter, going on a trip where boyfriend and I want to go in whirlpool and want to look good, if I stay on track will have lost the weight and hit my goal five months before my birthday etc)
And heck, if the craving is that bad, have it. A small portion of it but have some of it and throw the rest of it out or give it to a friend. After eating some potato chips, I give the rest to my boyfriend who annoyingly can eat anything and stay thin. MEN

hope this helps. And I have you to thank as well because writing this to you stopped me from eating more cookies

Take care! And good luck

My leader covered something very much like this at our last mtg.
It goes like this: What do I want to achieve? What are the obstacles in my way? What options (list as many as you can, but aim for ten) can I use to go around the obstacle, eliminate the obstacle, or ignore the obstacle? It boils down to "If I always do what I always did, I'll always get what I always got."
The options around our obstacles, (emotional eating--rent a good movie, boredom--call a friend, boredom--get outside for a walk, etc.) can give us a new way of tackling life without eating extra food when we're not hungry and can help us lose weight.

I thought this was terrific, and I hope it helps a little.

Hi Holly,

I think everyone is right about this happening to us all. I am the same as you are. I tend to love my dinner, and snacks in the evening. Whether it is because I enjoy my food when I have time to relax or whatever, that is the way I am.

To accommodate this, I am very stingy with my WW points during the day. I try to eat as many 0 point things in my breakfast and lunch as I possibly can, then I have points left at the end of the day to enjoy. I have mentally convinced myself that using up the rest of my points during the evening is my treat for being good during the day. I guess it's the psychological trick for me.

Honestly, the first 3 or 4 months were difficult. However, I have my schedule worked out now so that I get to the end of the day, still have 5 or 6 points left to hit the minimum, so, darn it, I just have to have those cookies before I go to bed. LOL.

I agree with weekends. I had a great deal of difficulty adjusting to being around the family all day, making them substantial meals and not joining in. Then there is the Sunday dinner. They were really difficult and I don't think I have mastered them yet, but I am still trying. I find that if I drink a bottle of water (I like the flavored waters because they satisfy my sweet tooth) before I indulge, I don't have the desire to eat all the fattening and sweet things that are around on the weekends. I am now trying to have a plan ahead of time to manage the weekends, so if I deviate, it is now getting easier to still stay within the confines of my program.

I think that you are very smart to realize that you have problems at certain times of the day, and on weekends. That will help you to prepare in advance, and recognize the feelings when you are facing them.

One of the other things that people are doing is to start counting their points with the evening meal the night before. So, instead of getting up in the morning to a fresh day, the day starts the night before. If you eat a bit excessively during the evening meal, or snack during the evening, you have breakfast and lunch the next day to cut back. This way you are not faced with being over points at the end of each day. I haven't tried this because I started out being stingy during the day, which really works out to the same thing.

Hope everything goes well and that you are able to manage the times that are hardest for you. Take care and good luck.

Exercise can help. It's distracting, and in my opinion helps regulate my appetite. On days that I exercise, I tend to eat better.

Hi,

My best tools are my two journals. I discovered that if I write down what I eat, whether or not it's within my point range, I make better decisions overall. I still mess up, sometimes, because no one is perfect. But I tend to get back on track faster and I tend to eat less when I slip if I know I'm going to write it down and have it staring me in the face when I look at my journal. I use a hardbound blank book with enough pages for the whole year.

My other journal is one I write in every morning. I just write about what's going on in my life. Just that has helped because I'm dealing with life better, rather than eating instead of dealing with life. (If that makes sense.) But if I'm having an issue with wanting to eat during the day, I take it out and write an extra entry about what's going on. Sometimes writing about it helps to keep me from overeating. Sometimes it just helps me to figure out what to do so I don't react by eating the next time a similar situation comes up.

Anyway, those are my best tools for helping me to stay on track.

Lin

I had pretty much the same problem. Getting home in the afternoon and, just wanting anything to eat. Tha'ts when I found the thread. I finally found something that works. Check it out. So far it works great for me. My day begins @ around 4-5 pm I start by counting the points from whatever snack I have when I get home then my evening meal, so that if I over do it a bit in the evening I can cut back a bit on breakfast and lunch. and, just drink lots more water. Its easier for me to be a little hungry in the daytime if I'm hungry at night I can't sleep. I usually keep 0 pt veggies with me at work and, that helps a lot. I find that having a low point lunch is easier than a low point supper.

Hello everyone... One tactic I started using right from the beginning of my WW journey was to re-portion everything to make it easier for myself when I did feel like having snacks. I'd buy a box of crackers, cookies, bag of chips, pretzels, etc... then take them home and put individual servings into the snack size zip lock bags. Then I'd write on the bag how many points it was.

That way, whenever I'd come into the house hungry or late at night and was just dying for something to eat, I could just reach into my little snack box in the pantry and pull out one or two servings - the alterative was always opening a bag or box of goodies and eating until it was empty. This little bit of preplanning and preparation helps to aliviate the mindless munching I'd otherwise be doing.

Christine