At the beginning of the week, I decided to kick my weight loss into full swing again. I have been doing VERY good this week and I feel great about my progress.

AND THEN

My work is ALWAYS stocked with amazing food so I am pretty immuned to people bringing in "goodies." However, one of my favorite sales reps came back from vacation and brought this pecan covered pull-apart bread thing. I saw it there and I immediately thought, well, that's the end of my good streak. And then I tried to talk myself out of that mindset, no, no, you can have a piece and still be on plan. Which could be true except I know that sweet bread is a trigger food for me. I decided to wait until the afternoon for the bread and ate my normal (healthy) breakfast. Once there was something in my stomach, things became clearer.

I realized that as soon as I saw the bread, I admitted failure.

WHOA. WHOA!

Before it has even passed my lips, I have lost?!? This does not sound like ME.

But how many times has this happened to us?
Oh, there's birthday cake. Guess I am going off plan now.
Suzy's party is on Saturday. I'm doomed.
I'm out too late. Guess I'll be too tired to go to the gym.
This is my favorite restaurant. I won't be on plan for a week after this!
They ordered wine with dinner? Better not weigh myself tomorrow.

So I have decided to put out a preemptive strike on negative, self-defeating thoughts. I am not going to have that bread. I'm just not going to do it.

So, what is YOUR negative self-defeating thought that you're going to eliminate today?

Jessica - this is *so* timely for me.

I posted in another thread yesterday about a situation I'm dealing with, with a negative friend that's been affecting me.

Today when I got up I made a promise to myself that I would be 100% positive today. I would not gripe, complain, whine, or think negative thoughts. I would smile and be happy to everyone.

It's a little after noon and I have kept myself happy and motivated all morning. It's taken some conscious effort a couple of times and I've caught myself before something negative left my lips .. so I'm on track.

Focusing on the positive is hard when you've been used to looking at the negative. So good for you! We can both do it today!

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Oh my goodness! First of all thanks for posting, Jessica! Secondly, way to go on defeating that negative thought!!!!

Let me see... a negative thought I'm working on defeating myself... TV eating. Huge problem of mine. I am very used to eating in front of the TV. And it does me no good. So lately, I've had to try very hard when I'm watching TV to recognize that I'm not really hungry. It's as though I see the TV and I think "Food time! Wahooo I can go cahrazy!" So. Yeah. Working on that.

What a great topic! For me, as soon as my youngest goes to bed, my brain clicks and I think "time for snacking!". It's embarassing what I can consume in an hour. I bring all my snacks upstairs to my room, and just eat mindlessly and watch TV.

I'm not sure what it is. A combination of loneliness (recent divorce) and habit.

So the negative that I am going to work on for today is: my daughter's bedtime does not necessarily signal hunger!

Thank you for making me realize this.

Jessica,

I read your post earlier today but little did I know it'd save me later on! So I've been having an on/off craving for about a week. Not a particularly bad craving but just an unnecessary one and one that I know I won't be happy when its fulfilled. This afternoon, I admitted defeat to the craving and was going to give into it. Then I thought 'wait a second, who is in charge here?'. I had bargained with myself to try to fulfill the craving but in the end, I put my mental foot down and said no. Maybe I can fulfill the craving next week if its still there but this week, it will go unfulfilled.

Avi - can you make your bedroom a snack free zone?

After my hubby and I split, I completely redid my bedroom. I didn't have a whole lot of money, but I went out and bought a new set of sheets from Bed Bath & Beyond (20% off coupon, doncha know!), moved some furniture around, put flowers on my bedside table, etc. I just prettied it up and made the room mine.

And one of the things I did was make it a snack free zone. I can drink whatever I want in my room - water, soda, wine, etc. - but I cannot bring food up there any more. Food only gets eaten downstairs.

Another thing I did (although you may not be willing to go this far! ) is I removed the TV from my bedroom. I will NOT watch TV in my bed. If I want to watch TV, I have to go downstairs.

Now, that said, my computer is also in my room, and I have a large monitor and I can watch movies, and downloaded shows on my computer or on my laptop if I want. But no actual, real, live TV.

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I've never had a TV in my bedroom other than living with my parents. My parents actually thought it was weird that I didn't have a tv in the bedorom. I also have a strong aversion to eating in the bedroom. I just think its weird. I'll drink water but also think drinking anything but water is weird.

I've always hated having TV in the bedroom. Always. We had one there briefly when we moved to the new townhouse, but I hated it. So I was really glad to have it removed.

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I tell myself every morning when I plan out my daily menu that "I WILL have an ON PLAN day, no exceptions", its become my mantra. Doesn't *always* work out but I'm usually within 100-200 calroies of my goal for the day as long as I repeat that mantra...especially when faced with something like free bagles and cream cheese in the break room, or family dinners at Grandma's house.

This is mostly only true when I have a food journal, writing down every item that passes my lips (which really doesn't work for me.) For me it's like an avalanche-one indulgence, no matter how small and I would just give in to every indulgence, thinking I've already blown it for the whole day! Sometimes I have to think-it's not one day at a time, but one moment at a time-each moment is a new opportunity for success, not an opportunity for failure.

My negative self defeating talk is that calorie counting and exercising works for everyone else but won't work for me. My body is unique and difficult and it takes some magic combination of food and exercise to see nirvana..ie, weight loss. Typically, I'll throw in the towel around on-plan day 3 and put any weight loss efforts on hold until I find my magic.

This time, I won't quit. I'll keep counting calories and exercising and give this an honest shot for at least two weeks. Then, if the "magic" doesn't happen, I'll keep looking.

Wow Jessica! Great thread and great job on your part!

So funny because I never have a problem taking charge of projects at work and am never intimidated by anyone no matter how high up the corporate ladder they are; but sometimes taking charge of myself an my habits is so intimidating it sends me cringing into the corner.

I've been letting myself slack off in the exercise department. I'm still there but not putting my full effort into it because I have a slight injury and "I might" bump my owie. I sprained my ankle - not my abs, or elbows so there is no reason to limp through crunches or push-ups. Thanks for pointing out to me that just because I might have to play catch up in a few areas doesn't mean I have to let ALL the work I've done go to pot.