One of the biggest problems I have is talking myself out of dieting, or talking myself into eating too much or something very unhealthy is by telling myself I need to enjoy life. It goes something like this:

After dinner DH has some ice cream and I have small (1/2 cup) serving. But I want more. I'm not overly stuffed and would like some MORE. I'd enjoy it. I tell myself no, and realize I'd be happier eating it. I then launch into a convincing argument on how I am not currently suffering from health issues from my weght, and many people go through life at my weight and I'm "ok" with it. (The rest of my desired weightloss is vainity weight, well was vanity weight until I gained back 10 pounds). I ask myself will I really be happy if I have to watch every morsel the rest of my life? And finally I end up eating another cup or more of ice cream...

It always sounds good in the moment, but I often regret it later. Ugh. Beside the weight is creeping back on. I'm 157. Not sure if my stats below reflect my current weight accurately.

I have this issue and I haven't gotten anywhere close to my goal... it's really an issue and I don't know how to fight that voice in my head!

No. lol.

Enjoying life for me is going outside for a run, visiting an animal shelter, cooking healthy food, taking time to take
care of my hair and skin, going out with friends, calling my mother.

Stuffing myself on unhealthy food only make me feel depressed, bloated and I always regret it afterward.

I love good food. I have room in my life for great food. The good news is that having more of something doesn't make it better. Really, really enjoying great foods doesn't mean stuffing to pain thresholds. Slow eating with focus magnifies the quality!

Yes. This is one big reason I have hovered around 13-15% BF when I really want to hover around 8-9%.

I understand what your saying I think.
This month has been a hard one for unknown reason's. Although I have stuck to my plan I have been asking myself things like

When do I get to start living my life to?
When will I not have to let food dictate my life?
Why does everyone else seem to get to eat whatever they want and enjoy it while I am stuck at home eating asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower?
I am only 21, this is not fair, I want to live life to

All these are pretty negative things to think and I think I am getting very resentful of watching my friends eat whatever they want. They don't seem to have any guilt or apprehensiveness about eating the whole bag of cheesies. I wish I could say I was not jealous of them, but in all truth I am. I am faced with watching my boyfriend eat, eat and eat some more every single night. He is not eating healthy either, I constantly here this "MMMMM baby, do you know what I want? *Insert name of unhealthy food here*". I watch him devour 2 bowls of cinnamon toast crunch, 2 pieces of bread with a huge helping of Jam, A bag on noodle soup and whatever leftover were from dinner. All without a second thought. Even worse, the scale stays the same for him.

If/when I lose control while I rationalize it to something like "It's not fair, I want to enjoy my existence to" and have a bowl of cereal that I shouldn't my weight JUMPS up 2lbs or more. Frustrating to say the least. I wish I could be like Magalo and find more pleasure in running or cooking a nice healthy meal but so far I have not been able to change that way of thinking, even though I have been trying for months!

Thinking this way contributes to all of my weight gains. I'm now trying to change the way that I do things so that I don't feel so restricted. I have a few friends who are "naturally" very thin. I started to notice that even though they would eat these ridiculously bad meals and snacks, over time their meals would balance out. For example, I used to work with a thin friend who would come in for an 11 AM to 8 PM shift and would eat around 850 calories worth of chips, candy, and soda. Then, for lunch she'd have a high calorie frozen dinner. One day I was joking with her about it, and she told me that she considered it her dinner (it was round 5 PM) and would go to bed shortly after getting home from work. Since she didn't eat breakfast before work (hence, the high calorie snack), she would only consume around 1500-1600 calories on a day like that. She also liked to walk on a treadmill or do Zumba several times a week. Even though she ate a lot during the day, she consistently avoided evening snacking. As a result, she consumed a normal amount of calories and burned them off during the day while she was expending energy. I'm trying to adopt this kind of mentality. I think we need to know what we are eating, and try to make healthy choices. If we do eat an unhealthy food, we can offset it.

No.
I used to have that mindset. I've now realized that I can enjoy food without it being the center of my life. I just had a guilt-free cupcake (because I'm on WW and am able to do that)
It's all about moderation and lifestyle changes.

I agree with Magalo. Enjoying life for me is riding my bicycle, spending time with my boyfriend, going to the drive-in theater on a warm spring night, photographing anything and everything I can get my hands on!

You just have to change your mindset about food, which can be an incredibly hard thing to do, but it's so worth it in the end!

NOBODY can eat what WE would like to eat and not gain weight. Lots of people can eat what THEY want and not gain -- because they don't want to eat as much as we do. We may see them piling food on their plate, but they often skip meals or eat light several days in a row.

Freelance

I think that way once in awhile. That's how I became overweight.
It's a way of thinking that leads to disaster.

Fat people want to enjoy life by stuffing.

Skinny people enjoy life by looking good, by being fit and active, by watching what they eat.

I had to change my way of thinking.

Now I eat like a skinny person. And the weight is coming off.

I definitely have fallen into that way of thinking, and I think it's part of the reason for my past failures. Sometimes trying to change your eating habits is hard to adjust to and you can feel miserable and deprived at times. So I'm trying a new approach this time. I'm learning to cook healthy food that I love as much as my old food, no matter how many different recipes I'm going to have to try to find the good ones. And if I really want something, I will budget into my calories, just not all the time, but everyone now and then. I'm also trying to see food as nutrients and something to enjoy while it's there, but not have it be on my mind all the time. I think it's possible to enjoy food and still be thin and healthy, and hopefully that's something we can all discover and learn on our journey!

A 3FC member who said she was an addictions counselor compared this internal "voice" and the things it says to the voice that tells drug addicts to use. She said something like, That voice doesn't care what happens to you--it doesn't care if you become morbidly obese, develop diabetes and high blood pressure, need bypass surgery, or can no longer walk--it just wants you to eat that food.

The messages that try to get you there are bogus. If you have had half a cup of ice cream, you do not need any more. Stopping at half a cup isn't "watching every morsel the rest of your life"--it's simply setting a limit and being satisfied with it.

Jay

I, too, have felt that way in the past, and it led me to regain about 70 pounds. I am here to tell you that it's not worth it.

I've finally come to grips with the fact that I can't eat whatever I want and still feel and look the way I want. Life is full of choices, and the choice I make is my health. These days I'm enjoying life by having the energy to live it. I enjoy fresh, healthy food, I enjoy pushing myself to improve my fitness and see what my body is capable of, and I enjoy not feeling bad about myself because I can't control my sugar and carb cravings.

It's a pretty good feeling! Better than even the half cup of ice cream. If that size serving isn't working for you, I'd give it up entirely. JayEll's right; there's a reason half a cup is a serving size. It's not deprivation, it's what our bodies can handle.

Yes, yes, yes!!! That way of thinking is the main reason for my past re-gains.

One thing that has helped is the now famous saying from this board: "Being fat is hard. Losing is hard. Maintaining is hard. Choose your hard." I think of that because when I would re-gain and get fat again, I would definitely not be enjoying most aspects of life. I would give up on looking good and settle for just looking presentable and wearing clothes that I thought would hide my fat rolls. I would cry in dressing rooms. I would actually dread the advent of summer because I would have to wear clothes that revealed more and I knew I would look just awful.

So, I've logically accepted that I just do not enjoy life when I'm fat. However, I am not to the point that apparently some here are at where I no longer associate food with life enjoyment. Sorry---but I still do. I love food. Even if I logically want to change that attitude, I can't seem to just switch it off. It's almost like it's instinctive for me to associate food with enjoyment. Although I think that the degree to which I do that is higher than "naturally" thin people, I don't think it's abnormal to actually have some association between food and life enjoyment. Traditionally, food has always been associated with life enjoyment. Food is always a significant part of all major celebrations, regardless of culture. The trick is finding that sweet spot between enjoying food while also maintaining a healthy weight. That's the tough part for someone like me.

This is, unfortunately, what I've had to do for some foods that I just cannot seem to eat in moderation. Right now, I'm going through a particularly weak period, so I've cleaned out my cabinets and refrigerator of all tempting foods (and this is not just junk---it's apricot jam, honey mustard, etc.).