OK, last month I had a mammoth success with a 7 pound weight loss. I have been doing the same diet-y things since then ~ will go up and down many times, but it averages out to nothing.

Have been eating mostly veggies most of the time. Water. Exercise. The works.

So anyway, there I was tonight, cooking Hamburger Helper for my family. They came out with a new line. (I never cook that stuff, but was tonight). Breaded chicken with fake mashed potatoes. I made spinach on the side. I myself was going to mostly have spinach........

.......and then the Thought came All At Once: "Screw this! I like myself just the way I am! If I simply eat crap in moderation, not only will I be the best looking 190 lb. size 12 chick I can be, but I bet I'll lose weight by eating crap in moderation and get down to a foxy 160 lb. size 10! By eating junk in moderation."

It was like an Alien Implant. A complete 180 degrees from what I had just been thinking.

Anyone else have this? Was it the smell of Hamburger Helper? OMG. Help me through this?

Well, I say YAY for the liking yourself just the way you are -- that is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

And there is nothing wrong with moderation in all things if that can work for you -- and it does work for many, many people.

I'd encourage you to keep up all the good "diet-y" stuff, too, because veggies and water and exercise are generally great, so continue them in moderation also!

I will admit that I can't do "junk in moderation", and that it was a hard lesson for me to learn, but you already know what your fall back plan is if you find that trying to keep the "junk" is making your efforts harder.

You are in charge, you can do it any way you want. And you can change it up and experiment all you want!

So GO YOU!

This summer I said, while dropping my kids off at day camp every day: "I'll just have lunch at the snack bar in moderation." I gained more than ten pounds!! So you see, I am scared of moderation, even if it's Real Food.

You say it "averages out to nothing" but that's not true. I myself just had a massive 5 pound whoosh after "nothing" this month at all. I knew it would come and it did. Now it will be a long time till I see a new number again I'm sure.

I hope I don't have a major 180 degree turn from my thinking that got turned on like a light switch because that's how I got 25 pounds down. 10 more, I'm no longer obese. 30 more, I'm no longer overweight. Yeah, I want it to happen sooner but it'll happen.

Inkrid, stay strong, keeping off the weight you lost the previous month is an accomplishment. That alien you speak of visits us all I think. That's where this quote may have come from, Losing weight is hard. Maintaining weight is hard. Staying overweight is hard. Choose your hard. It's hard but so worth it, you know that already or you wouldn't be asking for help

I found a couple quotes that might be motivating.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Best of luck to you

If you're in to quotes you might like this link http://aslimmerme.webs.com/somemeaningfulquotes.htm

Thank you all! I like the quote, "Everything in moderation, including moderation". What happens to me is, I am a classic introvert, yet I don't live in a cave. I am surrounded by family, friends, neighbors and events ~ often with food attached to them.

So for instance, this week I'm doing the classic Cabbage (Vegetable for me) Soup Diet. But before anyone yells at me for how unhealthy that is, keep in mind that socially I have to have Real Food put in front of my face on a regular or irregular basis!

It's almost like I need a super-strict diet to counter-act the culture that surrounds me. i.e. today I was stuck at a restaurant. You have to eat something. What do you do?? You order the best of the bad, and then say, "Well, back to the Veggie Soup!"

I just want to look foxy again and not have to think about this food intake stuff.

Inkrid, my diet might work for you. It's a low-carb diet, except it has one cheat day every week when you can eat whatever you want. You would get the strict part you think you need by going low-carb for 6 days and you could schedule the cheat day each week for the day you know you are going out socially. For example, I usually make Saturdays my cheat days, but since I am having a get-together with friends tomorrow night, I am substituting tomorrow for my Saturday cheat day. And then next week, I'll be substituting Christmas Day for my Saturday cheat day. It works out really well. And even on those non-cheat days when my hubby and I happen to go out to eat, I still have so much food to choose from because I'm not limiting calories or eating specialized meals. I'm just avoiding quick-burning carbs. I can have meat, seafood, non-starchy veggies, and more. It's not for everyone, but it seems like a better alternative than resorting to the Cabbage Soup Diet and it might be worth a try. If you'd like to learn more, here's a link to a 3FC thread about it: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/othe...carb-diet.html.

Well... if you're into hamburger helper, I have a homemade recipe you might like. I keep the "mix" in the fridge. Then, when I get in the mood for it, I make the mix with ground beef and cauliflower instead of noodles.

SINGLE RECIPE (for one meal)

2 Tbls Powdered Instant Milk
2 tsp Potato Starch
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Dried Parsley

Cook and drain ground beef. Add veggies. (I like cauliflower because it's sturdy and holds up well. And *almost* replaces noodles.) Stir fry a bit. Add one cup water and the mix above. Simmer until thickened.

For a bulk a mix, make this:
3/4 cup Powdered Instant Milk
1/4 cup Potato Starch
1/4 cup Paprika
2 tablespoons Onion Powder
2 tablespoons Garlic Powder
2 tablespoons Salt
1/4 cup Dried Parsley

Keep in fridge in jar. To use, 5 tablespoons equals enough to make one meal (with the added 1 cup water to the beef/veg).

Hi Jacqui D,

When I go low carb I'll lose 15 lbs. and stall. With this ~ I'm assuming the cheat day jump starts your metabolism? Do you have to do the four hour thing?

Basically I am discouraged and can see myself getting lazy. Want something doable so that I don't have to think.

But I will look into this.

Thanks banananutmuffin!

Inkrid, no, I don't do the four-hour thing. I've modified the diet to work for me. I knew I wouldn't stick to eating every four hours, so there was no point in trying to make that time frame a part of my plan. The more that Slow Carb thread goes on, the more I describe exactly what I'm doing. In fact, everyone on there is doing something a little different, lol! But we are each doing what we feel works best for us, while keeping some or many aspects of the original Slow Carb Diet. As for stalling after 15 lbs, I believe in the theory of set points, certain weights at which your body naturally likes to settle (although I know many dieters don't), and twice since I've started this diet, I've hit one (lb #197 and lb #177) and gone in circles around it for about 4 weeks, and then I continued to lose weight. Because I believe that stall is your body's way of working past a set point, I have no problem waiting it out. Now a plateau, which lasts for months (plural), might freak me out a little, lol! And yes, the cheat day is supposed to help shake up your metabolism so that you don't plateau. We'll see!

Funny, we had our holiday lunch at work yesterday so were talking about "everything in moderation, including moderation" the guy I mainly work with is very fit, he eats a variant of the same thing at work everyday, oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch, s few snacks during the day, usually some kind of nuts and a v8 (low sodium) they're good during the week and travel around and enjoy food, etc. on the weekends. He walks religiously every day at lunchtime.

Not sure why I went into all that...oh yeah, it goes to Jacqui's mention of the cheat day and Inkrid's mentioning not wanting to think too hard about what to eat. It just shows that a simple plan with planned "cheats" can work. I think Jacqui's plan might work well for you Inkrid, modified for yourself of course, you probably have a good idea of the quick burning carbs to avoid and would be able to still eat your veg. We use a "treat" on the weekend rather than "cheat" day. It helps knowing if I want some chocolate during the week it's not gone to me forever, I can have it on another day.

Christmas Day is definitely going to be a "cheat" day, though

Best of luck to you, I'm going to check out the slow carb thread, too.

What do you guys also think about Intuitive Eating? i.e. eat only when you get hungry (stomach growling?), then eating what you want, then eating again when hungry?

I would only ever do intuitive eating if my intuition wasn't "off" and inclined towards junk food or high quantities of any food at all hours, all times. My intuition is to go for high quantities of all food and to let myself get fat cause its easy to eat in abundance where I am. I'd follow my intuition if I were like a caveman and I only get these treats after hunting vs the convenience store.

I like to live by "moderation is relative" I'm stricter than others but its all second nature to me. If it weren't, I would rethink of what I am doing, but so far, I'm pretty chillax doing intermittent fasting, cal counting and Paleo simultaneously.

I do IE with a few "rules" but I'm maintaining, not losing - my body intuitively wants a little more than it takes to maintain my preferred weight, and I have to be careful what I feed it because its intuition can shift easily toward MOOOOAAARRRR SSSSUUUGGAARRRR.