As I've been struggling this week I've noticed some of my 'lapse' warning signs tripping off and started wondering if there may be more that I'm missing. There are the obvious too many calories in the log, and later of course tight clothes. But I guess I'm thinking more intermediate, a bigger deal than a one day indiscretion, but before any real damage sets in. So far I've noticed that:

1) My grocery bill was high this week.
2) Kind of indelicate, but, more problems with intestinal gas.
3) Watching a lot of TV

These are sort of my signs of mid-slip and an indication I need to get back to work, but signs a slip might be coming could also be useful to explore.

Good thread!
Here are mine:

1. I gulp the food and later on I feel that I ate too much
2. I forget to eat a snack and I am too hungry and i start to grab cheese and sausage from the fridge and eat it before dinner
3. I do not want to exercise, giving myself excuses
4. I buy rice crispies for kids or something similar and I will keep taking a bite from their share (thanks God I do not eat the whole)
5. I shop on Thursdays, and my bill is high and there is no food in the fridge by Tuesday
6. I start skippiong my salads
7. I pick up leftovers from my kids plate
8. I eat more than my hubby (or want to eat more when I am not hungry)
9. Usually I read book when on treadmill - if I start reading in bed, watch out!!!
10. Giving lame excuses - like eating food provided by the company and saying to myself that it does not matter (well, it does, my company gives us food on Wednesdays and my weight is highest by Thursday-Friday every week)

What i do to overcome mid-slip:
1. I take only fruit snacks to work (work 9 hours/day - so it takes 2 snacks)
2. Take carrots for snacks
3. take lean Cuisine lunches
4. Exercise more
5. Stop buying Rice crispies/chips/cookies (poor kids)
6. try to be accountable for what i eat - I generally can not write down/log into software - I am getting bored of counting each calorie - have to work on it

What food help me to get rid of what's exrta in my stomack:

I noticed that if I eat beats or eggplant, I generally empty stomack easier and bloating is gone. So i usually do ragu with eggplant or make Ukrainian borsch - that takes away a pound or two next morning and I feel that my jeans are looser around the belly.

Good Thread idea. One of the biggest tip-offs for me that a slip is coming is that I start to make out of the ordinary low cal desserts because I want 'something'. Low fat, low sugar muffins, no fat choco-mousse, or something like that. I do eat desserts regularily, but these are not in my usual food repetoire, and when I prepare these, it almost always leads to problem eating.


I am not sure if these kinds of foods leads to more eating in general, or if there is something amiss emotionally which leads me to want comfort foods. Because they are more or less 'diet' foods, I dont question my motives in the same way I would if all of a sudden I wanted a chocolate cake, but making them does mean trouble. I will have to take a closer look next time.

I am also learning allowing myself to get too tired for several days brings eating troubles; so if I feel very tired, watch out.

Jan

Such a good tread, something that I need to explore.
Signs that a lapse is in process or beginning to gain speed.
1. Trigger foods are calling my name, I notice them in the store and contemplate their purchase.
2. Negative self-talk. Scale numbers make me worse than a killer.
3. Less water. For some reason I stop drinking water which only makes things worse.

1. Increased attention to my positive voice.
2. NOT PURCHASING TRIGGER ITEMS.
3. Attention to water consumption.

Sometimes my best efforts are defeated and a lapse or a setback happens. I try and remember that I am human not superhuman and pick myself up.

My two biggest warning signs weight gain and loss of control are on the horizon are:

1. I don't weigh myself that morning
2. I don't have a plan for my food and exercise for that day

How are things, Anne?

What a fantastic idea for a thread - thanks, Anne! It's sooo important for us all to be able to recognize our triggers and warning signs so that we can STOP! before it's too late. I see a lot of my warning signs in your posts - my big ones are:

1. being tired - my worst food meltdowns happen when I haven't gotten enough sleep the night before. I think it's a combination of my body seeking energy to keep going and my brain shutting down and losing all willpower.

2. picking at 'bad' food - the infamous bites, licks, and tastes - it's a slippery slope that leads right to a binge.

3. reading recipes and cookbooks - I was a good cook in my former life and have lots of cookbooks and recipes. Reading and contemplating them now can be too much food stimulus - it depends on if I'm hungry or not.

4. thinking about eating 'bad' food - if I allow myself to imagine eating certain foods, it's a big step down the road to actually doing it.

5. buying or making certain food for 'others' - who am I kidding? It's really for me and I'm the one who ends up eating it. It's so much easier never to buy or make it in the first place!

6. not having food planned and prepared in advance - I sure don't make very good decisions when I'm hungry!

I can echo Gina virtually 100%. Since I'm such a huge fan of salty foods, potato salad and whitefish salad used to be my trigger foods. I haven't bought them in months. Recently I started buying Litehouse lite bleu cheese dressing and using it as a dip for raw vegetables. Lo and behold, it turned into my new trigger food (it's that combo of salt and fat that I just can't resist). I must have eaten almost half the jar on Saturday night (of course, not when really hungry but just out of momentum).

When shopping today, I didn't buy it. It is out of my house until the time when I can deal with it again. That may be never.

What helps me: eating frequently during the day, making conscious choices about what to have, focusing on what I am doing well to maintain healthy habits.

I'm with you Elana and Gina,

I also fall for the fat and salt combo everytime, and I find it hard to resist. I don't like coockies or candy, so no problem there, but when there is cake or choclate in the housde I wil eat it.

My biggest trigger signs are thoughts:
1. I already lost some weight last week, last month or whatever so now I can eat a little....
2. I feel lousy and maybe just on bite of ... will perk me up

I shop mainly once a week and find it easy not to buy things that I eat thoughtlessly. Even better is when my husband shops, as he never even thinks of buying things that are snack foods for me. of course I do buy loads of veggies and fruits. Its only a problem if I put the snack items on my list.

2.

Things got better. I had a meltdown when I was packing for the race, and then it became extremely obvious to me that I was stress eating. Since I was supposed to be eating more for the marathon anyway, well, maybe it should have been a little less but it wasn't the end of the world, and at least I ran it fully fueled!

Got a lot of good ideas from this thread--a lot of things I see myself doing as well. Thanks everybody! Today I'm taking it easy on myself for post-run recovery and tomorrow I dig back in!

Mine are
A) Lack of exercise - I'm in revising at the moment so I'm not walking as much as I usually do
B) Eating snack food rather than proper meals
C) Having biscuits and chocolates in the house - I never buy the stuff beyond a bar of plain choccy per week but my housemates have bought stuff back from christmas. I'm having so much trouble resisting it.

My warning signs are:

1. Picking crackers straight out of the box when looking around the kitchen to get something ready for supper... It turns into mindless eating and some major calories are consumed...

2. Not drinking enough water...

3. Not getting enough sleep, Meg woke me up to this last year, bet you didn't know that eh Meg? Tring to eat carbs to get energy to stay awake makes sooo much sense to me now...

4. BLT's ... the more I have the more I want...

5. Letting myself go more than 3 hours without food...Another biggy for me...