For some reason over the last few days I've found it really hard to stay OP. I haven't watched what I've been eating and don't get me started on the snacks (in the middle of writing a paper yesterday I went to the shops and got some chocolate wafers because my brain demanded them). It's not that it's particularly difficult to fix the healthy stuff to eat...but I haven't particularly felt like it.

Does this make me a bad person, or just human?

I think I need to find one of those week planners and start seriously allotting each waking moment of my day to Constructive Stuff - and that includes planning my healthy meals and enjoying them as well as my exercise (I want to make the switch to 30mins of cardio every day). I'm so dissatisfied with myself, which is silly really, when I look at everything I've managed to accomplish (not just the weight loss either).

For those who don't know, I'm also battling with depression (which until the last few days was being successfully trampled underfoot, or so it felt anyway). As such I'm working on many areas of my life, including my health and weight. There's a load of issues I need to deal with, and I am doing that (not all at the same time, but gradually as I can handle it), but right now it just doesn't feel worth it, or that I'll ever get there.

Hmpf.

Don't give up. Look how far you've come! Don't beat yourself up. We all take detours on this journey. You will get there!

Salsa, all this means is you are HUMAN! We all struggle with it. You can be cruising along doing everything right and then BAM! It hits you and you have to struggle to stay on plan. If it were easy, we'd all be super models, right?!

I would suggest just "fake it till you make it". Take each moment as it comes and make the right choice just that time. Then, concentrate on the next meal/snack... make the right choice just that time. After awhile, you'll get back on track and it will be back to cruising along, losing weight, loving life.

Don't hate on yourself! You are doing great!!!

salsa?

you are a human.

unless you are a vulcan.
if that is true?

i am in the wrong thread.

LOL

i have the flu and i am a bit loopy.

you are a great chick and it happended.

move on down the road.

ACKKKK.
now i have a earworm----move on down the road, move on down the road...

ack.
serves me right.

Salsa,

You are doing great! It's weird how sometimes we can lose sight of that, and all of our accomplishments fade into the distance and we start focusing on the bad stuff....

But, just remember it's momentary, and you are going to succeed!! Otherwise you never would have come this far!!!

YOU CAN DO IT!!! I KNOW YOU CAN!!!

We've all been there! 100% human and not a bad person in any sense.

One skill you might want to hone is to be stronger than the voice in your brain demanding you go to the store for chocolate wafers. The fight can be a bloody one, but remember you have the power to win every time no matter how much you feel the pull to do what that part of your brain is telling you to do. Tell yourself no. Yell it out loud firmly if you have to, but you are the only one who is in control of your actions.

I liken it to self-parenting. Imagine parenting a child who has gotten away with way too much for way too long. You've got to be firm, until they fall in line and begin to behave the way you want them to. The tantrums that result will be legendary. But it can be done.

Also remember no one changes with seeing the benefit to themselves. So in addition to being firm with yourself, focus on the benefit. In this case, avoiding several hundred calories of chocolate wafers gets you that much closer to losing the weight. Last thing - winning a battle with the brain makes you feel great, powerful, in charge, and capable of making this work. As unpleasant as telling yourself no can be, no junk food can beat the feeling of being in control.

Edited to add: I have battled depression since I was a teenager and boy does it suck. What I've discovered is that my weight is closely tied to my depression. So losing helps, but taking control of my actions works even better.

A bad person? Because of what you eat? I don't see the logic. There are plenty of ways to be "a bad person", but eating the wrong foods is in no way one of them. You're human. Forgive yourself. And remember how far you've already come! You'll get over this, it will pass eventually. Just stick through it. You can do it!

ay Dios mio, I was sitting in front of the tv the other night, Thurs, and thought I would would explode if I didn't have popcorn. I let myself have some Friday nights, it was Thurs. I wasn't that hungry, but popcorn filled my brain. I counted the minutes until 9pm passed, then that wall of an urge passed. Got too close to bedtime. So weird.

I've felt really snacky lately, I know part of it's stress, part probably hormones, part who knows what, wacky brain firings. You're not alone.

I'm off to the gym now, which I've been putting off even though I'm looking forward to going. Go figure.

My philosophy is that sometimes "good enough" is all we can do. Sometimes life clicks along and it's not too much of a struggle; other times, not so much. Sometimes we just need to do the best we can for a little while until we can regroup and get fully back on track.

Now of course, too many weeks of being lax can lead to unwanted results! But honestly, for right now--try to not assign a moral meaning to what you eat. Eating chocolate doesn't make you a bad person or a failure; it makes you a person who ate chocolate. That's it. Will eating hundreds of calories a day lead to the results that you want? Probably not. But will doing it one day make you a bad person or a failure? No.

I am trying to achieve balance. What this means (for me!) is that I had 2 guilt-free beers last night while I was enjoying Happy Hour with my work friends. It also means that I will allow myself a small amount of Halloween candy tonight. It does NOT mean that I can have beer and candy (and other stuff) every night like I did in the past, because that's what got me fat. So...for me it's about balance.

I've struggled with depression over the years as well, so I do understand. I've found that for me, it's all tied together. My mind, my spirit, my body, my state of being--all the pieces depend on each other for balance. So the better I do with my body (exercise, food), the better I feel mentally. The more I try to keep a positive outlook, the easier it is to keep my body on track.

Hang in there.

Thanks all for your comments. I don't know why I'm in this "funk", maybe it's the weather, nights drawing in earlier and such - though I try to get out into the sunshine each day to stave it off as best as possible. Lately I've also been sleeping much more than I normally do, 9 or 10 hours instead of 7 or 8. The last time that happened I upped my calories a bit, and waddaya know: more energy and weight loss. So I'm going to try that for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Other than that I'm trying to eat plenty of fruit and keep my water intake up. Fridays have become the day when I let myself have a treat: this weekend I'm going to visit a friend and because of timing, we'll probably eat at MaccyD's - thanks to people here I'll be able to figure out what to get.

I'm trying to also get back to my daily activities, which is hard (whereas last week seemed to go quite well). Oh well - everything into small pieces and just get on with it, I suppose.

Sorry to be a bit of a downer: congrats to everyone on their Halloween successes I hope I'll be a bit more up as soon as possible.