[beliter]

after a frustrating stall & a vacation week,I can't seem to get it together!I tried joining a calorie counting site but it didn't motivate me.So today I was going to go back to my handy notebook & calorie King book,but I got distracted( I get easily distracted alot)& failed.Anyone want to be my buddy & try to help me get back & stay on track?

[Vladadog]

What's tripping you up? Craving for junk food? Too big portions? Drinking with friends?

I know for the first one the only thing that worked for me was going cold turkey. And I've had to do it more than once though it seems to be sticking this time (for now). I'm going to be traveling the end of July and we'll see how well I do then (and when I get back).

Portion size - I just made my portions mostly veggies at first so I was still having BIG meals and then without even meaning to they just got smaller as I got more content with what I was eating.

The drinking one I have no advice for since I've never been much of a drinker. But I gather it's like junk food - you have to go cold turkey and have virgin drinks when you're out with your friends. One drink leads to two leads to too many and I know they add up fast calorie-wise.

I know other things trip folks up as well but those seem to be the biggies....

[beliter]

Originally Posted by Vladadog

What's tripping you up? Craving for junk food? Too big portions? Drinking with friends?

I think I have too many hours in my day so I tend to snack alot,mostly after I get home.I can't seem to spread out my calories amoung 3am-9pm.
I don't drink,so no worries there & my portions are usually normal,it's the snacking I believe.

[Vladadog]

I was never much of an evening snacker but three nights a week I work the graveyard shift and I used to pretty much eat all night long (working overnights increases your craving for carbs. Just being tired does too, for that matter...). If you aren't getting enough sleep start there because there are plenty of studies that show that lack of sleep leads to weight gain.

Eating dinner earlier and making it a BIG dinner might help but I know from experience that wanting a snack often has nothing at all to do with being hungry. Finding snacks that satisfy your "need" and stay healthy can be hard. I like veggies dipped in hummus or if I need a salty crunch snack i put hummus on a few triskets. I know in the calorie counter area there are a few topics just about snacks. A lot of people use popcorn but I'm a butter and salt girl so that's no go for me... I don't do sweet snacks except for chocolate milk after I've worked out - giving up sgar really really helped all my snacky carvings a lot! My best thing for my long overnights is to nurse a pot of mostly (95%) decaf coffee through the night. Coffee kills my desire to snack like nothing else. It won't help if I'm actually hungry but if I'm just kinda roaming around aimlessly looking at all the food available to me (I work in a house with a two fully stocked fridges, 3 freezers, and a HUGE pantry....) coffee takes care of it for me. I know coffee has this effect for many people but even decaf keeps some folks awake so that might not be a good evening solution.

Brushing my teeth helps - I'm less likely to want to eat if my mouth is all minty fresh.

Drinking water really helps me too.

Those are my tricks so far.

[NorthernExposure]

I feel your pain. I was on the road last week with access to free food most of the time and went way off plan. Getting back on the horse is hard! I got used to eating more so going back to 1500 calories made me feel deprived. Yesterday (my first day back OP), I did OK, but ate most of my exercise calories, which I try not to do.

I also have a hard time in the evenings. Last night after dinner I wanted to keep snacking. Good tips from Vladadog above. Pickles seem to help me...I get that satisfying crunch and saltiness of potato chips, but with way fewer calories and no fat. Of course you still have to deal with the sodium, but for me, it's still better than chips.

Coming here is a good step! When I get off track I like to browse threads here to help me get motivated again. I also remind myself this is a marathon, not a sprint. (Though being "bad" for one meal or even one day is much easier to correct than a whole week of overeating...ugh!)

Anyway, if misery loves company, I'm right there with ya!

[beliter]

Originally Posted by NorthernExposure

Anyway, if misery loves company, I'm right there with ya!

Thanks,I'm having a bad day today.They're crazy at work with the scheduling & suff,told me I was going to have to work 8 days in a row(includes July 4 wkend)!They tell me to do a job then turn around & tell me something different or don't tell me & I have to find out from someone else,never know what i'm suppose to be doing.I'm so stressed right now I can't focus straight,I just want it all to go away.On the other hand,I've been so distracted by everything that I've not had time to think about snacking.