Grrrrrrrr......

I ate breakfast this morning, and then took my little one to get his hair cut, and on the way home, I saw Arby's. And I drove right through the drive-thru and got a Beef and Cheddar, and cheese sticks.. I WASN'T EVEN HUNGRY!!!!!!!!! It was like my minivan was on auto-pilot, or something.

I know I shouldn't dwell on this, but dammit! I want my willpower back.....

Your willpower will be fine, ok you had a slip off, don't beat yourself up too much. Tomorrow (or tonight if the day is not yet over where you are) you'll be on plan.

It's okay, next time tell yourself "I'm not hungry, I don't need this" and drive right by

It happens to us all- I can't tell you how many times I've driven by McDonald's and wanted to go through the drive through but didn't. Today I have been very proud of myself- when everyone went to the taco shop for lunch I enjoyed my lean cuisine and orange and hunk of cheese (less than 500 calories) while I'm sure everyone else ate more than double that right now. AND when someone brought chocolates to the office I just walked right by- unless it's something healthy I don't touch it anymore

The little victories are the best

I agree with Rainy- 1 slip up won't undo a lifetime of progress... just get back on track and keep going.

The more time goes on, the easier it gets not to follow these habits. You'll drive by all the fast food in the world and it won't even cross you mind to stop. You'll get there!!

Been there, done that. The compulsion to eat food that's horrible is just baffling. It's in the past, so don't beat yourself up

Many people (*myself included) hate themselves when we screw up on our eating/exercising plans.

The only thing you can do is after venting/ranting on 3fatchicks (or elsewhere ) is to just get back on the saddle with your next meal, et al.

we're human, it's normal to mess up every once in a while

~ tea

Right after I started my new way of eating, I went to the freezer and got a Skinny Cow sandwich. Oh, it was soooo good. The thought entered my mind, "I should have another." I told myself, "No, one is enough". A few minutes later, I found myself walking out of the kitchen with another ice cream sandwich in my hand, and a bite taken! I remember telling myself no, but I also remember walking to the freezer, opening it, taking out the sandwich and taking the bite. But I wasn't really AWARE until after that first bite was taken, like I was observing someone else do it.

It was very strange. It made me realize that a lot of my eating had been done by rote, completely out of habit and without any real thought or consideration. I had a lot of work to do to break that mindset and to become more aware of what, when, and why I was eating.

It's a journey, for sure. So don't be too hard on yourself. You will learn, through practice, how to be more aware and make better decisions for yourself. That moment is gone and can't be undone, so forgive yourself, learn from it, and move forward with your new knowledge. You can do it!

I'm guilty of this one too. For a while I left all my credit cards and cash at home if I was just going to work and back. There was some risk there, of course, but when my discipline was really nonexistent, if I had cash, I was going to blow it on junk. These moments still happen to me - and agree it's a very weird thing.

Thanks everyone! I've had a MUCH better weekend, and the Arby's didn't seem to derail me too much. It's just crazy how we do things out of habit, without even thinking about it.

Windchime is right - it is rote, mindless eating that gets us into trouble.
You need to have a PLAN for when that urge comes again. Though fast food was never my issue, I found that stopping for coffee (somewhere that doesn't have fast food) works for me. A special low-cal or no-cal treat to REPLACE that old - bad habit works. Replacing a destructive behavior with a healthier one will make it easier to change.
Pick whatever works for you as your replacement - as long as it is healthier

I didn't know Arby's sold cheese sticks -- seems rather unnecessary actually. We don't really have many Arby's in MA. My biggest fast food temptation is always Taco Bell. Two nights ago I was driving home late and fought the urge to stop and get a Mexican Pizza. I kept thinking about my next meal (breakfast the following morning) and managed to drive by. But it is hard. Fast food is so delicious.

We all take time to get used to it. Let you body slow adjust and sooner or later you're not even going to bat an eyelid when you pass a drive through. It'll become autopilot to steer away from them instead of steering into them!

Chin up, honey! You'll make it!

And it's great you know that you've made a wrong choice of getting the food when you're not hungry. Now all you need is to rectify it, just burn it off with a good workout, or an extra workout, if you've gotten one planned for the day already.