In the early days, I made a list of goals and kept them at hand. Anytime I wanted a cookie/cupcake/candy bar/<insert-sugar-laden-item-here>, I used that list to remind myself of what was most important to me. And even if I didn't have that list handy, I told myself no. I shut it out of my system and didn't even allow myself the option. It was extremely difficult, but I got through it. Rather than "embracing the suck," I learned to embrace the positive. I look at food as fuel and question what it will do to my body. Will it give me the nutrition I need? Or is it just a fleeting moment of yumminess that I'll regret in five minutes? How will this meal/snack make me feel physically and emotionally through the rest of the day, and would I be proud of the same choice a week from now? Are my eating habits making me feel like crap or are they allowing my body to heal from past mistakes?
Both of my parents eventually became type 2 diabetics and passed away from cancer far too young. And when I found out last year that I'd been diabetic myself for well over ten years? Even though my blood sugar had already become stable due to my new habits, there's been irreversible damage to my body and it was quite the wake-up call. All I can do is move forward with what I've learned and hope for the best. And personally speaking, I've learned it helps to remember that the more sugar I eat, the more I crave. It spikes my blood glucose in a nasty way, making me irritable and much more hungry than I would normally be, turning eating into a vicious cycle wanting more and more sugar. When I avoid it, I've found it's much easier to keep up my healthier habits.
Last edited by Elladorine; 08-29-2013 at 06:51 PM.
Lots of good advice here, so I'll just throw in one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. I find it so valuable to plan my food the night before. During the day, if I want something I didn't write on my plan, I say "No choice, it's not on the plan. If I still want it later, I can write it on my plan for tomorrow." Sometimes I still want it later and sometimes I don't, but by planning it for tomorrow, I can arrange for that to be one treat and build it into an otherwise healthy day of eating.
As you can see there are lots of approaches. Don't give up -- experiment!
Ok here goes LOL for me with things like the processed sweets, chips, sugar laden cereals etc... I had to make it pretty much all or nothing in the beginning. For about the first month it really really REALLY bit the big one. I would crave those type of foods to the point where I would pace from my bedroom to the kitchen over and over opening the cabinets looking at the cookies or chips wanting to eat them. It was almost like detoxing from all the sugar. In fact I remember one night braking down and crying asking myself how I could let food take over my life like it obviously had. What I found really helped was when I felt I needed those type of foods I would get a big glass of water drink it. If I went back to the kitchen I would drink more water and so on. After about a months time I found I didn't get the cravings and didn't go looking for those snacks. In fact what I wanted to take so bed with me was the water that I had become so accustomed to drinking. Now I can be around those foods without any problem, in fact where I work they make fresh baked cookies for the residents everyday... I can smell them, think to myself wow those smell great and just walk on by without giving them another thought.
I know it's not easy, I gave in from time to time and felt horrible if I would binge but I would always forgive myself and just move on, it really did get easier. We are all far from perfect and we all do the best we can, I never dwelled on my not so great food choices and made it my goal to do better the next day. I also found that I had less sugar cravings if I had a good portion on lean meats and protein throughout the day.
Seriously LOVE embrace the suck! That pretty much sums it up!!!
I eat what I want in moderation. Believe it or not, I can actually take one bite of a dessert now and be satisfied, whereas before I would have several dessert servings! It doesn't even take willpower for me anymore. I've just conditioned myself to be that way. The cake will still taste the same whether I have one bite or ten, so I am quite content with my one bite!
Today I will eat one whole donut. It's the pumpkin kind and my fave, so I don't get to have them year round. It's a special treat that I will allow myself.
Have you thought of trying a zumba game or Hip Hop Abs dance dvd instead of walking? if you enjoy what you are doing you are more likely to stick with it. I actually love walking out in nature, but hate it in neighborhoods. Would it help you to go to a nice park and have the distraction of nature? Are you walking with music to help keep you going? I know when I first started it was really painful for me but it has become easier.
Also, I had a goal date set for myself and I'm not even close to meeting that. I have learned that I can't put a time limit on my loss. To many factors complicate how fast/slow the weight comes off, so event though I want it all off by October, it is not feasible. It took us a long time to get here, and it will take us a while to get where we want to be!
Good for you for getting out there and getting in that exercise! Just remember that the biggest contributor to your loss will be your eating habits. You can't out exercise bad eating is what they say. I have learned from experience that this is true! I had a habit of drinking my calories. Now I drink mainly water and it has helped so much.
To some degree I can "embrace the suck," but for most of my unsuccessful weight loss life, I embraced the suck wholeheartedly and intensely until I couldn't stand the suck any more.
For me, my life and weight loss success dramatically changed for the better when I refused to embrace the suck and decided that if I wasn't enjoying my choices 95% of the time, I was doing something very wrong. The philosophy has worked for every aspect of my life. Anything that sucks more than it contributes to joy has to go (or be done only when absolutely necessary).
I HATE walking or sweating with no purpose. I can think of nothing that sucks more (at the moment). Give it a purpose, make it a game, or provide a distraction and it becomes enjoyable not just tolerable. And it works for everything, not just exercise.
It has to be a game I can win at least 1/3 the time though or I become hopeless and discouraged (which is why I changed my scale goal to "not gaining" so I can weigh daily or even hourly without disappointment. Losing is an extra special, grand prize bonus win).
Listening to irish punk music on the treadmill, walking dogs for the humane society (I want a dog, but it's not practical right now), wearing a pedometer and trying to beat yesterday's step count, counting swimming laps with a little plastic cylinder stitch counter on a cord.... they turn unbearable suckage into fun.
Channeling my foodie passions into healthier avenues turns the suckage into fun.
I also focus on the "suckage" of unhealthy pleasures. Sugar and wheat taste amazing, but the after-effects are miserable - for me, not just extra fat, but also skin swelling, itching, breakouts, lethargy, ibs, queasiness...
Eating for weight loss doesn't have to suck either. Even when it does, you can pull fun into the suck. It can be like the fun and excitement of a foreign vacation adventure, even when the experience is exotically unpleasant, you earn bragging rites and entertaining memories.
I love shopping ethnic markets for low-calorie exotic food options. Even when my finds turn out to be horrible, it's almost like taking a mini vacation to exotic lands (and I can often visit Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Japan, the Phillipines, and many provinces of China in a single 30 minute trip to a small Asian market).
Even the suck can be tremendous fun. Dragonfruit was a major disappointment. I paid $7 for juicy, beautiful, but flavorless sugar water. Brightly colored skin, fuchsia and green. The flesh white with a speckling of tiny kiwi-like seeds. Juicy, firm and utterly flavorless except for sweetness. Solid, sugar water at best.
$7 for a soft ball sized piece of fruit. For $7, it should have been the best damned fruit I'd ever tasted, or at least the worst (that at least, would have made a better story to tell).
Oh well, I TURNED it into a funny story to tell. In the scheme of things, the anticipation and the funny story were worth $7.
I'm finding that diet lower in sugar and starch has completely opened up my entire sense of taste. It's almost as if sugar numbed and suppressed my taste buds.
I bought some white peaches recently (which tasted good, but a bit bland when I was eating high carb) and eating them was an OMG, nearly orgasmic experience. Juicy, sweet, almost floral flavors assaulted my senses. It as almost full-body, toe-curling experience...
... from a peach.
I know if I go back to high-carb eating, I would once again lose the ability to detect and appreciate the wide range and subtle nuances of flavor that made those peaches so decadently delicious.
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kaplods,
What you are describing is embracing the suck. At least that's how I see it. Making the best of a bad situation, finding beauty, joy and mirth in pain.
FWIW, I adore peaches. The one of the best forms of sugar on the planet. Even the green apples from our tree (that our dog tried to harvest, so I washed it and we shared the other day) taste sweet/tart.
What you are describing is embracing the suck. At least that's how I see it. Making the best of a bad situation, finding beauty, joy and mirth in pain.
FWIW, I adore peaches. The one of the best forms of sugar on the planet. Even the green apples from our tree (that our dog tried to harvest, so I washed it and we shared the other day) taste sweet/tart.
Cathy
Dealing with my fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease is embracing the suck/pain, but with weight loss and healthy eating, 99% of the time, there simply is no suck/pain to embrace.
I'm not making the best of a bad situation, I'm choosing only the best of the best for myself, now. I call it my "healthy hedonism" philosophy. Pampering myself to health has been far more successful than "embracing the suck."
Making the best of a bad situation and finding joy in the face of pain isn't the same as choosing to avoid or bypass the pain element almost entirely.
Health can be achieved without almost any suck at all. I've worked at making healthy choices so fun and pain-free that the alternative is no longer appealing. Give up on pampering myself and indulging myself in ways that are more awesome than i ever did when I was "off" a diet? Why on Earth would I want to do that?
I think getting rid of the suck almost entirely is acheivable and preferable to embracing the suck 98% of the time. So yeah embrace the suck 2% of the time, but 98% of the time, choose something with no suck at all.
for me with things like the processed sweets, chips, sugar laden cereals etc... I had to make it pretty much all or nothing in the beginning. For about the first month it really really REALLY bit the big one. I would crave those type of foods to the point where I would pace from my bedroom to the kitchen over and over opening the cabinets looking at the cookies or chips wanting to eat them. It was almost like detoxing from all the sugar. In fact I remember one night braking down and crying asking myself how I could let food take over my life like it obviously had. 
What I found really helped was when I felt I needed those type of foods I would get a big glass of water drink it. If I went back to the kitchen I would drink more water and so on. After about a months time I found I didn't get the cravings and didn't go looking for those snacks. In fact what I wanted to take so bed with me was the water that I had become so accustomed to drinking. Now I can be around those foods without any problem, in fact where I work they make fresh baked cookies for the residents everyday... I can smell them, think to myself wow those smell great and just walk on by without giving them another thought. 
