Wednesday and I'm not giving up

Good morning all. It's about 326am and I'm awake. I just got home from work about a half hour ago and I just can't sleep. I guess I should confess something here and it has been bothering me all night...As much as I tried to, I broke down and bought a bag of cheetos at work. Then to make matters worse, after I ate them, I wanted something sweet...so I bought a pack of nutter butters. I was hungry, I was lightheaded and I felt like I was going through withdrawls. Could it be possible that my body is used to eating crap and if I don't have it that I won't feel good? I felt better after I ate it. However, I felt totally guilty about a half hour later. So, my way to conquer this at work is to: A) leave any type of money at home, so I can't use it in the vending machine!! Even though I feel bad about this, I'm not going to let it beat me. Here's my plan for today: I have my alarm set for 930am to do a good workout before work. I've thought about what I'm going to eat today also and I've written it down: breakfast Oatmeal snack 1 cup skim milk lunch chicken breast snack atkins snack bar dinner protein bar snack 2tbs peanut butter/carrots Hope things are going well for you all!!

Hey there, OK, I'm a bit of a lurker on this site, but I do post occasionally, and I read a lot of the messages...so, I hope you won't be offended if I put in my 2 cents... First, let me tell you a little about me. I'm 36, was overweight from the time I was 4, NEVER was a normal weight, (the very lowest I got in grad school was 170) and have been truly addicted to food for all of my adult life. I'm 5'1", and when I went in for surgery I was at 240. After 17 months (almost) I now weigh (and have maintained for 5 months) 125. I'm 25 lbs below by surgeon's goal for me, and 5 lbs away from what is considered my "ideal body weight" (If i never get there, I don't care). OK, here's my 2 cents. Your menu for today scares me a little bit! It's a "DIET" menu, and you're not on a diet! My motto through all of this has been "I can eat ANYTHING I want, just not EVERYTHING". Don't cut out ALL of the fun snacks. If you want cheetos or something sweet, eat them. Just learn how to do it in moderation. OK, I know that is REALLY hard, and if you have a bag of chips in the house, it can be really hard not to eat the whole thing. But, if you are always depriving yourself of the things you enjoy, you are MUCH more likely to binge...not just occasionally, but more and more frequently. I know, I've been there. It's really easy to say "Well, I screwed up yesterday, so I may as well do it again today". When you start on the strict diet again, you will just end up feeling deprived, and are then more likely to fall off the wagon. Balance is key. I truly believe that I have been successful on this because I learned how to be satisfied with less. I enjoy EVERY mouthful I eat. Eating is a social thing, and I don't skip going out with friends because I have to be careful. If I eat two bites of my meal, I enjoy it, and enjoy the time with friends. If I order something that isn't great for me, I eat enough to satisfy my craving, and then ask the server to take it away!!! (Don't feel guilty about wasting the money - remember how much you used to spend on food???) If I fall off the wagon at one meal, I make up for it at the next. Sometimes you just HAVE to have pasta...or chocolate...or...whatever....my next meal will be ALL protein to help balance me out. OK, I'm done "sermonizing" now. Does what I've said make sense, or do you think I'm just crazy? Well, I hope this helps encourage you, because that truly is my only intention. We all have to do what works for us and helps us to be successful - what works for me may not be the best for you.... Let me know if you want to chat more, or hear more of my experience (I didn't even get into the whole "breaking the food addiction" thing!) Blessings to you! Kate Lawson 240/125/120

Kate, So glad that you replied! I applaud you for your success with this and it sounds like you are doing great!!I would never be offended by someone's 2 cents I found your post to be helpful and it did make sense. It's a viscious cycle I keep going through and I know I'm not on a "diet". It's that little voice on my shoulder saying...just eat it and then the other side is saying nooooooo don't eat it, it's crap and it's not good for you.Then when I do eat the bad stuff I feel so guilty and I focus on that pretty much all day. I'm still a slave to the scale and that sucks too. I weigh myself everyday and sometimes twice a day. I've tried to hide the scale but then I just dig it out of the closet again or weigh myself at work or where ever.I know it's just a number. When I ate the crap yesterday, I worked out extra long and made sure I burned the calories I ate off. My main concern is if I do indulge myself and get used to indulging instead of depriving a little bit is that I'm going to gain my weight back, my diabetes and other health problems and that scares me to death!! I'd love to hear more about your experience and even chat. Take care and thanks! Bridgett

You are doing so good- I'm keeping you in mind the rest of the day. Because even though I made a bad choice, I'm getting back on track right now - not tomorrow, not Monday, but right now. I think that's the key - fall off the horse, get right back on. Started off good this morning... I did not go to the drug store on the way into work like I normally do. Therefore no snacks in my drawer at work other than the jerky. So here's what I've eaten today: Breakfast - Yogurt. I was going to add unflavored protein powder, but realized I didn't have any at work. Snack - some jerky Lunch - the chicken, dried cranberries and 1/2 dressing packet off an Arbys Salad. did not use the almonds or eat the lettuce. Did eat some of the pieces of apples. 1 can SF orangeade 1 med. diet pepsi Then here the "no-no"- 2 (yes that is 2, not 1) cookies. Chocolate chip delivered to the office from a local title company. Why did I do it? I ate them so fast I didn't even taste them. NOT worth it! So dinner tonight is going to be Chicken Cordon Blue - (It a frozen chicken breast with ham and cheese). I am planning on exercising - tonight is Abs (12min) Arms (12min) Butt's and Thights (12 min each). It's hot out and my room that I do this in will be about 100 degrees, so I'll be sweating! Last night did 12 min abs and walked 2 miles.

Mary Anne, Hey there! Sounds like you did pretty good today Don't feel bad, the cookie monster got me too as well. One of my coworkers got those nutter butter cookies and I had two of them. All it takes for me is just the smell of them then it's over. I ate mine fast too without even thinking about it. I'm having trouble with the sugary/salty cravings right now. I'm planning on making some of those chocolate/peanut butter protein balls tomorrow and see if that helps. Plus, I also had a small snack sized bag of lays chips. I didn't eat all of my protein either My piece of chicken is still in the tub. It just didn't sound appealing at all and it made me nauseated to even think about eating it. So instead of chicken for dinner, I had oatmeal. Your chicken cordon blue sounds yummy though. Your orangeade, is that tropicanas brand? That is some good stuff my favorite. I also like the minute made sf cherry limeade. Good job on your workouts!! I got up early and walked 2 miles also and then rode 15 miles on the stationary bike. No wonder I'm so tired lol. Hope you have a great day!

I know you've probably tries this already but when I need a snack the 100 calorie bag of cheetos works. I'm a sweets lover so I love the 100 cal chocolate cupcakes (3 in a pack). They help my chocolate cake craving alot. Even the 100 cal oreos is okay. Good Luck. Shana.