How to do it! My way!

I have posted this several times before; so if you have seen it - move on!  In fact, I thought I had already posted it this morning but it isn't anywhere I can see it so i think I must have forgotten to press the submit tab!! Apologies if it is there somewhere!! I am posting it again because I had quite a few PMs about it recently.


I keep on being asked for tips on how to succeed. So I will list them here. Please note, these worked for me; many others would tell you that these are not the right way to go! But it is my way!

1. Don't count, measure or weigh food. Make what you know to be the healthy choice and the band (once you are restricted) will control the quantities for you. Counting makes you think of food all the time. (BUT this only works if you have restriction and know what constitutes healthy food, so you may have to ignore this tip  at first)

2. Don't set short term goals with deadlines. You may well miss the deadline and you will then feel a failure. Goals are fine! Just not with deadlines. Also, you will think about food and weight all the time!

3. Weigh as often as you like but don't worry if you stall or even gain. Look at the monthly picture not the daily or weekly one.

4. Don't compare yourself to others. We are all different and in any case, no-one can guarantee that everything you read on a message board is true!!

5. Don't be unrealistic. It is going to take a long time to lose all that weight. Enjoy feeling better all the time and stop spending all your time fantasising about what has not yet happened.

6. Don't get hungry. Just makes you think of food all the time. Don't get hung up on the number of meals and snacks. Hunger is the enemy not food. So if you need an extra meal or snack, if it still keeps you in a reasonable daily intake, go for it.

7. Don't deprive yourself - only sets up an obsession for what you can't have - you can have it, just not much and not often.

8. Don't feel guilt when (not if, when) you make poor food choices. No point in being depraved (and depraved is so much more fun than deprived) if it doesn't give you pleasure! Just think, that was good, that is over, that is the past - and move on.

To me there are two enemies - and neither is food! I like food! My enemies are hunger and obsession. So I don't let myself do either! If I am genuinely hungry (and sorry, we have to learn to live with head hunger), I eat. And I keep food in its place, a wonderful substance, designed to keep me healthy and give me pleasure WHEN I WANT IT.

OK so I get it wrong sometimes; well, quite often, actually!  But most of the time, this is my philosophy.

Kate

 hi Kate,
I was banded in Oct 07.
I lost a total of 115lbs.
Last Jan I got very sick, was put in hosp and had to have the band unfilled.
I was put on many medications and one was prednizone. The band did not
do well with this med. I gained 45lbs in the last year. I finally got off the prednizone
and I am trying to get back on track. I am having a hard time.
I have 3cc in a 10cc band, and I have alittle restriction. Doc wants me to wait till March
to get another fill he wants all the prednizone to be out of me. I am so depressed
over this. You work so hard to loose the weight. and all the old habits come back
when there is not restriction.
Do you have any suggestions? I need help
Thanks, Colette

Oh, Colette, how miserable for you ! Hope you are truly over your illness.

My way above works for me. But for others it has to be the complete opposite. People like JeanM do it all by meticulous weighing and measuring!

I think it is all about mindset. Jean and others who do it that way need to be in complete control and follow a routine. I need to stop thinking about food and following a  routine makes me obsessive about food and so i think about it all the time.

Buit we all need restriction to help us!

Could you do something like joining Weigh****chers to get you back into healthy eating? Perhaps just until you get a fill?

My very best wishes

Thanks for re-posting Kate!  It was exactly what I needed today!

 Thanks for the reply,
I did join WW. and I am staying the same, no weight loss. Too Much Food.
I am like you, when following a plan i'm always thinking about food.
I need to get to a sweet spot with a fill. I'm able to eat more than a cup of food.
I have Lupus, polymylagis rumatica and fibromylagia. All autoimune.
I just don't want to go back on the prednizone.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I need to get motivated again.
Thanks

No wonderful advice except that OH is a great support! But if it is just too much of the wrong foods, maybe you do need to go against everything i said above just for a week or so to really get your head back into the right sized portions of the right foods?

Kate

This is what I have basically been eating since Jan, 15 to get my self back on track.
Breakfast:
2 scrambled or overeasy eggs with sprinkled cheddar cheese
Coffee (5-6 cups) with coffee mate hazelnut sugar free creamer and sprinkle in cinnamon
or
Atkins Bar

Lunch
2 of 1 turkey slices, big slice of block med. cheese, 1 pickle. I roll it up and eat that
or
4  johnsonville salami snack pieces, 2 pickles

mid afternoon snack
1 scoop choc. protein powder, 1 cup ice, 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp p.nut butter, 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup 1% milk. I blend mine and is a wonderful choc. shake

Suppers
Sm salad:  lettuce, little green onions, pickled baby corn, baby tomato, cucumbers, sea salt, pepper
dressing:  vingarette
grilled talapi with seasoning

night snack  1 handful of no salt added peanuts (still got head hunger)

Lots of Water mixed with Propel Powder.

I hope this helps somebody. I have begged for years to have someone tell exactly what they eat. They all would say well calorie this, carb that. So this is what I have been doing.

 Thanks so much for the reply