What Have You Done Today to Make You Feel Proud?
About the soda. It doesn't take a lot of sodium when combined with carbonation to make you bloated. It's the combination that is bad. Not to mention what the acid does to your tooth enamel. I'm still not so sure that I believe what they say about sugar substitutes making you fat. That just seems like the math doesn't add up to me.
OMG...Heba totally turned into Mega*****! And I felt soooo embarrassed for her after she saw how much weight she lost and was shaking her fat in slow motion. Good grief, have some pride woman! I officially can't stand her guts either!
Mary
I am in the famous (for me) second week........usually the week I fall completely off my plan. And so far I' m falling off big time. So I need you all to give me a good swift kick and tell me to stay on track! I need to stay in the fire with you! There was a Garth Brooks song called "Standing Outside the Fire". Here is part of the chorus, just in case the words can help someone.
Life is not tried, it is merely survived
If you're standing outside the fire.
Keep me in there with ya, baby!
Girl, if someone would have kicked me everytime I went off plan, I'd be an abused woman! So instead of hurting you, I'll just give you a hug, 
and tell you that even though this ride is hard to stay on, it's time to get back on the wagon and try again. Beth and I were saying that we both need new wagons cuz ours got worn out from getting back on them! But it is so beyond worth it when you start to see that scale moving in the right direction.
I LOVE that song, "Standing Outside the Fire"! I'm a strong believer in positive affirmations, and I would sing that when I was losing weight.
Like I said, standing in the fire strips away all of the excuses. So start examining what is going on with you at the times when you are off plan. For me, I was fine as long as I kept busy. It's at night when I slow down to relax that I start thinking about eating. So to solve that, I stay out of the kitchen, drink hot tea, decaf so I can fall asleep, and anything else I can think of to keep my mind off of food. And let me tell you, after a while, it brings a sense of pride that I made it through the evening and beat the hard times. Yeah, Baby!
Mary
What an accomplishment! I used to be downright FAMOUS for stress eating. What I did in my case to get over it was to make sure that when those times came, I did ANYTHING but eat. Once my brain got the hint that I wasn't going to stress eat, it got easier and easier to go find something different to do, like listen to my favorite music while sitting in a chair and deep breathing.
So the more you practice not turning to food, the easier it gets. Keep the faith, Sister!
Mary
