What is on your Wednesday Menu RNYers?

You're in a transition now, and transitions are when we go off our eating plan. The best thing you can do is get a new routine, ASAP. Go to the park with the little one, every morning. Go for a long walk somewhere. Do events at the library. Find something to keep you from sitting on your butt and thinking about food.

It's hard, but you can do it.

we are packing up to go to the library right now!  

Give your self time to find a new routine. Routine is our friend. 

Yikes.  Id hate to b that " little one " lost in the ods  with the  hungry endlessly angry unsatisfied bear ... please never inflict that very serious psychogical  problem on an innocent child ...haven't enough generatiions suffered ?

I had surgery 5/16 and have been home since. It was easy until I started regular food at 6 weeks. It's a struggle. I know it'll get easier when I go back to work in the fall.

I'm doing much better now. Getting a handle on it. Grim is right, it's a transition time and you've got to figure it all out again. Don't worry, you will find your groove!

Dear Deanna, change in routine is a bear.  Getting a new routine will be like a saving grace for you.  Last night, I had a heart-to-heart with DH.  He has agreed to give up homemade bread in his lunchbox even though there was a long pause when given the ultimatum between me or the bread.  Thanks to logging on to OH this morning, I am foregoing any kind of treat at a party I am attending today. Aaaah, pre-planning to cheat; not today.  NOT TODAY.   Dense protein, dense protein, dense protein, dense protein...  QOTD: I grew up on a farm rarely playing with other kids; cats were my playmates.  Lots of cats.  They would follow me down by the creek to throw things in the water, make forts in haybales stored in the barns, or wonder through the woods finding pretty things to drag home.  When I did get to go to my cousins' resort, the three of us would swim for hours making for a lifelong love of water.   

agree on keeping busy- I work from home- so I only eat at specific intervals. and i try like the dickens to not eat off plan.

sometimes when i think i need to eat something (when I don't ) i eat a pickle spear. I know it is like 4-5 calories and salty - then i have something to drink. then i get right back to doing work or a task.

making sure you have your food in friday made up is important also.

Where you are at is one of those key milestones in your journey.  It has been awhile since you had surgery, you are almost to goal and you've had a major life change.  Things that worked before may not be working now, so it's time to establish new routines, goals and coping mechanisms.  You've also got to have an emergency strategy when things go off the rails, even for a day.  For me, I find that the tried and true methods work best:

1.  I schedule my meals and snacks, and stick to that schedule.  The helps make my eating mindful.
2. If I experience head hunger, I have found that if I acknowledge it for what it is, then is significantly subsides.  It's like shining a bright light on the monster.  Don't know why this works for me, but it does.
3. I cannot have any junk in the house.  If I do, I will eat it.  I have to have my environment set up for success.  It is easy for me because I live alone.  Would your hubby be opposed to keeping his snacks locked up in a drawer or cupboard that you don't have a key for?  Sounds extreme, but sometimes we have to do those crazy things to keep old behaviors from getting the upper hand.
4. If I get the munchies at night, I take a bath, brush my teeth, go to bed, take a walk.  Whatever it takes to get me away from temptation.
5. If I fall off the wagon, I climb right back on.  Not tomorrow, but RIGHT NOW.  I have tossed a lot of junk down the garbage disposal to end a binge.
6. I weigh every single day so that I know where my weight is at all times.  I weigh once a month at my doctor's office.  That keeps me on track like nothing else can.
7. Set a goal for yourself.  It does not have to be weight related, but should be health related (size, exercise, other wellness activities).  If it is weight related, don't make it an end number with a date attached.  Try establishing process goals that will lead you to your final goal (e.g., today, I will not eat off plan).

You can do this Deanna.  Don't beat yourself up.  There is nothing to be gained by that.   Take control and make a plan!

These are such great suggestions for ALL stage really, thank you for sharing.

Tell me about weighing in at your doc monthly? Is this part of your program? Do you SEE your doc monthly or do you just go in to weigh? I have to admit that I've let myself regain 15-20 pounds and I have an appointment with my doc next week (unrelated) and am dreading stepping on the scale. It's feeling like old times, when I dreaded going to the doctor and being reprimanded for my weight, ok, not reprimanded, but....you know what I mean. I think if I was weighing monthly with the doc that would really help keep my head on...

Hi Anny.  It is always so good to see you.  It is part of my program to get a monthly B12 shot.  I can give it to myself, or go to a nurse treatment room and have them do it.  It is a walk-in facility, so I can just show up whenever I have time.  I choose to have the nurses inject me instead of doing it myself, because #1, yuck.  And #2 it is easy and only costs me $5.  My surgeon asked that, since I am going in for the injection anyway, to also get weighed.  That way, he can look at my electronic medical record and keep an eye on me.  My NUT and PCP can also keep tabs on my weight that way.  So, it really helps keep me accountable.  I am hoping that the monthly weigh ins keep me from gaining weight because I know I have to step on that scale and have the weight recording in my medical records where my medical team can see it.

You might check with your doc to see if you can do the same.  Weigh in monthly with his nurse or MA, and have them record it in your chart.  Seriously, it works for me.