Discussion Board

Heh, I like that. I don't have will power. I have won't power! And girl power! And potato power!

oh, yes. Keep those potatoes around. Cold baked potatoes are excellent traveling food. They can be eaten out of hand as you're driving down the road...like a donut! ha! I have several in my lunch box at all times. If I get at all hungry, I munch one. Can't afford to get hungry with those stupid evil goodies all over the place.

you go! and listen to Debbie. She's smart.

I went to a workshop today for work. We were short on time, so my coworkers and I ate at the restaurant in the building. I only think I the menu I could remotely eat was a house salad: lettuce, a few carrot shreds and two cherry tomatoes. I ordered 2 salads, cuz I was SO hungry. Comments from my coworkers when my food arrived: "Those salads look so big!" "What a nice fresh salad!" Um, OK, the salads were not big (especially for 5 bucks each) and the lettuce was limp and slimy! I had some baked potatoes out in my car, but I was too embarrassed to go out and get them. Most people I know don't carry food around with them--unless it comes in a cellophane bag or a candy wrapper!

Tomorrow some friends are taking me out for a belated birthday celebration. I looked at the menu online. Pretty much the only thing I will be able to eat is salad, again. But if I don't want to go to a certain restaurant, or I order "special" meals, I'm being difficult. (sigh)

Mary,

It's your money. You are paying for it and pull that potato out and eat it!! I've done it, it does take time to get adjusted too. It did help that my co-workers encouraged me too because they realized I had been eating different. Your doing great. Keep that head up

Mary,

I stick a little container in my purse, filled with potatoes. One time I took my mango/peach salsa so I could put it on my salad. I didn't say a thing when I reached in & poured it on my salad. Made lettuce a little more tastier. Noone said anything to me & if they had, I would have told them to shut up. Those tiny potatoes make it easy to stick on your plate as well.

Who cares what people think & yes, I agree with Debbie, be difficult!!!

Jan

Mary-
I think one of the hardest things we face is eating out. Our friends order this yummy looking gooey, cheese covered food, and all we can get is a sad salad! I know when it has happened to me, I have had to fight back the tears!
I agree with Debbie and Jan and others. Carry something in your purse to add to your salad, if you know that will be an issue. I often carry a small container with cooked black beans and shredded carrots. Most restaurants that sell baked potatoes will be happy to sell you one with nothing on it, or with salsa. Also, if they have a salad with chicken and cheese, ask them for the same salad with none of that on top. You should get it at a reduced cost also. Remember that YOU are the consumer. If they don't make you happy, you won't be back. I have only found one place in my town that said they could not take the chicken off my salad (Panera Bread) and I haven't gone back.
So, stick up for yourself!! bring some baked tortilla chips to work so you can avoid the candy jar. Remember, you know what everything in that jar tastes like already. You CAN live without tasting it again!
Good luck and keep going!

Amy in NH

Well, here I am, starting over. I crawled into a bag of potato chips 6 months ago and I just came up for air. I got on the scale last weekend, and I had gained back of the 50 pounds I lost, plus a little more! Eeek! So I am back on the straight and narrow. Since I recommitted Monday, i have lost 8.6 pounds! I'm sure most of that is water weight because of all the salty chips I was eating. But I will gladly take it!

I'm feeling much better. More positive. I lost my mojo for a while and just COULD NOT seem to stick to the plan. I wish I had rediscovered my mojo BEFORE gaining 50 pounds. But it doesn't do any good to dwell on that now.

Since I've only been back on the plan a few days, I'm feeling very fragile. We went out for a work lunch yesterday to a Mexican place. At first I thought I would skip it so I wouldn't have to worry about what to order. But I have been hiding quite a bit since I've regained this weight, and I have to get back out in the world. So I went and ordered refried beans, rice, and a plate of lettuce and tomato. I was a little miffed when the beans came with cheese on them. Why do restaurants have to garnish everything with cheese??? If it's not cheese, it's bacon bits. Or sour cream. Or chopped egg. Or SOMETHING I don't want, but never even thought to ask about. Anyway, I scraped off the cheese and moved on. It was tasty and super cheap. And no one commented. So that was one hurdle dodged.

Now I have to go to the belly of the beast. I have to beard the lion in its den. I have to face the situation that knocked me off the wagon last year. You may remember the incident last summer when my chair collapsed while visiting a (very thin) friend's house. I was so devastated after that mortifying accident that I completely gave up on following the plan and exercising. I had worked so hard and lost 50 pounds. But I was still morbidly obese. I still wore plus size clothes. I still broke chairs. I've been steadily gaining weight since then. That same friend has been asking me and asking me to come back over. Why would I want to revisit the scene of my defeat (and humiliation)?? Maybe she wants to show me the reinforced chairs she bought? Well, I finally agreed to visit her again next week. I am FREAKING OUT. But I refuse to find solace in a bag of chips. But I will be worrying myself to death until then.

And finally have a reliable internet connection. Yay! So I plan to be more active on the boards and keep myself on track. I really appreciate all of the nice, supportive people here!

Mary, welcome back. I am so glad to hear you are back.

I have missed you & wondered what happened to you.

Hope things are better with your job.

Jan

Hey Jan! Thanks for the concern. Unfortunately my job is the same. Very stressful, lots of junk food. The absolute worst situation for a person with food issues! I came back from a meeting yesterday and found a little Easter gift basket on my desk. Very cute. I gave to to another coworker. There's a sweet old man at work who would always give me "treats." Candy bars, mini pies, junk. Do I look like I need a treat!?!? I would tell him thank you and give the item to someone else. But just having a candy bar in my hand was messing with my head. I found myself binging later on junk. In the past, I have successfully given up things for Lent. So at the start of Lent this year, when the sweet old man came up to me with his candy bar, I told him I had given up junk food for Lent, so i would have to decline. I think my refusal really offended him! But I can't worry about that. I have to lose more than 150 pounds! I have to think about myself. Will one little candy bar kill me? YES!!

I'm leaving today to go to my mom's house for Easter. I'm very nervous about this. I've just gotten back on the wagon, and here comes a holiday focused on food. Is there a holiday that is NOT focused on food?? Maybe Arbor Day, but it's not very popular is it? I bet if we ate chocolate on Arbor Day, it would shoot right up there with Halloween! Anyway, being around my family just makes me crazy. I'm so self conscious, and I feel like every one is watching me (whether they are or not). If I only eat on plan foods, someone will say "Is that all you are going to eat?" If I choose to eat something off-plan, thankfully no one usually says "Are you sure you should eat that?" but the looks I get say enough! I just can't win! Geez, I'm freaking out already and lunch isn't for another 30 hours!!

But am I going to throw up my hands and eat everything anyway? no! Am I going to comfort myself with junk food? no! But I might get an eye twitch.

Things didn't go too bad today. I made black bean salad and a big tossed salad to take to lunch. Had a few jelly beans too. : )

I've been thinking about making a video of my weekly experiences following the program. I'll probably never post them anywhere. Too embarrassing. But just a record for me to remember things by. I enjoyed the contestant "confessionals" during the first year of the Biggest Loser. I don't think they do that anymore. I looked at weight loss videos on youtube the other day to see what others had posted. It was pretty depressing! Most of them started off "Today was a bad day..." and ended with "...so I gained a pound."

I really like success stories. I've been cutting weight loss stories out of magazine and putting them in a notebook. Very inspirational for me to look at. I want to keep my spirits up and keep my momentum going. So far so good!

I've been back on plan for one week today. Yay! I'm down 11.6 pounds. I'm sure a lot of that was water weight from all of the salty junk food I had been eating. But I will take every loss I can get! I know my weight loss will slow down now. I just have to keep this in mind and not get discouraged.

I feel good physically. The scale is moving in the right direction again. I'm exercising and I don't feel as winded throughout the day as I used to. I also feel good mentally. I'm glad that I've come back to the plan. I'm glad that I'm eating healthy food. I feel optimistic and empowered. I can do this!

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday which I am positively dreading. I've gained about 30 pounds since my check up last year. I've gained and lost more than that, but according to the doctor's records, it's about 30 pounds. Also, my blood pressure has been high at my last couple of visits. She has suggested pills, but I flatly refused. I don't want to start on a pill regimine! I mentioned this to my coworkers and they all said, why not take the pills? What's wrong with pills? They are all on multiple prescriptions, so I'm sure it seems normal for them. I know there are many factors affecting my bloos pressure. My weight, obviously. My age (I'm 35, not old, but getting older). And of course job stress. I really think that's the main reason. I can feel my pressure go up as soon as I walk in the building. My eyeballs throb all day. When I get home, I try to relax, but I replay my work day over and over again. Not good. I have to learn to let things go. I need to learn how to relax. And I have to learn how to deal with things without turning to food!!!

Yikes, my eyeballs are throbbing again! Maybe I can take a few deep breaths at the doctor's office so my pressue won't spike like it usually does. Eeek!

There is a truism that applies to your situation: Success breeds success and failure promotes failure. It seems to me the trick is to have a period of time in which you have an unbroken stretch of accomplishment. Many people never see that without a roller coaster ride up and down with their health or their weight, Your BP may not come down till you have reached a point closer to your ideal weight. We can rarely do much about our stressful additions to our life other than techniques like meditation to address our reactions to those issues. But focusing on some short term goals might prove helpful. What can one do to insure a transition period of significant success over the next 30-60 days? What can be done to reinforce the positive events like strong, long term weight loss? Look at your daily routine, see what might be contributing to a break down in following the program. What steps might work to heading those things off in advance? Getting through the tough part of this lifestyle program requires planning, planning, and planning. Look at your activities through the eyes of a calendar. Get one and post it if that's helpful. Whatever it takes to make the transition into this as a daily lifestyle you no longer have to even think about. You have to develop a mindset that is unshakeable no matter the behaviour of those around you. When you see success, over an extended time period it will reinforce the daily decisions that tend to derail you. You also have to see yourself and your life as bigger and more important than those little things that tempt you. Some issues and concepts that transcend the little daily crap keeping you from your goals. Be unshakeable, no matter the social cost. You are already paying a huge social cost letting things continue as they are. Nothing is worth your ultimate goals. Not for a minute of self indulgence or the soothing of a friends social well being. All must come second to the most important need. Your good health both physically and emotionally. They will both be fulfilled at the same time when you achieve the success you deserve. It is all within your grasp and only you can decide if you will let them be taken from you. Mary I have come to befriend almost a dozen Star McDougallers over the last four years and all of them will tell you that it's far better over on this side! Come join us. Do what you need to do to succeed. We need you helping that next person with the struggle.
f1jim

Wow - Jim. That is a post that went straight to the heart of the matter for me!
I realise now that I am so used to failing here, (and with every thing else that I have tried to lose weight), that when an obstacle appears I just give in, and accept failure.
Planning is my greatest downfall. I need to plan my food, plan my exercise and plan my life!

I'm off to fill in my calendar, and plan my dinner!

- Mary, I hope your Easter went well. It is tough that all the holidays revolve around food - but I guess we can always change the type of food that they revolve around....

Adele

Well, today is the day. I'm going back to the scene of the crime, so to speak. The place where The Chair Incident occurred. My friend is very sweet, but I'm still quite embarrassed and nervous. But I need to get back on that horse and get this over with so I can move on! Wish me luck!