Living the Lifestyle (LTL) - Wednesday, 10/31/18

minimyzeme

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for October below:

Monday imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday - Jerdtrmndone (Jerry)

Today's topic: Deadlines and commitments...

We all have 'em. For many of us, deadlines and commitments can cause stress and be a trigger for mindless eating. Share with us how you have dealt with these types of stresses over the course of your weight management journey. I'm especially interested in whether in this context, your managing your weight, or the stresses, or both--have changed over time.

88olds

My whole working life was deadlines and meetings.

Coping? Tracking. After I got in the swing of things, I found a refuge in planning and tracking. I could plan my week on Sunday.

When I started, I wrote out storyboards. Later I would just walk myself through the week in my head. If really in a jam, I would take my lunch. But usually it was go to a place, with a plan of maybe this, maybe that. A plan without being locked in. Best of both worlds.

In the bad old days, running out the door to grab the first thing I saw just made everything worse.

imastar2

I generally thrive on being busy and working toward deadlines and commitments. My deadlines and commitments are a mixture of work-related Civic and church commitments. Often times they conflict with each other thus making a decision on what has its priority. The work-related deadlines and commitments are always the priority because of obvious reasons providing our income. Understanding that I love to be busy I don't necessarily love having stressful deadlines and commitments conflicting with each other. I believe currently these have created somewhat of a confusion in my attitude?

I'm always relating my work schedule with my weight loss management mostly in a mental way. In other words I'm constantly looking at success in my businesses and failures alongside of my successes and failures and weight loss or Weight Management. Currently I'm in a battle with losing the weight and trying to figure out if there is some correlation with my stress of business or stress of schedules which really are not that bad.

I think if you're not happy with yourself i e weight or any other number of reasons it certainly can affect your overall attitude. So in answer to the question of change over time I believe I'm in that crisis if you will of figuring out why during this point and time in my life I had to go and put on an extra 50 pounds. Putting the weight on makes me unpleasant with myself but the other side of me relishes in the challenge of I can beat this and the competitive side of me says go for it yet one more time.

Back to commitments and deadlines and their changes over time have changed as I've aged but currently managing my weight has not been as successful as managing other areas of my life. So it gets moved into the priority spot but I still have to balance everything out.

SW 400.8
CW 352.8 🙁
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

48.0 lbs Total Loss

imastar2

@minimyzeme you've given us a great topic but it gives cause for much thought in my opinion thus such a long response on my part. Thanks for posing a subject that is challenging and thought provoking. Sorting out this topic is really a good exercise.
Thanks!

SW 400.8
CW 352.8 🙁
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

48.0 lbs Total Loss

Jerdtrmndone

Right now I'm in the process of looking for a flexible part time job . I can only do minimum things so with this and Dr. appointment commitments I do find myself stressing some and break down to binging snacks. I catch my self and start to self talk why I am I doing this and stop. So self talk helps me regain control

podkey

In general I find that when I keep eating simply and have the same breakfast and lunch it is faster and easier. Commitments can be another thing when they involve eating with others. I do the best I can.

minimyzeme

Share with us how you have dealt with these types of stresses over the course of your weight management journey. I'm especially interested in whether in this context, your managing your weight, or the stresses, or both--have changed over time.

When I first started, I had no idea these were some of my really vulnerable times--mainly because I mindlessly ate my way through them. My responses had become so automatic that I worked with the stress while eating, as if they just went together (they did).

The suggestions from this group early in my journey to focus more on my behavior than the scale was really helpful to get insight into what triggered me to eat, especially the hand-to-mouth kind of eating while doing data analysis and working on reports. Just slowing down enough to realize what I was doing was eye-opening. I consider it the first step in changing my mindless eating behavior.

I hear and read many people struggling with the mindless eating under stress. Instead of trying to stop the behavior altogether, I decided to make healthier choices: substituting fruit, veggies and lean meats for candy, chips and high-fat deli meats / sandwiches. I figure I may never change the behavior, but if make better choices, I don't have to.

minimyzeme

You're welcome, Derrick @imastar2 . I found this aspect of eating to be one of my biggest contributors to weight gain until I really started paying attention to it. Changing up the choices made a really positive difference for me...still does.

imastar2

@minimyzeme ...I have been taking everything the last 2 days including today and keeping it under my kcal goal of 1800 kcals. My points are 46 but if I eat hardly any sweet at all it spikes my points. So far so good. Just taking it a day at a time.

minimyzeme

Persistence not perfection, one day at a time, right @imastar2 ?

I hope if you can make healthier choices, transition to a consistent steady or losing "pace", it will motivate you to keep doing it. Easier said than done, but I know you really want to lose. Try to remember that before sabotaging your efforts.

Please explain to me how "hardly any sweets at all it spikes my points". Not WW points, assuming we're working with the same "Smart Points". Yes, there's a hit, so to speak, that sweets carry, but not enough to wipe out what you've got to work with. And you've got the 0-point foods to supplement your "hunger".

I routinely have sweets on my 23-point allocation--just not a lot of them. Not nearly as many as I ate pre-WW. That said, once in a while, I have a normal slice of pie. I routinely have peanut butter & jam. Etc. My point is not how great I am but the fact that a small / moderate amount of sweets CAN be accommodated within a daily point allocation.

Enjoy (and reach your own targets) in moderation, my friend.

Jerdtrmndone

@minimyzeme, Thanks for replying to derricks plea for support. This is why Goad is a great support group. This post will help me in my journey also.

@imastar you are starting off in the right path. Feel free to ask questions because responses like this helps you and others

imastar2

@minimyzeme kim...I don't over do the sweets as far as a meal is concerned but let's just take a piece of key lime pie close to 20 pts and pecan pie like 23 pts I have had to avoid those types of desserts for the last 5 years and now even though I get 46 daily pts that takes a wack out of it. I'll say this the other day I stopped with DW at D~ she wanted a blizzard. While she got a small strawberry something I got a medium pecan caramel something or other and got home and discovered it was 900 calories and with WW If I remember correctly it was 39 pts.

So anyway I did eat about a 1/2 cup of restaurant banana pudding and it wasn't too bad. So anyway no matter most of that is in the past and I am focused on a daily plan taking it one day and one meal at a time. Last 2 or 3 days I've been able to get my attitude back in focus and holding together pretty well. We'll stay tuned for more results.

SW 400.8
CW 349.6 🙂
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

51.2 lbs Total Loss

minimyzeme

@imastar2 , gotcha. You're right, a full piece of pie IS a big hit. In fact, a full anything sweet is a big hit. But this is where I feel like I have to make informed choices, not unlike my budget. I can't have it all. Strangely enough when it comes to food choices though, I find I have a little enjoyment for figuring out what I CAN do to satisfy my objectives. A little mindfulness and creativity usually helps me "make the better choice", even if it's not the best one.

Sweets are another place where fractions have become my new best friends! While I do occasionally have a full piece of pie (and I do love pie), it's not uncommon for me anymore to only have half. And that's not half now and half later. I'll split it with someone or I'll throw half out (something I NEVER did back in the day). Now, I'd rather waste it than waist it. I used to do the same thing with my go-to burger place. They served the burger on a fantastic bakery roll, grilled with a little butter. I'd only have half the roll but the whole burger. They also had really good (I mean REALLY good) fries! I'd split those or leave half. Another WW buddy I'd meet there sometimes said he couldn't do it. I think it's about mind(fulness) over matter.

Basically, I had to get out of my 'all or nothing' mentality with respect to food (and a lot of other things). I found it leaves so many options that I hadn't even considered before. The other thing that was really helpful is that as I lost weight in those weeks I made choices like these, I learned I absolutely can, with some limits, have it both ways. I've continued to make similar informed decisions right up to present day.

Maybe working as you did with the banana pudding--having only half of it--can help you navigate and still achieve your objectives too. I'm glad to read you've had a few successful days in a row. I hope that you can continue to build on them, one day at a time.

imastar2

@minimyzeme I think it's about mind(fulness) over matter. I love that statement and thanks for the support about having a couple of successaful days at a time. I pretty much have stayed on track since the Wed 31st of Oct. Down 10.2 lbs for the last 5 days and down 7 lbs from my WI on last Friday the 11/2/18. So far the battle is in my favor but the war rages onward and I have to stay positive that each day and each meal is a battle to be reckoned with. Working on that 1st goal of 340.0 lbs and have 2.6 lbs from today to my 1st goal.
Again thanks for the support.

SW 400.8
CW 342.6 🙂
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

58.2 lbs Total Loss