Living the Lifestyle April 5 Friday

Jimb376mfp

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 April are below:

Monday - imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday- jimb376mfp (Jim)

Topic: What ONE day is your most difficult to LTL?
Why?
How do you cope?

Jimb376mfp

I still react to eating after a good Weigh In. I don’t always give in to the temptation but it is always there. When I see others posting food rewards as idiotic but then I know I still think about food as a reward. Old habits die hard.

Yesterday I was tempted for hamburger and fries but sat it the parking lot and thought about it and left. Decided to get some General Tsao Chicken and eat half of the portion. Made the better choice.

88olds

It’s always been Saturday. It’s most likely the day for unstructured time at home. Now I’m retired.

The ways I used to cope were- find a nasty homeowner job to do. Sometimes just flee the house. Go to Home Depo. Go to the gym, even if it’s just walking on the track. Go to a movie.

Now those strategies have limits. Lately I started putting baby carrots front and center in the fridge. I don’t really like baby carrots. But the serve as a reminder that I’m wandering around in the kitchen. Prevents some mindless eating. Or provide something that doesn’t blow up my plan when I reach for them.

gadgetgirlIL

Seems to be Wednesdays. For whatever reason, my longest days of work seem to fall on Wednesdays. I have a hard time spreading my calorie budget over a really long day. Just happened this past Wednesday! The previous Wednesday was fine as I was on vacation ;-)

whathapnd

There's not so much a particular day of the week as much as circumstances that can fall on any day of the week such as:

- letting myself get too hungry before eating
- going to the grocery store hungry
- not having quick meal prep ingredients in the house and snacking on nuts/ dried fruit as a result. (I usually have these on-hand for baking.)
- not eating prior to a social event where there likely won't be good options for my food allergies/sensitivities

@jimb376ifp, I sometimes over-eat after a good weigh-in, but I'm just as likely to under-eat thinking it will help keep up the momentum. I found I was letting weigh-ins mess with my head too much, so I've given them up for awhile. I'm going to make time this weekend to make a post about that decision. It's been more eye-opening than I would have thought.

Al_Howard

Our weigh-in is Friday morning. Therefore, as retirees, we get to enjoy a slackened rein on the weekends. I've pretty much eliminated my wine and beer from Monday - Thursday, and kick back Friday evening, and usually,Ssaturday and Sunday also. I'm now keeping my caloric intake down with good choices of what to eat with the drinks. We'll see how this works out long term, but was lower today than any WI since 4/6/2018. In looking back at my journey it looks like I do best in the first 1/3 of the year.

imastar2

Well lately I've just gone to heck in a handbasket (wherever that saying came from). For me there seems to be no particular day for the misbehaving I'm experiencing. I've got to get it together.

cakeman21k

So weigh in for us is on a Tuesday, and yes we tend to over indulge for dinner if we have had a good weigh in that AM. Weekends can also be an issue as thats when we tend to eat out more, share some wine etc.

podkey

Probably every day is about the same. Maybe that's because being retired every day is a week-end day.

minimyzeme

Topic: What ONE day is your most difficult to LTL?
Why?
How do you cope?

The day when I'm stressed or anxious (which could be any, or every, day). Why? Because I became a stress-eater prior to joining WW. For decades, I mindlessly ate under stress. Why that? I really don't know how I came to associate stress and eating. I know the eating is a crutch for me, but what exactly it satisfies, I really don't know. I just know that decades ago, I mindlessly associated them to the point that they became linked as stimulus and response, until quite recently.

I cope now by trying to be more mindful. That does not come naturally to me so I have to work at it. I realized it wasn't so much the crutch behavior of eating under stress that made me fat. It was the foods I chose to eat when doing so. My coping mechanism was to allow the behavior but change the food choices. In the past, I would eat sweets or carbs (or both) under stress. I started turning to fruits, veggies, and lean proteins instead. I think it's worked pretty well for me so far.