Struggling:(

Startraveller

Sounds like we are all struggling. I gain then lose then gain again. Water helps as does keeping busy to get your mind off eating. As for snacking, hummus and veggies filll you up and are good calories. I personally have also found thatlooking at whateveryone on this site has lost is motivating me.

tinaruby

I frustrate myself!!! I know I need to lose weight, and every night I tell myself I'm ready to feel good and I'm ready to watch what I eat, but then the next day it's like food will be right in front of me and I don't even think about not eating it or what it is! UGH!!! Then I come on here to log what I eat and I get so frustrated with myself! The good thing is that I'm being honest with myself with what I eat so I am logging what I'm actually eating, but I just wish I had more self control! Anyone know of any tricks to help recognize what I'm about to eat so I stop myself from eating it or so I start making better choices?

Don't eat the food until it is logged (use your cell phone). Usually by the time I get done logging something I know I shouldn't have, I feel guilty enough to remove it and choose something better. :-)

Sorry for the repost, didn't see it earlier...

Also don't let yourself get hungry, you will have more control if you snack on something low in sugar and high in protein or fiber. If your not starving, it is way easier to choose whats good for you instead of what is quickest or easiest.

tinaruby

If you are serious then may I suggest what is working for me; I only allow the right foods in my house...I buy veggies, chicken, whole wheat breads and grains, low fat and fat free dairy. For snacks and sweets, I buy 100 calories popcorn, sugar free jello and pudding, skinny cow ice cream, etc.......Drink tons of water! Keep the temptation away from you and soon it will just become habit to eat heathly. If you really want something have it once in awhile, you still have to be able to live and find a way to change your lifestyle......this isn't a short term fix, it is a lifestyle change. I eat 2 eggs whites and whole wheat toast in the morning, the protein keeps you from being hungry. I snack on cucumbers, celery, red and yellow peppers, etc. I started my lunch and dinners with smart ones because they are portion control but now I make my own dinners and stay under calorie very well without all the soduim. Just keep the temptations away from you and you will get there!

LOL, I shipped all the white breads and pastas to my neighbors. Along with a bunch of other high sugar stuff. He couldn't understand why I wanted to give it away. Now he can see how much weight my husband and I have lost and NOW he understands. Luckily for my neighbor, he's not over weight. LOL

melissageist

It's hard trust me. I still have my cravings myself. I really love the website myplate.gov it will guide you and help you stay on track.

Brian_VA

Instead of focusing on the food, focus on getting some exercise. For example, start riding an exercise bike, elliptical, or other exercise equipment. Maybe initially you are only doing 10 minutes at low intensity. But every day if you do the exercise, you will be able to do more and burn more calories. (It's fun and rewarding to see your fitness increase by tracking something like calories burned on the machine.) It won't take long before you look at that big piece of chocolate cake differently, knowing that it has more calories than all the calories you have burned exercising for the past week. Before long you don't want to eat as much, and you'll be riding for 45 minutes and burning 400 calories a day. From here it is much easier to manage your diet IMO.

reharvrun

Drinking water with lemon has a lot of advantages. One of them is that it boosts your metabolism. fyi

janeite1990

Suggestion: log what you're ABOUT to eat...see if it's "worth" it. Pre-logging has been a lifesaver for me. Try it!

edit to add: ^haha...beat me to it!

Great idea!

delilah47

I was like you. The whole thing seemed so overwhelming when I got up on the first day, I just couldn't do it. What I had to do: I got rid of EVERYTHING not healthy and planned a few days ahead on my menus. That way at least you have a direction and all you have to do it take it. Not easy, but better than not having a plan. Good luck!

Edit: After the fist week it gets a lot easier. Then later it just seems natural after you learn the basic good foods and get some recipes you like. MFP isn't your typical starve-yourself diet. You shouldn't be all that hungry if you use your "calorie bank" wisely.

delilah47

I usually TRY to do my food diary in advance, and I stick to it! Not sure if it would help you but does me. I make the weeks menu and then I have my totals for the week/or if I can't do the whole week, then maybe just the next day, if something comes up and I have to change it becomes a liitle harder but I'm working on that. I just find that if I decide what I am going to eat beforehand, it easier for me to stay under my cals. it also lets me know what kind of snacks and how much of them I can have, so I don't go overboard.

Hope this helps.

Yep, this ^^

thelassiemickyjames

I was struggling too until I stopped eating foods for flavor and starting eating foods for function. The foods I eat might be bland, but they serve their purpose, and I don't crave them in excess. If you start eating purely for function, as if your body is a machine, you will have success, but like everyone else says, you have to really want it, and commit to it. It must become your religion. Eat to live, don't live to eat.

Yacki

I try to work out first thing each morning - in doing so - as I see food throughout the day- I think about is it really worth it. It gets me in the right frame of mind working out early every morning. I also have lots of energy and am able to focus better all day. I also try to have a plan - I try to pack foods that are healthy to take with me no matter where I go. I always have something healthy to snack on in my purse. I also drink water when I am hungry. I also have been known to eat a few almonds, when I get hungry.

hdlb123

One thing that helps me is that if I snack between meals, I force myself to enter in the calories I'm about to eat right BEFORE I eat it (like from my phone). Then I look at where that leaves me for the rest of the day, and this often helps me decide not to eat it. Also, this rule is such a pain, it's often not worth it to me to spend the time on it, so I give the snack a miss.

I think mealtimes would be a little more difficult, the best way is to plan way ahead what the meal is going to be, before you get hungry.

Same thing I do. Log things before they go in my mouth, and then decide if I really need it or not.

967_1111

Someday, I'm going to tattoo this on my *kitten*, but I try to remember this"

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels".

marynmarty

I use to be the same way and no diet would work for me. We were always going out with friends and eating on the run....Then we had kids so I said I would go on a diet but we were still going out all the time. For some reason this time, I woke up in August and decided I needed to do this. I looked at both my girls and realized that I need to be there for them. That hit a trigger in me as I fear something would happen to me and I wouldn't see my girls grow up. Now I'm so addicted to it because I get results every weigh in that I can't stop. I think it won't work until you finally get to the point where your serious about it. I totally get where your coming from and it's very normal. It will kick in for you soon and you will do great!!

crazydv

Remember....Nothing Tastes as good as thin feels!!

tigersword

The only way to do it, is to do it.

splackk

I know for many people the slow and steady route to healthy eating has been key, changing out foods here and there for better options until it becomes second nature, but I'll share what works best for me too, since I had the same problem for years as I watched my weight slowly increasing as every week I would have a new plan to start again. Simply put, I had to totally, drastically change my habits on day 1. I realized for me, the slow changes didn't really work, because I craved the highly processed, overly fattening foods I'd been eating every day too much. Even just changing out to brown rice was making me feel like I was missing out, and there was no way I could slightly adjust the daily McDonalds runs.

Instead, I told myself I had three weeks in which EVERYTHING was going to be changed and there was no other option, just three weeks and that's it. I told friends and family this both so they wouldn't offer me those foods I'd given up and so I felt I was being held accountable. Then I messed up again, twice, by going to eat fast food on the first day. Finally on the third try I successfully held myself to a healthy eating plan for day one, which was my biggest hurdle. I felt like crap that whole day and the next two days, I'm guessing as the chemicals were leaving my body, but after that it came naturally with no trouble. I finished the three weeks I promised myself and by then had new routines that didn't involve stops at fast food places every afternoon, so sticking to it wasn't any hassle.

Alli_b

About 7 years ago, I was successful in losing about 50 pounds. I did it by planning all of my food for the day the night before. I would spend time in front of the computer, calculating the calories and the types of food i wanted to eat. So i basically knew exactly what i would eat the next day... not the most exciting, but that was not the goal... the goal was to stay within my calorie allotment. I would take all of the food I would eat everywhere... that way, i always had it when i was tempted to have something else or if i got hungry before it was "lunch time". this technique worked really well for me.

Good luck! Dont be discouraged... we have all been (and still have days) where the self control just isnt what we want it to be...

skadoosh33

Eat some of your junk food with a tablespoon of Ipecac...you will never want that stuff again.

MelanieAG05

I plan my meals for the week, write a list and go and do the shopping. I only buy what i intend to eat. i dont buy crisps/biscuits/sweets because if I have them in the house I will eat them. While I am eating my breakfast I log all the food I INTEND to eat into my food diary and this helps me to keep on track for the day. Also, I can see if I am going to eat too much or too little and make adjustments before it's too late.

Good luck - we all find this journey difficult sometimes. You do need to have to be in the right frame of mind though!

Weighinginwithmy02

here is what works for me (and strongly believe that you can find something that works for you and it may not be what the "bulk" of people do!)
1) eat every 2.5-3 hours, never going over 3 hours without eating. This was I am never so hungry that I overeat at the next meal. I even have my reminders in Outlook set to pop up when it is near my snack time as to not let me forget. It also takes the guesswork out of "should I eat this". It's either within my time limit or not, and that's that.
2) planning ahead. This morning I unloaded all of my fruits I plan on eating this week at work to the tray I keep on my desk. I eat two pieces of fruit a day, one for morning snack, one for afternoon snack and there are RIGHT THERE staring at me. I know what I will have for dinner tonight, so I pre-log so I can see what kind of playing room I have during the day and can make sensible choices at lunch.
3) know your triggers. I know I cannot resist food sitting in my line of vision and really, who can? (studies show, not many people) I can't bake a cake and not eat it. I will never be one of those people who can buy a big block of chocolate and eat just a normal portion once a day to satusfy a cravy. I just cannot do those things. Know what you're capable of and incapable of and stick with what works for you.
4) don't try to be super human. don't set yourself up for failure by trying to be 100%. Make your weekly "goal" and when you reach that goal by 80% then be happy. Nobody can be 100% on all the time. For instance, I want to drink 100 glasses of water during the week (not really but just saying) so when I took at my week end totals and I've drank 80 (or more) glasses of water then I am thrilled! I don't beat myself up for not reaching 100% of my goal. Allowing myself that flexibility (and foregiveness) has been life altering in the weight loss world for me.

Ahluvly

Hi there,

I'm going to give some straight laced pointers.....ulimately, it is down to you what you do next. The ball is always in your court as you are responsible for your actions, no one else.

You literally need to have a word with yourself and ask, "What do I want to achieve here?", We always have a choice in what we do, We may not like the options but we always have them, we always make the choice and there's always consequences.

Think about why you want to lose weight and by how much. If you have a date in mind, great. If not, you need to be thinking along the lines of SMART gaols...specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based!

For all I agree with cutting out certain things to remove temptation, this is not an effective long term measure and this is how you need to look at your health, fitness and weight management. It's long term and you need to look after your body now to prevent poor health down the line.

I started paying privately to see a nutritionist in Jan and it's the best thing I could have done. After months of a few lbs off, then a few more on.....my body is now working properly. I eat x amount of cals, limit refined carbs, high sugary foods (as these help me hang on to my weight), have a treat each week and do regular exercise. I do this not because it's what I think I should do, it's because I choose to nourish my body and fuel it for each day.

My advice to you is wipe a clean slate under what has happened from today. Take your weight and measurements and start afresh. Friday is a good day to weigh in each week, it takes the stress off you for the weekend, say if your weigh in day was on a Friday.

Weight management is a long term thing, you must remember this. This isn't a diet or a quick fix and it really is 80% diet and 20% exercise.

Work out on MFP what your TDEE is (this is your BMR x your activity level). Check out Jillian Michaels's calculation and use the advanced part of the goal setting. I would personally set your macros to 50c,40p and30f OR 40c,30p and 30f. Then, my advice to you is to eat 10-20% under this totaly amount each day. If you do exercise, great...get it logged but save up for HRM if you haven't got one. You need one that gives you your calorie burn so you can be specific about what you're achieving each work out.

Food wise, go back to basics...........carbs, proteins and fats. Aim for wholegrains, lean meats and fish, plenty of fibre enriched foods. Pulses and legumes are great. Aim for 3 meals a day and two snacks along with at least 2lts of water. If you work out, aim for another 250ml per 15mins of exercise you carry out! Do not go more than 4hrs without eating.

A lot of how we tackle things is positive attitude. You need to be saying you can do this, you can eat well and so, ultimately you will do.

If you need any other help, just ping me a message!

Sarah

MaraDiaz

The toughest part for me is the soda. My son drinks one or at most two in a typical day, and I buy them swearing I won't drink any this time, and then I do.

I find that if it's in the house, I will eat it, and if it's not, I usually won't go get it. That Krave cereal that just came out was a big mistake. I thought I'd eat a small bowl every couple of days as an antidote to my chocolate craving, but nope. The box is already gone and no more will cross the threshold of this house. They named that stuff well!

Hot dogs turned out to be a bad mistake, too. I ate 4 in one day. And a burger before that, and some cereal, and then a burrito, too. Not sure why I was so hungry that day, it was insane!

I don't like to cook and I'm not good at it, but I do better when I buy some rib-eye steaks and some hamburger, then cook on a grill. And if I don't go to the grocery store, I end up going out to eat because there's no food in the house, and that's a mistake, too.

This losing weight thing requires strategy and planning!