I always find excuses :(

smileforme12

I am doing really well with healthy eating. I have gone from 60.6kg to 58.8kg in 5 weeks and I have lost 2.5cm off my waist and hips. However when it comes to high sugar foods I always cave and I hate it!

It makes me so upset because I will be having such a healthy day, and I will feel happy about it. But then I will reward myself with chocolate or a treat because I 'think I deserve it'. However I will then feel guilty for eating and will beat my self up about it.

Some other excuses I have recently used:

-It's my boyfriend's birthday party, I can eat whatever I want
-Food makes me happy
-I love the taste of chocolate (but always feel guilty after eating it)
-I will lose the weight later
-I haven't made much progress anyway

Please help me! I hate caving to the control food has over me!

xox Hannah

louisel809

Whenever I feel like I'm going to be bad I look at a picture of myself that I love and it reminds me to keep going. I also never deprive myself, if I want a nibble of choc I have a fun size bar instead of the biggie.
It really works because you are satisfying that craving and also rewarding yourself that you have been good.

Also don't beat yourself you have done so well. X

Rachlmale

You've done really well! You don't need to stop eating the foods you enjoy, learn to have them in moderation and that way you will even enjoy them more than you did before!

Maidofmer

we can support you and tell you to not give up, fight the cravings, drink water etc, but only you can really help you. also, why do you have to give them up? moderation. switch to dark chocolate. treat yourself once a week. weigh the pros and cons. I can eat what ever I want to do I really want to eat what ever I want and pay for it later? just take it in baby steps and you'll figure it out. good luck add me if you like:flowerforyou:

wickedwendy6

I think treats are important, especially chocolate! Just factor it in to your intake and then you don't need to feel guilty. I adore Old Jamaica chocolate, so if at the end of the day I have some calories to spare I will have a couple of pieces - I think this works much better. Otherwise I would not have any for days and then not be able to stop my craving and binge instead. Good luck. :happy:

fatalis_vox

Don't give up! I don't think any of us would be here if we didn't love food!

Try building small amounts of your favourite snacks into your meal plans one or two days a week! If you plan for it, you can compensate in other areas (maybe drinking water instead of milk that day, or skipping the rice in favor of a vegetable.)

Try to find ways to "cut corners" on the calorie content of the foods you love. For example, if you love popcorn, try skipping the microwavable bags and using air-popped with a little garlic salt, or some other seasoning! All the snackability, all the delicious, but with fewer calories and lower fat!

Don't focus on "later!" We can all lose weight "later." Do it now! Then "later" you will be healthier and look more like the you you want to be!

And you will never make progress if you use lack of progress as an excuse. Never ever ever. You have to look at the "not much" progress you've made, and think about how much you don't want to go back to where you started and how little you want to do ALL THAT AGAIN just to wind up where you are today, instead of doubling the progress you have made!

You can do it! 2.5 cm is definitely progress! Real, measureable progress. There is no such thing as a bad improvement--Just keep going one step at a time, and all the "small" victories and advances will add up!

Hbazzell

Someone told me this once.

The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullsh*t story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.”
― Jordan Belfort

apittmanrn

Someone told me this once.

The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullsh*t story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.”
― Jordan Belfort

awesome!

smileforme12

So true!! Going to write this on my mirror

smileforme12

Oh yeah, my WORST excuse when it comes to chocolate:

*wanting to eat a large freddo frog*

"I know I'm going to eat it anyway, because I always cave, and I won't be able to stop thinking about it until I eat it. Might as well eat it now".

How the heck can I change this?!

wickedwendy6

Buy one with the SOLE PURPOSE of not eating it until a certain day, 3 or 4 days away. Then you will have conquered it and know that it has no immediate hold on you.

smileforme12

fantastic idea!! thank you!

JesterMFP

I'll tell you what worked for me, and it might not work for everyone. The first thing I did was to stop feeling guilty. Stop beating myself up. If I overate, I overate, or if I ate chocolate or whatever, then so be it. It doesn't make me a horrible person. It's really hard, but I think removing guilt and shame from food and eating is really important. I think a lot of us get into the mindset that if we stop feeling guilty, we will never lose the weight. For me, it turned out that the opposite was true. When I stopped feeling guilty and ashamed, and started feeling more positively towards myself, that was when I was finally able to lose the weight.

It also helped to stop polarising food as "good" or "bad". It's just food. Yes, you might have good reasons to cut down on a particular type of food, but I think it helps to keep things in perspective. No one food makes anybody fat, and no one food is going to kill you (barring specific medical conditions, allergies, poisoning or choking incidents). Habits take a long time to form, and it's ok to make small, gradual changes.

After letting go of the guilt, the second thing I started working on was breaking the association between food and rewards. It's something that a lot of us grow up with but it's obviously very counter-productive to a healthy lifestyle. Think of other ways of rewarding yourself, try and think of lots of ways, and have them easily available. Your mind will probably automatically turn to food for a long time, but practise ignoring that instinct and using something else as a reward. I personally have the opinion that using food as celebration is not always bad; we have evolved to find food as extremely pleasurable, and it is an important part of all cultures. If you are an emotional eater though, it can be difficult to work out where your own personal boundaries are between enjoying food and using it to get through life.

Looking at your excuses in your OP, I would say it's ok to eat chocolate because you enjoy the taste of it. (It's also ok to remove that from your life if you so choose). You can enjoy the taste with a small portion though. It's ok to enjoy some birthday cake, or a special meal for your boyfriend's birthday - it's not ok to use it as an excuse to binge though. The other things: "I will lose the weight later", "I've not made much progress anyway" - they are the types of excuse you need to knock on the head. Whatever your goals - to achieve a certain weight, to lose inches, to feel like you're eating healthy; if these really matter to you, then you need to learn not to listen to your own excuses. Excuses will always be there, and motivation won't; you have to find the commitment and determination to keep going anyway.

At the risk of going all "Oprah" on you, if you really find it hard to stop using food to make yourself feel better, you might need to look a bit deeper at the feelings you're avoiding or soothing with food.

JesterMFP

Oh yeah, my WORST excuse when it comes to chocolate:

*wanting to eat a large freddo frog*

"I know I'm going to eat it anyway, because I always cave, and I won't be able to stop thinking about it until I eat it. Might as well eat it now".

How the heck can I change this?!

Change the way you talk to/about yourself. Start creating a new identity. Stop saying things like "I know I'm going to eat it anyway, because I always cave", because you're making it come true. You're making that your reality. You know you always cave in anyway, so what reason do you have to do any different? Start telling yourself that you are someone who can resist temptation. Be that person. It might sound silly, but the language we use, even in our heads, can affect how we behave.

Oh, and check out "urge surfing" - http://www.mindfulness.org.au/URGE SURFING.htm It's not about never feeling tempted, it's about learning to live with those feelings until they pass. We tend to think that when we have an urge, the only way to make it go away is to give in, and if we don't, it will be too unbearable. You don't have to give in, and they do go away!

HardRockCamaro

Some other excuses I have recently used:

-It's my boyfriend's birthday party, I can eat whatever I want

Try not to use this one, there's always some event to justify and it just leads to binging.
It's still his birthday and you'll enjoy yourself fine without going nuts.
On the other hand 1 small slice of cake per month isn't going to derail you.
But you know the event is coming up so make a rule, if you've had sweet stuff the past 2 weeks you can't have any on his birthday.

-Food makes me happy

It'll make you very sad if you get on the scale and have put on weight.
Try and think longer term, the next few days even.

-I love the taste of chocolate (but always feel guilty after eating it)

Tough one! It is good!
Just try and remember how bad you're gonna feel on the scale.
If you can make it a once a month treat if you've honestly been good, then have a *small* bar.

-I will lose the weight later

No you won't, you'll cave again with another excuse.
There is no later.

-I haven't made much progress anyway

You'll make even less or even go up in weight if you cave.
Besides, you lost an inch on your waist in 5 weeks. That's good!


If I start to crave something I sternly give myself these answers in my head and tell myself to think how much better my life is going to be in the future if I don't have it.
Then I do something else to take my mind off it.

cebreisch

When you make your mind up, the excuses won't come so easily. Wanting to do something and actually putting forth the effort are two different things. It usually takes some sort of event to help set up the determination to do it. Mine was an event at my daughter's school where I could hardly walk to the door because I was so obese and out of shape. Once I decided that, then taking the steps towards losing weight became easier (scarier, but easier).

I like the adage about the hound dog laying on the nail - farmer's friend comes over and sees the hound dog laying on the nail bellowing and asks what's wrong. Farmer tells him he's laying on a nail. Friend asks how come he doesn't move - farmer says, "Because it ain't hurtin him enough."

The other thing is to quit the negative self-talk - that's at least as destructive as the excuses you're making. The sooner you dust yourself off, say, "Okay - that was a moment of temporary insanity, now I'm back on track" ...the better. We're all human, and being human, we are going to stumble at anything we try to do. Just the way it is. Know that it'll happen, but it's okay. Get back up and keep going.

It's not one day at a time, it's one step at a time, one breath at a time. One day can be an eternity. Sometimes you have to go from moment to moment. "Okay, it's breakfast. What can I have that's yummy that is healthy, with protein, and lower fat, lower carb?" If you need a snack, ask yourself, "Do I need protein or fiber or both?" and have that before you have anything else. If you really want pretzels, have a protein bar first - protein has longer staying power, and by doing this, you'll put somehting healthier in your stomach so hopefully you won't have as many pretzels.

FOr what it's worth - and good luck!