Habits/Off Track

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THISisTARRAN
THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
in Motivation and Support
MFP Friends: I have a question for you, HOW do you break your habit of eating when you aren't hungry? And when you have gotten off track- - I mean wayyyyy off the track, what do you say to yourself to get yourself back???

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  • arthurowenlindsey
    arthurowenlindsey Posts: 18
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    if my day is screwed, i enjoy the screwed day, and start again the next day. also, with the snacking, i try to leave calories for that. but i also get 1800 cause im 232 lbs. Find REALLY low calorie snacks? or find something to do with your hands
  • SparkleShine
    SparkleShine Posts: 2,001 Member
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    It's very hard for me!!!! Between June and August I lost 18-20 pounds. School started (I work for the school district) and I lost all motivation!!! Ate like crap, no exercise. Finally, last month I just told myself, I HAVE to do this!!!! I could just forsee me gaining and gaining and I wanted it to stop. It was VERY hard the first couple of weeks but then I started feeling so much better and started losing so I got more motivated.

    I say just suck it up the first few weeks and the benefits will motivate you!
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
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    I'm being gipped! LOL I get 1570 and I'm 248! LOL
  • eightpaws77
    eightpaws77 Posts: 3
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    The only things that I've found so far that work are to drink cold water (and sometimes lots of it, lol) or to do something physical, like go for a walk. Other than that, I'd love to hear other people's ideas, 'cause late at night are my weakness!
  • fitoverfifty
    fitoverfifty Posts: 192 Member
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    The only way i can keep from eating when I'm not hungry is to NOT have snacking foods in the house...

    Somehow fixing a salad is not that appealing when you're not really hungry.

    Also......plan to have healthy snacks between meals, so you don't start thinking about yummy things to eat.
  • vero_1
    vero_1 Posts: 85 Member
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    I drink lots of flavored fluids! VERY cold unsweetened teas (drop a tasty tea bag in a glass of water to flavor it and then add tons of ice) I also have rose water and orange blossom water to add a few drops to a tall glass and some artificial sweetener... Drink emergen-C raspberry (somhow the fizzies make me feel like I'm having something more substantial) and so on.
    When I get way off track, I try not to feel guilty about it but just enjoy the rest of my day. If I go off for a meal, I make the next one healthier. If it was a whole day of getting off track, I think of it as a vacation and just get back on it the next day :)
    I find that feeling guilty about it just makes me want to give up all together so I forgive my self and keep on going.:smile:
  • heather0mc
    heather0mc Posts: 4,656 Member
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    i got waaaay off track. i started MFP at 190lbs, lost 10, then GAINED 40! :noway:

    so, what did i do? decided to change everything...and the rest was history! i have lost 25 of the 40 i gained (since mid september) and i never want to see it again. it is a slow process and i finally accepted that. no more - gotta lose 20 pounds for that trip i need to take or so-n-so's wedding. just. changed. everything.

    for example, i was a smoker. the day i decided to change is the day i stopped smoking. i went for walks with the dog or got on the elliptical instead of smoking and took it one day at a time. i stopped eating fast food or drinking any kind of pre-sweetened drinks. i added sugar to my coffee and that was it. for a treat, i would have a dr. pepper but only if i new it wouldn't side rail me. changed it all.

    i also got real. i cannot be 100% on game every single minute of every single day. but i have the power to make good choices and that is what i do.

    i have a LONG way to go and with out this site i would not be where i am today.

    my advice? LOG EVERYTHING. every bite of every snack. then make notes in the food log to yourself - just jot down what you feel or why/what excuse you had to go over your numbers. make yourself 100% accountable and eventually you will end up helping yourself.

    also, try going for a walk instead of eating. if you live in the super cold, pop in a 20 minute workout DVD instead of eating. take a shower. brush your teeth (this is a good one and if you end up brushing all the time at first, get a whitening toothpaste! LOL), paint your nails - do something that occupies those in-between-meals-boredom moments.

    you know what? i hope this post helps you, but after reading over it, it is exactly what i tell myself all the time. i think i wrote this for me too - not to hog my own post or toot my own horn but i think i am going to copy it, paste and print it for my fridge. :bigsmile: just for those times when i may be slipping backwards...because it happens to pretty much everyone at some point. :heart:
  • TamiD59
    TamiD59 Posts: 1
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    Thats awesome ...your post will motivate me...:o)
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
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    To: Everyone! Thanks for replying.
    To: Heather: Thank you so much for your response. You hit me RIGHT in the place I needed to be hit. You reminded me of something I learned when I was 11. IT TAKES A MOMENT...ONE TINY MOMENT... to start a habit, and one tiny moment to stop one. If someone "cant" change its because they don't want to. I believe that through and through. I used to tell someone very close to me that very thing, I told that person that they didn't stop drinking because they didn't want to...
    I'm such a hypocrite. Now I have to own up to what I said...If you want it, you change it, from one moment to the next you change &&&& that is what I'm going to do. In one moment you start, and in one moment you stop, if you don't change its because you don't want to. Well I want to...and from this moment on, I'm changing.
  • heather0mc
    heather0mc Posts: 4,656 Member
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    To: Everyone! Thanks for replying.
    To: Heather: Thank you so much for your response. You hit me RIGHT in the place I needed to be hit. You reminded me of something I learned when I was 11. IT TAKES A MOMENT...ONE TINY MOMENT... to start a habit, and one tiny moment to stop one. If someone "cant" change its because they don't want to. I believe that through and through. I used to tell someone very close to me that very thing, I told that person that they didn't stop drinking because they didn't want to...
    I'm such a hypocrite. Now I have to own up to what I said...If you want it, you change it, from one moment to the next you change &&&& that is what I'm going to do. In one moment you start, and in one moment you stop, if you don't change its because you don't want to. Well I want to...and from this moment on, I'm changing.

    awww! this made me tear up!! :cry: but happy tears! :love: everything you wrote is 100% true - YOU are the one responsible, no one else. if you want it, GET IT! and you totally can and will :flowerforyou:

    i have faith in everyone on MFP. EVERYONE! i have been on this site since january of 2009 and have seen amazing things. i feel like sort of a veteran! LOL! but in all seriousness, i really do believe that we all take steps - forward and backwards - and it is up to us to keep moving forward. time FLIES and you do not get time back. we are all human and we are capable of learning every single day, no matter what the subject is. but my faith in the people on MFP begins with one thing - we have all made the first steps by signing on here, recognizing we WANT to change for the better, and just need a little help from time to time along the way.

    i also find that beating yourself up for, well, anything at all is a waste of time. just do not let it happen.

    i like a lot of the advice everyone has given, from the snacking ideas - do not buy things that are bad for you, do not keep them in the house - to the drinking water, etc. all GREAT stuff!!!

    glad you got something from my post - that made my day!! :smooched:
  • silveryflutterby
    silveryflutterby Posts: 335
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    I'm being gipped! LOL I get 1570 and I'm 248! LOL

    She's probably shorter than you and therefore has a higher percentage of weight to lose than you. And she could also have her goal set lower than you. Like only half or 1 pound a week instead of 2. What is yours set at. Mine's set at 2 pounds a week and I'm 5'8" and 215 so I only get 1380!!!
  • LareishaH
    LareishaH Posts: 205 Member
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    I have been way off track and I am just starting to get back on the wagon, but I realized that I am way closer to my goal than I have ever been and the only thing stopping me from actually accomplishing it is myself. Life is hectic and it always will be so I can't us that as an excuse. (Like I have been for the past month!) Also, other small things helped me to refocus: seeing people I hadn't seen since before I lost the 28 or so pounds and their compliments, having to buy new clothes because I can't fit the old ones, not wanting to gain the weight back, remembering the feeling of accomplishment everytime I got on the scale and saw the number decrease, and etc.

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