baconslave wrote: »

I had a terrible day yesterday and the kids were determined to make me runaway. Instead of diving headfirst in their junk food, I chewed gum like an angry cow and brewed myself some Tension Tamer tea. I breathed and watched a show on Amazon.

I strengthened my "resistance" muscle last night.
But if you don't make it, it isn't the falling down that defines you. What MAKES you is you getting right back up. No guilt, but no excuses either. So you fell down? SO? Did you get right back up, or did you lay in the failure and wallow in it? In my old life, I did the latter. Now when I mess up, I immediately get back up, dust off, and get back to business. That is strength.
Fall down 7 times, get up 8.
Get up that extra time. That's winning. You only fail if you give up.

Well said! !!

I "fall of the wagon" regularly. I just don't think of it that way. Most days I'll be in the very low carb range, then on weekends, and apparently if I'm not feeling well, I'll be in the higher carb range, though still around 100g a day. I tend not to feel bad or guilty or like I failed about it now. Its just part of how I do it. I always come back, usually those higher days have me feeling kinda sick digestively afterwards so its really easy to come back to low low carb. I just try to make sure its worth it when I do go for higher carbage. Just get back on track today, don't make it an every day thing, and you will do just fine.

Yes. But the important thing is not to let it derail you. Keep going. Over time, with consistency, you will see results, regardless of the occasional slip.

baconslave wrote: »

I had a terrible day yesterday and the kids were determined to make me runaway. Instead of diving headfirst in their junk food, I chewed gum like an angry cow and brewed myself some Tension Tamer tea. I breathed and watched a show on Amazon.

I strengthened my "resistance" muscle last night.
But if you don't make it, it isn't the falling down that defines you. What MAKES you is you getting right back up. No guilt, but no excuses either. So you fell down? SO? Did you get right back up, or did you lay in the failure and wallow in it? In my old life, I did the latter. Now when I mess up, I immediately get back up, dust off, and get back to business. That is strength.
Fall down 7 times, get up 8.
Get up that extra time. That's winning. You only fail if you give up.

What a great and encouraging response!

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

baconslave wrote: »

I had a terrible day yesterday and the kids were determined to make me runaway. Instead of diving headfirst in their junk food, I chewed gum like an angry cow and brewed myself some Tension Tamer tea. I breathed and watched a show on Amazon.

I strengthened my "resistance" muscle last night.
But if you don't make it, it isn't the falling down that defines you. What MAKES you is you getting right back up. No guilt, but no excuses either. So you fell down? SO? Did you get right back up, or did you lay in the failure and wallow in it? In my old life, I did the latter. Now when I mess up, I immediately get back up, dust off, and get back to business. That is strength.
Fall down 7 times, get up 8.
Get up that extra time. That's winning. You only fail if you give up.

You really have some of the best words and perspective! I've strengthened this "muscle" too, but I hadn't determined how to quantify or describe it yet. You've done it perfectly. And Kudos to you for surviving the madness!

Them kids are trying to kill me.
The idea of a resistance muscle was introduced to me by the Beck Diet Solution. I never finished the book as at the time I wasn't ready. I hadn't stopped lying to myself that I needed to eat low-carb so I couldn't sustain the diet long enough to complete it. It's a good book though.

The rest is what I have learned and employed in the past year. Easy? Not remotely. I've had to fight myself constantly as even though I've resolved my emotional and psychological issues with food, the biological drive to binge and the random cravings, the body-driven stuff, aren't going away completely. Some things I have to keep an eye on for life. I could be overwhelmed and hopeless and give up. But I'm going to fight till I die, because I'm ornery like that.

Sure.

I had to really pay attention to negative self-talk for one. Catch myself in the act of verbally abusing myself or being defeatist and say "that's nonsense. This is how it really is." And counter with positivity. Like, counter "I'll always be fat" with "No, I'm consistently taking the right steps in my WOE and health. If I keep at it, I'll get there. I didn't gain weight overnight. So if I'm patient, and stick to it, I'll have lost weight before I know it." Or counter "I still look so huge" with "Are you mad? Look at that "before" pic and then look at you now! Every day you are getting healthier. You've come a damn long way and if you keep it up, you'll go farther and farther still. You are winning! And you look amazing!"

Also, I had to retrain my behavior toward food. When feeling what I thought was hunger, I needed to pinpoint if I was indeed hungry, or thirsty instead. If drinking water didn't resolve it, then I asked myself: Why did I want to eat? Was I was bored, sad, lonely, angry, or disappointed? What was I trying to fix/comfort by eating? Once I consciously recognize what's going on and identify it, then I short-circuit the emotional-eating habit with distraction. Do something else, anything else. I retrained myself to either go do something productive or something I enjoy: sip tea, read, check email, exercise/take a walk, do chores, text a friend, fiddle on Pinterest, crochet, or watch something. Anything but camping out in the kitchen staring longingly at the carbage. I caught myself every time and redirected the thought path. Over time, a new healthy thought-path is created. Your knee-jerk reaction soon becomes a default healthy behavior. It also helps to remind yourself what that post-carb-binge feels like physically and emotionally. Remind yourself how much that sucks. It really ISN'T worth it. Think about all the positives and benefits you enjoy that you'll be giving up. Remind yourself WHY you chose to eat healthy in the first place. For me, I wanted to feel better, be a better mother, not embarrass my husband any longer, and get off the path towards a miserable, diabetic/morbidly-obese future like the one I've watched destroy my Mother's health and quality of life.

It makes it easier, too, for when the food demons circle round- because those little jerks will, to set things up ahead of time so that you have a path of least resistance to follow. Don't bring that carby *kitten* in the house! If you live with carbivores like I do, put their junk in a closeable cabinet. Out of sight really can help you forget it's there. Also reminding yourself that it isn't yours can help, too. And: Plan, plan, plan! Pre-planning or pre-logging your day or outing is a must and always have on-plan snacks on hand at home or work. Over time these habits, once they become your normal, will give you momentum to carry on, despite hiccups that life throws at you, because you become so used to your new lifestyle that the positive thought pattern and the routines are effortless. It's actually easier to keep on keeping on with what you've been doing.

So despite whatever terrible nonsense life tries to give you, you can legitimately Keep Calm and LC On.

HTH.

baconslave wrote: »

Sure.

I had to really pay attention to negative self-talk for one. Catch myself in the act of verbally abusing myself or being defeatist and say "that's nonsense. This is how it really is." And counter with positivity. Like, counter "I'll always be fat" with "No, I'm consistently taking the right steps in my WOE and health. If I keep at it, I'll get there. I didn't gain weight overnight. So if I'm patient, and stick to it, I'll have lost weight before I know it." Or counter "I still look so huge" with "Are you mad? Look at that "before" pic and then look at you now! Every day you are getting healthier. You've come a damn long way and if you keep it up, you'll go farther and farther still. You are winning! And you look amazing!"

Also, I had to retrain my behavior toward food. When feeling what I thought was hunger, I needed to pinpoint if I was indeed hungry, or thirsty instead. If drinking water didn't resolve it, then I asked myself: Why did I want to eat? Was I was bored, sad, lonely, angry, or disappointed? What was I trying to fix/comfort by eating? Once I consciously recognize what's going on and identify it, then I short-circuit the emotional-eating habit with distraction. Do something else, anything else. I retrained myself to either go do something productive or something I enjoy: sip tea, read, check email, exercise/take a walk, do chores, text a friend, fiddle on Pinterest, crochet, or watch something. Anything but camping out in the kitchen staring longingly at the carbage. I caught myself every time and redirected the thought path. Over time, a new healthy thought-path is created. Your knee-jerk reaction soon becomes a default healthy behavior. It also helps to remind yourself what that post-carb-binge feels like physically and emotionally. Remind yourself how much that sucks. It really ISN'T worth it. Think about all the positives and benefits you enjoy that you'll be giving up. Remind yourself WHY you chose to eat healthy in the first place. For me, I wanted to feel better, be a better mother, not embarrass my husband any longer, and get off the path towards a miserable, diabetic/morbidly-obese future like the one I've watched destroy my Mother's health and quality of life.

It makes it easier, too, for when the food demons circle round- because those little jerks will, to set things up ahead of time so that you have a path of least resistance to follow. Don't bring that carby *kitten* in the house! If you live with carbivores like I do, put their junk in a closeable cabinet. Out of sight really can help you forget it's there. Also reminding yourself that it isn't yours can help, too. And: Plan, plan, plan! Pre-planning or pre-logging your day or outing is a must and always have on-plan snacks on hand at home or work. Over time these habits, once they become your normal, will give you momentum to carry on, despite hiccups that life throws at you, because you become so used to your new lifestyle that the positive thought pattern and the routines are effortless. It's actually easier to keep on keeping on with what you've been doing.

So despite whatever terrible nonsense life tries to give you, you can legitimately Keep Calm and LC On.

HTH.

Thanks for that! It's amazing how you can already know something but it somehow resonates more when it comes from someone who has already been there.

A very comforting read - we are all in this together, with same cravings. I always make the birthday cakes for our family but no longer feel the need to lick the bowl!

GaleHawkins wrote: »

elitedaily.com/life/culture/stop-self-sabotaging-hard-work/979211/

This is a struggle for most all mankind it seems. I am dealing with this in another area of life. This guy who has many talents is leading in a way (on the business side) that is guaranteed it will cause things will blow up. He then wants to blame others. It is hard to build a volunteer organization when the head is self sabotaging.

The article helped me see this morning how I do the same in many areas.

THIS!!!! Great article for all! Beautiful point..we DO deserve to be happy and healthy! Thanks for sharing!

Merrysix wrote: »

I really wanted to eat the birthday cake they had at work today for a co-worker, and am stressed out over lots of things, but I know where birthday cake leads me (craving more and more cake, more this and that, and pain in my joints and feeling terrible), so I had a protein smoothie instead, and now I am leaving work and going home to have dinner! I have a fun exercise session planned tomorrow and I know I won't go and feel terrible if I load up on the carbs! But it is a work in progress. I can go a month without feeling cravings and then they descend like a dark cloud. But giving in only makes it worse, and makes the cravings last longer (like 3 months instead of a few hours or at worst a few days!) I had a great exercise session this morning, wouldn't be able to do that if full of dumpy carbs!

@Merrysix Sometimes a compromise on this is to flip your cake upside down and only eat until you get close to the frosting. Avoid it at all costs. Most times, a piece of frostingless cake is only 20+ carbs, depending on size and type of cake. I can fit that in on a more indulgent day, and as long as I avoid the frosting, I don't end up with crazy cravings or gastro-distress. It's up to you to know if that would be a gateway thing, but I wanted to provide an option for future struggles.