Feeling Defeated

I have 88 lbs to go after losing 12lbs so far, I have never beaten my food demons! All I can say is that I put loads of effort into my exercise and feel like if I then eat lots I am defeating the object! Something in my head says you just worked out for an hour do you actually wanna ruin it with eating that cake. Failing that I usually shout out load top of my voice THIS WILL MAKE ME FAT!!!! That usually gets the message across! :-) xx

I'd be interested in knowing what your "food demons" are. It would make it easier to answer you.

Since you've lost 18, it's clear that you CAN, in fact, do this. Personally, I've been fitting my exercise around what I do for work. Now, for those of us who are a bit heavier, WALKING, if it is a brisk walk, can make a huge difference, and with the elliptical and the exercise bike, what I would suggest is going to interval training. While in school, push your walks as fast as you can go. Park further away from your destinations, etc. With the home equipment... I go forwards, backwards, high-resistance, and high-speed on my elliptical. I don't do the same routines. You might take advantage of your busy days to zig-zag diet so that you body doesn't plateau because it is used to what you are doing.

I think that you can fit this program in without killing yourself. Play around with it and see how you can work it into your schedule. Plan ahead for the week, if you can (having piles of food ready/cooked on Sunday so that you just have to grab things. Pile up on healthy, nutrient-dense snacks.

That's my suggestion.

I sympathize with you. It's hard to be around something that makes you crazy. How do you eat to live when all you want to do is live to eat. I struggle with that almost everyday. I'll say this, don't let one day or one meal throw you off track. It's all in perspective. You get lost a little and then you get back on track. It's ok. I emotional eat or eat because I'm bored, I've been trying to find things that I can have LOTS of but keeps me full. I do popcorn a lot. Just have to find things that you like that you can indulge in without ruining all your hard work. It's going to be ok! We'll get there! Congrats on all your progress so far.

I have never "beat" my food demons, just learned to control them. I don't "diet", ever! I eat what I want, when I want. I just make sure I do some kind of exercise everyday, and log everything! If I want that cake, I can have it but it will cost me on my diary. I will have to add those calories that I consumed and probably have to exercise a little more. Don't deprive yourself of anything. I know that if I feel deprived "I can't have that",then that is the first thing I want! I just try to tell myself that I can have it, but will have to log it and is it really worth all those empty calories. I have over 100 lbs to lose and it is hard. I have been doing this for a little over 3 months now, I have lost 18 lbs. Seems like such a small number, but when I look back I am really pretty much on track. I set my profile to losing 1 lb a week...that's pretty much right on schedule. We just want it to happen faster, I know I do. Just hang in there. Our bodies have become conditioned to having all this food and now we are trying to cut back. It takes time, but you will get there. Just don't give up!! Best of luck on your journey!

I have been athletic and strong my entire life. always playing sports, always helping wiht the heavy lifting, but i have never been in shape. when i got on the 'band wagon' to take my health seriously i discovered that i could workout all day but controlling my diet was my biggest challenge. i went thru a mirade of feelings about it - i felt a lot of resentment - why could other people lose weight so easily while still eating the kind of food and proportions that i ate, etc. Somehow i learned to embrace that whatever my body needed is what my body needed. There's no need to judge it and say it's annoying or aggrivating, it just is what it is. after consulting with other friends on the same voyage they confirmed that sometimes they didn't lose weight until they dropped to 1500 to 1200 calories a day. that was a very, very hard transition for me. it took months before i was able to do it without feeling like i was 'starving'. One thing that did help was reading Geneen Roth's book Food, Women and God - no joke and it's not too god-ish, if you are not religious. i also started paying attention to the composition of what i was eating - i started eating more Mono-unsaturated fatty acids - i read the Flat Belly Diet book and it guided me to eating little bits of dark chocolate and guacamole and stuff i really enjoyed. the more i ate things i enjoyed, the more i didn't feel deprived and resentful.

For those of us who know how to workout, we rely on it too much b/c it's what's easiest or natural to us - but obviously, working out is not our issue, the issue is food, and that's why i joined this site, i really needed help monitoring myself. So, do what you have to do to get your head around it but you and i know there's only so much your workout can do for you. every time you over eat you are working against yourself in a way that your workout can barely make up for - especially mentally and emotionally.

And if you're in the mood for some additional reinforcement although you sound pretty busy going back to school, i've also kept reading about diet and health - the more the idea is in my mind the more i stick to it - i recommend the book The Zone and i also have a hypno therapy disc for 'good health' that i listen to at night when trying to get to sleep. Use all manner of power of suggestion to get your mind on track and then your habits will be easier to change

It's great that you are exercising. You got this part right!

Food is just a series of habitual decisions. You just need to identify your bad food habits and make changes. Everyone here has had to change their eating and would love to offer you suggestions and tips.

You're worth the effort!

Well, I don't have 100 pounds to lose - THIS time. In Oct. 2005, I weighed over 235. Don't know for sure because I wouldn't step on a scale. I got down to about 127 pounds and maintained it for a while. Bad meds and an aging metabolism caught up to me and I gained about half of it back.

I will also add to the requests to make your diary public. Most of us won't judge you - it's just so we can help you. I don't know if you're old enough to be menopausal or perimenopausal - I stopped cycling when I was about 40. It knocked the hell out of my metabolism. Now that I'm over 50, it's even worse.

Exercise? Yes!!! This time on the diet bandwagon, I was seeing little results from diet and daily exercise - 1/2h cardio + upper or lower body weight sets. What changed things for me was deciding to do 1-1.5 hours of cardio per day, weights when I feel like it. When the weather cooled off, I started walking, hiking, kayaking and bicycling. Now I'm burning 5000+ calories per week and the weight is coming off. I can also eat almost anything I want, within reason.

All that exercise also helped me with one of my big food demons - midnight eating. I used to wake up 3 or 4 times a night, ravenous. Even though I had healthy snacks around, those munchie calories add up! Since I started the more rigorous exercise schedule, I sleep much better at night - munchies solved!

I know what really helped me was when I joined Jenny Craig. It can be pricey but for me it was the right motivation and inspiration that I needed. I have lost 100 lbs but I gained some back and its been difficult to get over this hump, then I found mfp and fingers crossed its really helping to boost my motivation and help me re-focus. If you have the time and money, what about working with a personal trainer a few times a week or trying some different healthy recipes? The best thing I could tell you though is to not loose heart and to know that a lot of people have been were you are now. You can definitely do this! Feel free to add me as a friend as well!

Much love and support!

You are going back to school to become a NP. What would you tell your patient? What do you tell yourself? BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY ... your body is listening. I am 61-years-old and have lost 91 pounds over the past 18 months. Good health and a healthy weight is the greatest gift you can give yourself. If you have the discipline to complete the NP program, you can learn to adjust your eating habits. Overeating is a habit, not a disease. Eat foods that fill you up and benefit your goal of achieving good health. Drink lots of water and green tea. Have a cut off time at night where you absolutely refuse to put one bite in your mouth, starving or not. You have to want this all the way down to your gut. If you keep telling yourself that you will fail, you will. If you are eating healthy you will not starve. It takes TIME to develop bad habits. You did not get fat overnight and you will not take it off overnight. Nothing comes to you when you are sitting on the couch looking at your exercise equipment while eating pizza. I sincerely don't mean that to be mean, I am just being 100% honest with you. That is reality. You will get results based on YOUR actions. Keep trying. If you stumble, pick yourself up and start again. Best wishes!

I think good eating habits (and battling the food demons) really just starts in your head, not in a diet book, or willpower. We all have demons, and a lot of us (me, included) use food to comfort ourselves when the demons raise their ugly heads. I used to beat myself up over everything, including food, weight, and whether or not I exercised. I had a mean little voice in my head that said "You suck, you're not trying hard enough, you're not good enough, you're _______" Food really helped shut that guy up sometimes. And restricting myself made him hide for a while. But that demon always came back.

It's only been in the last 6 months or so that I really feel like things have "clicked." The only thing that changed for me -- and trust me, it's been a LONG time coming -- was that I finally stopped letting that voice take over, stopped beating myself up so much. I still push myself, but now it's constructive, positive.

Sounds corny, but if you can do the "head" work, the body will follow... Just my 2 cents...