Celebration Eating?

I used to do that all the time. Now, I just use MFP religiously. I still eat crap and that's something I'm going to have to work on cutting out eventually but I only eat crap if it is within my calorie allowance. Especially if you work out, it leaves you some calorie room for a wee cheeky bit of junk food.

I think if I didn't have a little bit of junk I'd end up just going off the rails completely. I've just had to learn that I only need one or two chocolates or one chocolate biscuit or whatever, rather than having three or four over the course of the day.

I've started rewarding myself with clothes instead of food. Or books. I tell myself that food lasts a few minutes and it's gone, but I can enjoy the other things over and over. I do go out to eat as celebration for other things (like anniversaries, etc) but I don't use food as a reward for healthy eating anymore.

I've started rewarding myself with clothes instead of food. Or books. I tell myself that food lasts a few minutes and it's gone, but I can enjoy the other things over and over. I do go out to eat as celebration for other things (like anniversaries, etc) but I don't use food as a reward for healthy eating anymore.

Fantastic Idea!! Thanks for sharing

There's nothing wrong with eating "crap" as long as it is incorporated into an overall healthy diet. Heck, tomorrow I'm going to a party and I'm sure while there I'm going to have my share. I just need to keep it within a sensible level.

<

---

see my profile pic!

Do not reward yourself with food..that is proper reward for dogs, not people!
Instead, do something nice for yourself when you hit a goal..pedicure, manicure, a new piece of workout clothing or gear.....something to help keep you motivated and won't hurt you on the scale!

I must be wired differently, because when I see that I've lost weight, well it just makes me want to go to the gym and work that much harder.

<

---

see my profile pic!

Do not reward yourself with food..that is proper reward for dogs, not people!
Instead, do something nice for yourself when you hit a goal..pedicure, manicure, a new piece of workout clothing or gear.....something to help keep you motivated and won't hurt you on the scale!

Exactly.

I have my goal jeans hanging up in my closet. I wish that I could put them on the fridge. I also need to hang a before picture of up of myself on the fridge. I carry that picture everywhere with me. It is on my profile also and it reminds me of where I came from and where I don't want to go back to. The food will just trigger off my brain to want more.

I have my goal jeans hanging up in my closet. I wish that I could put them on the fridge. I also need to hang a before picture of up of myself on the fridge. I carry that picture everywhere with me. It is on my profile also and it reminds me of where I came from and where I don't want to go back to. The food will just trigger off my brain to want more.

Take a picture of your goal jeans and stick that on the fridge instead?

I have been doing a lot of reading that has helped me with this issue. Although I was never really a binge eater (like, getting sad and eating sleeve upon sleeve of cookies), I did use food in a way that was unhealthy. Even though I hated to admit it, I was your typical emotional eater. I read a book called "Food: The Good Girl's Drug" by Sunny Sea Gold, which chronicles her journey with binge/emotional over-eating, and also has a lot of strategies for how to get away from those habits. The journaling prompts at the end of each chapter were actually really helpful, even though I felt kind of lame doing them. After that book, I read two running-related books (one memoir and one very sarcastic training guide) that helped me focus on my exercise goals, and now I'm reading one called "Nice Girls Finish Fat". I just started so I can't speak to its quality yet, but I'm hoping it helps me continue my introspection and habit improvement.

The main thing for me was in treating my old habits like an addiction. It seems crazy to talk about Doritos and french fries and Mountain Dew like they're drugs, but that's how I used them. Even foods that aren't "bad"...if I could justify a reason for it, I ate it. To make myself happy, to celebrate being happy, to congratulate myself on doing well, to soothe myself after a bad day, to spoil myself on a weekend...whatever reason I could think of, I used it to justify to myself why I was eating take-out three and four days a week, getting McDonald's lunch almost every day, and drinking 500+ calories in sodas (or hot chocolates, milkshakes, etc.) a day. I have always been a picky eater (and still am, in the extreme), so that always made it easy to explain away horrible food choices ("the only thing I like here is the fried chicken!").

This website has helped me immensely in getting a handle on my caloric intake, the types of foods I'm eating, and what my eating habits are. I have come to understand my triggers better, avoid setting myself up for bad situations, and plan when I know that I won't be in control of food (like dinner at an unknown restaurant, or going to a family event with unknown food). I still eat "bad" things and sometimes I do still use food in unhealthy ways, but it's seriously rare that I do that. The rush of good feelings that food has always brought me is slowly getting replaced by the rush I feel when I see the scale numbers drop or I look at myself in the mirror or I bring two huge bags of stuff to Good Will because it just doesn't fit anymore. Although I don't think that everyone has a major psychological component to their struggles with weight, I know I did. I thought I wasn't trying hard enough, or didn't want it hard enough, or couldn't actually get below a certain size, or couldn't modify my limited diet and still lose weight. I blamed myself for repeatedly failing and gaining back the small amount of weight I had lost with each attempt. That guilt gave me all the more reason to eat.

Now, when a craving hits or I start heading to the kitchen at 9pm (not that night eating is so bad for you...that's a myth; it's not time of day, it's number of calories!), I stop myself and think "why do I really want this snack? Am I actually hungry, or am I just bored/annoyed/whatever?" Most of the time, I will realize that I ate a 600+ calorie meal only a few hours before and have given my body all the fuel it needs, so I will either grab a glass of water or just switch up whatever I'm doing so I can address the boredom issue. Before I started reading those books and counting my calories and really addressing my core issues, I wouldn't think to stop myself or analyze my actual needs. That's been the single most important step for me: Stop. Question. Analyze. Respond Appropriately. It's like the stop, drop, and roll of losing weight.