Just joined - 30lb to go

H

hikingglory

New member
Hi,

Just joined the forum. I have hit a total road block in my weight loss. :banghead:

I started at 165lb, decided to run a marathon as new year resolve. Should have lost 45 lb while training. Only lost 15lb. Now marathon is over, and I am at 150lb, 30 more to go. For last one month, no progress.

I know my problem is emotional eating. I have excessive compulsive stress and have hard time focusing on anything. So I end up eating to pass time. Unfortunately I am at a work environment where all junk food is very readily available. In a total desperate situation now!
 
How many calories a day are you eating? What are your nutrient percentages? Until you know these things and control them, you're not going to be able to resolve the problem.

You say you should have lost 45 lbs while training? What makes you set that figure?

Give us more info and I'm sure we can give some advice or help out.
 
I don't know exactly how many calories I am eating. Its really out of control and I have no idea how to control it. I am somewhat stressed and I end up eating bars of ice cream, slices of cake, packets of M&M on a daily basis.

I am really good and regular at working out, no way a couch potato. I usually work out at least 45 min a day, cardio, weights and go hiking on weekends. I think this is helping me keep my weight steady rather than increase. Its when it comes to eating that I am totally out of control.

For example, today I ate:
1/2 bagel + butter
hand full of M&Ms
fat free milk and cereal
1 fried fried pita and pesto
1/2 cheese sandwich
loads of cherries
1 banana
1 slice of triple chocolate cake
some more chocolate
and I guess some other stuff I am forgetting.

I do decide every morning that I am going to eat sensible, never happens.
 
I think the first thing that really stands out at me is this statement that you made: "I do decide every morning that I am going to eat sensible, never happens."

I know this is a subtle thing, but you don't say "I don't do it". You say "it never happens". Like you're not responsible for it. Like the food just somehow appears in your mouth and you eat it and it just happens. You also said in your first paragraph that you "end up" eating things that aren't good for you. Again, like you have no control over it.

And the thing is that no one is going to be able to make it happen except you. I'm not trying to be a smart ass here or to beat up on you. :) I'm just saying that no one can make you eat something you don't want to eat. And the only person who can consume any food is you. So you have to make the commitment to eat healthily or not.

The first thing I'd recommend is signing up with one of the diet planning sites like thedailyplate.com or fitday.com. Spend a week tracking EVERYTHING you eat. I mean everything. If you lick a spoon while you're cooking, put it in there. If you take a bite of a friend's sandwich, put it in there. It's possible that seeing the sheer number of calories that your consuming each day might be enough of a shock to your system to help you focus.

The next thing I'd recommend is getting temptation out of the way. Get all the junk out of your house and replace it with healthy things. Ditch the cake and buy apples and bananas. I realize that you can't get rid of things at work in the same way, but you can choose not to have them at your desk. You can choose to stock healthy food at your desk - things like almonds and apples and bags of sliced veggies and so forth.

Unfortunately that's the truth of it ... you have to decide if you're going to do it and then you have to do it.
 
i keep a paper journal on my desk at work and bring it home on weekends tracking all of the foods that i eat each day. Its nice to look back at it down the road and see trends. I also write the exercise i did that day and if i weighed myself what the scale said... this will help you see what it is you ate back when you were doing well... what kind of activity you were doing that was making you most successful.


Just my .02 though :) good luck!!!!


ps- you are allowed to have choclate every now and then !!!! and when i get stressed or anxious... and trust me i do often.. i use that energy and use my exercise as an outlet for it!!
 
Oh I totally agree with the above - a lot of people go into a diet with the idea that they have to eliminate everything they love. They swear they'll never eat another ... whatever ... again. Piece of chocolate. M&M. Piece of cake. Whatever.

And what happens is that they get stressed and the give up and eat tons of whatever it is they swore they'd never eat again.

But, if you think you can't control yourself - right now or ever - then eliminate that item. Not everything you love, but the item that you can't control. For me, that item is Lay's Sour Cream and Onion potato chips. I can resist anything else or eat a single serving of anything else, but if you give me a bag of those chips, I will eat the whole thing w/out thinking. So I don't keep them in my house, in my office, or anywhere near me.
 
Thanks Kara and Marie for replies. You hit the point when you talking about accountability. When I am eating junk, I know that I am eating junk and I should not be eating it, but I always make excuses that its my depression that is making me eat, that I am sad and I deserve it. I also make the usual excuses that this is my last one, so let me eat as much as I want.

I have quick chocolate cold turkey before and it worked for 4 years and I lost all the weight. But then I came into work environment where its readily available and I slowly started eating, and now I cannot control it. Should I quit cold turkey again? I think the answer is obvious yes, though it scares me. It feels like I cannot do it this time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top