How do you feel you are doing right now concerning eating habits/exercise? If you are not where you want to be-is there a place you can go back to and reference a time when you were on track and doing well, and felt good? If you are where you want to be-what do you think it is that is keeping you there?

Jill

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:


When I’m actually eating vegetables, I don’t find it too much work and I actually enjoy eating them and feel so much better. When I’m eating too much fast food or pizza… I hate vegetables. When I’m exercising, I “enjoy” it… and feel good doing it.

Same here! Which is why I have gone back to meal planning, grocery shopping, making what we planned-rather than staring at each other at 5PM trying to figure out what to make for dinner and deciding that sitting and waiting 45 min. for chinese delivery was the smart choice?!!!

Jill

How do you feel you are doing right now concerning eating habits/exercise?
I’m in a good place.

If you are not where you want to be-is there a place you can go back to and reference a time when you were on track and doing well, and felt good? If you are where you want to be-what do you think it is that is keeping you there?
This is sort of like Laura’s “lessons learned” homework. I find that the more I’m on track… the easier it is to be on track. If I can drag myself back on the wagon… even if it is by my finger nails or whining and pouting and kicking and screaming… if I can get back on track, and just stay there for 2-3 days… that becomes the new “normal” and it is easy to stay on track on day 4, 6, or 17... And I ENJOY being on track.

Conversely, when I am off track… It is usually when I most recent being on track. It is hard to describe, but when I’m off track… if is when I feel the most negative and have thoughts like, “Uhhhhhh… eating vegetables takes so much work and effort… and I don’t even like them that much. Life is sooooo not fair… how come I can’t eat dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!! Blech!!… stupid WW health guidelines… stupid scale… stupid, boring elliptical machine!!!”

I think that when I have gotten off track and STAYED there… it was this negativity that helped keep me there.

When I’m actually eating vegetables, I don’t find it too much work and I actually enjoy eating them and feel so much better. When I’m eating too much fast food or pizza… I hate vegetables. When I’m exercising, I “enjoy” it… and feel good doing it.

I also don’t stay off track for very long because I REALLY, REALLY dislike gaining weight. I do NOT like being out of range. I do NOT like the consequences of being off track.

I think that this goes back to Laura’s lesson homework… I gained 4-5 lbs of FAT in about 3 weeks when we put our house on the market in June of 2004. I didn’t lose that weight until September of that year. I learned a LOT from that experience. And I do NOT want to repeat it.

I can eat 500-1000 calories too much a day sooooo easily and gain 4 so fast. I wasn’t even totally off track. It was SHOCKING that just being off track “just a little” could result in a weight gain so quickly. And then it took me the whole stupid summer to lose those stupid 4 or 5 lbs.

I also think that Brie and Jen/TriGirl have had this same experience… it is sooooo easy to creep up in weight… and then can take a whole YEAR to lose a lousy 10 lbs. I’ve also seen this happen a lot on the WW boards. Also, studies from the National Weight Control Registry show that MOST people who gain weight and get 10 lbs over goal… don’t get back to their goal weight. Brie was “lucky”. “Lucky” is NOT the right word… because realistically she worked hard and got back on track and was committed and motivated to get back in range. It may be more accurate to say that Brie was unique in the weight control world.

I like to think that I learn from my mistakes… and I think that I also learn from other people’s mistakes. Hey, if I find that when I keep ice cream in the freezer… ummmm… I eat too many calories. And read in KD’s book that, “OMG!! The same thing happens to her, too!!!!” and her suggestion is “Don’t keep it in the house”… I’ll tend to agree with her. Or if I read a (reliable) study that “Thin people tend to ______”… I’ll tend to want to do those behaviors or that thought process. Or if the average person who gains 10 lbs… has a LOT of trouble losing it… I’ll take their word for it… and I don’t want to go there. I’ll learn from others.

It depresses me to feel that the scale is out of control and I’m gaining. In the past, I’d feel trapped a chicken and egg situation… or viscous circle… and being off track makes me feel negative and resentful and then the scale goes up and I feel depressed and more resentful and negative… so then I’d be more off track… and gain more.

To me, the benefits of being on track are many and VERY rewarding. I feel happier. I feel more positive. I feel healthy and strong. I have good self esteem. I don’t dread going to the doctor. My relationship is better. I don’t have trouble maintaining.

And being off track makes me feel depressed and negative and angry and fat and dread.

It is sort of a no brainer. I don’t agree with the saying, “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels”. Mostly, nobody has to choose one or the other. It is possible to eat your cake and be thin, too… and LOTS, and LOTS of foods taste as good as thin feels. But feeling thin is pretty awesome, too. And the rewards of being off track or few and transient… and the consequences are not worth it. Granted, EVERYBODY gets off track sometimes… and nobody is perfect… but (for ME) being off track to the point of gaining 2,3 or more lbs of fat are just not worth it physically, mentally, emotionally.

It must be something in the air, that we would be talking about this...

I did so well last week, coming off of being sick. But this week, I've been getting back on track each day...going off on track with every other meal. I've started over 5 times in 5 days. Learning that my body is probably not all well, and still craving things that will make it better.
So, I get up and try again. And know that the scale isn't the only measure of success. I have learned a lot by being sick these last three weeks, and I am sure I will repeat the process again someday. How to feed an unhealthy body who is trying to get healthy...good title for a book.

My eating habits are good. I finally got my RD to let me up my calories to 1600 (to account for all the extra running) and the scale is moving down again. I really only added 250-300 calories from what I was eating, and I'm being smart about it.

My exercise is also good, although I'm struggling right now with my running. I bumped upto 5 miles last Monday, then the treadmill died, and since then, I've been running on treadmills at the rec center at school. In 3 runs, I've really had to fight to get a distance, I'm starting to think it's just warmer than our basement and that I'm not hydrating enough. So Thursday's run will be a new experiement in staying hydrated and (hopefully) my calves will stop screaming at me after 2 miles.

I told dh, I'd rather see the scale moving down and deal with struggling with the treadmill runs than be back where I was with running working and the scale not moving anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
[...] I looked at my food logs, [...] and plan to get back to eating that way.[...]Jill

You must have been reading my mind . I have also been considering doing that.

I don't know what's up with my weight (except my weight ). I keep losing the same 3 or 4 lbs over and over again. I guess you could say I am "maintaining" but that is not what I want to be doing .

My exercise is good. I go to Curves 3 days a week (M,W,F) and have been slipping in double time on some of the machines that work the ab regions. If there is no one coming along right behind me I "forget" to move to the next station when prompted. That gets me 4 times on those machines while only going around the circuit twice. On Tues & Thurs I do a dumbell workout on dvd and on Sunday I dance 2 1/2 hours. Saturday does not have any official "exercise" but I usually do a lot of running around on that day.

My "extra month" to get below 200 is almost over. I see the doctor next week (on Tuesday).

One more things...

I am working to give myself more credit and postive self talk around my food and exercise. I tend to be hard on myself in my own head. I have had a breakthrough recently and realized that when I give myself loads of credit for things I do right, I tend to stay on plan more consistantly and more easily.

quote:

the thing that is keeping me here is that it is working, my weight seems stable and in range and I don't feel stressed. It is easier to do these things than to not do them.

Ditto for me.... I'm in a good place with food and exercise and in a great place emotionally right now. I feel balanced and relaxed in a way that I haven't felt in a long time.

I have not been doing well at all with eating and exercise. So, last week I went back through my Fitday logs from a time when I was doing well, feeling good, and not feeling stressed and like it was a chore. So, I looked at my food logs, and remembered enjoying what i was eating. I didn't feel overwhelmed or like I was on a diet. Yesterday I made a grocery list, put all those same foods on it, and plan to get back to eating that way. And it is all foods I really love, not foods I have to force myself to eat because they are low-cal, low-fat, etc.
Exercise is still an issue for me but I'll work on that.

Jill

Ammended to add that I forgot the last part of your HW.

The thing that is keeping me here is that it is working, my weight seems stable and in range and I don't feel stressed. It is easier to do these things than to not do them.

Regarding food, I am feeling on track and doing the things that work for me. That includes these biggies:

1. plan food and eat what's planned
2. log food (I use pen and paper)
3. weigh in each AM and log weight

Regarding exercise, I am upping the amount and the quality of exercise a bit these days. I easily meet my minimum requirements.

P.S. I also follow my Beck stuff- I read my advantage cards and I work to eat slowly and mindfully- although I did just eat my raspberries standing in front of the computer.