For the last 2 weeks I have not been doing too well with eating and had a couple really bad days. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. I think it started when my sister was here and I went out to eat a few times. I think the restaurant meals threw me as I had been really strict for a while and they made me feel "out of control" and then it seems to morph into being totally out of control. I am a perfectionist by nature. Anyone else do this?

Thank you for all the thoughts. I think I have an idea of how this started. The day my sister hit town and we first went out, I had just reached an important weight goal, one I had worked months to achieve. I was anxious about eating out because I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize the weight goal. that may not be the whole story but I think it was the beginning of it. I do lift weights,by the way (Mountaingirl). I am a home exerciser and get my weight training by way of the FIRM. I know I have added a few pounds of muscle and I wonder how that will affect my being able to reach a WW goal weight.

I can relate too, Pam. To both the control issues and the "how did that happen" feelings.

I have discovered about myself that weighttraining gives me a very empowered sense of my body. I had never done it before, and couldn't even picture why anyone would want to - and now I get it. Perhaps you could add a little nautilus to your routine in order to give yourself that feeling of control. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, if you already do, but just in case, it's not as hard as it seems. I joined my local YMCA (costs a lot less than a fancy-shmancy gym) and had a staff member show me how to begin. At our Y, every person has a file in the gym, and I just pull out my workout sheet so I know how to adjust the machines and what pound weights to choose. Then I check them off, as I do them, and date the sheet. It's been 6 weeks now, and I actually know what I'm doing, and my inches prove it.

Hang in there!

quote:

Originally posted by Pam:
I can usually stick with something reasonably healthy. I can also usually bounce back from one occasion of not eating too well. I was just trying to understand why this time I didn't.

Keep asking. Keep poking around your head. Keep thinking about it. Keep working it out.

Every time this happens, IMHO, it's because there's a lesson about ourselves that we need to learn. The only one who can figure out what that lesson is, and what you take from it, is you.

In the meantime, while you're figuring that out, remember that this is just a lapse. It's not a return to old ways, it's a brief lapse from your new ways. "Normal" is you active and eating healthy and keeping hydrated, so take whatever baby steps you need to in order to get back to normal.

I had a lousy day on the eating front yesterday, particularly since when I feel sick I feel entitled to eat whatever I want. Still felt hung over and grumpy from it this morning, but the morning routine (and particularly getting properly hydrated again so that my symptoms eased) helped snap me out of it. These things happen. You hash out what went wrong and move on to today, because every day is a choice, no matter where on this journey you are.

Good luck, sweetie!

Pam
I can relate too. For me going out to eat occasionally doesn't throw me off but if I eat out a couple times in a row (or even in the same week), I seem to have a much harder time getting back into the swing of healthy eating. I don't know if it's because I start craving fatty things again or I just like not always having to cook/clean up ; )

Pam,
Yes, yes, yes I can realte! When I eat out at a restaurant of course I can order a lettuce salad with no dressing and steamed fish, but I don't because I would not enjoy the "restaurant experience" and would rather eat at home. I eat out no more than 1 time per week- usually less often- and tend to eat more calories there than at home. So, yes going to a restaurant tends to leave me wanting more for a few days to a week. (Whenever I eat too much or too little my appetite seems increase.)
My thought for you is to relax and to know that coming back is a process that takes time, mistakes and effort. I want coming back to good eating to be more of a single event or a decision. It does not work that way for me. I have to claw my way back making mistakes along the way. Think about how much you are learning and changing and growing. (That is what I tell dd when she makes mistakes.)

Maybe going out twice with your sis was too much. Maybe next time you will make more arrangemnts to eat at home. Perhaps there are other lessons for you here. Think about what you are learning about yourself and put the information to good use. Great job posting here.

I am not blaming the restaurant, although in this particular case it would have been hard. I can usually stick with something reasonably healthy. I can also usually bounce back from one occasion of not eating too well. I was just trying to understand why this time I didn't.

First Pam, I can understand and appreciate your feeling out of control. But let's place the responsibility where it belongs. You can make healthy choices in a restaurant. You can! Trust me, I know. My husband owns a restaurant, and I would say we eat out often to scope out the competition, get ideas, etc. You have to learn to ask for what you want. I haven't gone into a place in over a year, where I haven't asked them to fix me a bowl of green beans. Not once have I been denied. I even bring my own if I think they might not have them. You need to check out menus, ask for one in advance, if possible, but it can be done. The responsibility of what goes in our mouths is ours, not the restaurants.

I agree eating out ALOT if you aren't used to ordering healthy is tough, and it takes practice and assertion. You have to ask and be ready to explain that this is for a medical condition, and you HAVE TO HAVE it done this way. If it's not right, send it back. I don't know how many times I have had steaks sent back because they weren't right.....salads with dressing on them rather than on the side can be sent back too.

Hang in there, you can do this, and eat out, it's not impossilbe.

I definitely find that fatty food gives me the taste and craving for more fatty food. Which is why I really try to have my forays into fatty food be very portion controlled. I can't speak for you, but it seems that my brain gets that taste of fatty food and thinks "Hey, we're back to eating the good stuff again...YAY! Let's go!" and just wants more and more.