I really appreciate the honesty and openness so many offer in this thread.

Many of us have or had the same struggles with eating and food.

For me, I simply can't look at it as deprivation. I already know what everything tastes like because I have eaten it all! In a moment of eating, almost to me as though it were a drug but after it is gone, the self-loathing is/was tremendous. I have great empathy for those that deal with their own demons of alcohol and drugs because in some way, my relationship with food has been a similar struggle. We just can't stop eating altogether which makes our struggle a little different.

I just can't go there again. I am dealing with so much in my life that I can't afford one more thing to feel badly about myself. Control over my eating is about the only power I feel I have right now. I feel if I give that up-I am lost.

It is not deprivation for me. It is working to give myself the gift of health

hello everyone!

Boy I miss this space! It is always filled with such positive energy!

Crockpot recipe made my tummy rumble! Sounds yummy!

My healthy lifestyle is on track. I gave myself 1 unhealthy dinner a week to keep from goin nuts and it works! Feel good. Havent weighed myself in weeks but can feel a change. I am no longer out of breath running up and down stairs at work :) that feels good!

Trying to come back often! Hope everyone has a great hump day!

Great, great job! Congrats!

Only 5 left? That is awesome!

Gosh, all of you guys work really hard. You are an inspiration!

Ok, getting on that eliptical now...4 days out of 4!

Good morning everyone :)

I've been struggling (and occasionally giving in a tiny bit) with some emotional eating this past week, but am still following my eating plan as faithfully as I can and finding that, overall, it's pretty easy to stick to.

I also jump on the scale each morning, knowing that there will be some normal ups and downs depending on hormones, water intake, etc. I find that daily check in helps keep me on track. I only have an "official" weigh in once a week on Saturday morning.

I was getting worried that my few little fails on the emotional eating may have thrown me off course, but the scale says I'm still on track. I jumped on this morning and it's down another pound...and it's only mid-week.

Plan for the day includes making a giant pot of homemade vegetable soup.....yummy, healthy, and filling. :)

T4Texas, I bring my lunch to work almost everybody. I will pack each item separately and put it in a cooler bag with blue ice. I will put lettuce in one plastic container, tomatoes, veggies, and sliced, skinned chicken breast or plain tuna, even salmon in another. Those individual packs of tuna/salmon in foil are awesome and u don't need to drain them. I will put low-fat/low sodium dressing in a separate little container, too.

I always bring a big bowl and dump it together when ready to eat. If I am running late in the morning or did not put my lunch items together @ night, which I always try to do; I have gone to a cafe around my job just before 11am, when they no longer make breakfast. I say: eggwhite omelet please, no butter or salt, fresh spinach and mushrooms. No hash browns and no toast. It is delicious and very filling. Those days I just eat lunch earlier.

I also pack two fruits & one yogurt in my cooler. That way, I am set for the day and have healthy food if I am hungry. I just think out my food for each day ahead of time.

I have other ideas but if you do not have access to a microwave, it does take a bit more planning but not impossible. Best of luck:)

Yeah, but it's been 4 or 5 pounds for at least a month now.......maybe 5 weeks. I'm truly STUCK.

That's why I had to finally just surrender the weight part of it for now and make sure I'm focusing on the good things I'm doing with caloric intake and cardio. If I'm true to myself with those two things, then the rest will eventually take care of itself.

*shrug*

The veggie soup...
 

So, just in the spirit of sharing....here's what's simmering on the stove right now...

• 1 large onion, chopped
• couple stalks of celery, including the leaves, chopped
• couple cloves of garlic, chopped
• simmering in a dollop of EVOO
• about 1 lb. of sirloin, cubed

That all got left to simmer and think until the veggies were translucent and the meat was browned....then I added:

• 3-1/2 carrots, chopped....would have been 4 but I'm crunching on half of one :)
• one big can of diced tomatoes, with the juice
• one can full of water
• big handful of parsley, crushed
• a little salt and pepper....will adjust that later
• big handful of fresh green beans, cut into lengths....all that was left in the bag but wish I had a bit more...guess I shouldn't have eaten so many of them last night
• 2 small cans of canellini beans

A bit later, closer to eating time, I'll add...

• a big pour of frozen corn (the mixed yellow and white that I love)
• a big pour of frozen peas
• broccoli, chopped
• cauliflower, chopped
• another can of tomatoes and water, if it's needed (and probably will be)

I don't add the broccoli and cauliflower early because long simmering makes their flavors completely take over the soup....and the frozen stuff seems to retain shape and flavor better added later on too.

I'd add some fresh spinach if I had any, but I'm out! :(

Acting "as if"...

I was just reading an article about weight loss plateaus and saw a recommendation to try some primal challenge......I forget the wording on it but it had "primal" somewhere in there.

The recommendation is to go 30 days living and acting "as if" you are one of those full-on, hard-core health nuts. You eat perfectly, act "as if" you don't crave sweets or any of the bad stuff, work out every chance you get, etc...

I'm not willing to try it for 30 days, but I'm gonna give it a shot for one week starting this Friday.

I'm going to miss my sweet potato chips.

Good Morning Everyone,

I had a small piece of pork chop, brown rice and yellow corn for dinner lastnight at work. The people in the cafeteria like to pile food higher than you head on the plates...I just ask them to give me one small scoop of rice and extra veggies.

I have noticed that since I am coming home after midnight, that I am starving and I don't want to eat anything that late at night. I am going to bring my string cheese with me and maybe have one if I can around 9pm and see if this helps. For our international food day next Thursday, I am thinking of making my family's chewie cake.

Have a great day!

Zimmy

Today's menu so far...

Breakfast:

• black coffee
• 1 slice whole wheat toast with tuna salad

Mid-morning:

• half a big carrot, raw

Early lunch:

• big bowl of homemade veggie soup....delicious

Late lunch :) :

• another big bowl of veggie soup....couldn't resist and don't need to! :)
• unsweetened ice tea (homebrewed half black, half green) with a dollop of pomegranite juice for fun
  
  Planning on a snack later:
• low-fat mozz string cheese
• olives
  
  Dinner tonight may be more soup.....or maybe a stir fry with basmati rice, haven't decided yet, but whatever it is....there will be lots of veggies! :cheesy:

Next two days will be a challenge.

tonight is a work team happy hour/dinner at a really good italian place.

tomorrow is an outing with a couple of work friends to Korean Fried Chicken place called "Mad For Chicken" its SO good. I did figure out that points for this specific restaurant are 8 points for 3 drumsticks or 10 points for 8 wing pieces. So not terrible...

i would say if you ever get a chance to try korean fried chicken... (just budget the points for it!).

Yes, that is a while to be on a plateau. I hear that when we hit plateaus that we should change up our type of exercise. If you walked, swim. If you swam, cycle. I know that you are jogging now. Did you walk before or were you doing something totally different?

I started the jogging as a way to shake things up. Before jogging, I was walking and doing stairs. I was also lifting every other day and stopped doing that when I started jogging.

I'm going to stick with the jogging. For the first time in my life, I feel I am actually capable of doing it! It doesn't hurt my knees, and it's wonderful for my heart. I'm actually looking forward to going for my next round of lab work. :)

I'm slowly making some real positive changes with my diet. I think I'm getting to a place where I'm going to feel really good about how I'm taking care of my body, and I feel better about that than anything else. I will continue trying this and trying that in an effort to drop a little more weight and a couple more inches around my belly, but I had to let go of the obsession with that particular number; it was driving me friggin' nuts!!!

Pinkie popcorn has become my savior too! I eat it during the day at school...yummy! Laughing cow cheese and crackers too! Oooo and yogurt!

Sooooo..i gave in and weighed myself after several weeks...10 pounds! Whoohooo!

2 more days until week is over!