Motivation

You gotta be DETERMINED. Bottom line. You have to recognize that it is a life time change and that you are the only person that feeds yourself. Here are a few mindsets that I have come up with myself to help me get past wanting to eat certain foods.

1. Unhealthy Food Outlook: Look at the food; you've eaten it before. Do you remember how it tastes? Of course you do! Has it changed? Of course it hasn't. Is it nutritious for your body? If not, why bother eating (edit: especially an unhealthy portion) again?

2. You can have your cake and eat it too: Take a bite, put down the fork, or the bag of m&m's or whatever your weakness may be. Chew, swallow. Okay now have the flavor in your mouth and you did not go over board on your calories. So after you swallow your food, it is gone, in your tummy, and you are only left with the stale taste off your tongue. So if you put another bite in your mouth, you double it. Then triple, etc. So in essence, calorie consumption is only about how many bites you put into your mouth. So CHILL after a few. (portion control)

3. Waste is Waste: If you are satisfied and have that "I really don't want to waste the rest of this" attitude, think about it! If you consume the food, you will digest it and it will still end up turning into WASTE. Or you can throw it away in the waste basket (or pack it for later) where your body does not have a chance to soak up those calories. Deal? All in all, its waste, so make the right wasteful choice.

4. Time is of the essence: Think about the non nutritious food that you are consuming. Are you going to remember that you consumed it after you have eaten it a week from now? Probably not. What did you eat last Monday? Don't know? Well then... my point is made.

5. Be the Spunky European Car: We only have 1 body, treat it with respect, the right nutrition, and it will treat you that way back. If you give a gasoline powered car diesel, it wont run right. So be a spunky European car and your engine will purr.

6. Give smell a chance! We have 5 senses which are nearly equally strong. Sight, smell, taste, and touch all play a role in how good the food is that we consume. Instead of always receiving joy from food, enjoy the smells of nature (flowers, grass, air) or light some candles to enjoy. This is not good for everyone, but I LOVE my berry candle because it reminds me of starbursts, and my vanilla one reminds me of cake. Mentally I am satisfied. Some cannot cope with these tho, so this is not for everyone.

7. Don't feel obligated to eat: You don't HAVE to eat that birthday cake, or celebration food. SO many people are wrapped up in celebration food and feel guilty if they do not eat the birthday cake. Let this go! Stand out from the crowd by putting your foot down. Bring your own healthy variations and suggest fruits and lean meats for parties you are attending. A healthy alternative for cake and ice cream is to bring sorbet instead. In this case, food is all about socializing.

8. Newly Added - Coping with a Binge: If you feel the want to binge, or eat a late night snack because you just WANT it, remind yourself that you can have it tomorrow. Tomorrow is ALWAYS an option. Keep it in your mind that you can fit it in the next day's calories.

9. Newly Added - Calories = Your Budget: Think of your calories as a bank account. Calories are your money, so you must budget them to fit your needs. If it's not in your budget, then don't eat em. We all hate those over draft charges.

If you have anything else to add, be my guest. If it's a good suggestion, I'll add it to the list.

Great post star!  Thanks for the tips!  You look great, you should be very proud of yourself!  :)

Thanks star! I also really liked the tip about waste. I never thought about that before! Very true and very motivational! Congratulations on your weight loss so far and keep up the great work!! 

This is a great post, and so true. I notice after about the 4th bite of dessert, you stop tasting it.

Excellant points- x17star17x

I've tagged your post. Points #3 & #4 are the best of the group in my mind.

My response to the comment...

  ..."I just meant that relying on memory and smell to enjoy a food sounds very EDish to me. Maybe I'm just reading it differently."

I think over-eating to the point of being un- healthy is "EDish"? That's the ED I have. CC and it's FORUM posters are a tool to help IMHO.

Am I way offbase???

Sometimes, and more often now than before just smelling the food satisfies that "hankering". I realize that may backfire for most however. It's just one of those things to overcome in our journey.

Miss x17star17x pointed out that she still has her cakes and goodies at times but only to the point where she can still move forward to, and maintain, good health!!!!

Well Done! Great Job x17star17x

This post is very inspirational :)

I have definately learned alot (i also printed your tips and stuck it in the fidge)

Thank you very much :)

Keep up the good work ;)

hahaha its fun to see that so many tagged this post, and now someone put it on the fridge?  Wow.  I must rock more than I originally knew :) :)

111lbs gone now.  Still tickin.  43 more to go!

I can't believe I didn't see this post sooner.
GREAT job, x17star17x!

See, there is a reason you have been so successful.
You DO rock.

This was very good! Number 3 is my favorite!

Thanks!

I've tagged it too.  I only take advice from people who have been successful at this.  Thank you so much for sharing these truths!

I so agree - this is an excellent post!  I loved #3, also.  I've been guilty of eating something so it doesn't go to waste...and also of eating too much of something because it tastes so good...like cake or pie.  The truth is, if I give myself a very small serving of something that's not good for me I am just as satisfied as if I ate a huge serving....minus the guilt and pounds.  I wish I'd have read this post before my nephew's graduation party.  Thanks for taking the time to help the rest of us out.

thank you for sharing, and for cc for emailing this to me, i lost 36lbs in 12 weeks, won a contest, hit my goal, by doing all the right things, all the stuff i read while i was gorging on fast food, i put to work, its not easy but it can work, and its all a mind set, thanks for the positive motivation

That was awesome!!, and you look amazing!

Smell is such a huge part that I think a lot of people take for granted!  I love to smell food and there are certain foods I love to smell and that's all I need.  We have all of these senses and not slowing down to enjoy food with each and every one of them is a crime!  If we gobble so fast that we don't remember what it looked like or smelled like, or how it felt in our mouth, then we've dealt the cook a major insult!

I love to go to Cold Stone and smell the ice cream.  There's so much of it there, you can just SMELL it!  I breathe it in, get a small bowl and split it with a friend and then I'm satisfied.  Smelling all of that ice cream and enjoying it keeps me from getting the largest size and eating it all on my own!

I have a hard time throwing food out, so the waste point really hit home!  You're right, I'd rather throw it out now that I think of it that way! 

I've printed your post Star, so I can read it along with my favourite motivator poster that I keep on my refrigerator. I reads: "NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS THIN FEELS". 

You know, in Jackattack's defense (I mean, not as if you all are on the offense, just sayin'), eating to the point where you are 109lbs overweight is pretty indicative of an ED.

ED stands for Eating Disorder. Disordered Eating that disrupts one's life. If food, weight, dieting, eating and/or not eating take up more than 50% of your thoughts, chances are you've got an ED. Does that mean we should put a straightjacket on your and ship you to the ED unit of the local loony bin? No! There's a general stigma on this site about EDs. They're more common that you think, and it doesn't mean you're defective. It's just the way you cope.

That being said, the fact you were 109 over in the first place is indicative of an ED, and losing that amount of weight has got to take up a lot of your time and attention; as you said, 'you gotta be determined.' For the normal person, this kind of determination would be pretty ED.

BUT, I liked your post. I liked your ideas. They were original. I, however, am a long time ED sufferer. So my view is a bit skewed.

I'm just sayin'. I mean, I'm not sayin' you have an ED one way or the other...I'm just sayin'.

To answer shakti:

LoL I have noooo idea what you just said there, but I respect your view.  I do not have an ED by any means, I am determined to become healthy.  Here's a little about me:

I grew up in a broken home.  My mom and myself found comfort in food.  Food was my escape, food became my comfort.  I was never a 'binge' eater by definition, but I would indulge in portions way too large for myself.  I packed on 220lbs.  In fact I started to become heavy at the end of third grade when my father was diagnosed with a mental illness (manic depressive bi polar schizophrenia).  It flipped my life upside down.

When I was 17, I went on a '300 calories a day' diet. I didnt know any better to tell you the truth.  I did hide this.  I lost 50lbs, but after the dizzy spells and nausea, I quit that, and ballooned back up to my original weight and then surpassed that and clocked in at 294lbs.

Thennnn at the age of 22 I was on a hunt to do this right.  To learn about food and nutrition, exercise, and I came to terms that it's not like I was never going to eat a snicker bar again, I just had to do it wisely and make it fit into my diet.  Same thing with cake, cheese cake, cookies, french fries, etc. (in fact i try to squeeze french fries into my diet once a week because I LOVE them)

So I just take a different approach to these foods.  They are NOT ED behavior, they are an outlook on how to view indulgent foods as a special treat.  That it is okay to let go, it is okay to say no even during parties (people feel bad when they dont accept birthday cake even if they dont really want it, its a LEARNED process, and we dont have to partake in it if we're not comfortable).  That's all I'm saying.

To answer danceswithforks:

In my 'old' life I would sit at the computer with little debbie snack cakes and eat 3-4 packs because they tasted good.  Did I feel guilty? Naw, I didnt even know my size.  If i had already eaten dinner, and my mom got takeout, I would eat another dinner.  Why?  Because it tasted good :)  I was nutrition fact blind.  I really dont know how many calories I consumed.  I would sometimes eat fried tacos and a chicken sandwich from Jack-in-the-box for breakfast.  My favorite meal at mc donalds was the 2 cheeseburgers and a large fry, diet coke. Subway?  I thought I was being good here!  I would get a turkey sandwich (footlong) with mayo, mustard, turkey, cheese, avocado, bacon, oil, vinegar, pickles, salt, pepper, AND a side of ranch to dip it in.  Chips?  SURE!  My favorites were cool ranch doritos.

THEN once dieting, for my chip cravings I discovered 100 calorie packs (they even make cool ranch doritos!) and if I wanted subway, I would get a 6" on wheat, turkey, lettuce, and light pickles (only after I discovered pickles are PACKED with sodium).  So yep!

Even during easter time, I picked up one of those receese eggs that I LOVED to eat a good 5-8 of, and discovered there was 140 calories in 1 little egg, and I put it back and it was just SO not worth it for me.  If it was worth it, I would have eaten it, but I'm really over it.

At this point I am so set into my ways that I am surprised when I still lose weight when stepping on the scale.  Its neat.  These last 40lbs, I am just looking at as "ya know I have my WHOLE life to lose these pounds, no biggy" and I take one day at a time.  I exercise regularly but not too vigorously, I eat healthy fresh food and fit in my fried goodies on occasion, and I make smart choices.

Of course I have PMS and feel the need to binge, but if I feel like that, I dont even bother eatin a meal, I eat healthy snacks ALL day so I can munch ALL day.

Height 5'4
Frame: medium

Start weight: 294.4
Start Jean Size: 24/26
Start shirt size: 3X
Start bra size: 42DD
Start shoe size: 9.5

Current weight: 182
Jean Size: 14
Shirt size: xL (sometimes L)
Bra size: 38D
Shoe size: 9

Goal weight: 140
Expected Goal Date: December 15th 07

If I dont make goal by then, oh well.  It's not like i'm going to quit.  There is NO need to quit.

congrats on your loss! and congrats on having the power to stop overeating. i dont think you are disordered by fully enjoying all that food is:

it tastes good
it looks good
it smells great

everyone is always in such a rush to cram it in...
i got that way from working. 30 minutes for a lunch..yeh right.


but smelling the food makes it taste so much better. i swear i can taste it more..like there are layers of flavor. it takes 20 minutes to realize how full you are so slowing down the eating in my opinion is one of the firt things anyone who overeats should do.
FULLY enjoy it.

i can never throw food away. i give it to someone or put it away for later...but everything else you stated is what went on in my head too.

high five for reality based dieting!
*swack*

you know how i see it star, ( and me & her talk allllllll the time) people unless they start out where you did or me, they dont quite understand it, its more like an addiction, kinda like drugs and alcohol (as weve both said before) you eat when your sad, mad, depressed just as you do with drugs. (me personally I have fought both battles) thankfully the drug battle was conqured years ago. Now off to the weight battle. Its NOT an eating disorder its an ADDITION. just like these girls that are perfect height & weights (meaning by BMI standards) and swear there fat and have to lose weight its an addition for perfection....

All I know is you came a long way, you have stuck it out, and have made amazing changes, which is a GREAT accomplishment

woo hoo!  thank you guys for your responses.  I just love knowing that i'm helping others, along with myself, throughout this whole process.

113lbs lost as of today, and I have no regrets about the way I have been losing.  Not an ED day in site.  I cant wait for the rest of this weight to go ;)

41 more pounds!