Help! I need a little support.

[Rainbowreflect]

I am feeling crappy this morning. Bloated, crampy & grumpy.
I want to pig out on chips & chocolate.
I have been doing really good for the 22 days, but I feel like I am going to blow it today.
Help me please!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

1. Hang in there!

Remember, if you pig out you'll feel bloated, crampy, grumpy & pissed at yourself for pigging out.

I don't know if this will help, but tell yourself you won't eat chips or chocolate until this evening (or pick another time). Probably by then the cravings will have passed.

best.

[Rainbowreflect]

2. Thanks. I drank a chocolate myoplex lite protein drink.

That helped a bit, they are actually pretty good.
I have been talking to myself all morning telling myself what you said, but it helps to feel less alone in my fight.

[DemExpat]

3. And tonite have some lightly salted popcorn or rice crackers

and another of those shakes instead of the foods that will only set you back by eating.

Often it is self-defeating to deny those cravings, but I am now fired up enough to do my best to find satisfying substitutes so that I, and my food urges, are happy.

:hug:

DemEx

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

4. That's why when I have a really bad craving

I try to pick a later time. Most often, the craving has passed, but if I tell myself I can't have fill-in-the-food-of-the-moment, I just go nuts.

best

[Rainbowreflect]

5. I had a small piece of smoked salmon. It was just salty enough.

And boy was it tasty.
I am thinking I might make it through the workday. Then I can go home & curl up with my heating pad, a cup of tea & a good book.

[lavenderdiva]

6. could this possibly be PMS related?

I start craving sweet and salty things 1/2 to 2/3 of the way thru my cycle. I have found that if I have one small piece of Dove chocolate that will satisfy my chocolate cravings. Eat it very slowly, and kind of suck on the small bites to make the flavor envelope your mouth. You are getting full flavor, and good chocolate with very few calories. I truly find that one piece like that does it for me. Another thing I have is an Atkins chocolate shake. (not at the same time as the Dove chocolates!) I find them very filling, and again, it satisfies my cravings for chocolate. Only 1 carb per shake.

[Rainbowreflect]

7. Yep it's PMS! And I love Dove's dark chocolate.

You are right, one small piece eaten slowly can really take care of a craving.
A half an hour & I can go home & curl up with my heating pad.

[cleanheart.396]

8. Allow yourself something

Whenever I've tried to lose weight, and denied myself everything, I always wound up gaining the weight back because I depended more on willpower than on my ability to punish myself by not dealing with my eating realistically. It took you all your life to get to where you are now, and you won't change it overnight, and you won't change it by asking yourself to do the impossible.

You have to give yourself permission to eat something you really want to eat once a week, or twice a month. Whatever you think you can stand. But you have to have rules that you follow. The rules have to do with the amount of the food, and the frequency with which you eat it. This is where you have to be rigorously honest with yourself. But the whole idea is not to reward or punish yourself, but to have a food program you can stick to, that doesn't punish you for ever being overweight in the first place. Our shame really gets us into trouble when it comes to doing what we can realistically do.

So pick only a couple of favorite foods. Mine were ice-cream, and pastries. I had ice cream twice a week. But I fasted twice to 3 times weekly in order to have it. And it was worth it to me. I also allowed myself to eat real pastry every six weeks. My fasts were not total fasts. I had healthy fresh fruit drinks, or carrot apple juice, twice, or 3 times on a fast day, and I drank lots of water.

This worked for me. That was 4 years ago, and I lost 60 pounds the first 14 months and I haven't gained it back except for 15 pounds that I did lose in about 6 weeks.

But most important is to know what you are eating over. Once you stop overeating, all the feelings, emotions, fears, shame, etc., that you ate to hide from come barreling to the surface. Get in touch with those things. Once you do, you may find you're not as hungry as you think you are. Deal with them one at a time, and take as long as you need to for each thing. But resolve them. Until you do, you're just putting your weight in a bank until you need it again to help you not to face something else. Believe me. I know what I'm talking about. People with addictions have to change. They have to find out why they are eating, and face the reality that it's not just a bad habit.

You can do it.
I know you can.
Just find the person you really are, and be that person.