Help! I just don't know what to do anymore...

Tom wrote:

"Doug Lerner" wrote in message
...
But I'm very frustrated and really just don't know what do to anymore...

doug

I realize from your prior postings that you are battling with low-cal
vs. low-carb. Here are a few reasons why I continue with low-carb, as well
as some helpful things I did to keep myself on it, especially in the
beginning.

Great post, Tom!

I would add a couple of 'attitude adjustment' helpers that helped my wife
and me.

1) instead of letting ourselves slide into cheating and then beating
ourselves up afterwards, we realized we needed to take full responsibility
and make it a conscious decision to 'postpone weight loss' instead. By
looking at it as a postponement, we also implicitly acknowledged that the
diet would go on afterwards.

We would ask ourselves "is this worth postponing weight loss for?" The
bar was set pretty high this way and it eliminated most of the trivial
slips, including those rebellious moments when you're thinking "$&%^ this
diet, I want chocolate" or "I deserve a treat".

It made us focus on life events where food was symbolic (wedding cake at a
son's wedding) or overwhelmingly special and yummy (an aunt's speciality
at Thanksgiving) and really WAS worth postponing weight loss for.

2) If we did decide something was worth postponing weight loss for, we
would savor the 'best bites', those first 4-5 bites when good food tastes
the absolute best. Those were usually all the bites we'd have. This
approach kept our splurges relatively modest and rarely triggered cravings
or caused problems getting back on track.

Best of luck.

Dan
325/199/180
Atkins since 1/1/02 (yeah, it was a New Year's Resolution)
Besetting sins: good beer, German bread, and Krispy Kremes

Tom wrote:

"Doug Lerner" wrote in message
...
But I'm very frustrated and really just don't know what do to anymore...

doug

I realize from your prior postings that you are battling with low-cal
vs. low-carb. Here are a few reasons why I continue with low-carb, as well
as some helpful things I did to keep myself on it, especially in the
beginning.

Great post, Tom!

I would add a couple of 'attitude adjustment' helpers that helped my wife
and me.

1) instead of letting ourselves slide into cheating and then beating
ourselves up afterwards, we realized we needed to take full responsibility
and make it a conscious decision to 'postpone weight loss' instead. By
looking at it as a postponement, we also implicitly acknowledged that the
diet would go on afterwards.

We would ask ourselves "is this worth postponing weight loss for?" The
bar was set pretty high this way and it eliminated most of the trivial
slips, including those rebellious moments when you're thinking "$&%^ this
diet, I want chocolate" or "I deserve a treat".

It made us focus on life events where food was symbolic (wedding cake at a
son's wedding) or overwhelmingly special and yummy (an aunt's speciality
at Thanksgiving) and really WAS worth postponing weight loss for.

2) If we did decide something was worth postponing weight loss for, we
would savor the 'best bites', those first 4-5 bites when good food tastes
the absolute best. Those were usually all the bites we'd have. This
approach kept our splurges relatively modest and rarely triggered cravings
or caused problems getting back on track.

Best of luck.

Dan
325/199/180
Atkins since 1/1/02 (yeah, it was a New Year's Resolution)
Besetting sins: good beer, German bread, and Krispy Kremes

In article ,
says...
Tom wrote:

"Doug Lerner" wrote in message
...
But I'm very frustrated and really just don't know what do to anymore...

doug

I realize from your prior postings that you are battling with low-cal
vs. low-carb. Here are a few reasons why I continue with low-carb, as well
as some helpful things I did to keep myself on it, especially in the
beginning.

Great post, Tom!

I would add a couple of 'attitude adjustment' helpers that helped my wife
and me.

1) instead of letting ourselves slide into cheating and then beating
ourselves up afterwards, we realized we needed to take full responsibility
and make it a conscious decision to 'postpone weight loss' instead. By
looking at it as a postponement, we also implicitly acknowledged that the
diet would go on afterwards.

We would ask ourselves "is this worth postponing weight loss for?" The
bar was set pretty high this way and it eliminated most of the trivial
slips, including those rebellious moments when you're thinking "$&%^ this
diet, I want chocolate" or "I deserve a treat".

It made us focus on life events where food was symbolic (wedding cake at a
son's wedding) or overwhelmingly special and yummy (an aunt's speciality
at Thanksgiving) and really WAS worth postponing weight loss for.

2) If we did decide something was worth postponing weight loss for, we
would savor the 'best bites', those first 4-5 bites when good food tastes
the absolute best. Those were usually all the bites we'd have. This
approach kept our splurges relatively modest and rarely triggered cravings
or caused problems getting back on track.

VERY good tips! Deciding if something is worth it is usually somewhere in my
reasoning, too. I haven't really run into such a massive temptation yet, but
just in my regular thinking that is on my mind -- I CHOOSE the food that's going
to give me the best bang for me buck based on taste and nutrition, but NUTRITION
has somehow become the more important aspect. I take that back about temptation,
though -- my son lives with me and one day he cooked up a batch of Pillsbury
rolls -- they smelled HEAVENLY! I had to go to my room and shut the door to try
to cut down on the overwhelming olfactory-induced impulses :-) It smells really
good whenever he toasts bread, too (which is often), but the rolls were downright
DANGEROUS :-) Only the thought of how I might feel if I DID eat them (digestive
upset, feeling sick) stopped me from slipping.

--
Saffire
205/148/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333