Posts by picturesofamemory

Here's another idea (especially after hearing the Olive Garden) that I recommend for constant dining out. Eat slowly and only eat half of what's on your plate. Then take the rest home and eat it later or pawn it off on your family/friends. Anytime I eat out I end up over eating and feeling sick all night because the American restaurant industry gives you 3xs the portion you should get. Therefore, look at the food on your plate and make some kind of line through it and tell yourself you're simply not going to cross that line. 

Also, chug a lot of water. It will make you feel much fuller, and, if you're me, it will give you four of your eight glasses. ^.^

(As for desert, take a bite or two of your friends and be done. It's expensive, anyway. ;_; Although, that's more difficult for me.)

I really do believe keeping yourself occupied is the best thing you can do for yourself. But it's also not the end of the world if you screw up once and again. You can't change immediately. Be nice to yourself. You're still a good person. You're still taller than me and weight less!!! =)

*hug*

Don't stay in your room! This might be difficult, but if you distract yourself, it can go a long way.

For instance, I like to write. I'll take my laptop out to a park or something and write. I'm not typically as self motivated to write when I'm sitting alone in my room feeling lonely and sad and thinking about everything I should be doing. (This also works for homework. Doing homework out of my room seems to help a lot! Even if I go somewhere like Panera, where there are lots of people and lots of food, I'll sit down with a nice salad or sandwich on sourdough and feel a lot better about the general state of my life than if I'm alone wolfing down a bag of chips and won't be so tempted for their muffins...)

Other things you can try to get out of the house and distract you from eating: Visit the student center, go to bookstores, join a gym and do gym classes (you'll never be more motivated to work out then when other people are doing better than you and you look very lame in comparison), get your iPod and walk around campus, take an extracurricular class like painting or knitting at Michaels, etc.

And don't, don't walk down the soda/snack food aisle at the grocery store!!!! (I made this mistake too many times to count. I now just don't even look at that aisle...) 

A note on therapy: You have to work and find the right therapist. I've had some really crappy therapists, some that have been no help at all, and some that immediately got to the root of the problem and showed me what I had to do. All I'm saying is don't give up on it entirely.

As for the working out... I agree with the sports team theory. Or cut down the time and do it every day. Maybe an hour of yoga one day, and hour of cardio the next, and hour of weights the next. It's better to vary the exercise your doing rather than do the same routine all the time.