Posts by amwilmarth

yay for migrains!  I'm soooooooooo jealous!  :P

Original Post by personaltraining:

I CANNOT get motivated to stay the course. I hate counting, measuring, logging..all the time. I just want to eat mindlessly and not gain weight!! I have come to the conclusion that I am an emotional eater and that eating makes me happy..I love food!! Anyone out there feel the same way and have some tips to go on. Besides the usual???

I am the same way.  I love to eat!  And then I beat myself up over how much I ate, and get all upset when the weight creeps up (well duh, what did I expect?!).   

One thing I do is weigh myself nearly every morning.  This tends to keep me honest and motivated to keep up with stuff.  And, I don't log -although I try to keep up good eating habits- on the weekend.

Good luck!

amen sister!

Also, stay away from the new Kellog's Fiber Plus bars---they taste even BETTER!  Good news is they're slightly lower calorie, so even if you eat the whole box it's still less than 700 calories :P

Original Post by blondemama:

1. computer enhanced picture of my goal body with my face on it posted on the fridge placed beside current picture of myself

2. grocery shopping once per week only buying foods allowed (with extra healthy snacks), and no tempting foods in the house at all

3. a T-graph, which is a list of results of being my ideal weight/size, good listed on one side and bad listed on the other-posted in a visible place (bathroom mirror?)

4. online support of CC!

Now, if only I'd take my own advice and keep to it!

And I DEFINITELY agree with blondemama about #2--I don't even put that stuff in the house, so I am not tempted by it, and make sure I always have healthy snacks at hand (grapes are perfect for me).

MMMMmmm, the pizza and the tilapia sound heavenly...  don't suppose you'd like to share those recipes too?

I would recommend ordering whatever sounds good, and remembering to eat in moderation.  I'm not trying to start an argument, but especially if you are going out to eat -so he can order tons of fatty stuff if he so chooses- what gives him the right to be irritated that you care about your body and want to eat healthy?  It kind of hits a chord with me because I have some friends who are the same way now and again.  I don't get it--when I was chubby I had everyone's full support with the whole dieting thing.  Now that I am svelte and trim and getting closer and closer to my goal, everyone has got something to say about how MY diet is bothering THEM (and I'm not talking about they have to eat my food--I'm talking they pack their lunch, I pack mine).  What the heck is up with THAT!?

Wow, I guess I had to get that little vent out of the way..  sorry...  so yeah anyway, order what YOU want, and try to visualize what the serving sizes should be.  And maybe call ahead or go online to see if you can get the nutritional info for their menu items--being prepared in advance makes it much easier to be good.

Good luck!

I have a friend who is frusterating me also, along similar lines, although not the same.

I've dropped about 15 pounds since joining CC earlier this year, and about 20-25 total since my heaviest weight this spring.  I just recently hit my starter goal of 135, and she sometimes would have some comment about worrying about me being anorexic--despite the fact that I have been 135 my entire teen/adult life until the last two years :P  (Also despite the fact that for a 5'6 adult woman, 135 is a completely acceptable BMI)

Anyhow now I want to make a longer-term goal of 130 by the end of the year.  I don't really care if I actually get down to 130, or when it might happen, but I just want to give myself a little extra scale clearance, you know?  Ugh, now I hate to ever mention any minor victories ("I said no to Chocolate!" or "My dress finally fits again!") to her, because I get the "I'm worried about you!  First it's 135, not it's 130, and soon you'll be saying just x more pounds!".

I try to remind myself that when she was in college she had a lot of friends with real eating disorders (some of which required stays in hospitals), so her concern is probably coming from a good place, but 1) I don't appreciate people putting words in my mouth and 2) Give me some credit!  She's known me long enough (15 years!) to known that I have no interest in starving myself or purging or whatnot.  She also tends to take the preachy patronizing tone when she gets on her soapbox...

So, my advice (finally, sorry!), is to let it go.  And maybe complain to someone else about her behavior (either here on the CC boards like we both just did -and my that felt good!- and/or to other people that know you both).  And remind yourself that we all choose different diets for herself.  Maybe she thinks she is helping you out, maybe she is trying to sabotage you--but if you feel good about your diet plan, then who cares.  Try her advice if it sounds good, ignore it if it doesn't.

Hope that helped you...  it sure helped me!

We all feel self conscious at the gym, whether we're looking to lose 100 pounds or our last 5. There's a a girl at the gym I go to who is so tiny and cute and perfect and she makes me feel gross when I am there...

But, I remind myself that I am there for ME; exercise means not only will I burn more, but I can EAT MORE and still lose weight! And with the trainer's help, I can burn more efficiently. Plus my gym has fun classes like kickboxing and dance classes, so you don't even realize you're working out!

Best of all, regardless of how I feel (physically, mentally, emotionally) when I GET to the gym (I'm tired, I'm crabby, I'm stressed out, I hate running... the list goes on), I always feel better when I leave! The exercise is great "me" time, where the conversations in my head shut up, and I always leave feeling refreshed and proud of myself.

I was totally anti-working out, but even I love it--the benefits for YOU (and me) totally outweigh the occasional thoughts we project on those cute tiny things!

That would be nice!  I live in a smaller town, so that will probably never come here...  but it sure would make eating out easier!  Now I have to find their website and hunt around until I know what I can order.  Although, preparing in advance does help me avoid places that have nothing for me to eat besides a side salad without dressing :P

Original Post by pgeorgian:

personally, i have to have a scale. not having one for 15 years helped me delude myself into thinking i was okay while i gained 40 pounds.

I am absolutely with you!  I didn't own a scale for years, and I always used to be able to eat whatever I wanted...  well, the metabolism changed but the eating habits didn't.  I knew I had gained some weight, but I had no idea until I stepped on a scale at my parents' house...  holy crap I gained 30 pounds!  I think I would have been a little more motivated to eat less burn more sooner if I'd seen the number staring me in the face.

I weigh myself every day and maybe that's excessive, but it helps me when I get the urge to stress eat, and reminds me to eat the healthy lunch I packed instead of getting fast food with the girls.

For me, I consider myself binging if I sit (usually in front of the idiot box) and eat, hand to mouth, non-stop, until....  I go to bed.  Or until I eat all of the cheese curds/ice cream/potato chips/whatever it is (was).

It doesn't matter what you weigh or what it is you're eating.  But, there is a difference, I think, between eating a couple more pieces of candy than you should have, and eating the whole darned box of cookies.

A clear sign that I've had too much is that I feel really awful about it afterwards :(

I remember reading that you could train your body to wake up to your alarm- something like set an alarm for 10 or 15 minutes from now, lay down in your bed, and kind of catnap.  When the alarm goes off, whether you were actually sleeping or not, get up and out of bed.

They said if you repeat this a few times you can train your brain to be more awake and ready to move when you hear your alarm.

Caveat: I myself have been having a heck of a time getting out of bed on time as well, and I have NOT used that method myself...  although I am just about ready to try it out!

I don't really have any answers, but I do know that all guys want sex, whether they are too well-raised to admit it or not.  They're not (in general) like us ladies who need to feel special and beautiful and not be too tired and not feel too fat and blah blah blah...

Before my last bf and I broke up I was acting exactly like how you are describing your bf (the difference being so was my bf, except that he thought he could act like that and still get some!  HAH!)

That said, it is also totally normal for intimacy to slow down -sometimes a LOT- after you move in or get married, even when you DO still like each other.  Some people keep it hot, but a lot of couples have a hard time keeping the spark once they see each other every day and it's not such a big exciting deal to share a bed...

The abridged version: I think the best way to save yourself time and stress from second guessing is to sit him down and make him talk to you.

Good luck!

If you can find a tone that suits your natural skin tone, maybe consider tan-in-a-can?  It's better fo your skin, and maybe would help hide the marks better. 

Caveat: I can't attest to the success rate, because I am always too busy out of the shower to remember to apply it :P

A