Help!

I am a few weeks into this whole calorie counting thing. At first, I took it too far and was having too few calories - I didn't realise. Then when I did realise, I got them back up to a healthy level. But for the past 4 or 5 days I have been really bad - the opposite way!! Not going HUGELY over the top but I have been having a piece of cake or whatever, something sweet each day. And my calories still seem normal enough - like, they never go over 2000, but I FEEL bigger and look it! My stomach is all bloaty! And today I had a really bad day and have been terrible, ate like 400 cal worth of cookies....umm....

And all this just makes me feel worse. How do I get back on track, and not feel so terrible about myself. How do I stick with this thing!! Why is it so blimmin' hard!! It's just food!!

yes food is just food, but sugar is hell....

Sugar can really make you blow up and have all kinds of horrid side effects. It also makes you crave for more and more and more.

Since I limited myself in the use of sugar I feel much better.

Jo

First of all, don't beat yourself up about it!  I had a terrible weekend, food-wise, but I climbed right back on the horse on Monday and feel heaps better already. 

Like you, I have a sweet tooth and there's no way I'd be able to give up sweet foods completely.  But you can try to get your sugar fix in other, healthier ways...

Over the last few weeks my favourite treat has been a big bowl of raspberries with a pot of low fat probiotic yoghurt poured over the top.  It's yummy, counts as one of your 5 a day AND has calcium, which is especially important for girls.  The other option is to go for whatever treat you like, but just eat less of it - I think one of the best ways to stick to this is to cut a small slice of cake then take time carefully wrapping the cake up and putting it away so that it would be difficult to cut another piece (I can be quite lazy so this works a treat for me!).  Some people also say that brushing your teeth after eating can help stop you going for more - but just be careful with what you've eaten because if it's at all acidic you could be damaging the enamel on your teeth doing this.

Have you been eating lots of heavily processed foods?  That could be what has made you feel bloaty, because 2000kcal isn't overeating particularly.  If you haven't already, try switching white bread/pasta/rice for wholegrain alternatives, eat plenty of vegetables and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.  That works for me on my good days!

Good luck!