Leave the Hershey Kisses Alone!

As I sit here at work, the Hreshey kisses are staring me down. Actually, my back is to them right now, but I still know they are there.

What is it with knowing that you shouldn't eat certain foods (like chocolate....yummmm) and wanting them anyway? That is like saying - I really love this extra 85 lbs that I am carrying around with me. Have you ever tried to carry 85 lbs up a flight of stairs? Not an easy task, but I am lugging it with me everywhere I go. I have decided that whenever I think about food, I will post something, so that my brain and hands are occupied.

So, basically, I must stay on here all day..lol.

Google 'Eve', 'Apple' and 'Serpent'     It's been going on a long time.  Accessibility = desirability.

We have a box of chocolate biscuits in our house that sits on a fairly high shelf in an 'out of sight out of mind' sort of way.  No-one will think to have a biscuit from one week to the next quite often.  But if I put those biscuits out on a plate in the living room they'd be gone in five minutes.

Good luck with the sweets.

Great idea!

I put them in the kitchen so that I can't see them and would physically have to walk there to get them, instead of wheel my chair over and grab one.

It's pretty bad when you start giving Hershey kisses human, lifelike qualities...lol

Curse the apple, the serpent and eve!

Whenever you want one, remember:

85 pounds = roughly 6 1/2 cases of 24-pack 9 oz bottles of water

Think about how wonderful it will be not to have to carry those wherever you go!

I have 58 pounds to lose.  This is my third week coming up and so far so good for me.

My daughter carefully chose a chocolate bar to share of which I ate three squares after I checked it out on the calorie counter.  I dutifully listed it also.  It was okay really, I didn't go over and it made me happy to just get three.

My problem is not sweets as much as those delicious cheeseburgers and onion rings from Harveys.  When I'm driving home... I have to pass the place.... ohhhh boy... I need to find another route.  Sometimes I call my husband, "just keep driving keep driving" he says LOL! 

lol...it is amazing how you don't think you're obsessed with food until you can't eat it! Unfortunately, I have eaten my share of those cheeseburgers and onion rings (not from Harvey's - we don't have them where I live) and cutting calories is a dramatic wake-up call, but a necceassary one.

Amen to the wake-up call.  It's really hard but necessary.  I'm just recovering from a hernia operation my doc said was from being overweight and I'm only 33.  By the time I'm 43 I may end up with a bypass if I don't so something now!!!!  Just think of that when the cheeseburger calls!

That being said you do need to find a happy diet.  It's possible to only eat celery and lettuce all day but I think that would kill me.  Have the chocolate or share a cheeseburger with someone every now and then, that's fine.  Just do it as a treat, not as a quick lunch or something you just pick up with a coke at the gas station on your way home for no reason.  Moderation, right?  Easier said than done though, just keep it up.

Original Post by amspano1:

lol...it is amazing how you don't think you're obsessed with food until you can't eat it! Unfortunately, I have eaten my share of those cheeseburgers and onion rings (not from Harvey's - we don't have them where I live) and cutting calories is a dramatic wake-up call, but a necceassary one.

 I try to think "won't" more than "can't", because "can't" makes me angry. I think "I'm an adult, why can't I!" But a much better thought is "I'm eating better now, so I won't."

Original Post by happyfish22:

 I think "I'm an adult, why can't I!"

 That's what I call the 'Inner Toddler'...   We spend our formative years thinking that eating nothing but sweets and ice-cream would be a great way to live ... but we're (hopefully) kept in check by sensible parents.   Get to adulthood and we have to take over that role ourselves...

my inner toddler needs a good time-out!

If I dont open something I wont touch it I have 4 packets of chocolate biscuits in my cupboard that have been there for about 2 months, and I wont touch them....unless...they get opened :)

Have you guys ever read The End Of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler? It's a really good book on why we over eat, and specifically why we can't just stop focusing and obsessing on food once we know its within our reach (the poor, helpless Hershey kisses in this case :)). As heatherk83 said though, it really is out of sight, out of mind in a lot of cases.

The book is a little science-y, but it really put into words how I was able to keep weight off for a long period of time!

Original Post by enigma905:

I have 58 pounds to lose.  This is my third week coming up and so far so good for me.

My daughter carefully chose a chocolate bar to share of which I ate three squares after I checked it out on the calorie counter.  I dutifully listed it also.  It was okay really, I didn't go over and it made me happy to just get three.

My problem is not sweets as much as those delicious cheeseburgers and onion rings from Harveys.  When I'm driving home... I have to pass the place.... ohhhh boy... I need to find another route.  Sometimes I call my husband, "just keep driving keep driving" he says LOL! 

Enigma: I think that's really nice how your daughter and husband are helping you be healthier.  I read so much about people having problems with their family tearing them down when they try to do good things for their bodies.  it's nice to know there are supportive ones out there.  :)

You are absolutely right! Just cut down on portions, say "No!" to seconds, and avoid sweets as much as possible.

I read with interest the reply about recovering from hernia surgery.  I was in the same boat in the summer of 2006 - it was a couple of weeks after my birthday and there I was in a hospital bed recovering from having a hernia that had twisted itself around my intestines.  The doctor also mentioned it was because of my morbid obesity.  So right then and there I decided that was it and I lost 175 pounds in 11 months - by dieting and working out.  It wasn't easy but it felt great.  Exactly one year later I was having plastic surgery to have my excess skin removed - so it can be done - you just need to talk yourself into it.  Nothing feels better than being able to walk upstairs with out stopping or panting - and no more rashes from my thighs rubbing together.

it gets easier the longer you skip it. once i established the habit of passing them up, they dont taunt me and call my name like they used to.

there is a candy jar at work that gets filled with chocolate once every week or so - it holds about a half bag of mini chocolate bars. as soon as it gets filled up everybody starts thinking up reasons to pass by it. its funny :)

i used to be the worst!! but now i skip it - those  nuggets are 50 cals each - and its so hard to resist the second and the third once you have that first one.

If I buy something for my husband...cookies, candy, etc., and tell myself it's for him, I can refrain from eating it.  It's not mine, it's his.  But resisting the goodies is kinda like trying to quit smoking.  You tell yourself that you shouldn't because you really need to get the weight off to improve your health, then you suddenly realize that you're sitting there holding an empty bag, bowl, box and there was nobody else around that could have eaten it except you.

I let my inner toddler be the boss in a different way.

I sing " You're not the boss of me! I am the boss of youuuuuuuu!!! as I throw them away! A happy dance helps. 

**Sometimes I call my husband, "just keep driving keep driving" he says LOL!**

God Bless your husband for giving you the support you need exactly when you need it!  Not everyone has that.  Be strong and realize that you are earning more and more respect from him every day you stay strong and keep heading towards your goal. 

I am rounding in on my goal here.  In the past 18 mos I've lost 40# and gone from size 18+ to size 12 jeans.  I'm 54 years old and I've NEVER been a size 12 in jeans! 

My sister says that size 14s are bigger now than they used to be.  I still have old clothes from 15 years ago and those size 14s are getting too large on me, too.  Besides Lands End, does anyone else think that bigger clothes carry smaller sizes now?

In reading a very funny and usefull book on eating disorders, the author names her inner voice "Ed" (Eating Disorder) and finds it helpful to tell Ed to leave the room or put him away in the closet, a way I find to turn off these urges that continue to nag at you.  Tell Ed to "shut up!!"  and you feel in control because it is Ed that tells you the candy is still there, not your rational mind.  Just like saying that the inner child needs to be talked to, I perfer to name my abusive side.  This allows a conversation that is direct and easy to identify as a shut down mode to the urges.  I am working on ending a relationship with an abusive lover that has been in my life for 30 years!  That is not easy, but everyone agrees that you cannot be in an abusive relationship!

I'm not sure if this would work for anyone but me but when confronted with this type of temptation I say to myself "How is eating that Hershey's kiss going to help me? What is it going to get me?" Most of the time answering that question is enough for me to avoid eating the chocolate or whatever. Usually my answer is something like "It's not going to help me. It's just added sugar and calories I don't need. Eating that doesn't further my goal and my goal of weight loss is my priority." I don't always say all that to myself but that's kind of the my full mantra. ;) But there are days when I say "Allowing myself to have 1 as a treat is ok. I've done well this week and having 1 Hershey's kiss is not going to derail me." So that's what I do. Not sure it will help you but it's helped me more than any diet or exercise program over the years.

Of course, the thing that makes me most curious is why are the Hershey's kisses there to begin with? Are they at your desk? If not, have you considered asking your co-worker to not have them at their desk? Or as someone else suggested, bring in something to refill the candy jar that you don't like. I hate all hard candies so I always bring those in as my contribution to office candy bowls to prevent them being filled with chocolate.