What works 100% of the time

Choices. This is part of a post I posted on another forum, but I think it is of value, so I am posting it here.

Set your goals lower in anything, and you can reach them more easily.  A 10 pound loss is easier to achieve than a 100 pound loss.  Also, diet is not about denial, it is about choices. A year ago I chose not to eat anything with sugar in it. Consequently I have lost 50 pounds. This is my choice.

Any choice has consequences, you just have to be willing to live with the consequences. Choose to eat Sonic cream pie shakes every day, and the consequence is weight gain. Choose not to eat them or anything with sugar, and the consequence is weight loss.
You are in charge, not the food. It can't get into your body unless you put it there. Choose what you are going to do and accept the consequences. (That's my mantra.)

Very good post- I couldn't agree more.  One thing that I also think of when I am staring down some cookies or something else, I think about how fleeting it is.  It will take me 30 seconds to eat this and will derail my efforts and cost me 30 minutes on the treadmill.

When I am able to think of choices in that respect and how quickly the high/emotion of having a particular food is, it makes me think very much about how much say I have in it.  You are so right when you say that it is the person in charge and not the food!

Hear, hear!

I find it difficult to stay on a eating healthy diet. I quit smoking july 4, 2006 and have gained about 40 extra pounds! I have been trying to cook healthy, but my family doen't have any weight to loose and feels like they are being cheated. Exercise in itself is a chore. I work out on the ellpitical for at least 30 minutes a day. I have added 5 to 15 minutes of dance to my routine. I still can't completely give up the sugar.

jamie79: "It will take me 30 seconds to eat this and will derail my efforts and cost me 30 minutes on the treadmill. " Oh, how true! I have heard the same sentiment in a slightly different way: "Nothing tastes as good as being a normal weight feels."

bgerding2: "I still can't completely give up the sugar." Who says you cannot? The cookies? Your family? No, you cannot visualize yourself not eating the sugar. You cannot visualize the results of not eating sugar. You will miss the way sugar makes you feel. You don't want to give up the sugar. The bottom line is that you WILL NOT give up the sugar for whatever reason you use as justification. I say again, they are your choices. Just keep in mind that you can have sugar any time you want to. It is your choice. For Thanksgiving I chose to have a slice of the pumpkin pie that I made, and I chose to have a serving of cranberry sauce.  "I have been trying to cook healthy, but my family doen't have any weight to loose and feels like they are being cheated." Cook things the way they want; don't force everyone to eat the way you need to. If they choose to, fine, better for them. "Exercise in itself is a chore." Here's a simple, low-impact one that will raise your heart rate; step up and down in place (like marching) at a comfortable pace and swing your arms once in a while. That's not a chore, and you don't have to use any equipment.  P.S. I know all your excuses; I used them all myself until I figured out that the food is not in charge, I am, and the choices are mine. The only person you are fighting is yourself. The marching is an exercise I use. I know it works because I got out my stethoscope to listen to my heart beat faster. (Congratulations on quitting smoking!!!)

What Patty is saying is true.  It is all about choices.  You have to make the choice that you want to live a healthy life...dieting is only a short term plan.  Anyone who's had any type of battle with their weight will not benefit from dieting- it's a complete lifestyle change.  You have to CHOOSE to be healthy.

Great thread! I agree 100%!

Jamie- If you want to give up sugar, then you CAN do it! Its all about mind over matter.

I want to stop with the sugar as well, but since I'm approaching this as a lifestyle change and not a diet, I'm getting rid of sugar gradually. For example-

• I cut my tea down from two sugars to one sugar and next week I'm only taking 1/2 spoon of sugar.
• Went from 2% milk to 1% milk
• Gave up chocolate and ice cream completely. I'll introduce them back into my diet eventually but for the next 2 months they're completely out!

These changes may seem small but they work really well. And as your body adjusts, you can set even lower limits on junk and sugars.

My point is this: if you WANT to do it, then IT CAN BE DONE! 

this was just what I needed to hear.  thanks

Great post. I'm going to go a step further.

I am a firm believer that everything is a choice. Addictions included. You can simply choose to stop. Choices is what it's all about (not the hokey pokey, contrary to popular belief).

Holy Crap!

What if I'm wrong? What if the hokey pokey really IS what it's all about?

/hides in a corner with survival kit

lol.

Well, for me, today is going to be all about choices.  I am going to do this, one day at a time, one choice at a time. 

(and then I'll do the hokey pokey)

AMEN to you guys agreeing that everything is a choice! People think that I am dismissing them when I say things like this, but the truth is, this knowledge is liberating! You cannot control 1 single thing outside of yourself. There as so many things that are out of our control and we fight and fight for that control (like trying to control what our family members WANT to eat. Can't be done, it's their choice). In reality, all we need is the control of ourselves. We can choose what we think about, choose what thoughts we dwell on, choose what we allow ourselves to be influenced by, choose our actions and reactions. If you really want something, you will sacrafice other things to obtain it. You typically get what you TRULY value the most. If you Value being healthy and at a healthy weight more than chocolate chip cookies and french fries, you will typically end up at a healthy weight. It sounds silly to say that someone might value a cookie (and the way it makes them feel) more than their health and appearance, but everything is a choice, and we choose things based on what we want the most at the time.

Figure out what you want the most and set your resolve! Tell yourself that you have a dream to achieve and that cookies and fries and cheesecake are not more valuable to you than your dream. You CAN do it. You just have to decide to.

<puts down the candy>  hehe just kidding but when I do feel like picking it up (which I am sure I will do this afternoon) and eating it I will think of this post.  Thanks!

just checking in to say that after this post this morning, I have thought about the food choices I have made...before I make them.  for example,  today is Saturday.  Busy yet fun day (b/c no work) so...I'm in the kitchen b/c I am truly hungry and I reach in fridge and grab french onion dip.  then, I think "is this the choice I want to make?"  NO....so, I put it back and get fat free yogurt. 

ahhhhh....it felt good. It's been a long time since I made a good choice. 

Thanks for listening!

I wish life was so easy. I know it's all about choices. I made the choice to quit smoking. I make the choice to put a cheese coney in my mouth, therefore, I choose to gain the weight from it. I just know from experience if you completely deny yourself, that's all you think about. I'm making the  choice not to deprive myself totally. I only have sugar in iced tea once a day. If I gain weight from that, so be it. I don't have any problem with sugar in any other form. I'm not a chocolate, cookie, cheesecake kind of person. I have gained weight from quitting smoking, I made that choice too. Please don't dismiss someone's entry and quote things that you really have no idea what they are going through.

BG

Great thread.  It is hard to change, sure, but it is mostly mind over matter.  You ARE stornger than the cookies/candy/wahtever. 

I just saw this at the gym today and trite or not it's true:

"Ya gotta believe it to acheive it!"

You can give up sugar, bad carbs, unhealthy fats, etc.  You have to believe that you can.

Or put another way

"If you think you can't, you won't."

That being said, I must also say that sometimes, it just feels good to be bad and tomorrow is another day.  No one should ever beat themselves up for eating a "bad" thing.  To each his own because again, it's a choice you make and I can only control me. 

As long as you get up one more time than you fall down, you win.

It is very hard sometimes, but we can all do it!   
We had a V-day pot-luck at work and I picked up a plate with a piece of cake on it.  I took 2 bites and thought to myself "what are you doing????"    I took a napking, spit out what I had in my mouth and threw the rest away.   

I also know that I cannot eat pasta.  Pasta triggers me to eat a lot of it and lots of other things.   It took me awhile to figure it out, I don't miss it now.   That was one hard choice for me and weight loss is a battle.  I've managed to lose 35 lbs and it's coming off very slowly but I'm sticking with it.

Exercising is another choice and I am ashamed to say that I don't do it regularly enough, but when I do, it feels good.   

Coming to this site and reading other posts can be great support because you can learn what has helped others.  Small changes can make a big difference.

Karen-

Amen to small changes! I think some folks try to have an all or nothing approach and do everything at one time.  They set themselves up to fail because they get overwhelmed!

I am the same way with chips nad dip....once I do that in a day, then it's all downhill for a day or two.  I just have to avoid them.

Have a great day!

K-

I definaltey agree with the idea of small changes one at a time, if you try to change everything at once, it is too much and will overwhelm you.

I've found there is a big diffference between deciding "I can't " have something which makes it an external thing, a good/bad issue, and choosing to not do something because I am working towards a goal. by changing from "I can't "  to "I choose not too" you leave yourself the option of choosing to on occassion, so you aren't forbidden from something you are mearly making a conscous choice to do something different.

by making it  choice you are deciding to sacrifie a short term benefit for a better long term benifit. Kind of like when you stop buying piddly stuff so you can save up for something bigger, or when you give up party time to study so you can move ahead with a career. Nobody is standing over you making you do it, you are doing it because you made a choice and you want to.

the most important body part in a healthy lifestyle is the organ between your ears. Its all in how you look at it. When you assign morality to foods and judge yourself accordingly you are setting yourself up for failure, as you aren't doing it beccause you really want to, just because you have to. It hasn't become internalized yet, there is still something that keeps you wanting to make the other choice, you are getting some benifit from it you aren't ready to let go of.

When it becomes a choice, your internal views change. You no longer feel deprived, most of the time. You have moved towards sometjhing instead of away from something.

I just HATE this choice word. I don't think ANY of us would be here posting if it was that simple. In theory it sounds good. It should be that way, but let's face it, it's not. The diet industry would be out of business if it was that easy. I still say if you deprive yourself of everything, you will fail. That's why most diets fail. You have one thing that's bad for you and give up. I'm not doing that. I'm allowing myself the occasional screw up. I keep my chin up and jump back on the band wagon. People are human, they screw up. It's life.

BG