I have my final final exam tomorrow morning and I am looking for any excuse to get out of studying! My mind is only thinking one thing: summer! (Although I will be working full-time and taking summer classes this summer. Hmmm…) Anyway…
Do you ever have those times…. when ___ (brownies, second helping of cereal, second piece of bread, wine, etc.) is in front of you saying, “Eat me.” You think, “Oh no. I really don’t want you. Thanks anyway.” But the You#2 says, “But ______ is yummy. And you CAN have it, really. It won’t even count.” You say, “Just walk away. You’ll feel better for it.” But You don’t walk away. And you lose the battle to You#2 without a fight. Ever had one of those times?
Well I have these moments a lot. Tonight: I had a great day food-wise, a not so pretty number on the scale, good time at work and just got home from an impromptu trip to the gym (!). I had a big pre-gym snack and was just slightly hungry for dinner. I had tofu marinating in the fridge and fresh asparagus in hand. The 10-minute brown rice was 2-feet away. Perfect, right? mmmm…
I had leftover Domino’s pizza and soy chocolate milk.
I even spread some margarine on the crust!
The entire time I was telling myself to stop. “You’ve done so great today! Save the calories for something yo enjoy!” I just couldn’t. Or didn’t, but I felt like I couldn’t. So I ate and ate and derailed my entire day for tasteless crap.
What do you do in these situations? I try talking to myself, but then I ignore my voice. Please share.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
it helps to write down everything you eat. really. I am in no way trying to lose weight but just wanted to check my eating habits since I am not hardcore training anymore. if you write down what is in front of you before you eat it you spend time thinking about what you are about to put in your body- i find this helps when im tempted to finish a box of cereal (yes i have done this) or eat 2 more hazelnut chocolates.
OK PERFECT EXAMPLE: I just ate a delicious dinner and a whole salad packed with WF amazingness from their salad bar. I also just drank 32 ounces of water so there’s no way im still hungry. But, I had a little inkling to eat still. I stopped myself in thinking and said, “wait wait… Feel the fullness and take the time to adjust. Respect your body so it respects you back.” And now I’m realizing I’m REALLY FRIGGIN FULL… Perhaps too full for my liking as I dont like to be really full. But now I know I don’t need or want anything else. I think that if you’re facing so much difficulty you should talk to a nutritionist/psychologist about why we do thngs like this. Why YOU specifically have the desire to eat things completely different from what you know you should eat or know that you want. I’m NOT saying you “need help” AT ALL. But I think it’s amazing to hear it from someone else as to why you resort to doing things to purposefully or knowingly negatively impact you both physically but even more importantly, mentally and emotionally.
trust me, with it SNOWING here today, I definitely am thinking abotu summer too. good luck on your exam.
I agree w/ Julz and just try to really think it through… although sometimes I know it’s hard, hormones & stress kicks in… I think really just concentrating on long term goals and thinking is it really worth it for x number of calories when I can have all these other healthier foods for less calories & more satiety…
Tomorrow is another day though & you will kick butt at your final!
Definitely something that happens, but at least its over now right ?
it is HARD, huh?
and sometimes *I* need to ignore the voice of reason, eat the crap, FEEL LIKE CRAP as the only way I recall:
oh yes. that’s why I dont do this any more!!
today is a new day.
MizFit
Yeh, #2 rules my world. lol.
I am certainly not one to give any advice on this subject. But I can give you a whole lot of empathy! It’s the whole I’m too hungry to even think about eating something healthy .. it won’t fill me up. Some days are better than others. Last night I could have eaten the whole pantry before dinner, but I grabbed an apple and started cooking. Other nights, I just can’t do that. I don’t know what makes the difference on those days.
Sorry, I’m not helpful, I know.
I take it that things are better with David? Not to get personal ..
Good luck on your final this morning!!!
And the same thing happened to me yesterday. I ate a few fun size candy bars even though I wasn’t hungry. I was just tired and frustrated so I made myself feel better with them. Problem is I only felt better for a few seconds then I felt worse again. I need to learn how to let the craving pass without giving in to it. If only it were that easy though…
Oh lord I have those problems daily. Sometimes the skinny alli wins sometimes the Gordita alli wins. When Skinny Alli wins its because I told myself to wait 20 min and go do something else and if I STILL want it after 20 min then I can have… most of the time my will power comes back by the end of teh 20 min adn I am on to some other productive activity… sometimes the food wins though. =(
I think we all have those downfalls…YOU are under a lot of stress right now and you have taken on a whole lot…and now you are going through final exams. Give yourself a break! Today (since the post was last night) is a new day…don’t beat yourself up…look forward to a healthier you today!!
P.S. I haven’t had a soda :~)
*sigh* I totally do the same thing. I wish I would just listen to that little voice. It actually knows what it’s talking about! One thing I do is just don’t keep any “bad” food in the house. I am pretty sure that one day I will be able to have it around and not be so tempted, but for now I just don’t. If we have leftovers, I send them to work with Chris. Or just THROW THEM AWAY. It kills me to do that, but as I read somewhere, “all food becomes waste. It doesn’t have to go through your body first.” That made me feel better.
It’s hard, but I feel like the more “good” days I have, the easier it is to listen to that voice. Sorry I don’t have a magic answer. I sure wish I did!
When that happens to me, it tends to be in the morning. That’s why I try to eat the exact same thing for breakfast just about every morning, because if I don’t have it planned out then I’d likely start to eat something and then think “ooh, but I’ve got ____ in the fridge- that’d be tasty!”, and I’ll end up eating 2 breakfasts instead of 1 (and yeah… I’ve eating about 3 breakfasts instead of 1 before too!).
If it happens early in the day then I’ll try to keep myself busy and eat basically veggies for the rest of the day. But no matter what time of the day it happens, the only thing you can really do (besides exercising a little extra) is remember that tomorrows another day! Also- sometimes binging like that means your body is lacking in something. Maybe a certain nutrient or food group? It’s worth looking into!
I have that same arguement in my head all the time. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose. I just keep trying.
Thanks for the sweet comment. That was really nice.
I do this too. I like the advice that Julz gave, because it really, really, helps to stop and ask yourself what you’re doing and to disconnect your stomach from your head. If you still want it, have some, but I can usually talk myself out of it.
Usually. The times that I can’t, well, it just happens and I try to let it go.
The me from last year could have written this. I’d be eating crap, looking down at it and thinking ‘i dont even want this’. And then finishing it and eating even more, until I was uncomfortably full. I can’t say what will work for you, but for me a book totally changed my approach to food- the philospohy and I just clicked. French Women Don’t Get Fat- I didn’t adopt her ideas 100% but I just wholeheartedly believed in the message. I can honestly say reading it changed my eating habits entirely and my whole approach to food. I am so thankful to have read that book, I really sometimes think it “saved” me from a vicious diet-weight loss-weight gain cycle. It took a good 6 months to truly immerse myself in a new mindset but it paid off incredibly. I don’t eat “perfect” now, but what’s changed is that I do sometimes eat too much but I NEVER beat myself up over it and I am ALWAYS back on track and feeling great the next day. I truly understand where you are now- if you ever want to email me to talk or something I’d love that, just leave me a message on my blog
I had the exact same situation last night, and I knew why I was eating and why it was wrong, but decided to do it anyway and enjoy it and I think I am over it now… I think it is very good to allow ourselves treats…
Sorry for that comment!I wanted to post a summary of what everyone had to say and used my comment box as a place for “notes”… but instead I pressed “post comment.” Oops.
Jennifer- Things are going MUCH better. Completely turned around. Thanks!