Despritely seeking will power

[ya_yaya]

It is like ground hogs day....everyday I wake up to find myself make the same promise to my self...diet, diet, diet. I am going to eat more protien then carbs, I am going to stay with in 1200 calories and I am going to exercise.

Everyday I break my own promise to myself. I have love affair with food and sugar. It comforts me, keeps me energized and just helps me pass the time. I have the best intentions but my will power is at an absolute low. I feel myself getting flabbier and it scares the bejesus out of me. I exercise regularly so that is not the problem it is all about the food.

Can someone share there experiance with me. What finally made you put mind over matter and lose weight?? How did you get out of your slump and become super dieter...how do you stay commited??

Please help, I am desprite!!

[Z'sMom]

I'll share my story.

I CANNOT "diet". I get bored, frustrated, think one excess won't matter...and then I fail to stick with it and lose weight. I get tired of thinking about protein versus carbs versus colors. If it's a "diet", I lose the ability to keep my promises to myself too.

So, I'm not dieting. I'm eating healthy, moving healthy, thinking healthy. It sounds trite but this week alone I've lost weight in my face AND my waist.

This is my plan:
- eat 4 or 5 smaller meals a day, trying to eat something every 3 hours or so
- drink at least 9 8oz servings of water a day
- keep fat intake below 25% every day, preferably under 20%
- keep off the scale except once a week
- enjoy my life & my kids & my hubby
- do at least 10 minutes a day workout at home, trying to get to 3 10 minute sessions
- go to gym & do aerobic activity at least 3X per week

I use ******.com (FREE, FREE, FREE) to input everything I eat & drink. I have to force myself to be brutally honest but if I splurge in the morning (real eggs instead of EggBeaters) then I know I have to "make it up" later in the day with lots of healthier choices. Writing it down keeps me accountable. The best part is I can use their reports section to see how I'm doing from day to day, week to week, month to month.

I'm averaging under 1200 calories a day and about 20% of those calories are from fat (trying to keep it so less than 10% of total fat comes from sat fat). I've been doing this since the beginning of November and there IS a difference, noticeable to others as well as to myself.

[Calamity04]

When I first started to lose weight I went through withdrawl, I swear I felt like an addict. I got headaches and shakes here and there. Cleaning sugar and caffine out of my system was hard because I had had these everyday since I was a kid. The first three days are the hardest. So I didn't watch t.v. at all during the first two weeks. Advertising in the U.S. is so good that sometimes its frightening. I made a list of things I have been wanting to do for a long time. I read books, it was summer and I knew I wanted to eat healthier foods so I started a garden, cleaned my house, sketched, painted, did some writing, and experimented with cooking.

At first it will be hard. I always say, instead of looking at it as losing weight look at it as losing bad habits and replacing them with good habits. And keep in mind it takes 21 days to lose a bad habit. Anyone can lose weight with a temporary "diet" fix but if you lose bad habits and adopt good ones you set yourself up for continuous weight loss and a healthy life.

Just take it slow, every small goal achieved is a major step in the direction you want to go. Don't get discouraged if you don't see drastic results right away or no results at all. Our bodies are designed to only lose 1-2lbs a week. And even if you don't lose any weight at all at first you will know that your the first priority is to become healthy and any weight actually lost is a bonus. Good luck to ya.