Is changing your eating habits similar to quitting smoking, or breaking any other habit? Would you care to share your tips with us?
What worked / works for you?
I am about sick of myself! I’ve gained quite a bit of weight simply because I’m not doing as much as I have in the past. I’m going to lose this weight, damnit, so, for the second time in my life, I am readjusting my eating habits again, keeping in mind that any changes I make will be lifetime changes, not temporary changes.
Having done this before I am very familiar with what needs to be done. I have a casual list in my head of what’s OK to eat and what isn’t.
Yesterday, though, Rick made orange glazed cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Oh man! Cinnamon rolls are not on my casual list of what’s OK to eat! Not at this point, anyway.
So I started doing Something Else. Anything Else, until the smell dissipated from the house. I ate a piece of celery with cream cheese, to take the edge off my hunger to help combat the desire for a SWEET CINNAMON ROLL DRIPPING WITH BUTTER AND ORANGE ICING and a HUGE glass of ICE COLD MILK!!
Then I went upstairs to deep clean the bathroom up there. I could not smell the cinnamon through the bleach.
Then I got some Diet Coke, because the caffeine helps reduce the hunger you feel.
When I saw Rick had taken all the rolls he wanted I threw a tea rag over them so I couldn’t see them.
After about an hour that battle was over, the smell was gone from the house and my hunger was under control.
Having quit smoking in March, I was struck by how similar the will power was. Just. Walk. Away. The difference is the urge to smoke lasts a few minutes. The urge to eat was a different kind of urge and it did not want to subside. But it finally did. And each day it gets easier.
So what worked, really worked for you?
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9 Answers
It was similar to stopping smoking for me when I cut out sugar and “all white foods” from my diet. Once my body got past the carb craving (about 4 days), it was pretty easy.
The difference is that one can do without alcohol, without cigaretes, and without other drugs, but one still has to eat!
I can go weeks without even thinking about taking a drink, and I haven’t wanted a cigarette in years. But I know I will be hungry in about 4½ hrs from now, and one of the daily conversations we have here at work is, what shall we do for lunch?
I can plan on a salad, but being in downtown San Francisco, there is always the chance someone is going for a burrito or a taco. It makes eating choices difficult.
The difference is that one can do without alcohol, without cigaretes, and without other drugs, but one still has to eat! Right? That’s a huge difference. From there, then, the difference is food choices.
I got your post about “white foods” on FB. I honestly don’t think I could sustain that for the rest of my life. I like my pasta, my breads, my rolls, my tortillas too much. :/ But I can cut back…I think. Let me think where I could cut back on that….
@zenvelo I have been seriously thinking hard about your suggestion, putting it into perspective as I went about my day. I went to a neighboring town. They have a Taco Tico, which I love (their burritos, enchiladas and taco burgers and sometimes tacos) and that we don’t have. I almost always grab something while I’m there but not today because it’s WHITE, man.
They have an Arby’s that we don’t have. Arby’s makes a French Dip sandwich that is SO GOOD! But If I adopted a no white diet I couldn’t eat there.
I couldn’t eat a turkey sandwich at Subway, or any sandwich at all. I could eat a salad…but since I eat once a day as part of my new change, a salad just isn’t going to get it.
I thought about one of my favorite dishes I make at home…wild long grain rice, with eggs, chicken and peas. But I couldn’t eat that.
I have spagettie sauce that I made…what would I serve that with? No pasta and no garlic bread?
I couldn’t eat an English Muffin.
Or a bagel.
NO WAFFLES??!!! Oh my heart!
That gives you an idea of the kinds of food I gravitate toward, so could you tell me how I could tweak them so they are not white? I’m trying to understand how I could actually do this.
Thanks.
Here is an interesting article on eating one meal a day. It goes over the pros and cons.
Thank you. It looks like it has benefits aside from weight loss, so that’s good…although eating once a day isn’t my definition of “fasting.”
Above all I just don’t think that I need to eat more than that. I just have to create new eating habits to get used to it…like quitting smoking.
I’m trying to work out how Zenvelo’s method could be incorporated into my life. I’m coming up with ideas…
I personally don’t think you have to cut out white food but I suspect that not eating at fast food restaurants would make a big difference to your weight. On a week where I eat out a few times it’s much harder for me not to put on weight than if I don’t. And the fast food places in particular load up their food with salt and sugar.
If you are eating as little as you always claim to, there must be an excess of calories in what you do eat.
Personally, I’m more of an “everything in moderation” kind of eater and a daily weighing really helps me keep in line.
No it’s not an excess of calories in what I eat. That’s about the same as it has been. The difference is I’ve become.more sedentary than I have been in the past. It just crept up on me so it’s time to adjust. It reminds me of when I quit smoking. Need to relearn how to react to triggers.
I just wondered if any one else kind of felt the same way when they adjusted eating habits.
Now see @zenvelo…If I did the “no white” thing I couldn’t have these. I MUST have those. I can not live without those! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
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