Hi!
There's no one method that works for everyone, but I wanted to say I feel for you. Also, I wanted to share some of my story... and if one sentence of the following verbal diarrhea helps, it's worth it ^_^
For a long time I had a similar feeling. Especially when we went somewhere, I would try to grab as much as possible since I didn't know when we'd go back to __________ (we often did) and it never tasted the same reheated! Another reason was that I was a college student (or high school and on allowance, before that) and well, the bigger the portion, the less it costs for what you get; I was *saving* money! Tuesday I had to eat lunch by myself at a pizza place, and they only sold full (about 10") pizzas. It was the first time I stopped after a couple slices and left the rest on the table, staring at me. Part of me still feels a pang at the waste of it, but at least I didn't go up a couple lbs on the scale!
I think the first break for me was when I finally decided to really try this diet my mom had been pushing me into for a while; 13days, you eat what it tells you and your metabolism is supposed to increase. Either way, I got stubborn and decided to stick to it (mostly to prove to my mom that it was a load of crud). And I did. It was really hard the first few days. There were no portions but it would say 2 eggs, or minced meat, etc. After 13d I had really reduced my portions for long enough to prove to me that I *can* survive on less (and by then my stomach had stopped complaining), so my portions equilibrated at more reasonable sizes. I had also lost quite a bit (water weight, but hey!) and it did give me a bit of a boost to keep going. Then I tried to do some exercise, etc, and when I started *that* I'd be more likely to stop myself before I ate too much and wasted all that sweat for a stupid cookie or extra ______. I didn't like cardio (still can't say I do, though I *love* the feeling of surviving it and knowing I don't have more to do until next time), so the idea of doing extra to work off something was a big boost in my ability to make smart choices. Fear and laziness, basically, but hey, it seemed to work (so long as I told myself that I was required to actualyl *do* the cardio I was supposed to do, but I have a couple friends who were willing to bug me every day and keep me accountable ^_^).
For me, the sugar was hard... I think the first step for me was to not use sugar in my tea (I'm a big tea drinker, like 1l minimum... so it adds up), and after a while I find unsweetened tea far tastier and can find more flavors in it. I'm not sure if I started because I noticed some teas taste really good without (green) or because I wanted to actually cut the sugar). It took a while, and at first I had to make sure it was quite weak (what I later found out was that to make tea tasty while adding sugar, most people over-brew it to keep the flavor over the sugar, so the best tea was about half way between my diluted one and the one I had previously made).
Soda was hard as hell. I think I decided to stop because I could practically *feel* it corroding my teeth (and I figured my broken ankle was partly to do with soda's effects on bones as well -_-; ), though it may have been a mix of that and realizing that that *is* a hell lot of calories and maybe that'd be enough to drop a couple pounds (it wasn't). I will say that if you don't have it for long enough it *will* taste overpowering (and somewhat like chugging honey) when you try some. That goes for other sugary stuff.
I had some cake recently (I've tried staying away from store-made cakes for a *while* now, and don't eat much refined sugar), and it was delicious, and I really enjoyed the first half... and then... I could barely finish the piece (actually left some of the chocolate fudge topping) because it was just *too much* sugar all at once. Body wasn't used to it. You have no IDEA how happy I was about that (though yes, slightly sad about not finishing the yummy yummy cake... it was seriously to DIE for). It meant I had done it long enough that I won't fall off the wagon and binge just because I suddenly got the munchies. I still have chocolate (specially when TOM comes), but somehow I've been able to grab 3 blocks and stop (even after I started losing weight, the time I *did* get chocolate I had the *whole* stupid thing... ). It wasn't something I noticed at first, and it probably started with me eying the chocolate and telling myself 'just one peice...' and ended up nabbing 3. But it was still just 3. I figure a big part of it for me is that I *had* gotten results, and the fear of undoing all my hard work scared me more than a tarantula would (still does, to some extent).
The other big thing that helped was changing other things. Things that had no influence on how much I weighed. I started putting eyeshadow on, since at 23, I really *should* have known how to do that, I started painting my nails at 19 because a high school teacher mentioned how she thought that someone who didn't take care of their hands couldn't be trusted to take care of her (finances, remodeling, I don't remember anymore), but I started playing with really pretty colors and patterns. I stopped waiting for me to get thin before I tried making myself pretty. And once I did, it kinda helped me realize that the mascara that I kept getting in my eye was taking me a few seconds now, and how things tend to get easier in time with practice. More importantly, I started thinking how much prettier I'd look without that fatpad on my neck, or the extra chin(s).
sorry for the rant.
| current weight: 149.5 |
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Do they have anything that is reduced fat? If you have to have something try having a child's portion. Sometimes just getting the taste is all you need. Make sure you pack healthy alternatives to bring to work.
