Crossroads

Ruthie71 · Post by **Ruthie71** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:15 am

I have failed at Nos now about 600 times. My three enemies are stress, hunger and fatigue. All of these cause me to turn to food. Here I am, borderline overweight. I just can't bear the idea of going to diet prison. Nos seems the least stressful to do. Let's see if I can do a nine day challenge before going away to a yellow/red overnight stay then come back and try 21 day challenge. It's time. Hide the Easter Eggs!!!

NoSnacker · Post by **NoSnacker** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:29 pm

Welcome...who knows this time might be the final time you have to start over

. Just like quitting smoking...some people do it the first time, other fall off the wagon, but try again and finally one day succeed..same with changing our lifestyle with eating.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:32 pm

One day, it just starts sticking. Just keep repeating: stress doesn't make you eat. It makes you WANT to eat. Only you, picking up the food and putting it in your mouth, make you eat. You CAN not pick it up. You CAN wait the one, two, or three hours to eat. You don't have to wait until your life is stress free to stop stress eating. Have a cup of coffee or tea, whatever beverage, and do something else. (Doing this will rewire your brain!)

Here is where the serenity prayer really makes sense. If you are stressing: change what you can in the moment, accept that you can't change whatever you can't, and get good at telling the difference. I finally accepted most of the time that my problems were ongoing and that I wasn't going to solve them in the moment, and eating was definitely going to make it worse. And I couldn't even often do something soothing to replace the food. I couldn't go for a run, take a bath, listen to music. I just had to "take it," whatever it was, man-up, so to speak (try to imagine that said kindly) and I found out that it often was bad just because I was making it worse in my mind than it had to be. And sometimes I learned that I was just avoiding what I didn't want to do. But even that became a crummy reason to me to eat. I could procrastinate very well without food! I'm doing it right now.

Ruthie71 · Post by **Ruthie71** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:12 pm

Thank you Oolala53 and NoSnacker. With your inspiring words I have completed a successful N Day (big plates but still only 3!). I have printed the Serenity Prayer. Thank you again

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:42 pm

Wow, that was easy. People told me the same thing about 30 years ago, but I didn't listen!

Ruthie71 · Post by **Ruthie71** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:39 am

I have failed. A few Easter eggs have given me some energy to keep going. I am not giving up though. Household tasks are so dull and chocolate makes things appear so much easier. I need to learn from this, somehow. Looking after little people is so hard at times. I will get that serenity prayer and keep it with me. There is something greater than me or chocolate to gain strength from.

bbc1372 · Post by **bbc1372** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:48 pm

I take this as a challenge.