Chappysgrl Daily Check In, Day 1-Nov. 7, 2006

[Writer110]

I've had such a great time reading through everyone's posts and learning about your journeys! You've inspired me to start my own.

I'm a 35 year old woman living in New York City. I only got on the diet rollercoaster a few years ago but I'm definitely ready to get off. I've tried the 'eat only when hungry' system but found I was always eating sugar which made me crave more and kept me on a horrible binge/deprive cycle. The NoS approach seems to make sense- discipline with freedom.

There are a few other areas of my life I'd like to add some discipline to as well. One is exercise and one is finishing editing this book I wrote that has seriously become my nemesis. I need to get on a schedule for both and stick to it. So my plan for now is to stick to my T-tapp routine and work on the book for 2 hours every day except Sunday- and this just has to be non-negotiable on both fronts.

So each day I'll be posting my successes/failures on 3 sections:

NoS
Exercise
Book

I look forward to moving forward with you all!

[Writer110]

Wow, this is a lot harder than I thought! Not having sugar after dinner was not easy! I hope I can get the hang of this. It makes me feel a little shaky. Ok, so here are today's results:

NoS: Success
Exercise: Success
Book: Failure

Well, 2 out of 3 aint bad!

[Writer110]

NoS: Failure
Exercise: Success
Book: Failure


Well, I suppose I'm getting a few failures under my belt to make way for my success! I've realized that in addition to feeling lost without sugar that I'm absolutely terrified of getting hungry. It's ridiculous. It's not like I'm going to die from hunger in 7 hours.

I'm trying not to beat myself up and fall into a sort of dispair thinking that I have numerous emotional problems and that's why I can't stick to NoS or keep to my book schedule. I'm hoping that I've just developed some bad habits and that it takes awhile to replace them with new ones. I'm definitely going to stick with it and continue checking in even if I fail for awhile.

[zoolina]

"terrified of getting hungry--that's me!

I've been a grazer for so long I can't remember the last time I went more than 6 hours without eating. Must be 10 years, at least.

[Writer110]

Hi Zoolina,

Thanks for your response! Yes, I have a feeling that for the first few weeks that my meals are going to be HUGE!!!

[Writer110]

I think I see why I'm struggling. I think I'm trying to do a little too much. I got these protein/fiber shakes that I wanted to start having instead of dinner because I have stomach problems when I eat too late at night (tmi I know!). Anyway, I'm so scared of being hungry afterwards that I'm sort of panicking during the day. It's ridiculous.

The shakes are a good idea because they are beneficial for someone who has high cholesterol (which I just found out I do) but I think trying to use them as meal replacements right now is a baaaaad idea. It's making me feel like I'm on a diet.

For now, 3 real meals. No snacks, no sweets & no seconds. That's about all I can handle!

[Rollo]

Hi all,

I really, really want to believe in this. Every morning I wake up and say "Today is the day." So I start and have some sort of normal breakfast like a bagel & cream cheese. And then I start to freak out- "Why are you having wheat? You're totally going to get fat! Dairy is the worst! What are you thinking?" And then I fall right back into the diet mentality, feel like I've failed and end up eating 5,000 m&m's.

This year I have flip-flopped among doing Atkins, Fit for Life & the Blood Type diet- literally 100s of times. As a result I've gained 10 pounds for a total of now 20 to lose. I had success from all of those- just I couldn't stick with any of them. Deprivation is a crazy-maker for me.

So I guess I'm just needing some sort of reassurance. Does this really work? If I've lost weight on other diets can I do it eating bread, cheese etc as long as I follow the rules? Has it happened to anyone else who originally could only lose on diets (but couldn't keep it off)? I understand that it's slow, I'm fine with that. And I understand that I shouldn't be eating a loaf of bread with a pound of cheese at each meal. But I'm just so afraid to add these foods back in. But on the other hand, by restricting these foods I only end up bingeing. I know the answer seems obvious but I suppose I just need to hear a little success. I seem to be afraid to start.

What sort of success have people had eating from ALL the food groups? Thank you so much for your help. I just really want to be able to let go of the diet mentality & be normal & get on with my life.


_________________
Goals:
To get into old 7 jeans- comfortably!
Finish editing the book

[Rollo]

Good to meet you! I kind of screwed up trying to copy and paste another of your posts from the other board onto this one, sorry about that, hope it's not too confusing to you or anyone else.

Anyway it looks like you and I have just stumbled onto this place at the same time? I'm finishing up my first week today.

I related to some of the same things you posted. I've been really struggling in the last year to keep things from getting totally out of control on the weight front, but haven't been successful. I've low-carbed for a long time, mostly Somersize. It wasn't really working for me anymore, either that or I wasn't doing it dilligently enough. Then I was trying to go more in the Fit for Life direction. Spent last Monday trying to find an answer to my dieting dilemmas and stumbled onto this place. Something clicked in my mind, and I thought "I can do this and I'm pretty sure it can work for me!" So here I am.

I'm 54 years old and thank goodness I'm not tackling anything like editing a book, but I definitely want to get back into some of my smaller jeans. I'd love to get into 10's again but would settle for the 12's (I'm now wearing 16's!! for the first time in my life!)