smartygirlCA's Journal, 31 March 2016

You know what's in my pantry right now? Dollar store sticky buns. My husband snacks on them from time to time. Me? Oh God if it were left to me, I'd scarf the whole bally lot of them in about 5 seconds flat. Why don't I? I CAN'T REACH THE DAMN THINGS. I'm not kidding lol. They're way up on the top shelf and I'm all of 5ft tall. He's 6ft 1. He can reach. I cannot. So, when I'm itching to climb on top of the stepstool, which I'd have to place on top of the poor dog, I go to my bar of Lindt 85% dark chocolate and I have my two squares. Slowly. I lick the things half to death. You're not lazy. You're really not, hon. You're human. And it's the little victories you need to acknowledge, y'know? For every two minutes you stick it out, pat yourself on the back and if you slip, you gotta learn to forgive yourself. Be your own best friend. I mean I would, except I'm probably too far away and I'd annoy you half to death and that wouldn't help either of us :) Be good to yourself. Little victories win the war.  

I would devour those buns too! I just have a problem staying focused, I'm constantly being screamed at by my toddlers, husband 's away, just feeling lonely and food comforts me. I wake up in the morning and first thing is coffee- been my routine for 10 years. I start out LCHFing it, but by 3pm, I start having snacks. I'm not much of a cook, takeout has been a way of life too long. I'm gonna try that dark choco, but I can never eat a couple squares! I'm such an addict and it's difficult for me. I wish I had an ounce of will power that you have. I stress eat, I happy eat, I special occasion eat, my neuro receptors are permanently damaged!!! 

You have to be psychologically prepared or you won't succeed. LCHF has a lot of snack options that won't hurt your plan.  

How do I psychologically prepare? Is there a secret trick? My mind races a thousand thoughts and I can't find that zen which I suppose is essential to stick to LCHF. I want to do it, I read inspirational stories, bought the food, but then I relapse. This whole week was one relapse after the next. I want to succeed like you all do.  

smartygirlca seems that you may be on a low calorie diet. maybe you should not be that low....on calories...that could be to severe for your daily food intake...don't be so desperate to lose fast..maybe slower with more food would be the best. I am also out of control on low cal diets....so i know what you are going through. Good luck  

Dude, no ... I don't have any willpower! At all! In fact, in my native country I'm known as The Wench Tess, Mistress Of The No Willpower Brigade! Heck I'm sure they sing ballads attesting to my lack of willpower. The closest I ever got to enjoying willpower was when I thought Will Power was the latest BatMan villain. Y'know? :)  

Sooo funny!!!!  

Thanks Fred for your concern, thanks SteelerMummeh for making me laugh . I simply forget to log all my food after 6pm, it's bad. My body produces too much ghrelin so I don't get the signal for feeling full. This of course is self diagnosis, it's hard to stick to strict LCHF I love noodles and rice too much!! I must however because it's important I lose weight!!!  

Smartygirl- How HAVE you prepared to reach your goals, and what does it mean to relapse? LCHF is about taking control of your intake, making choices and sticking with them. Nothing compels you to eat anything, you crave but so what, YOU have the power to rise above the cravings. Eat a handful of almonds when you're feeling the urge to snack, they're allowed on LCHF and will help you resist things that aren't allowed on LCHF (which you shouldn't have readily available in the first place). Structure is important on LCHF, research and education is also key to succeeding. Pick someone that's been successful and model your behavior after theirs, no guarantee that it'll work for you, but YOU have to be committed and NOT cheat. You can do this, but you have to be willing!  

Starting out is a bitch, we've all been there. Take it one day at a time and know that it is going to get easier, do much easier. If it was always as hard as it is during the first week or two no one would be successful. Yes, some times its still a battle but not nearly what is was. Stay the course, commit to the program for a little while and see where it takes you. You will be glad you stayed the course. 

Also, a teaspoon of coconut oil in your morning coffee can work wonders ... 

I eat some healthier alternatives for the most part and still have pizza, just less often. I have gotten to enjoy dark chocolate with almonds or some flavor of it EVERY DAY! I don't know if it would help. 

what phil said plus have more sex. keeps ya busy. lol 

Hi Phil, relapse is a term I learned in addition recovery (drugs) which means doing good and working the program then going back to the bad habits. I assumed the term would apply to LCHF, in this case, it means eating the program allowed foods, then binging in carbs later in the day, thus repeating the vicious cycle of starting again. I tend to do that, I have been relapsing all week. I definitely agree it's not good to keep non program foods in the house, but I have to since I have toddlers (2 with severe food allergies-chicken, eggs, beans, sweet potato, milk, all nuts, the list goes on for their allergies). Somehow they are not allergic to carbs (rice, wheat, potatoes) and pork and beef. It's a struggle but I really do appreciate the time you put in to outline the program. Btw, do you subscribe to Dietdoctor.com the paid subscription? 

There are 100s of "plans" and 1000s of people to model yourself after. IMO though the biggest challenge isn't what we eat...but why we're eating it. Personally, I rarely ate garbage because I was hungry or had a craving. It is/was a feel good. Making "bad stuff" unavailable never helped either. Making a conscious decision to think about what I'm eating or why I want to eat has been a huge step. So has being truly honest with myself. I've gotten lax...and have found myself eating things/quantities that aren't good for me. We all have the difficult days. I do agree with Yolanda...commit to something for a little while. Plan it and let it be your focus until it feels a little more natural.  

I wouldn't call that a relapse, you can't relapse if you haven't really started and you're not really doing LCHF if you don't stick to the program. I don't subscribe to dietdoctor, but the free material is excellent. Structure is a crucial key to keto success.  

Hunter, I wish I could have more sex but my hubby won't be back til Monday... Then it's on!! Hahaha Phil, you're right I haven't really started seriously so I can't call it a relapse, but diet doctor has the best before-after pics, as does Hunter! It's about time I stop making excuses. Do you start the day off with breakfast or do you wait til you're hungry to eat? That's where I'm in a bind, in the morning I'm not too hungry.. Usually get hungry around noon.  

I haven't eaten anything since 9pm last night. I'm not hungry and won't eat till 4pm. That's a typical day. I don't suggest you start out like that, it's a pattern I developed over my first four months on plan. For anyone first starting Keto I recommend doing the Induction phase of Atkins New Diet Revolution for the first couple of months. Message me your physical address and I will be more than happy to send you a free copy.  

Smart Girl CA you know I feel the tug for you as I have been there done that. I tossed a lot a towels in, hugging the past to get to where I am at today. Losing the weight was hard for me at first. I had to plan two days ahead so I had the food I was planning on until I got the hang of ideas of when my body craved food then figuring out what types of foods that could fill the void that would lead me to weightloss. Once I got the hang of planning for a couple of days including what days to go to the gym i had less days I tossed in the towel leading to more weeks of downward weigh ins. I currently am trying only to weigh every two weeks so that more NSV are seen than the scale. I do not want to be a constant weight in person anymore. I want a bigger overall picture of that part of my life. I find that eating this way has help more than just the weight loss but some of my other medical issues I deal with including depression. Sex was one of my guilty pleasures I want to achieve laughter and joyful expression rather than fear and dismay at myself. Small NSV on my bucket list I want to achieve. I send you hope, good will, and a bit of advice. Just do it when you are ready but don't allow the past to grow you into my state of being. Hugs and just to do it. You will never regret turning yourself around.  

smartygirl, I'm right there with ya. The feelings, the out of control, eat eat eat, wrong foods, too much of it....You're right IT SUCKS! I just posted my journal about the same thing. AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!