Really. Why can't I stay on a diet more than 2 weeks and usually it's not even half a day. I almost feel like there is something inside of me, inside my wiring that makes me crave the wrong stuff. I have been battling this as long as I can remember, and have probably lost/gained myself at least 5 times over. Three years ago I worked hard and lost 85 pounds, became a hot tomale :) but now I'm back to where I was. :( Each time it gets harder and harder to stick to anything. My secret last time was another person in my life. And I know they say you can't do it for someone else, you have to do it for yourself. That doesn't seem to work either. :(

Can anybody relate to anything I've said? I'm feeling pretty desperate about all this now. :( I truly think I'm stuffing my emotions with all the crappy food I can but I don't know why or how to fix it. After trying for 45 years, I feel it's time to give up for good. I feel like I am emotionally hungry and am not sure how to stop that hunger with something besides food. :(

Hey,

Don't get discouraged, you seem like you truely want to change your eating habits, and where there's a will there'a a way. ;) I have been trying to lose weight for a while now, and I realized diets really don't work, I had to figure out how to eat what I want, and still lose weight.

The first thing I did: figure out what my problem areas are. When I'm bored, I snack. When I read, I snack. Pretty much all the time. lol. I crave the crunch fo chips, and I LOVE sweets. I found that what works for me, because I'm aleays busy, is just having a lot of snacks throughout the day. I have breakfast because its my favorite meal. I don't eat lunch, I just grab what ever I feel like eating, and I have a small meal for dinner, with snacks in between. I have lost 25 pounds so far in about 3 months. Make sure your doing something active during your day, either taking a 20 minute walk, or lifting weights, or doing crunches.

I found that doing crunches (small ones, not all the way up to my knees) before I go to bed is the most effective. Don't try and start off doing 100. Start with 20-25 normal ones, and 10-15 to the sides, or work your way up to that. Add just a few each day, until you start to feel more comfortable. I also added a 20 minute walk to my day. Just fitting in a walk defnitely helps, and it feels really good to be outside and doing somehing.

I almost forgot to mention, for dinner, have something small or low-calorie. You won't be digesting too much at night. I found that filling up on my favorite veggies is easier than I thought. I don't need the carbs or the meat before bed, and I wake up feeling good. I have found that I don't eat as much red meat as chicken, and I also feel better about that. I was a vegiterian for over a year just to try it, and I really didn't miss meat as much as I thought I would. As far as snacking (MY FAVORITE!!), take just 10 minutes out of your day one or twice a week to make a fruit salad to much on whenever you need the sweetness or crunch of something. I found this really helps me, and I've gotten my mom and little brother to do it with me.

I have also gone organic (not everything, its very expensive), in just my fruits veggies, and chips/snacks. When you go grocerie shopping, try seeking out the organic foods first. Find snacks (chips, popcorn, trail mix ect.) that are organic before you go for the "high-fat, cheap, full of ingredients that you don't know" foods. If you don't buy the unhealthy junk food, you won't be tempted to eat it, becuase it's not in the house. I'm not saying give up everything- I will never give up my goldfish lol. You may think organic, unprocessed foods are way too expensive, but I am a broke college student who managed to do it, and trust me, its worth it. Replace the unhealthy things a little bit at a time.

Another thing that really helped me was that I got my apartmentmates to eat healthy with me. When everyone starts to feel good about themselves, you never want to stop what you are doing. If there is someone you live with that wants to be healthy too, get them to at least try this with you. I talked my 13 year old, oreo loving little brother into it ;)

And even if you don't see a huge change in weight loss, at least you will feel healthy. I started running for the first time in abour 4 years, and it feels amazing to be able to move like that again. It was painfull and slow at first, but now I can do a mile, only having to slow down once or twice.

They say you need to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. Just cutting out the fat you consme will help, as well as taking the time to do little things, even if they are only 5-20 minute excercises until you get motivted to do more. The better you feel, the more you'll want to be active, and I speak from experience on that one.

I hope this helps, sorry its so long winded ;)  I'd love to answer any questions you have, or help you with any thing else.

Oh, I also forgot to mention, look for substitutes for your favorite things. For example, when you make brownies (another favortie of mine) use apple sauce as a substitute for the 1/2 cup of oil. Apple sauce is sweet, and can substitute for many other desserts that call for oil as well. And other things like pasta, instead of your normal pasta, try using spinich pasta, or some other kind (usually found in your grocery store). With sauce and cheese, you really can't taste the difference.

I hear ya! For me, I need to think small. I'd start with one thing, maybe one of the things Casandra mentioned above. What's one small thing you want to change? Are you an after dinner snacker? Pick a time, say 7, and say that for one week, you won't eat anything after 7. Just one week! If you get hungry, have some really aromatic tea. 

After the week is up, you can go back to your former snacking, but odds are that the habit will be broken. Then pick some thing else to change. 

I think the idea is to get away from the thought of "dieting" and go to the idea of "healthy lifestyle". I had a big food break through when I said to a skinny friend "why didn't you get the large? You don't need to worry about your weight." and she said: "I don't need to worry about my weight because I don't get the large." Weight watchers also helped me reframe how I think about food. 

You're changing more than the way you eat, you're changing the way you think about food and health. Don't necessarily think about losing weight, think about keeping your heart healthy, your lungs going, etc. 

It's not easy! So forgive yourself if you mess, and remember that you can control the next thing that goes in your mouth :)

I completely agree Ann! I had to start small, its definitely a big adjustment, but I feel so healthy, and so much more active! I also started on weight watchers, and I think that's when I realized that it feels good to load up on the healthy stuff, and that it isn't hard to change old habits.

I wish you the best of luck! And Ann, I'm glad your feeling healthy too!

Hi,

Thank you for all the great common sense ideas. I really appreciate it, and wish both of you all the best of luck in your lifestyle changes. You're so right, I do have to change the way I look at food. It's been my escape, my method of coping, with life, with how I feel about myself, with everything. I think(no, I KNOW) there are a lot of inner problems I have to deal with before I can begin to control my external methods of coping. Most days I just feel like I can't do it anymore.

Good luck!! I know you can do it!

Eating feels good, so personally, I don't really believe in a lot of  the diets out there. I completely 150% agree with Cassandra and Ann, hahaha, I think we might be foodie twins!  But it's really all about the choices you make.  You can have a bag of chips or an apple, but ultimately that apple will make you feel better in the end.  Also, planning out what you want to eat for the day can help carve out any superfluous eating if you stick to that straight schedule.  

I mean, I don't know your personal life, but eating healthy and making healthy choices can and probably will help you deal with your inner struggles.  It'll help clear your mind and motivate you to make more right decisions!  What you eat is definitely both an inside and outside experience!

Go to Gillian McKeith website.  She has a show called, "You are what you eat."  I just recently bought 3 of her books and it is well worth it.

Where you said, "( I truly think I'm stuffing my emotions with all the crappy food I can but I don't know why or how to fix it."

One of the things she has you do is keep a food diary for a week and she even has you put down what your feelings were before you ate and afterwards.

Everything she says makes sense it is not just exercising but teaching you what is good for you and not.  In her book Slim for Life she has a 28 day diet breakfast, lunch and dinner menu 

and she even has the recipes.

My philosophy is even if you can't follow it to the letter if you make some changes it will help and I thought I was eating pretty healthy until i started reading her book the plan that would change your life and then I realized I am a very unhealthy person and I am on my way to having chronic problems if I don't change. 

Her book is encouraging and unlike other diets that you do for only so long before getting tired when you have knowledge about what should go in your body you make better decisions that becomes a way of life.