which online calorie tracker do you use?

I use calorieking.com and love it, but they did recently raise their prices to $75/year. For me it's worth it, but there are a lot of free online calorie trackers that are out there (e.g. FitDay). Just be sure to use your own HR monitor for calories, as most of those programs tend to be way too generous (including calorieking).

Just go to the thread and reply to Schwingding. I just copy that outline and change the numbers to my own. It will be updated on Wed. with a spreadsheet. IMO it's very motivating. Sounds like you've had a good start.

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I have failed at many things, but never in my desire to try again.

yes, my weakness lately have been cookies. I really need to stop but sometimes i can't control it.
I don't eat packs of cookies maybe 2-3 of medium sized cookies every once in a while. I sometimes get those urges. but i feel like i am getting heavier and eavier and my running is paying for it.

Anyone can help?

i thought some women enjoy junk some of the time!..sorry..couldn't resist

http://www.sparkpeople.com is free & really good. they recently changed it so if a food isn't there, you can search items other people entered so we can all share. I'm going to go search for the wt loss challenge forum...

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You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan

The simple solution to your conundrum:

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I'm not a complete idiot, some of the parts are missing.

I don't mean to highjack the thread, but I think this problem falls in line...

How does everyone cope with their boyfriend/significant other having different eating patterns? And by different, I mean, pizza, mac & cheese, chips, chicken wings, etc. I just can't help myself and I have to "sample" every little thing he has. (As though I have never had a piece of pizza before). Since relocating back to him, I've gained back 4 lbs of the 10 lbs that I lost when I lived across the country.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

I am reading a FANTASTIC book right now, "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite" by David Kessler, MD. The author is a former FDA commissioner and did extensive interviews with physicians, researchers and food industry experts on the topic of overeating.

He examines the addiction some of us have to fat, sugar and salt. The book goes into how these affect brain chemistry, dopamine levels, and why some of us just can't seem to stop ourselves from eating it. He then goes into behavior and how the brain's thought process really dooms us to failure. He argues that it isn't a failure of willpower when we eat the cookie, rather an ingrained behavior that we learned so long ago that it is hard wired and nearly impossible to break. He cites many studies on this behavior in animals as well as kids and adults.

He also talked to many people in the food industry and examines how they exploit this.

This isn't a diet book. He doesn't try and lay out a step by step meal plan. He talks about ways to break the cycle of internal dialogue that dooms us to eating the cookie in front of us despite our best of intentions. Even that isn't some crazy "I know everything" chapter. He acknowledges there isn't a single solution and everyone needs to explore what works best for them. I'm not done with it yet but I can't put it down.

I highly recommend it for anyone who can't seem to stop eating, even when we know we have eaten more than our body needs.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

sounds like therapy in a book. Is it helping you?

I have a mouth full of sweet teeth and have figured out the best way to deal with it is just not eat sweets at all.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

It isn't therapy at all. It is research into what causes overeating. That's why I like it. Really interesting. Helping? I now recognize all the fat, sugar and salt in what I eat. Has it changed my life? Not yet but I am making some different choices.

He does say that you have to stay away from the stuff if you want to break the cycle. In my own analogy, it is like smoking. There is a physical addiction but also a very strong psychological addiction. The same motivation for smoking triggers eating sugar, fat and salt.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Hey Mand,

Welcome! 134lbs is really not that bad. I have no idea your ht. and all, but I'm assuming your BMI is where is should be for your age/ht/wt.

Your post reminded me of Elaine in Seinfeld, where they throw ofc B-day parties almost everyday and she complained about it, but then realized she was
literally craving the sticky, gooey carb stuff.
which I definitely can relate to at times.

I think if you are craving a certain food group, eat up. WTH?, right? Just try not to do it every single day or hr whatever the case may be. It doesn't really
matter what you are eating, really! It is cals in and cals expended and that is scientific fact. Now if you want to supply your body with the best nutritional
intake that is something different, but the same concept= cals in/cals expended.

N~

I'm male, but face the same struggles and willpower issues, so I'll post up my thoughts here in the Womens section. I hope nobody minds.

I'm generally good at preventing myself from buying "bad" foods, but it's much harder when those items come to work and I find myself surrounded with them. Boxes of donuts at the water cooler, birthday cakes, leftover junk from lunch meetings, etc.

Also, I have very poor moderation when the food is in the house.

I find that it helps to regard people who present bad choice items to me with a bit of hostility. Now, I'm not saying that I am overtly hostile to them, but in my mind I see them as saboteurs and that small feeling of resentment helps me to make the right decisions. I do believe that many people do subconsiously want to see others who are trying to better themselves fail. It's a bit of what the Australians call the "Tall Poppy Syndrome".

The other thing that helps me is a frank discussion with my wife. She is able to have things like chocolate and cookies in the house and eat only a reasonable amount and not binge. Unfortunately, I am a binge junk food eater. So, for my sake, she keeps these foods out of the house, or hides them so that what I don't know can't hurt me. It's kind of like being married to a recovering alcoholic - for their sake one must keep the booze out of the house. Fortunately for me, she likes me slim, so she does her part in not putting temptation before me.

I also mentally visualize myself at my heaviest ever and slimmest ever and consider those images while making eating decisions, and on days that I know I'm going to have a big meal as a guest at someone's house, I go light on my intake the whole day leading up to that event.

I just did a race yesterday and was surrounded by hardbodies, so that's also encouraging.

Cheers,

M.

When you figure this out, let me know. I have been extremely lean but only through obsessive motivation that is so hard to get back. I wish I had it back, but damn I just love my junk food, too.

Once you wean yourself off of the sugar, bad carbs etc. you do not have the cravings for them. Look closely at you macros and make sure you are getting at least 20% of your diet in GOOD (fish, nuts etc.) fats as this will also help you to not want to eat junk. The longer you do it the easier it gets.