Don't be so hard on yourself. Recognizing you may eat for emotional reasons is half the battle. It's all how you think about it. Tomorrow is another day. When I get mad at myself for eating cupcakes, I also remind myself I ate four pieces of fruit or other positive items. Once you eat it, move on and focus on something positive. I find it's worse with my monthly cycle. Lately I blame most of my insomnia, negative feelings and hunger binges on perimenopausal hormones. It's powerful stuff. Stay positive, focus on your strengths, feel good about yourself, and hopefully, some of the emotional triggers will dissipate. The very fact that you are on this forum shows you are not the average couch potato American woman.

I just made a costco run and bought some already sliced and pre packaged apples, they have them in the fridge section of produce. They don't always have them, but when they do I buy a couple containers. I've had them before and they are great for stashing in my purse. They have some preservative on them to keep them fresh, but they are better than chips/candy.

>>can I, at least, keep up my beer/wine habit? <<

Oh heck ya!

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Funny - so we did meet at oceanside :) Katherine is the best. I have a great twinsie photo of us from that race.. seriously, no one can tell us apart :)

Sorry to hear that you're injured too. And yep, I'm just off an IM, used to eating 3000+ a day and now this.. uh oh.

Tigerchik - I'm swimming 6 days a week now. Someday I'll be able to keep up with you! (ha ha, NEVER) but yes, it makes me hungry!

Thanks everyone, for the suggestions and the commiserating.

I will drink a big glass of water before heading out to kids' events. I will pack an apple (and maybe an asian pear) in the giant bag and remind myself to eat that first, and hopefully instead of, the crap.

I have been trying to watch the glycemic index of what I eat as well, and I think I just need to get in the habit of healthy eating. When I get a few days in a row, I find myself thinking, this isn't even hard. And then I fall off and it takes a month before I eat right again.

Kate - 3 weeks is pretty awesome! You're in the habit now.

Cathy - Please, don't mistake my sugar addiction for a lack of love for the salt and vinegar. I can eat those until my mouth hurts. But one thing at a time, lady.

RR

I want to emphasize one of my points - fuel during your swims. They make me super hungry and if I drink Accelerade or even a Gatorade, but I prefer something with protein in it, I don't eat as much afterwards. Probably a savings of a couple hundred calories. Look at that over 6x a week and it really adds up.

I'm munching an apple as I type. Makes for stick keys :-)

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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

Wow I'm so in the same boat. Especially with grad school and a wedding instead of an IM and its training this year, diet has become more important!

I have the chip and sugar addiction. The chip one got really bad, so it was my goal for April not to eat them more than once or twice a week (yes, it was way more often than that). My fiance was super supportive and once I told him didn't buy any more for our house. I did have them out for Mexican food once, and I think maybe 2 other times for the month, but much of the habit part is broken. I haven't bought any since. And I've been craving dried fruit instead lately.

I might try a similar thing for the sugar... like ice cream only once a week (and yes, that includes frozen yogurt) for this month. Or maybe no buying Froot Loops...

Like others have said, it's hard to get started but soon not hard to keep going. I pick the one addiction that is really getting out of hand and just attack it. And focus on the fruits and healthy snacks that taste just as good.

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Miles of Life --- Powered by MarkyV

oh, I can relate to this and I can't relate to the "eat a piece of fruit". I'd rather not eat at all. Sad but true. I swear I dream about sugar. I could eat candy corn, jelly beans, peanut m&m's and list goes on for all meals, all days. True Story! BUT, it has probably been about 5 weeks now since I have had "candy" and I've lost 10 pounds. Is it easy? Shit no and I want to just sit down and eat SUGAR and get "high"!!!!!! I also love cookie and cake. I have taken to eating sugar free pudding and fro yo in moderation, but this hasn't kept me from dreaming all things sugar and sweet. I know it's an addiction and honestly, not one I want to give up, but know I must. :-/ I now know what smokers mean when they say they really enjoy it. I REALLY enjoy myself a good bag of candy! :-)

I did order the Thrive Diet last week and I'm anxious to check it out, but I'm also skeptical, because my habits have been made over the past 38 years and this you can't change over night.

In any event, I feel your pain Rachael!!

Uggggh, my sweet tooth is aching for you!!! I know exactly what you are going through - I'm experiencing something a bit similar. Not injured (although I had a bad ITBS injury last year and this same thing happened), but I'm recovering from my first IM (AZ), and haven't done much structured training, so I've noticed the love handles (ugh I hate that term) are getting, shall we say, SQUISHY.

One thing I've noticed for myself is that as soon as I get injured, or right after a big race (basically when training is non-existent), my brain suddenly goes CRAZY. It's like I have so much time on my hands that all I can think about is food, how hungry I am, how long it is until my next meal, agonizing over the bag of peanut butter M&Ms (or various bags of chocolate covered pretzels, malt balls, anything peanut butter - ok, you get the picture - I, too, am a choco-PB-aholic) and if I can eat just 1 (or 5...) and then walk away. Or really getting worked up when I realize that I've just pounded down a ton of junk food (which started out as a "healthy snack") and am no longer able to eat dinner because I'm stuffed...oh yeah, and the anxiety just builds on itself...

A few things that help me are the following:
1. Drinking LOTS of water. I start with a pint of water as soon as I wake up. When I get sick of water, I have tea.
2. I have the same issue with the "4:00 munchies", except mine are when I get home from work and am STARVING and can't wait for dinner to be made. I think the key is to have snacks (veggies and fruits) built in to your day so you don't have that ravenous feeling. Or if you are going to have chocolate, bring a small bit (i.e. reasonable portion) of it with you when you go to your kids' practices so you don't feel incentive to buy some.
3. I've replaced ice cream with Fro-yo.
4. Give yourself a time cut-off (I'm so horrible at this) - like after 8pm, THAT'S IT - nothing else for the day. This is particularly hard for me because I get home from work/workouts after 8pm sometimes and I gotta eat something. But with a reasonable cut-off time (maybe 9pm), you can prevent the late night snacking.

Overall, it's usually something OTHER than eating that forces us to go on binges (injury, stress at work, etc). For me, it's the idea that I'm not on any real training plan (I like the structure and am not good at "resting"), and am on the brink of finishing grad school and have to decide what I'm going to do with the rest of my life...usually I use some chocolate as a consolation, but really it's a bigger issue I should focus on...One way I know this is the case is by asking myself - "how much am I enjoying those choco-PB pretzels? Am I slowly taking the time to enjoy their taste, or am I inhaling them because I'm subconsciously worried about other things?" Usually, it's the latter! I think if we take the time to ENJOY (aka SLOWLY eat) these junk foods, we'd be less apt to eat a huge serving. Slowing down with our meals is really helpful to prevent overeating...

I feel for ya, and am sending energetic vibes your way!!!

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sassyshanracing.blogspot.com

Cheryl,
I found the Nature's Path organic toaster pastries are really tasty and I keep those stashed around. They are much more filling than the regular pop tarts.

I go through phases of either chocolate or salt. I prefer chocolate. I am still working on Easter candy and some valentines candy in a jar. I found to conquer the sweet cravings to brush my teeth more often and drink more water.

I am reading Eckhardt Tolle's book A New Earth and he goes into emotional eating a little bit. I haven't gotten all the way through that part to fully articulate why this happens.

I snack when I am bored. I found if I drink tea that helps with the desire to snack.

I also found Lara Bars. I eat one of those before a run and I feel great! I like that its small so I only eat a little. My issue is portion control. I WILL try to eat everything in front of me even if I burst! I am trying to work on that, too.

I eat so much fruit now that I dont have the sweet cravings as much, which is good! BUT if i really want dessert, I will make a banana split, with hersheys chocolate sauce or Dove dark chocolate sauce and a banana and one small scoop of ice cream.

I am far from perfect, but like everyone else here I am working on it. I really don't stress about it too much. Training for an Ironman kinda does that to me.

Should we try the Nutrition trackers again? I have been thinking about getting back on that group. What do you think?

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Jeanne Roth
Team Timex 2007/2008
http://jeannejeannie.blogspot.com/

RR might be a bit on the young side for this, but for us "older folks" it could very well be that a craving for sweets might be due to a serotonin deficiency in the brain. The Life Extension Foundation gets mixed press (some think they are great, others think they are glorified snake-oil salesmen) but here's a pretty good article on the subject:

http://www.lef.org/...nd-Overweight_01.htm

Keep in mind that the same folks who published this article also sell nutritional supplements so there's obviously a conflict of interest. However, in my n=1 experience I've found that supplementing with tryptophan has been beneficial for both sleep quality and eliminating the desire for sweets.

Dan

No one on this planet has a worse sweet tooth than mine. Nothing appeals to me like cookies, ice cream, and candy, and not necessarily in that order : }

I have at least one sweet thing every day, those 100 calorie cookie packages are good, a fudgesicle, or those new weight watcher single serving ice cream cups. Gotta have that stuff even on days off. Maybe the secret is allowing yourself to have it every day, even if it's just alittle bit and not get down about it. I think the getting down part is what can lead to a sort of binge mindset.

Good luck with the injury. I had IT band issues and went to a great PT who fixed me right up. She did some kind of electrotherapy thing that really helped it heal quickly..

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Nor do I use punctuation in the way a child sprinkles glitter over a ribbon of glue on construction paper - Trash Talk

HI Jeanne
I think I'm going to start recording on fitday again. for one month just to get back on track. I'd say I'm half way between where I started last year and ended, so at least I didn't completely revert to my bad ways. Feel free to check my log and publicly flog me into submission if you have the inclination :-)

Cheryl

Ditto. Achilles tear.

What about pulling in the pool? Any suggestions what else I could do without using my ankle? How much pulling is bad? I know not the same as swimming- but can't kick for a couple of weeks.

AS to the food- japanese rice crackers any good? A handful are better than candy or other crap, and low fat.

Strawberries or diced mango with lime squeezed on it are my two favorite healthy snacks.

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"your horse is too high" - tigerchik

I like to make a big veggie stirfry 1-2 times per week. It takes about 10 minutes to make it since whatever I can buy already cut up gets thrown in. Then I parcel it out into a bunch of little containers. I just add a bit of protein for some flavor and substance (like turkey, beef, tofu, fish, whatever) and put it in a low carb tortilla or over rice with soy sauce. It's quite yummy and extremely healthy and super easy to bring to work if you have a microwave to warm it up. My other favorite is a large spinach salad. I get one of those big containers of pre-washed organic spinach and throw some raisins and pistachios and fresh fruit (strawberries is my favorite) over it and then the meat again. If I have time, I add some other veggies to it. Add some oil and balsamic and it's yummy, healthy and low cal. Between those 2 meals, you can be quite satisfied, since they are both high volume, healthy and satisfying (as long as you include the protein). My other tip is cutting out alcohol and finishing all eating by 7pm (but I go to bed at 9, so a little later if you are a nightowl).
Hope that helps!
Diana

I'm with you. I wish I could cook for people for a week and help them with healthy satisfying meals. There are so many simple things that can turn a simple dish or bowl into an exquisite meal. I suppose this deserves a new thread.

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"your horse is too high" - tigerchik

Eat more protein and good fats and minimize carbs during the day. Often a sweet tooth is a signal for your body wanting protein and a quick energy fix, which isn't necessary if you keep fueled up with the right kind of stuff.

Soy protein smoothies (without sugar added) work well for me to fill in the gaps without being too heavy. Sometimes I do nuts and fresh fruit and veggies. If I ever get into one of those sugar cycles where one rush requires another fix in a few hours (not good), sometimes I'll cut out all refined sugars for 3 days in a row. Once you get through 3 days, your taste for sweet adjusts and you don't want it any more. Of course, that's hard to do and I've only pulled that off with an important race on the horizon. Certainly not while pregnant. That would be silly. :)


P.S. I like your new blog.

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http://www.aliciaparr.com/blog
http://www.performentor.com

Yes, I too am on Facebook. And LinkedIn. And Twitter. Which begs the question - do I exist in the physical world? Do I?

I ate a cookie and potato chips today.

I feel sick.

Tomorrow is another day.

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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

Every time you are tempted to eat crap, just pop over to the Lavender room. That's enough to make you lose you appetite, than all is good.

hahahahhahaha
ah, thank you for that :D

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

Too late. I did the same thing again tonight. Here is how my food day went

Breakfast - Triple Soy Grande Latte
Lunch - Salad w/spinach, egg, edemame, garbanzo beans, tofu, small amount of 1000 Island dressing
tomato Soup

apple mid afternoon

Pretty good so far. Bad me for not having more of a breakfast but otherwise OK.

Dinner - Trail mix
Greek yogurt with berries
potato chips
2 truffles
peanut butter chips and chocolate chips

Now I feel sick.

Argh!

I'm using the excuse that I'm packing so there wasn't time to make dinner.

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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