Calories Counted: Pending
I talked to Gary tonight, it looks like I'm going to get my workout partner back. That's great news for both of us, because we were talking today and it seems like we're both settlings for "Good" workouts when we know we can have "Amazing" workouts. We're going to start back up on Monday, so that'll work out well for both of us.
I've been thinking today about how stress affects how I eat, what I eat, and what cravings I have. I've been having major fat cravings lately, and I've been trying to fight them off. A lot of people, when faced with stress, love chocolate - at least that's the stereotype. Me? I crave cheeseburgers and mexican food. I know that's a strange combination, but that's all I could think about today. I drove by a McDonalds, and for the first time in a long time, I had to keep both hands on the wheel or my car would have turned automatically in the parking lot.
I have slowly been able to identify my triggers - the things that made me binge in the past. Those four double cheeseburgers, those bags full of Taco Bell at 3am. I've identified stress as one of those things - but also reward. I've always busted my ass with my life's responsibilities - including healthy eating - and then when I finally think I'm getting a leg up, I 'rewarded' myself with the large pizza.
Now, I'm fighting both of them - I feel pretty good about how work is going, I've been doing pretty well in the commission department and my boss has been pretty happy with the business I've been bringing to the company. On the flip side, as I said yesterday with the wedding coming up, the flight, the midterms, you name it - I'm stressing out crazy.
Two triggers fighting my one cause.
As I sit here typing this, Erin's making a super healthy dinner for me. And all I can think about is that McDonalds. Hell, it's going to be on my plate in 10 minutes. And yet all I think about is the Cheese Quesadilla at Taco Bell.
After a year, I'm still fighting a food addiction. I think that some people (including me in the past) have viewed food addictions as an excuse for 'lazy people to justify their poor habits'. I attributed smokers and people who do drugs to the same thing. Addiction.. "just get over it", I've said.
Maybe I am just a lazy person looking to justify my desire for the food - blaming it on an addiction. But maybe there's something to it.
Either way - no one is forcing me to eat the crappy food - and today was one of those days where it was all I could think about.
But I won that battle today. I really don't have any other choice though, do I?
9 comments:
Sounds like you might not be eating enough if your having cravings allot. Generally if I eat what ever healthy thing I have in front of me my cravings will go away. Maybe more snacks are in order for you. I hear you on stress though it can make you want the bad stuff to (the bagel I ate yesterday morning would be one of those). Keep fighting the cravings. The less you eat them the less you will want them.
YOu and Jim will do just fine during the weekend wedding. Sure there might be temptations, but you're both above it. Grab a plate at the events, fill it with the healthiest of food (mostly veggies)and move on. Bring lots of gum for the plane-pack nothing but water and a healthy snack. It's tough, but you deal with the tough food choices EVERYday...and you have already won the battle of weight loss by DOING something about it.
Want to get out? Riley and I (and maybe Jim) plan on shopping and hitting the zoo if we can. Care to walk around the zoo? Let us know!
Hi Rob, thanks for welcoming to the FAT Coalition! I've been trying to lose weight forever....I had promised myself to lose the weight by 40 and now I'm going to be 42 and it's not gone!
Anyway, you guys are all so amazing and so inspirational, I hope that I will have a success story to tell as well!
There ya go, Tuck. I still get them too. Probably the hardest part of my day is driving home from work past all of the fast food places after midnight...and I eat dinner at like 5. I'm with you here, but you did the right thing, and the more you do that, the easier it's supposed to get. As far as stress Tuck, don't be a girlie man. We've all got stress, and you've just gotta work through it.
why wouldn't food be addictive, anything that releases pleasure chemicals is addictive. You and I know that well...
I think it comes back to that article, about how the less you eat something, the less you want it. That's kindof like an addiction thing, like booze or cigarettes.
ok it's time for me to intervene :) you are not having the same fire lately that you have had in the past. you eat things you shouldn't (admit it), you are not working yourself as hard in the gym, and you are even skipping the gym some days now when you never used to do that. I am afraid of what I am seeing because you haven't lost weight in awhile and you don't seem to really care. Not to mention OK coming up, with plently of time going out to eat and beer calories.
this weekend i will be your weekend woariar (i know i spelled that wrong :) i will make aure you work out and i will watch what you eat too. just don't get mad at me for it. :)
Thing is, you DO have a choice, and you're making the right one by ignoring the cravings. If you have a lot of stresses in your life, why add one more by stressing about deciding not to eat junk?
After this long, McDonald's is no longer a habit. Eating healthy and reasonably is a habit.
Rob, have you ever considered talking to a counsler or therapist about your food addiction? Or maybe group therapy? Sorry if this is out of line, but I think you could benefit from it.
Seeing that I know first hand about addictions, I know I couldnt of made progress without a therapist or my group therapy. It really has helped me dig deep and find the root of my addictions. Food being one of them for me as well. We can try to control it and may be successful at it for sometime, but addictions always seem to come back up when we least expect it and turn our world upside down. Until you peel off those layers and find the root and figure out how to heal that root cause, it always will be there.
Rob please dont take this the wrong way but I really think you should check out "Over-Eaters Annonymous" The things you wrote about in this blog are what the members of that group deal with. They can help you overcome. Just a thought, I hope you seriously look into it... Youve come too far to go backwards
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