That's right. Give it back, because I want to get back on, after slowly falling off of it the past few weeks.

These past few weeks, I have been eating stuff that I know that I shouldn't be. Heck, after not having any fast food (save Subway) since January 3rd, I have ate at the local Culver's twice now in the last WEEK. Quite frankly, I'm now mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!! :D

I am just curious as to whether anyone had any advice as to how to prevent this from happening again. I know that, in the end, the choice is 100% mine, but I would just like to hear the measures that others have taken to get themselves in the proper mindset.

the choice is 100% mine.

Dare I say Bingo?

Seriously though - plan your meals out in advance - this is by far the biggest thing you'll reconsider just eating anything over.

"If I planned it and I've already made it and its sitting there waiting for me to eat it - isn't it a no-brainer that I will eat it when its time to eat?"

Maybe not - but for me it helps deter the bad habits and reconsider eating out with co-workers etc.

Well I don't know what a Culvers is... we don't have that in AZ, but I will assume it is some sick fast food chain. You want inspiration? Go watch Supersize Me. Read Fast Food Nation. Go to a fast food place and look at the food prep area. That should gross you out right quick.

The key thing for me was planning everything in advance.
There was a period or 2/3 weeks where I didn't do the necessary shopping for clean food and plan my workouts.
And bingo, major set-backs right then!
So I try to always stay one step ahead - as long as I do that, everything just seems to work out grand.

Yes, planning meal ahead of time is the best way to eat clean. (At least you just need to worry about the cravings :lol: ).

completely agree with the others. Planning. Planning. Planning.

I eat 4 tuna sandwiches at work (10am, noon, 2pm, 4pm). I'm tired of regular old tuna, so I spice it up with pickles, celery, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Each week, I make a week's worth at one time, and put them in 6 different containers. Those go in the fridge. So, every morning, I grab a container from the fridge and go off to work. I keep bread there, so I make each sandwich as I eat it. It's already done. So easy.

Planning. Planning. Planning.

I write out my menus for the next day and make sure I'm stocked with all my clean food.

I'm a little different in the fact that my wife eats all kinds of crap from soda to cupcakes to candy bars everything under the sun and keeps it in the house all the time. I have had to be extra focused and remain strong to not eat any of it. The frustrating part is she never gains an ounce of weight. She will eat pizza and garlic bread sticks at least 2 nights a week while I eat my chicken breast and brocolli.

Sorry I guess I was venting there a little! :D I guess I've been successfull for the last 10 months (80lbs lost and over half my body fat) because I make eating clean a routine I tell myself I can't touch that food she has in the house no matter what. I stay completely focused on my goals and remember why I'm doing this. If I start to get cravings I will eat a tbsp of Natty PB or I will go exercise.

Sorry for the length. Had to vent about the wife! :D

That's right. Give it back, because I want to get back on, after slowly falling off of it the past few weeks.

These past few weeks, I have been eating stuff that I know that I shouldn't be. Heck, after not having any fast food (save Subway) since January 3rd, I have ate at the local Culver's twice now in the last WEEK. Quite frankly, I'm now mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!! :D

I am just curious as to whether anyone had any advice as to how to prevent this from happening again. I know that, in the end, the choice is 100% mine, but I would just like to hear the measures that others have taken to get themselves in the proper mindset.

Part of people staying OFF the wagon is agonizing over going off it in the first place. If you want back on, get over the fact you fell off and hop on.

Everyone falls off the wagon ocassionally - it's the ones who stay off it after that who get left behind in the ditch. It is 100% your choice, as you stated. It is also 100% your choice to forget that or remember that the next time you are staring down a double cheese burger or loaded pizza. :drool:

We seem to forget that it's the little steps that count. We sit there and we think about how it's ONLY right now, just this one meal, and we talk ourselves into believing that it won't matter, or that just this once, or that ONLY now matters. A million different arguments within ourselves to give in, and a million different ways to forget the big picture.

It all comes down to you. What do you want? Long term what are your goals? How do you measure your success - is it only after 2 months and 10 lbs that you feel successful? because if it is, you are setting yourself up to cheat. If you only count big leaps as your successes it can get down right depressing, and easy to say "*sigh* It's so far to go..." and then give in. But it is really all about those little choices. 1 perfect day, then another and another. THOSE are the goals. Your results are a side effect of your smaller choices. And the only choice you have to worry about is today. not tomarrow. So, make your goal to get today right. JUST today.

Tomarrow will wait - and when you meet it, you will be that much better for it. THAT is how you stay on the wagon. You never forget your power of choice, and you never lose your vision of your attainable goals. Today is attainable. You can choose to make today a good day or a bad day. And it's only about TODAY.

We all have bad moments. Heck, there were a few years I didn't venture out of the ice cream isle for much more than a nap. But that doesn't change my ability to make the right choice today. Let yesterday go, and tomarrow wait, and do right by yourself today. And realize it is JUST food.

Part of people staying OFF the wagon is agonizing over going off it in the first place. If you want back on, get over the fact you fell off and hop on.

Everyone falls off the wagon ocassionally - it's the ones who stay off it after that who get left behind in the ditch. It is 100% your choice, as you stated. It is also 100% your choice to forget that or remember that the next time you are staring down a double cheese burger or loaded pizza. :drool:

We seem to forget that it's the little steps that count. We sit there and we think about how it's ONLY right now, just this one meal, and we talk ourselves into believing that it won't matter, or that just this once, or that ONLY now matters. A million different arguments within ourselves to give in, and a million different ways to forget the big picture.

It all comes down to you. What do you want? Long term what are your goals? How do you measure your success - is it only after 2 months and 10 lbs that you feel successful? because if it is, you are setting yourself up to cheat. If you only count big leaps as your successes it can get down right depressing, and easy to say "*sigh* It's so far to go..." and then give in. But it is really all about those little choices. 1 perfect day, then another and another. THOSE are the goals. Your results are a side effect of your smaller choices. And the only choice you have to worry about is today. not tomarrow. So, make your goal to get today right. JUST today.

Tomarrow will wait - and when you meet it, you will be that much better for it. THAT is how you stay on the wagon. You never forget your power of choice, and you never lose your vision of your attainable goals. Today is attainable. You can choose to make today a good day or a bad day. And it's only about TODAY.

We all have bad moments. Heck, there were a few years I didn't venture out of the ice cream isle for much more than a nap. But that doesn't change my ability to make the right choice today. Let yesterday go, and tomarrow wait, and do right by yourself today. And realize it is JUST food.


Awesome post, Kyra. :tu:

Here you are. ;)

http://www.olywa.net/tumwaterhistory/images/wagon_small3.jpg

It's funny, I never plan my meals- I guess I'm the exception to the rule. I just never put myself in a position where I'm going to eat that stuff. When I go food shopping, I buy the same things- fresh fruit, chicken breasts, tuna, golean, etc. What you buy becomes "the things you eat". I used to drink 2-3 cans of soda a day, minimum. Now I rarely have 1 a week. When it all falls into place, eating and living healthy isn't something out of the ordinary that you do- it's just what you do. Everything else seems wrong. Case in point, this morning: I had to get up at 4:30 to fix a server problem at my work, so I skipped breakfast. Once I was done, I went to the only nearby restaurant, a McDonalds, and ordered a sausage/cheese/egg bagel. I could only eat half of it before I felt ill. That's what you have to strive for, and what we all have problems doing sometimes (I won't mention the cookies my wife brought home, or the soda at dinner, or the other things I need to work on)

Get on that wagon and ride, son! :)

Culver's!!!! I love Culver's or shall I say "loved" cuz I wont touch any fast food anymore. Especially the delicious Butter Burgers!!!! Yummmmmm :drool:

Fell off the wagon almost two weeks ago...climbed back on today...

Ive found stress is a huge factor in causing cheats, atleast for myself...And as the above stated, not being prepared in advance. I didnt have my meals prepped and was too lazy to prepare them so i just brought home whatever i could from the restaurant i work at part time one day, then it turned into the next day, and the following day, and then eating chips and crap from our pantry at home because id have a huge lunch meal then nothing at dinner and be "starving" when i got home so id justify the next cheat. Coupled with the stress of preparing for my physical fitness qualifications test it became a huge downward spiral where i got to a point that i was so unmotivated that i even stopped going to the gym.

I passed my police physical fitness test (last weekend) but at weigh-in i was 6 lbs. heavier than i had been for most of the month of February simply because i didnt control my cheating and over eating up to the date of the test, i kept putting it off til the next day. You cant succeed if you dont focus on whats important RIGHT NOW. Im back on track as of RIGHT NOW, and if you want to be back on the wagon you have to make the conscious effort to climb back on.

Currently, i am 167lbs. im not sure how much of that is water weight. At my lowest in February i was at 157lbs. approx. the 26th. We'll see where im at in about a week when the water weight comes off and saturday when i take my body fat measurements.

completely agree with the others. Planning. Planning. Planning.

I eat 4 tuna sandwiches at work (10am, noon, 2pm, 4pm). I'm tired of regular old tuna, so I spice it up with pickles, celery, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Each week, I make a week's worth at one time, and put them in 6 different containers. Those go in the fridge. So, every morning, I grab a container from the fridge and go off to work. I keep bread there, so I make each sandwich as I eat it. It's already done. So easy.

Planning. Planning. Planning.

I'm a big fan of seafood myself, I loved them :eat: Everytime I don't have time to prepare meal, I'd open a can of seafood, usually mackerel, tuna, sardines and sometimes squid. I used to eat them religiously just like you did, 4-5 times daily. But now I'm trying to eat less of the canned version and eat more of the cooked version :eat: But aren't we supposed to be afraid of our mercury level?

I don't plan meal religiously, but I used to eat the same food for the same time of the day. For example, every breakfast I eat oatmeal, that's what I used to eat every morning, just spicing things up so it doesn't get boring. It's like "my automatic planning system' :)

Anyway, I'm lucky because even if I eat outside, I can still eat clean. First, I never eat at fastfood, and here you can find homecook meal at almost all eating place. It's their own house, and then they turn it into a eating place, so most of the meal are homecooked, just like in my house. Plus, mostly I eat fish, boiled or grilled... :drool: