I have the willpower of a small gnat

[teenyweenytadpole]

So every night before I go to bed I tell myself this is it. I have read every diet book going - Harcombe, Pig to Twig, Paul McKenna, South Beach etc. Every morning I get up and have a healthy breakfast, I do food plans, I make nice packed lunches to take to worl. But at some point during the day it all goes tits up and I end up stuffing my face with random food like ice cream or bread and butter or some other crap. If there is no crap to hand then I cruise the kitchen looking for something, anything, to eat. I have even been known to eat raw jelly, or endless fruit, or cereal out of the packet. Then I feel bad, and fat. Then it all starts again. I have made lists, I have set goals, I have kept journals. I really do want to lose weight!! How can I stick to my intentions?? Surely an intelligent adult woman should be able to lose a few pounds. I can't afford hypnosis, or weight watchers at the moment. Short of applying duct tape to my mouth - any other ideas??

Teenyweeny, I am exactly the same....I started the "new me regime" on Thursday, was out last night and drank a bottle of wine then my body weight in fruit gums .

My willpower quite often goes bottom up!

Do you snack due to stress/etc when you're at that "some point during the day?"

boredom does it for me...had a good think this morning and am going to make vat of soup and have dips and homous for snack...this constitutes a very good start for me .

I have zero willpower but have been able to lose 38lb, it's taken years but I'm getting there slowly. You can too!

It sounds like it's not as much willpower as eating compulsively. How do you feel before you start snacking?

Make a huge VAT of fat free vegetable soup and drink endless bowls. Snack on sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes & carrots.

Bumps in the hope that teenyweeny sees.

Forever, I made my soup yesterday, was rather nice. Also discovered homous with roasted red peppers, yum, my evening crisp replacement I think .

Hi all, thanks for replies, sorry I was not ignoring you just had no chance to go online. Yes I think it is eating compulsively as I'll just about eat anything! I guess yes I do tend to eat when tired, bored, angry or whatever. Even as I'm stuffing it in my mouth I am having an inner dialogue with myself about not needing it and it will make me unhappy but I still do it! I also have a bit of a thing about eating in secret - I wouldn't nibble/pick so much if other people could see me, I tend to do it when I am in the kitchen by myself. I will try having more healthy things to hand and I like the soup idea but probably the best option is not to nibble/pick at all. Maybe I should also try keeping a food diary again and write how I am feeling when I get that "urge".

Hi Teeny, I was going to suggest Paul McKenna but have re-read your op and you have already tried that.

I am trying to remind myself that by doing the same old things I will get the same old result, in my case, sitting around in the evening with crisps and wine is just going to depress me. I made soup on Saturday, had it for dinner Saturday and Sunday, did slip and had wine yesterday but I have lost a pound according to my dodgy scales so has motivated me to eat more healthily. I am just thinking small steps to start with.

welcome to join us any of you on the 'spring slinkies' thread, something else that helps me is when the munchies strike to go and chat, and hopefully someone comes along and says step away from those snacks!

we are here

I am exactly the same. I joined weightwatchers online 6 weeks ago and fill it it in religiously every Monday and then it all goes pearshaped!

I know it makes me unhappy but I can't stop it. I too, scour the cupboards for ANYTHING.

i get like this. when i start eating bread and butter or nutella i realise i am out of control. it is hard to stop but i weighed myself after new year and realised i was about to weigh over 12 stone so i joined ww online and have lost 10 lbs. planning your eating for the day helps a lot. also before you eat a biscuit or some other crap think about do you really want to eat it more than you want to lose weight and be healthy?

good luck and stop with the raw jelly!

I am doing dukan.... no measuring. It did mean last night when I was peckish I had to eat chicken...

Also listening to Paul McKenna each night seems to help willpower. I find for it to make a difference have to listen every day, effects quickly wear off.

Gettingtrimmer, I dream of being slinkie . Done very well so far today but like everyone it's the evening that is a killer...plan to have a walk tonight , remains to be seen if it happens!

Hi I am the same. The only thing that ever worked for me was calorie counting and exercising so I could eat more! I used this website www.weightlossresources.co.uk but I think you can find free ones (Food Focus is one I think). It tells you how many cals to eat to maintain your weight (so for me at 5ft 3 and 12st 12 this is 1954) then for each pound you want to lose per week you take off 400 cals a day (so for me to lose a pound a week I should eat 1454 cals a day). I have it set for 2lbs a week and they won't let you go below 1100 a day. So this is my cals then I do lots of exercise to bump it up. It is hard work to exercise lots but it tones you up so much and makes you less hungry. I lost 4.5 stone doing this three years ago. Then I put 3 stone back on last year by being lazy and greedy .

how's everyone doing?

I didn't go for that walk, no surprise there but am being pretty good by my standards.

had hoped to have lost another pound by today...how much more soup can I take....musn't fall off the wagon .

Teenyweeny - I'm exactly the same! I eat things I don't even like or enjoy half the time. Why do I do that?

well, after my first week of "being good", less wine than normal, homemade soup 4 times a week, less treats, I have lost................a pound!!! yep, a whole fricking pound, I feel gutted, deprived and saddened. Perhaps it is my fate to be lardy and lonely .

Someone I know keeps a pound of lard in her fridge just to remind herself exactly what a pound of fat looks like and how heavy it feels. Don't give up, all the pounds add up over time. Also could it be TOTM affecting things or maybe you had a heavy meal last night? Keep going and hopefully you'll lose some more next week.

MM, thanks for that....I am going to buy my first ever block of lard, sounds like a really good, simple idea.

It might be better to keep track of measurements instead of weight loss. And they do say that if you lose at a rate of 1lb a week then it's more likely to stay off. At 1lb a week you could lose a stone by the end of June! keep going!

I was just like this until I started doing Paul McKenna properly. This is teh first time in my whole life Ithat i dont binge on any food I get my hands on.