Is it just me who does this?

[Rumours]

Or do others do it too?
Every time I lose a bit of weight I reward myself by eating treats again!
Recently I lost about 5 lbs, but now I've found it again
I know why I'm 2 stone overweight, it's because I can't control my food intake, I eat healthily but just too much of it.. I do exercise but then rewards efforts with food, I think to myself that I've just walked 2 miles on the school run so now I can have that bit of cake.
It's a vicious cycle I've got myself into, has anybody managed to break it?

Lets not put labels on each other here

Watching Loose Women i know!, they're all so slim, holiday fresh, £ in the bank. I want that.

No labels

I just want to break my stupid emotional eating cycle.

I used to stick a picture of thin me on the fridge to help me think thin....didn't work.

Now i'm sitting here say to myself, but it's only food, food you eat too much of and causes all this. It's not though is it? It's a sympton of life, being a carer trapped in a cycle of trappedness. Limited choices.

I could get better, i'm fed up of trying and losing over and over and over again.

I need to get out

OUT to Spain. 16 weeks, I self sabotage so much, therapist says it'll stop eventually but she has issues of her own, she owes me an opology and won't tell me on phone, she did upsert me a little she can be so pinickerty.

ishould change her

one more try

I am the same. I am currently pregnant and this seems to curb my appetite. Im satisfied with meals, dont lust after food etc.

But I am freaking out about after the baby is born. With DD1 I went from a size 24 to a 16. But by the time she was 7months I was right back to a size 26.

Then I really focussed and lost 2stone in around two months. But then went back to size 22/24.

As the OP said, I also reward weight loss with food. I need to break the cycle if I am to keep my weight down.

Yes, I reward weight loss with copious amounts of fat and sugar. Just doesn't make sense.

We need to find a different award, a fat and calorie free one. Any ideas?

That's meant to say reward!!!

Oh loads of the usual ideas stuff but for me venting is more helpful right now.

Anybody been swimming in the last 12 months?

I've just been swimming with the dc's but because my youngest is 2 I don't get to actually swim. I am hoping that once my studies are done, at the end of summer, to start going when ds2 is at nursery.
Do you swim sole?

I love swimming and go a lot but as Rumours says, I dont get to actually swim.

I used to take myself off when DD went to her dads but cant now due to me and DP sharing one car.

The reward would have to be something we value/adore as much as food...

Ladies can I butt in please? You are all being very, very hard on yourselves. Gaining weight is soooooo easy to do. We're constantly surrounded by rubbish (junk food, high sugar crap that our bodies aren't designed to be able to cope with) and we're given daily updates on celebrities' bodies whilst constantly being exposed to unachievable ideals. We are being set up to fail!

I want you all, right now to stop it. Stop beating yourselves up, stop feeling trapped, stop dieting (very very important!) and stop eating rubbish. You are trapped in a binge / diet cycle (yes, even if you're not dieting, you're still thinking that you should be - and that's enough to send anyone heading for the biscuit tin).

It doesn't have to be this hard! If you need a treat, can you join a gym with a creche? Take an hour for yourself, sit in the jacuzzi, have a steam or a sauna?

Could you go for a nice 20 minute walk on your own, with your headphones on listening to something you really really like?

Could you dance around the living room to your favourite song ever (curtains closed if you like, no one else needs to see?).

I'm in the same boat as you by the way and I'm totally fed up with it. It's NOT my fault that this has happened and for once I'm getting pissed off with what's made me overweight, not with myself.

I think we all need to make peace with ourselves .

Thanks noclue, I agree whole heartedly, I need to learn to love myself that's for sure. I'm tired right now, trying to get an essay done, but will re read your post in the morning, I may even print it off

Hello ladies. I am just the same, very overweight but somehow I just can't stop eating. I am an expert on every diet going but still fat (size 24-26). I am trying to do a bit of exercise twice a week but am really struggling with it.

I have just bought a book and cd called "Adore Yourself Slim" as I hate the way we are made to feel disgusting, low morale is not the way to motivate me. It is a combination of eating sensibly, exercising sensibly, planning and hypnosis. I haven't looked at much of it yet but it seems that she advocates small steps rather than a strict diet to fail at (one lady who was around 20st cut out Diet Coke and committed to eat one vegetable serving each day as her starting point).

Has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

I know what to do, how its the fucking motivation. The weather does not help. I'd love one of those huge professional treadmills. :)

Dieting has helped, I haven't eaten bread or cheese or drank fizzy pop for years, I drink only water 2 - 3 litres per day. Some things have stuck.

I need sunlight and country air :)

But sole that's not true! Dieting hasn't helped you at all! You said yourself you're twenty stone... you poor thing, that mustn't be much fun. I'm twelve and it's hard work.

I want you to go to your fridge, right now, and make a cheese sandwich. Just one. But put it on a lovely plate, with a little napkin, take it to the table, sit down and EAT IT. Eat it, slowly and with love. You need a god damn sandwich woman. You deserve a cheese sandwich once in a while for pete's sake, we all do.

Stop hating yourself. Have a sandwich and if you can, tomorrow, go for a little walk. Do things YOU want to do (care you a carer? I think I read a bit back that you were... I know how tough that can be. Can you get any time for yourself?).

I have this problem of rewarding myself with food, have done it for years. It's not surprising that I'm now the size I am, but I finally feel like I'm starting to break the cycle now. I only hope I can keep it up!

The things that work for me are:

Increasing protein (fish, beans, soya etc - don't eat meat)
Reducing refined carbs (but not Atkins-style low carbing)
Walking daily (I do at least 2 x 15mins)
Writing down everything that I eat (I use myfitnesspal to record everything)
Portion control - I am allowed to eat anything but only in small portions (measure & weigh if in doubt!)
Drink only water and lots of it

I feel like I'm eating quite well and I'm not craving sweet stuff all the time any more. Sugar is really addictive - I did try going cold turkey once before but I couldn't keep it up, so now I allow myself small treats, but only as an occasional thing and not a daily allowance!

I see this not as a diet but as a lifestyle change - I can't just lose the weight and then go back to eating junk again, so I need to change my relationship with food for good. I know for sure that I can't deny myself for the rest of my life, so I need to find ways in which I can enjoy my treats within a healthy balanced diet. If I over-indulge some days, I try to make up for it by exercising a bit more, or going easy the following day.

I have a long way to go yet, but for the first time in years, I feel that I will really be able to keep this up. The weight is steadily dropping off, and I'm thinking about some (non-food) treats when I get to certain milestones. I fancy a spa day for the first one! Just hope I can keep it up. Think the main thing will be to ditch the guilt. If I falloff the wagon for a day or two, that's ok, as long as I pick myself up again and get back on.

We can do this, guys. We just have to believe that we're worth the effort.

Jinsel you ate so right, the problem I have is I tend to fall off the wagon when I've lost some weight to celebrate then feel crap and it then takes me ages to get back on again, this is what I need to work on. Your post has inspired me to get back on again thankyou. I know I can do this. Lifestyle change us what I need. And slowly, I always want it to happen overnight , I need to be more realistic.

Oops jinsel you ARE so right

I have increased my protien intakeand drinking more water. I'm going to walk for 30 minutes every school day. 15 minutes in one directionturn around and walk back.

I need to search for another job, procrastination is setting in.

Op can you bake and freeze?
Also, allow yourself 2 days off a week but don't go mad. Then on other days really watch what you eat. I know the "ive blown it now" feeling well bit you're thinking short term. Long term, you're going to have to start the diet from where you are now - that can be today or in 2 months time.

Sole enjoy the walk today, I'm about to head out with the dog.

Stealth I've been thinking about that, being 'good' mon - fri and having weekends off. I did freeze some biscuits the other week for the first time to see how they defrosted and it worked, plus there weren't then excess lying around for me to inhale, so will think about doing that more often. I always bake cupcakes in batches of 12, so could freeze half them that's just enough for dh and ds's, what a fan idea thanks.

Fab idea, must start previewing posts

Rumours and Sole, hope you've both done ok today? Did you both get out for a walk? I think exercise definitely helps you feel better about yourself, as well as burning off extra energy.

I often want results overnight too. It's so easy to get discouraged when you look at how far you've got to go, and then you start wondering if it's even worth all of the effort because you might never get there! But a journey of 1000 miles starts with the first step, as they say, and the destination won't get any nearer if we procrastinate about getting started.

I have noticed that eating more protein definitely helps to stave off cravings for less healthy food. Wish I'd realised this years ago!! But I am where I am, and so I have to start from here!