breaking the can't cope/ tired/eat cycle help

[frustratedmom]

I need ideas on where to start. Know you are a world of knowledge so please pass on the advice.

where to start
how to stick.

Anything.

hey where's your list. I seem to be the only one fessing up to a dreadful diet please feel free to post so we can pat you on back for better diet (compared to mine yesterday not going to be hard ).

DidEinsteinsMum - Best of luck for your interview tomorrow. I hope it goes really well. What age are you hoping to teach?

Niche - welcome! The more the merrier. It is good to inject some new blood into the thread and shake us up. We are sticking with it but finding it hard to break old habits.

I don't think that any of us are particularly following any sort of diet, we want to change our habits rather than lose weight by calorie counting. Well that is what I want to do anyway.

I am having trouble getting motivated though.

Velvet - thank you for the boot.

I don't think I am so much dithering, as that presupposes I don't know what I should do. Sadly I know exactly what I should do - my problem is that
a) I want to cut corners and make it easy and you can't and
b) when I am not faced with this thread, a mirror or a set of scales I forget what I am supposed to be doing. I can eat a load of chocolate and seriously not think that I should haven't done that until after it has all gone.

Of course I could be in denial about it all.

OK DidEinstein has been very honest so I will be too

2 slices of brioche with jam and butter
Corned beef sandwich and a packet of hoola hoops
2 slices of fruit cake
Fish and chips with peas(but oven chips so relatively low fat and breadcrumbs not batter)
1 buttered scone
7 wine gums
handful of grapes.

2/3rds of my 1.5l bottle of water so far plus cup of hot blackcurrant squash with breakfast and some extra water whilst I was listening to reading a school this pm. Its not enough, is it?

It could be worse (believe me it could - the evening is still young) but it could also be a whole lot better.

I did exercise, i did excerise
I actually got off my butt and went for a walk this evening. I goofed and introduced too much change into change phobic son's routine in on go and didn't realise til now. Expect him up later but left house and let mum deal with him.

Currently munching on a tub of fruit salad

Suspect full effect of caffine is just hitting.

Well, that sounds positive Dideinsteinsmum.
Keep that momentum

For breakfast I have had a small bowl of muesli, 2 slices of toast and a coffee which is not bad seeing as I've been up since 3 with ds2!
I'll have another coffee in a bit but am not eating til lunchtime.

I've got family coming over for dinner so will need to watch my portions.

Let us know how your interview goes! fingers crossed for you.

Got an unofficial conditional - so might still turn out to be a decline but there is hope and I needed to know in advance as I have to sort out more in class experience and time is running out to do it. So the official offer is due in 2 weeks but i have 3 weeks to make arranges to fix the problem. Else it will be a definet NO. Although I was told to come back in Sept if I had problems getting experience before then will a reapplication. SO if not this then next plus if i can get issue fixed and this uni turns me down my application goes on to the next of my choices. so it will help me whether or not the official offer is conditional or decline. The only ass will be that my first day of PGCE is ds' first day of school

Eating has been really good today

Bacon sandwich, 1 1/2lt coke, egg mayo, 2 chocolate bars and a pizza. But i do have the fruit salad lined up for the forseeable snack around 10pm (if still consious - i only got 4hrs and am wiped)

Ds seems ok if a little hyperactive so will see about bedtime but will go to bed and let mum deal with.

I did no proper exercise today, but did loads about the house. Often through the day when I thought about stuffing I thought of having to come in here and fess up so it did sway me a little in the right direction. I had a good blitz of my fridge and hopefully will be more motivated to eat properly in future.

I've had 2 wheatabix with skimmed milk, 4 cups of tea, mashed potato and baked beans for lunch and one fried egg on one white slice for dinner. Snacked on Walkers Sensations poppadoms with garlic dip (left over from party at weekend).

Niche - glad to tell you that house work counts as gentle exercise

I admire your start but have to confess to another 1lt coke Just so tired today as ds is still going so no chance of early night

Bum, wrote a long post and it disappeared!

Sounds like you have had a tough day DidEinsteins.

At least you have hope. Is it easy to arrange some more class experience? Do you have time?

Well done on a reasonable food day in the face of adversity.

Niche - well done to you too. You can count housework as exercise, especially if you manage to work up a bit of a sweat. Even if you don't high levels of activity over the day are good.

I haven't had a bad day, not great, but not bad.

2 slices of brioche with jam and butter for breakfast - I really wish I liked cereal!

2 bread rolls, 3 cocktail sausages, a dollop of coleslaw, some cherry tomotoes and a slice of tea loaf for lunch.

Rost for tea - pork, roasties, beans, peas and brocolli and stuffing. Yoghurt and grapes for pudding.

Sadly I spoilt this evening by having some Fizzy Fangs but I have had worst evenings!

Not done much exercise today due to complicated arrangements with a tree surgeon. Having said that I had a trot round Sainburys and the school runs so not entirely housebound. I had to spend the morning at my desk though so not much time to get active.

Tomorrow will be better.

Have to confess to some late night chocolate but day actually wasn't too bad. I have 3 weeks to get it arranged but if I can't know that it is something can be fixed and with ds maybe an extra year may be he will be more settled - just don't think I shall still be living here if that is the case. I am not worried because the problem is fixable its not like they said we don't feel your personality was suited to teaching. It was only sitting in a class room and observing the rest of the environment for 1 week that is missing. Completely do able. Just got to get off my ass tomo and ring round schools to arrange.

Its the lack of sleep that is the issue and can't even blame ds tonight - he was alseep by about 10:30pm but I disappear in Mnet world and have just discovered rl. opp Maybe someone could give me a rude message if they see me on here after 10:30pm?
I need a boot in this area

HAven't been great lately as various thgings have been going on. A friend came over yesterday. SHe's about the same weight as me and is off to California in Sept and is determined to lose weight by then so we're going to have a challenge starting from Monday

Dideinsteins your interview sounds promising. well done.

Morning - how is everybody? Enjoying the sunshine I hope.

Yesterday was OK. Very little snacking - a bit of toffee popcorn in the evening but I gave up chocolate and sweets for lent and had toffee popcorn to fill the gaps and lost a couple of lbs so I don't think it is the worst thing I can have. Evenings seem to be the worst bit of the day for snacking but I suppose it is for most people.

Had a bit more sleep than normal but forgot to fill the water bottle and now I have no idea how much I drank. I suspect not very much.

Was quite active although not to the point of sweating. Housework, a tiny bit of gardening, that kind of thing - I actually achieved quite a lot yesterday.

I am definitely eating more fruit although that maybe the because it is summer and easier this time of year.

I am off to the docs in a minute to have this blessed Mirena removed. Some say it causes weight gain and I have certainly done that since it has been in. I fully expect to be half a stone lighter by this time next week.

Or maybe not.

Hi
Just got back from 37 1/2min walk with dh. Sweat, check.

Vacation was nice, but didn't get in traditional walking-I followed dear toddler on traditional toddler course of motion. She is fun.

Ate like a pig-caused IBS episode on Wed. While not fun, it was probably a good reminder. Fell face down in a bag of Oreos last night after we got home. So I probably have at least two weeks of damage control ahead.

I've got to run and pick up dd1 from swim team-I'll write more later.

Congrats on the good interview-DidEinsteinsMum. I hope you can get the schedule together-and get some sleep.

Really got to go...

Hi again

Another phrase of encouragement:

I am just tired of carrying this weight around.

Welcome niche. Are you able to find any time for yourself with 5 young dc? Let alone to exercise?--I think exercise would be the last thing on my list if I had 5 and finally got some time to myself. But I hope you can try anyway. I know it is even harder to fix it into an actual routine. But that is what I have to work on too.

Thanks for mentioning Mirena, niecie. I was about to get one (but had not made the appointment yet). I have been off birth control products since '94. The chemicals always seemed to mess with me emotionally so I stopped. We got along being careful until dd2 was conceived late spring '07. Not quite a total surprise-since we toed that line, but that it was possible at our ages: I was 45 and dh 47.

That is a big part of my desire to drop weight-to keep up with the lo at my age.

Did Mirena have any other side effects for you-besides weight gain?

VelvetCushions-It is nice that you have a rl friend to keep motivated. Is she going to California for a vacation or is she moving? Have you had any offers on your house yet? Keeping things super tidy for so long would drive me more bonkers than I already am .

The mirena is still there.

The doctor talked me into replacing it with an ordinary coil so now instead of a 10 minute appointment to whip it out, I have now had to book a half hour appointment to have the old one out, the new one in and also do a smear test.! What fun!!

I shall miss being period free but if the Mirena was causing the weight gain, rather than a few days of period every month than being the size of a house.

Toomany - sounds like you had a good break - I think even toddler walking counts as exercise. If your DD is anything like my DSs, at that age it was one step forward, 2 back, 2 to the side and a mad gallop forward again. You may be slow with a toddler but I reckon you probably rack up the miles - not to mention the weight lifting when they get tired and insist on being picked up.

I don't know for sure whether the weight gain is the result of the Mirena. Probably Maybe I am making excuses, I don't know. I think I have suffered from PMT for the first time in my life but since it was fitted just after DS2 was born and having children can apparently trigger hormone changes and a greater likelihood of PMT I don't know if it is to blame.

I thought, after all the stuff I have read on here, the doc would brush aside my remarks about the Mirena being the causes and she didn't. She said some people do react to the progesterone so maybe there is something in it.

If you are feeling brave and have a spare half hour, do a search on Mirenas on here and you will get all sorts of opinions on it. However, chances are you will be OK and you can enjoy its benefits. Don't let me put you off!

Thanks Niecie
I looked it up as you suggested and I think I'll hold off-especially since I'm trying to lose weight. But the depression warning is important for me too. I wasn't diagnosed with bonafide depression, but dystemia-a low level of operation.
I believe I am recovered since having dd2 (having a baby brought me back to life) and severely decreasing contact with the one keeping me pressed down-my middle sister.

Yesterday I ate:
Scrambled eggs, banana, orange for breakfast;
Pasta with beef, peas and carrots for lunch; Cheese and 1/2 hamburger patty for snack;
Snack was late so I wasn't really hungry for dinner-I had a "lunch bar" Chocolate cereal bar;
and late snack I had a 100 cal pack of chocolate covered soy nuts.
I drank 2 decaf coffees w/milk & splenda, 2 or 3 diet sodas (12 oz ea), 2 cups of water and 3 cups of tea.

I feel better for having less in my digestion system. Who was it?- Dr. Johnson or Samuel Peypes (sp?) who made a comment referring to "the horrors of digestion".
That thought helps me with portion control.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will face a mountain range of laundry today. Laundry is in the basement, so if I run stairs to put everything away...that would be exercise.

i went running, on a hill, a bit, today

Diet least said

Sleep - just heading there now.

Way to go on the run, DEM...I've never been a runner. Especially now-I have a bit of a bladder incontinence issue.

Dd2 up at 3-5 last night, blessed dh got up with her. So today will be a slow motion one...or not if I can rev up my attitude .

Getting back into diet mode. Dh needs to drop a few pounds, too; so we are starting to walk together.

Hi Niecie and Velvet Cushions-how are things going?

Hello everybody.

Glad to hear that we are still holding the thread together and keeping our aims in mind - even if it all seems very slow - or is that just me?

Toomany - feeling a bit bad that I had a hand in putting you off the Mirena. Don't forget that people like to have a moan about things when they are going badly - I bet there are plenty more women who haven't posted who have had no troubles at all but don't really feel the need to mention it.

DidEinsteinsmum - well done on the running. I am very impressed. I'm not keen on running either - I really wish I was as I keep reading about people who have lost tonnes of weight by running, finding that it also causes them to modifiy their diet, without really having to think about it. Sadly I have always had a dodgy left knee which is apt to give way when I so much as break into a trot - had it since school too.

I know about bad knees. Had bad knees since a kid. The bad news is they can't do anything about it and regularly in pain. The good news is they cant do anything about it and might as well do something i want to do as its going to hurt anyway

Made up for it today. Today was an s day not an S day by the rules but a shit day. SO chocolate and i have had a run in. But have been out for half hour walk with a dog tonight so balancing I guess. Thinking about getting out to run more but to to do it when anyone is about so have only done so when i happen to still be up at 5am and cant sleep. This time quiet country road, sunny day, ex and lo were running up and down hill too. I think the madness wore off a bit

Thanks- and -No don't worry about that Niecie, I really don't think my body likes chemical intervention. I think it is such a delicate balance for me. And I have come to feel really good ("normal") consistently only recently-since recovering from birth of dd2.

I saw myself in one of the threads about being "lost" since having dc (first was born in '92). I was a definitive "helicopter parent"-security focused rather than micro-managing the children though. I was on the bottom of my list if on the list at all, iykwim. Fatigue at work on me all those years too.

That is one of the reasons I can invest in this diet program without feeling guilty about the cost. It's for me, my health, for me to feel good again.

DEM-chocolate is ok-just in moderation. We can adjust our definition of "moderation" to fit the circumstances .

Just managed to catch up with you all.
I've had a busy few days with work and some builders. We thought we'd get a few bits done to help increase the chances of selling the house.

I've cut right back on my food portions this week and have been eating meals only. I've been having toast with peanut butter or porridge for breakfast, cottage cheese and salad on ryvita and an apple for lunch and dinner has been tuna or chicken salad with a yoghurt and fruit for dessert.

My plan is to eat like this during the week and then eat what I want (in moderation, of course) at the weekend as there always seems to be something going on. This weekend we have a meal out and a bbq.

Toomany my friend is going to California for a holiday but I do have a friend who moved out to Austin about 5 years ago and have been there loads. ALso to other places in Texas. Dh is a huge Cowboys fans so we've been to see a few games. I still don't understand the game

Hello all!

Velvet - that sounds like a good plan. I came across something in a magazine the other week about how it is a good idea to reduce your calorie intake but to have one day where you increase it. Stops the body going into starvation mode and slowing your metabolic rate.

It also works on a psychological level. If, for example, you say to yourself you used to have a chocolate bar a day, so 7 bars a week, but now you can only have 3 bars a week and you have to eat them on your non-diet day. Chances are that after the novelty has worn off of binging on 3 bars of chocolate on your day off you probably will only have one, cutting your chocolate bar consumption from 7 to 1 bars a week instead of the planned 3. Neat trick if it works!

I think that is behind the idea of the 80/20 diet where you eat well for 80% of the time and eat what you like for the other 20%. I kind of follow that - Saturday is my day off and the day I don't really think about what to eat. I just need to make the other 80% better!

I am doing OK but evenings are still very hard - that lethal combination of sugar and tiredness is still a problem.

On the plus side I am eating more fruit again which is good as if I can get the taste for it back it will be easier not to eat the bad stuff.

I like the sound of 80/20. I am reducing the bad stuff slowly some days are better then others and i am trying for consistant improvement ie only 3 chocolate bars per day max so even if i eat less i dont wander the excess over to another day. Caffine on the whole is reduced. a bad day is now 2 ltr rather then the 5 it used to be and so far 2 sips of coffee only so looking good so far but being only 8:30am i suspect that i shall probably have more by the ed of the day.
I permenatly feel tired at the mo but am sleeping better so this is again headin in the right direction (somewhere in the future). Plus i found that if i put my coke into small glasses i stop drinking it much quicker. My brain seems to be measuring in glasses rather then amount

I've just been reading this with a huge sense of relief - it's not just me! I wake up every day convinced that today will be the day I kick my snacking thing onto touch...
Went to the school pool yesterday & was very brave to get into costume & then spent the whole time wishing I hadn't 'cos all the other mums were about a size 4 and I'm a comfy 16. I so don't want my girls to feel embarressed about their cuddlesome mummy, but actually I don't want to be bony with no boobs! Just a little less wobbly! Have started doing Pilates which is great but still need to stop the'one slice of cheese for the sandwich, one for me' mindset. Plus does anyone else find it really hard whne you love cooking & baking & sitting down to family meals? I don't want to eat ready meals or be told what to eat at a slimming club! Any ideas on how to just generally eat less?
Thankyou for letting me unload - I've never done that before!

Hello, we haven't really decided on anything specific and our focuses are slightly different. For me i have had to deal with why i eat -emotional and sleep related. This in itself has helped. I have also looked at portion sizes - currently using the smaller cup/plate trick and trying to swap snacks for healthier varities ie dropping the 5 choclate bars/day down slowly and currently replaced by a bowl of strawberries which i can pick out of as need felt.

Have you found the pilates works?