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Posted by Pam T on 3/29/2008, 9:59 am, in reply to "Tips on getting started..."
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I guess it does kind of sound like this is an easy diet, and in many ways it WILL be the easiest one you have every done, but it still has it challenges and for each of us it is different. The only thing I could compare it to is grieving. I have lost loved ones so I know how it feels and this was very similar. It may sound silly, but for many years food was my only comfort in my very pain filled life and now I had to give it up. That first week, I grieved.
Dinner time was the hardest for me too and I think it is for a lot of people. During the day we are distracted with life, but once evening rolls around we are home, tired, and feeling like we deserve a reward for making it through the day. The fact that you are probably a good cook probably doesn't make it any easier. You already got some good tips and you should try them, but the only way I was able to deal with it in a positive way was to prepare the meal and then leave the house while they were eating. Like you I am a single mom, but my kids were old enough for me to go take a walk around the block or the track across the street while they ate. They knew to have it all cleaned up and put away before I got home too. I never made enough for leftovers and if there were any they were to throw them out or leave it in the sink with enough water poured on it to where even I would not want to eat it anymore! lol! There were times that I thought I would go nutty if I didn't taste something so I would....but I would always spit it out in the garbage disposal. Usually this involved pizza, my one greatest weakness. It may not be the best way to handle the craving, but for me in the beginning it was survival mode and this really did the trick for me. One interesting result of this though was I learned to start seeing food for what it really was. When you are looking at a pizza all glistening and gorgeous and smelling like heaven it is easy to feel like you can't live without it, but once you have chewed it up really good and then spit it out...well...all I can say is that it loses a lot of it's appeal! It was kind of like aversion therapy in my kitchen sink. Believe it or not, I eventually got over my pizza obsession and now I would not eat if you paid me!
This is a healing process of body, mind, and spirit. You must address all three of these areas to be successful. There will be times when the physical will rise up and demand attention and other times when it will be the dialog in your mind. If you are in this condition because of past emotional wounds that damaged your spirit then there will be a time when you will have to face that and heal it as well. No one gets obese because they were hungry. We all have issues to work through and this is the time to do it.
Go in to this whole experience with the determination to face each challenge as they come. No more avoidance or denial about anything. Find some phrases that you can say to yourself when the going gets tough. The one that I came up with that really got me through and seems to have helped others over the past 8 years is this, "The food will always be there. Whatever it is that I want so badly today, it will still be there tomorrow and I can have it when I am through" I think a lot of us panic at the thought of missing out on something wonderful while we are dieting so we build up stress that eventually ends up in our giving up. Find a way to deal with the mental dialog by overriding it with positive thoughts and calming reassurances. It really all begins in your thoughts.
I hope this has helped you get a more clear idea of what to expect. Like I said, it is different for everyone, but however it ends up being for you, you must face it and press through because it is the only way to close this chapter of obesity in your life. This will without a doubt be the most amazing thing you will ever accomplish and will also be the best thing you have ever done for your children.
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