Eat to Livers (ha! Sounds like eat two livers) - I'm gonna cheat. Help me!

[Janna]

Since I just posted a homeschooling question because I'm such a good girl (not), I thought I'd show I'm not completely above everyone else, LOL, and post a non-homeschooling question (or whiny vent).

 

I have been doing Eat to Live for what? 3 weeks now? 4? I dunno. It's been a long time (or so it feels). I have lost 11 pounds and dropped down a size (woo-hoo). But darn it if I am not absolutely craving all that is so wrong and bad (;))! I want pizza. I want toast with butter. I want cake. I want a beer. WHY IS THIS!?

 

I have already gone through the first week of miserable detox. I have been loving this diet. It makes me feel great. It makes me feel lighter, if that makes sense. I think better. I have not cheated at all - not even the slightest - until Saturday.

 

Dd had a friend over for the night and we had pizza. I was all ready to make my cooked pound of veggies and eat it while they gorged on cheese pizza. But the smell...oh my goodness, the smell. I couldn't control myself. I had a piece. Gah! I HAD A PIECE!

 

And then! Yesterday, I see a neighbor walking outside so I strike up a conversation. She's telling me how they were on their way back from dropping off cookies at another neighbors house because of some kind gesture those neighbors did for this lady I'm talking to. I think nothing of it. After we're done talking and we go back into our houses, about 5 minutes later she knocks on the door with a plate of these cookie bars that are still warm! She thought she was rude to mention making them for another neighbor and not offering any to me and she didn't want me to feel bad (I seriously didn't think anything of it! She was doing this for the neighbor because they had done something for her. Why would I expect the cookies too?) Anyway it was a very evil, er, I mean, kind gesture...yeah, that's it, kind gesture...on her part. But again, I couldn't resist. I had a bite. And then finished off the rest of that bar. Last night when I went to bed, my nose was kinda stuffy and my head hurt. I don't know if it was from the sugar that I have stayed completely away from in all forms for the last 3-4 weeks or not. But I kinda suspect it was.

 

I just got back from the gym and all I want is a huge heaping bowl of sugary bad for you cereal. And tonight I want to watch a movie with my dh and order in a platter if appetizers from Applebee's or something. And have a beer with it. What the heck? Where is this coming from? Those aren't things I would have even before I started this way of eating.

 

Please, someone, you HAVE to help me. Hold me down. Bind my hands. Stuff my mouth with spinach or something. Please!

[melissel]

Since I just posted a homeschooling question because I'm such a good girl (not), I thought I'd show I'm not completely above everyone else, LOL, and post a non-homeschooling question (or whiny vent).

 

I have been doing Eat to Live for what? 3 weeks now? 4? I dunno. It's been a long time (or so it feels). I have lost 11 pounds and dropped down a size (woo-hoo). But darn it if I am not absolutely craving all that is so wrong and bad (;))! I want pizza. I want toast with butter. I want cake. I want a beer. WHY IS THIS!?

 

I have already gone through the first week of miserable detox. I have been loving this diet. It makes me feel great. It makes me feel lighter, if that makes sense. I think better. I have not cheated at all - not even the slightest - until Saturday.

 

Dd had a friend over for the night and we had pizza. I was all ready to make my cooked pound of veggies and eat it while they gorged on cheese pizza. But the smell...oh my goodness, the smell. I couldn't control myself. I had a piece. Gah! I HAD A PIECE!

 

And then! Yesterday, I see a neighbor walking outside so I strike up a conversation. She's telling me how they were on their way back from dropping off cookies at another neighbors house because of some kind gesture those neighbors did for this lady I'm talking to. I think nothing of it. After we're done talking and we go back into our houses, about 5 minutes later she knocks on the door with a plate of these cookie bars that are still warm! She thought she was rude to mention making them for another neighbor and not offering any to me and she didn't want me to feel bad (I seriously didn't think anything of it! She was doing this for the neighbor because they had done something for her. Why would I expect the cookies too?) Anyway it was a very evil, er, I mean, kind gesture...yeah, that's it, kind gesture...on her part. But again, I couldn't resist. I had a bite. And then finished off the rest of that bar. Last night when I went to bed, my nose was kinda stuffy and my head hurt. I don't know if it was from the sugar that I have stayed completely away from in all forms for the last 3-4 weeks or not. But I kinda suspect it was.

 

I just got back from the gym and all I want is a huge heaping bowl of sugary bad for you cereal. And tonight I want to watch a movie with my dh and order in a platter if appetizers from Applebee's or something. And have a beer with it. What the heck? Where is this coming from? Those aren't things I would have even before I started this way of eating.

 

Please, someone, you HAVE to help me. Hold me down. Bind my hands. Stuff my mouth with spinach or something. Please!

 

Man, that's a tough one. What I'd probably do (and I'm so not recommending it--I'm saying I would not be able to control myself!) is lose all willpower and eat what I wasn't supposed to eat. Then I'd spend two days feeling so awful that I'd remember why I was doing ETL in the first place and get back on the wagon. How's THAT for a strategy???? :lol:

 

I have no real advice, just wanted to say that I can feel your pain through your post. You're a better woman than I for even sticking to it for this long.

 

Oh, ETA: Could it be, er, THAT time of the month, or some other hormone-related fluctuation making this so difficult?

[laylamcb]

But darn it if I am not absolutely craving all that is so wrong and bad (;))! I want pizza. I want toast with butter. I want cake. I want a beer. WHY IS THIS!?

 

 

Please, someone, you HAVE to help me. Hold me down. Bind my hands. Stuff my mouth with spinach or something. Please!

 

:smilielol5:I won't lie to you and tell you that I'm laughing with you--I really am laughing at you because this was SO FUNNY, Janna! The mental picture of someone being bound and then stuffed full of spinach--gah!!! :smilielol5:Hilarious!

 

OK. I've wiped the tears away, and I'm fine now. Y'know, I really believe that eating this way (whatever way, Eat to Live or in any other health-conscious way) is an everyday, meal-to-meal process. I HATE THAT--I really do. I want to go on a diet, lose weight, and then go on with my life without thinking about food and calories and inputs and outputs every.minute.of.the.day. But at least in my case, I simply must keep my eye on the ball all of the time because--here I go, I'm gonna say it--I'm addicted to food. The wrong food. I don't eat that way anymore, but the fact is that years--years!--after giving up the stuff that made me pudgy, I still crave it. I don't eat it, but I still crave it.

 

Now, I don't deny myself completely. I can't. I love food too much. So I have a piece of really, really good dark chocolate every afternoon and a Healthy Choice frozen fudge bar (they're actually good, people) every night. Those little indulgences help me carry on. Without them, well, it wouldn't be pretty. What can I say? My family is French: food is life.

 

So, no answers here--just an empathetic :grouphug:. G'head: indulge in a little something. Don't indulge in the deal breaker--for me, it's ice cream; I simply CANNOT eat just a little, so I don't eat any--but indulge in a little something. And feel OK about it. And then eat the bale of spinach on the morrow. ;)

[lighthouseacademy]

Things like dairy and sugar tend to leave a memory in our cells. As we start to cleanse (remember that detox headache) that begins to release. However, the more that releases, the more the body remembers that toxin and will "crave" it. If you fight through it or find a healthy alternative, then it generally goes away in short order. The stuffy nose etc was your body's way of letting you know that the stuff was toxic to you. It takes time to get over the cravings. Sugar and Dairy are truly addictive just like alcohol. Avoid them if you have to!

 

I have been dairy free for long enough that if I eat even a slice of pizza I will almost instantly feel a stuffy throat. Yuck. It always makes me feel BLAH and it actually starts to not taste so good after a while. Hang in there. Do some google searching for raw cookie recipes (I do brownie bites with walnuts, honey, coconut, and raw cacao powder with cacao nibs thrown in for "chips")

[lighthouseacademy]

I simply CANNOT eat just a little, so I don't eat any--

 

Get thee hence to the library and get thee a copy of "Vice Cream" :) It is a book on how to make vegan ice cream that is simply heavenly. It isn't cheap (cashews) but for a real fix need you can't beat it. I make a chocolate cherry chip vice cream (cacao, carob (just a tiny bit), honey, cashews, water, vanilla extract blended and then put through the ice cream maker then stir in some cherries and some cacao nibs. Yum!)

[Ferdie]

I am not doing Eat to Live, but I eat healthy six days a week and cheat one day a week. I love my cheat day because it really helps the cravings not take over your life. When I see something I want I just remind myself that I can come back on my cheat day and get it. Nine times out of ten, the craving is gone by my cheat day. Likewise when someone brings over a great treat, or we bake a special dessert, I just throw a piece in the freezer knowing I can have it later in the week.

 

Hang in there because you are making a change for life.

[Mamagistra]

I want pizza. I want toast with butter. I want cake. I want a beer. WHY IS THIS!?

 

Because we are designed to eat a variety of foods. Quality beer, butter, pizza, and cake are not badevilpoisoncrack, in and of themselves. Enjoying sensible portions of such things in an otherwise standup diet will neither (A) make you fat, nor (B) shave time off your lifespan.

 

If one slice of pizza and a cookie bar cause you to feel poorly, then perhaps you are allergic or sensitive to one or more ingredients...not to entire categories of food. :tongue_smilie:

 

Just one omnivorous gourmande's humble opinion... :001_smile:

:leaving:

[Janna]

You're not helping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :willy_nilly:

 

You're supposed to tell me pizza, cake and cookie bars are from the devil! :lol:

[JudoMom]

You're not helping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :willy_nilly:

 

You're supposed to tell me pizza, cake and cookie bars are from the devil! :lol:

 

Huh....maybe your pregnant? :leaving:

[abbeyej]

What worked for me was setting aside a time (basically one meal or treat per week) when I *would* *cheat*. But just one meal or one item -- whatever it was I *most* desperately wanted all week. And it didn't mean stuffing in as much as I could stand, lol. But if I wanted pizza more than anything, I could look forward to a slice or two at whatever time I had set aside for myself. If something else was tempting, I'd ask myself, "Is *that* what I *really* want? Instead?"

 

But the question was all about what do I want *most*. One time it was grilled salmon and asparagus cooked with olive oil and butter! Another time it was a Schlotszky's turkey original sandwich, lol. A couple of times it was a big ol' ice cream from Cold Stone. But whatever it was, it was something I really looked forward to all week. And that made it taste that much better!

 

The good thing with EtL is that cheating is *okay*. If you cheat, you don't give up, you haven't blown anything... You just eat your gigantic plate of vegetables at the next meal and you go from there. And try to confine your cheat to once a week.

 

But ask yourself, "Are these cookies the thing I want most in the world? Or would I really rather have ...?" And save up for what you *really* want. The very best thing you can think of. And in the meantime, have another nectarine. ;)

[Janna]

Shootin' to kill, huh? Yeah, you better run and hide! :tongue_smilie:

[Janna]

Ugh! I *might* do this, but I'm afraid that once I do this, I won't be able to stop. I seriously think that my *one* initial cheat of taking a bite of pizza, which ended in me eating the whole piece, is why I'm having such a hard time now. I should have just stood my ground like I have been so good about doing for the last several weeks.

 

Tonight, I stood my ground. Dh made hamburgers, french fries and corn for dinner tonight. I sauteed eggplant, onions, tomatoes, northern beans and swiss chard together and ate that. The beans (which I admit to not eating as much of lately because they are high in calories and therefore I think a reason I stopped losing weight. Since I have stopped eating them every day I have started to lose again) curbed my desire for junk food tonight, so I'm glad I ate that.

 

I'll think about the cheat. ;)