I live alone so I can keep my house junk free and that has helped. If it is not here then I can't eat it.

I was also an inappropriate eater in that I ate junk whenever and wherever so now I can only have treats after my evening meal and not by sacraficing fruits and veggies to get it and that has worked well for me. It is teaching myself that eating is not something done for fun but for sustinance so I have to make careful choices about everything I eat.
This last week has been very different as I was in the hospital but I was still able to stay with this WOL with the help of my parents and great nursing staff who made sure I was able to stay on programme even though many of them didn't understand it.

Keep track of calories and carbs at every meal. Write it down on a calendar. It's so simple to do and it can offer guidance when you need to trouble shoot your program.
today:
1) 450-2 (-2 is grams of carb.)
2) 450-4
3) 550-4
4) 550-3
= 2000-13

For me things that helped were journaling and writing down everything I ate. Also variety! If you don't learn to make new things that you love you will have a hard time sticking with it in the longrun. Buy a couple recipe books (I highly recommend Dana Carpenters 15 minute recipes cookbook) and find new favorite recipes. Snack often! Don't let yourself get hungry. I tend to grab a meal or snack at least every 2 to 3 hours. When you are never starving you tend to make better food choices... or at least that worked for me. Have ready made snack foods at all times for those weak moments when you need something NOW. Don't weigh yourself too often. It will drive you mad watching it go up and down if you track it day to day. Take measurements and pictures!!!!!!!!!!! There will be days that you will be discouraged, that is a given. If you have measurements and pictures to compair your progress those are just things you can't argue with. Your shape and measurements can change drastically without the scale ever telling the tale of it.

Best of luck!
Jenn

Good tips!
One thing I do when faced with a temptation is to delay it, not deny it.
If someone offers me a donut, or other "tempting" treat, I'll just tell myself that I'll have it "later". Like, really later. Then I can usually talk myself out of it.
Just like if I think I'll never eat another cinnamon bun, I'd go crazy. But I know I won't eat one today. And like Scarlet O'Hara, I'll think about it (again) tomorrow.

That is key!!!! Keeping track of every morsel that i put in my mouth has made all the difference in the world. I use Fitday and it really tells me when I am eating too much or too little...my guessing is always way off!!! I plan my day's meals from the night before and use fitday to make sure that I get my calories/carbs/fats and proteins just right! Apart from drinking water it is the BEST thing you can do for yourself on this WOE!

This is probably silly, but every night I try to flip to VH1 and look at how great everyone there looks and it motivates me to keep on going

I also remind myself that I want to wear that gorgeous, but tiny Springsteen shirt we got at the last concert we went to and that I don't want to go to another one of his concerts before I hit goal. I figure that gives me another year or so before he tours again <g>


L

Hello, this is my first post, and I really have no idea how this all works, so please bear with me. I have a question - I've been eating bacon and eggs every morning now for two months and LOVE it. But, I've also been on a plateau for a while and it's driving me insane. I thought bacon was AOK, and then I read in my carb counter that there is a HELL of a difference between raw bacon calories and cooked bacon calories. Raw bacon strips are three times the calories of cooked. Now the problem I have is this: I cook my eggs in the bacon grease... no added. Now I'm worried I've been eating 500-600 calories more per day because I've been calculating my bacon calories by cooked weight! Anyone have any thoughts? I thought this might be contributing to my VERY irritating plateau.