I'm on day 2 of my diet and need some tough love.
It's now that reality always kicks in for me. This is what i need to do, but i'm hungry, not just in a snacking mood, i'm "oh my god pass the salt this sofa looks delicious" hungry.
We're also on a very *very* low income and affording my diet is already proving hard, high-calorie things are so much cheaper. I know i could go to those and just eat less of them but my portion control has been atrocious and acceptable portion sizes of the calorie-dense stuff will leave me hungrier, hunger is my nemesis, nothing makes me quit faster.
I've been good. So, so good. And i've found a lot of delicious snacks. But i can see the next week looming and a part of me is dreading it. And payday is coming, but what about later when we're skint again....
And hubby's not well again, and we have a specialist appointment tomorrow. I'm feeling very stressed.
Tough love away, i need it.
Hi GP,
I don't think you need tough love so much as a reality check - you've got a massive list of 'why nots' and nothing on the 'whys' list! I recognise that kind of hunger and it's not hunger it's comfort - you're down and fed up and you know that food will make you feel better - in the short term, that is. But then when it passes you're gonna feel even worse because not only do you not have control over your income or your hubby's illness but nor do you have control over what goes in your mouth - now guess what? You DO have control over what goes in your mouth! You're even stressing about what's going to happen when you're skint again and it hasn't even happened yet!
How many calories are you allowing yourself in a day? If you eat carbs - pasta, potatoes, rice - you can have big portions which will fill you up and comfort you as long as you don't add any high calorie sauces, cook from scratch and bulk out with veggies bought cheap from the supermarket anything in season is relatively cheap - make soups, always warm and filling and if you add lentils or beans they become more filling and cheap too. And drink plenty of water, that's free too - it helps your body to flush out the fat and gets rid of the stuff that makes you feel bad as well as filling you up so get gulping! You don't have to be hungry or rich to lose weight - believe me I know.
I had a look online and there is a website called The Resourceful Cook which gives you recipes for 7 meals for £7, or 7 meals for £8 etc depending on how much you have to spend.
Now the thing is, GP, you have a choice - you can CHOOSE to take control in the area of your life that you have the ability to take control over - i.e. what goes in your mouth - or you can CHOOSE to think of another million reasons why you can't do it and then regret it later.
I completely know how you feel, in fact, when I started in October I felt exactly the same as you, my life felt as though it was going down the pan, but I did the first day and then the second day and that made me feel like I had some control over what was happening to me then little by little, I started to feel better because I was eating better and cutting out all the rubbish so it's like building a snowman, you start with a little handful and then as you push it along it gets easier and easier - I'm not saying there aren't still days when I could eat a scabby donkey but there are also days when I feel as light as a feather - which is more than I could say before I took control.
You are making a lifestyle change so instead of looking at next week just concentrate on today or even the next meal, there are loads of nutritious inexpensive foods that will help you to lose weight and then while you're at it, if you add in some exercise like walking (costs nothing and blows away the cobwebs) you will release those feel good endorphins and earn yourself a few more calories to eat.
I really hope that payday can be stretched out for longer in the month and I really hope that hubby's specialist appointment goes well tomorrow but most of all I hope you CHOOSE control over your eating, you've been really good for the first two days and they are the hardest ones - you can do this, GP, you know you can! And soon we'll be seeing the Golden wings of the Phoenix rising from the ashes!
WG x
xx
