Do You Feel Like Your Dieting w/DS?

 Sometimes I feel like I am dieting with the DS and wonder if I couldn't diet before then why do I actually think I would be successful with doing it now? If you behave and watch your carb intake and sugar intake then you are dieting. No? I have a terrible time not eating loads of crap and struggle each day. There is one thing for sure, the DS fixes your body but not your mind. I'm not unhappy, don't get me wrong, but I do sometimes feel like a failure because if I allowed myself I would eat sweets all day long and it's an ongoing struggle not to. I hate that this all requires so much will power from me. Wah! :-P

Mandy, if you watch someone who is naturally thin eat you will discover they tend to not eat much in the way of simple carbs or sweets either...they don't deny themselves but A scoop of ice creaam is enough for them or one or two cookies.

Find something that you can snack on that is protein based if at all possible.

My MIL has been thin most of her life...she is just now starting to gain some weight...she typically eats about half of what we did pre-op and is NOT a member of the clean plate club. She also doesn't keep sweets in her house. Not to say she doesn't eat them, she just doesn't keep them in the house.

Liz

Thanks for the feedback,  southernlady5464. I can agree with that. I have watched my thin friends eat and that is how they eat as well; grazing basically. Also, I can see where not having it in the house would be helpful. I guess if I want it bad enough to make the trip to the store I should have it. Also, maybe buying things single serve would be helpful. Like a novelty ice cream instead of a 1/2 gallon. I've considered going on Atkins for a few weeks just to kill the cravings. I could seriously eat junk all day. The more I eat the more I want to eat and am struggling with breaking that cycle. I need to before it's a problem because I can see the handwriting on the wall. Again, thanks for the feedback. I maybe should do some recipe searches and try new protien rich snacks and see if that helps. :)

The gas and intestinal distress is enough of a deterrant for me!

If I feel like I really need to eat some  form of simple carb/simple sugar (or combination thereof), I make sure I won't have to be in public afterwards.  I stay home, and open the windows, so I don't kill myself in the process. 

Keep in mind that the DS is not a cure-all.  It doesn't eliminate our responsibility to practice healthy eating habits of providing what the body needs nutritionally and limiting those things that taste great but aren't any real benefit to the body.  That's not dieting, it's healthy eating.

The DS is actually a tool that levels the playing field for us and gives us greater success of maintaining a healthy weight when we practice good nutrition.  Your skinny friends probably do go on hagen daas binges occasionally and gain, but when they do, they are able to reign it in and lose the weight relatively quickly.  The DS gives you the same ability . . . the freedom to live as your skinny friends do and indulge on occasion, but reign it back in to get back on track.

It doesn't take away the struggle, but then we all have vices we struggle with.  The question is, would you rather have that struggle with our without the pounds you've already lost?  That's the great thing about the DS, it's an awesome tool, but the lifelong success is still totally up to you.

Well put and absolute truth DivaJoJo. Thanks for your opinion. You are absolutely right about the DS being a tool and as I said don't get me wrong it's been good to me and I've made incredible progress and I know this. I also know that the "slipups" I have had pre-DS would have had much more impact had I not had the DS to help me out so I am grateful. Just trying to stay ahead of the curve here rather than letting it become a problem then trying to fix it after I've regained all my weight. I see I have an ongoing problem with carb intake and am working to deal with that. I have these feelings of deprivation and it was reminiscent of when I did Pre-DS dieting. Sometimes it's reassuring to hear how others feel so you know if you're crazy or not. Well that remains to be seen for me. ;-) Thanks again for your response.

I completely understand what you mean.  I struggle with carbs and ice cream.  With the summer, I'm fighting that problem now, so I do understand.

Me too! Summer kills me. I've actually been looking at some protien ice cream recipes from Eggface and other low carb forums hoping to find a nice replacement. Has anyone tried any of the Carb Smart ice creams? Any other good low sugar/carb ice creams out there?

Watch out on the low sugar ice creams...they usually have sugar alcohols instead. Those affect me worse than the real thing does.

Example, Carb Smart Vanilla has 13 carbs with 5 grams of sugar alcohols. Regular Vanilla has 14 carbs and NO sugar alcohols. Is 5 sugar alcohols worth 1 gram of carbs?

Liz

Hmmmm, that's a great point. I never thought to compare. Clever marketing indeed. :) Thanks for the tip. No, it's not worth it! Those alcohols bug me too. I can't do SF candies for that reason.