Hard Days....

I've been paying real attention to some of the harder food days lately hoping to catch myself on days that eating well gets away from me. 

Suddenly tonight I realized I was just eating non-stop - It was one of the first times I actually said to myself "what the heck are you doing?" and got myself away from the food and went outside to get some fresh air! 

I think I realize that cutting the diet coke out has been really hard the past couple of days but I've been dealing with that by eating more than I normally would.  

I am really starting to think about the strategies I'm going to use to manage harder days and boredom post RNY....

do you any of you have helpful ideas about what helps?

Try to have something calorie-free/carbonation free to drink nearby, so when the urge to snack hits, you drink instead - this will also help you get your recommended fluid intake! Infused water, herbal teas, crystal light, etc...

I haven't had surgery yet but as sily as it sounds when I was "dieting" I would brush my teeth when I had the tempation to eat something I knew I shouldn't. I knew that if I brushed my teeth whatever I wanted to put in my mouth wouldn't taste good with fresh breath.
I know it's silly but worked for me.

good for you, for recognizing what you were doing, and for stopping yourself.

I find that writing things down, and committing to write them down, GOOD OR BAD helps. Before i eat something i say "do i really want to admit that i ate this????"

distraction - something active, preferably.

not having crap in your house to eat.

having a buddy system. (your hubby would probably be a help there)

talk to someone. your hubby, come on to OH, something like that.

good luck. YOu can do this!!!

I do get bored with what I drink - I can't stand crystal light now, so I've moved on to other things.  Eventually I'll get bored with them and go back to crystal light, maybe they'll have more flavors I like by then.  Right now I'm buying the flavored calorie free water at the superstore and Walmarts version of crystal light - I like their iced tea. 

I started about 6 months before my surgery really paying attention to what I eat and we went thru the kitchen and got rid of all the crap - lots of it went to the food bank.   From there we started being more aware of what we ate, I stopped drinking my beloved diet coke etc. 

Usually hot drinks really decrease my need to eat now.  But honestly, my hunger is almost vanished.  And when I do feel like I need something more than what's on my eating plan it's on a day when I have excercised a little more and my body is physically hungry.  It's really an amazing tool.  Also protien really makes you fuller longer so even more reasons to focus on the protien.  Just recently I tried the 100 cal popcorn pack and it was a nice treat.  I love popcorn and I was so happy that it agreed with me too.
Donna