FatCat92

Hi,

I am new to FitDay. My dr told me to lose 120 lbs overall and to lose 20lbs by the end of the first week of July. I started with a food journal - which is a big step for me since I am not fond of writing things down and accounting for every little bit. I am also trying to cut down on fat, sugar, and simple carbs. I got grossed out when I saw a youtube video on what happens when sugar (and high fructose corn syrup) is metabolized. I never realized that sugar is digested as fat and that a lot of diets that are commonly thought of as low fat are not since fat is often replaced with sugar, which then turns into fat as it is metabolized. I really don't like sugar replacements (with the possible exception of stevia) as they have unpleasant health side effects, like turning into formaldehyde during digestion. Anyway, what techniques could I use to combat sugar/chocolate cravings? Sometimes the cravings get really bad and I don't want to give in to them.

desertmountain

It's not you it's the bbs cc1158. Half of the time when I post it takes me to a blank page (it's fully loaded/the browser shows that it's finished loading the page) & the post never gets posted when I go back to the forum. So I've learned to use my back button (when that blank page appears after a post) to take me back to the page where you write the post and then I click on the other 'submit reply' button (either one, usually one of the 2 will make it work). Anyways I keep doing this until it returns me to the thread & it shows that the post has actually been posted.
I haven't used Alli for the same reason that Almeeker stated. If you're eating 'bad' fats I would give it a go since they do help ppl lose weight faster, but if you're eating low fat & only eat healthy fats like Almeeker & me then it's only going to cause you miss out on the essential fatty acids that our bodies need. Alli is the same chemical that they used to use (they may still use it) in those low fat potato chips. When Lay's came out with those years & years ago I had a pretty bad (and ugly LOL) digestive reaction to them. If they would absorb other types of calories I'd be all over those little suckers LOL.
Yeah...a cake & pastry absorber.

desertmountain

HI FatCat92 & welcome to Fitday. Once you make Fitday part of your routine you'll find it easy to track every bite. Seriously, it's helped me more than I can say. As for the sugar replacement, you'll have to use Stevia or fruit. If you can spare the calories you may look into the natural sweeteners that aren't low calorie, but are metabolized differently than sugar like Agave syrup. I never used sugar substitutes until about 3 months ago & now I appreciate how just a small glass of diet soda or a little sugar-free jello will quiet the sweet cravings & not blow my calorie allotment for the day like fruit used to. Also, fruit and the natural sugars make the cravings worse for me whereas the fake sweeteners have helped to tame them. Some ppl get a 'sugar rebound' from the fake stuff, but I'm lucky that I don't get that.

almeeker

Go ahead and give in a little, in the long run it will help keep you on track better than depriving yourself will. I have a chocolate problem too. What I do is to let myself have a single bite. We keep a collection of individually wrapped chocolates in the house. So I let myself have 1, and let it melt slowly in my mouth. But I also have to make sure that I do that while I send myself off to do a chore that takes me away from the stash and keeps me away for 20-30 minutes. I also have to drink a glass of water before and after. It sounds nuts, but it works. The craving goes away and I only have to log 10-30 calories (depending on the candy). I've also had success with Werther's chocolate candies, which are hard candy, but I use them the same way and they take longer to melt. Believe me if you go without chocolate for 3-4 weeks, that Werther's bite will taste good enough you might eat the wrapper too. Another thing I do is keep sugar free chocolate pudding cups in the house, they have 60-100 calories each and the ones I buy at the health food store are sweetened with Stevia. Another good chocolate source is to make a mocha in the morning. I'll dump almost anything chocolate flavored in my coffee, but your best bet is half a chocolate protein shake, a scoop of chocolate whey powder or a packet of sugar free hot cocoa mix. Oh and the Skinny Cow and Weight Watcher fudge-sicles are good too. You can get healthy, lose weight and still get your daily chocolate fix honey.

desertmountain

Bummer, I feel your pain. Mine is too short for them to fix, too. I've been telling myself that it'll grow out & then I'm going someplace else to get the cut that I really want. There's a Lyrica (since I have fibromyalgia I paid close attention to the ad) ad with an older woman clothes designer & I want her hair cut. I can't find the ad on the Internet otherwise I'd grab a couple of pics of her to take with me. I was thinking that my hairdresser just blew off what I said & did what she wanted, but maybe it is what you said, that she didn't know how & just did what she could with the knowledge base that she had.

almeeker

Why don't you try and take a picture of it with your camera? My kids take pics of the TV - ALL THE TIME, and for the most part they are clear enough to see the people.

I find more and more often that the younger hairdressers don't understand what I want. No offense to the younger crowd. I know what I want is not the latest fashion, but the new styles with all the layers in the back, um, yeah that is basically committing me to an hour over the hair every morning, which I don't have time for and my hair will never hold anyway. My hair has some natural wave to it, but when it's long it's so heavy that it's straight. However when you start putting layers in it - LOOK OUT. Because the shorter it is the curlier it gets. Whenever I have layers I always end up with this ring of poof around my head with scraggly bits hanging out below that flip up no matter what you do to them. It's awful. Hopefully I can get it fixed before my cousin's wedding on May 1st.

cc1158

thanks so much for the information, some meals I'm eating are higher fat so I'm using the Alli on those, so far the reaction hasn't been bad but I'm only taking one a day.
thanks also for the posting advice.

Made it down to 279 somehow that one lb feels so much better than the last one.
After reading about the bad hair experiences I'm almost afraid to get a cut and perm this week but my hairdresser's been working on me for years and hasn't messed me up yet. It's my reward for almost getting to 25 lbs off.

speedyfair

it's official- this morning I was down to 255 have lost 50lbs so far and thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support. You have no idea how many times I have come to this board to read how everyone is doing and going thru the same struggles- and no one judges me - it's my cravings fixer.

Skinnyerinn- I too understand the underlying issues of the weight, I have done a lot of soul searching on this journey as well and I have had a weight problem most of my life. I think I used food as a shield to protect myself from life and then comfort myself when my life was not what I wanted- it was a vicious cycle of eating to feel better and then hating that I ate. My goal thru this has been to change my lifestyle and that not only involves food and diet, but taking chances and doing some things out of my comfort zone.

desertmountain so sorry about your haircut- I had a lady once cut my hair to about two inches - I cried and have not let anyone cut it short since. It does grow back though and eating healthy will only make it grow longer and stronger than ever.

Welcome to all the new friends - so glad you are all here, it really is motivating and informative to discuss this journey with others.

hope everyone had a great weekend- time for a bowl of my homemade vegetable soup. back on track this week LOL

hiddenhope

Happy Monday. I read of everyones posts more than I will most likely post. I did good today and think I ate well. I work in an office that has alot of munchie days, birthdays and random for any reason goodies around not the best environment for weightloss by far but am ignorring it. I walked on my lunch despite having foot pain today. I need to cut down my coffee and drink more water. Is there a specific weigh in day or just weekly as we wish? I usually weigh in sunday mornings to see any weekend damage and make an adjustment. I have good feelings about this because I am not going to embrace an all or nothing mentality on this journey. It is a lifestyle change for good. That means I can have things I enjoy but in moderation and taking into account if my glucose readings allow them at the moment. I had dinner out this weekend, I decided that I would order what I liked but eat less. I ate half the steak, all the broccoli, half of the potatoes and my dinner came with dessert so I had a friend eat most of it, I had 3 or 4 spoonfulls it was delicious and then felt good that I tasted it but didnt need to eat more of it. I do tend to subsitute coffee in exchange for rich or decadent foods I would rather eat which tends to lead to me drinking alot of coffee on bad temptation days and that is my major downfall. I use stevia and non dairy fat free creamer in my coffee. Anyway off to fill in my food log/workout logs. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Hope

started 256/current 251/short term goal 199/ long term goal 120. (will decide once I get there if I want to go to 105).

amylee32

Way to go Speedy!! That's AWESOME!

I had a dinner meeting after work tonight. I figured I couldn't do too much damage because I figured there would be a decent salad or chicken breast on the menu. Umm, no. The salads they had were full of unhealthy junk and they refused to put dressing on the side. Not sure why?? So, I ate pork tenderloin (grilled), sweet potato fries and green beans. I asked if the fries were baked or deep fried and I THOUGHT they said baked, but my co-worker said she heard fried. Of course, she mentioned this AFTER I had eaten half. I double checked with the waiter, and sure enough they were deep fried. Crap. Oh, and they ordered appetizers before which I participated in eating. They ordered spinach and artichoke dip on bread (yum) and calamari. I ate 2 small pieces of the bread and dip. Sigh. I tried the calamari and almost choked. Ew. I don't recommend it. I hate when I eat the wrong things. I feel miserable and am very hard on myself. But, on a good point, several of my coworkers noticed I am losing weight. Logically I know I didn't undo all my hard work in one night, but I am so afraid of falling into my bad habits again. I am almost scared to weigh myself in the morning now. Oh well, tomorrow's a new day.

Have a good night everyone!