How do you keep the momentum going?

[BC]

Good for you Carolyn. Absolutely stacking the deck in your environment in your favor really, really helps. Whatever you need to do to give a different way of being some time to grow roots, and to clear out the carbolated brain is very, very good. The more tools in your toolbox, and the more supportive people in your corner, the better. You're on your way!

[QueenMama]

It does get easier to ignore that voice, and eventually it just becomes a whisper. I can now go to a lunch or dinner and totally ignore the desserts - a few short years ago that wouldn't have been the case. It's really a matter of remembering that those foods are poison for us, and that it's not worth that small moment in our mouth, because it will wreak havoc with our entire body.

That's why I like coming here - we get support, encouragement, and ideas for keeping on track. I've learned so much, and it's really helped to keep me from straying. Much thanks to all those who have been here for me.

[CarolynInTexas]

I can keep the momentum best when I have everything pre-prepped.... lunches, breakfasts, and menus for the weeks dinners... snacks are prepped.and planned... having this done, it is hard for me to fail unless I get one of those days when I dont want what I have brought with me to work....Tho those are not coming since I am really committed this time around... that is another thing, you really have to be ready to change your way of eating... not just for a little, but for the rest of your life....
carolyn

[BC]

You're absolutely right, Carolyn!

[CarolynInTexas]

prepped food this weekend for the week, boiled eggs, took out some veggie soup, and some taco meat in the freezer for lunches...I have shrimp and hamburger patties already cooked for the week dinners.... salad...a little yogurt and some blackberries for snack/deserts....

I find it much easier to get thru days with I have my food plan all ready taken care of and I don't have to think about what to eat.
carolyn
onward

[QueenMama]

Keeping your momentum on the woe is kind of like keeping your momentum on a bicycle. You do a lot of pedaling, keeping your eye on the road, watching out for traffic, but once in awhile you can coast a bit, enjoy the scenery, but then it's back to pedaling again, perhaps uphill, staying focused on the ride, until you get to another spot where you can coast a bit.

Same thing with our eating. We pull out our books, read the plan over again, buy our food, prepare our menu, do that for a bit, lose some, and then we coast a bit, perhaps not planning so much, enjoying our meals and the way we feel, and then we find we've come to a hill, (a plateau, or a major cheat, or refocusing on our plan), and we start pedaling hard again, paying attention to the traffic and bumps in the road, avoiding the problem areas, staying focused.

When you're biking, if you don't have the occasional coasting time, sitting back and enjoying the ride, you'll burn out, and get off that bike and stop riding. Same with low carb. If you don't enjoy the food, take time to really look at what you are eating, savoring the meals, but are just eating to get to the end of your ride, then you'll get off that plan, and stop eating low carb.

Did that make sense to anybody but me?

[hdyhouse]

Makes sense to me Nita. That is essentially what I did. When I started, I realized that if this was truly going to be a WOE that I could follow for life, I would have to find enough good recipes that I could make so that I would truly enjoy eating. If you like what you are eating, it makes staying on plan a whole lot easier. I also like to try new dishes to see if they are something I would like to work into my menu planning. In fact, I still get excited about trying a new l/c recipe.

[QueenMama]

Or when you see a recipe on a cooking show, figuring out how to make it low carb. Some of my favorites recipes have been converted from a regular recipe to a low carb recipe, sometimes just by substituting one or 2 ingredients. There's a sort of satisfaction when you make a dish that comes out so good that non-low-carbers can't tell that you've tinkered with it.

[hdyhouse]

One of the things that I also did, especially after I got comfortable with l/c cooking techniques, was to convert many of my favorite non-l/c recipes to low carb. Many times the changes are very minor. For example, one of my favorite summer dishes is a taco salad. We had been making it for over 20 years using a low fat commercial salad dressing. However, when I found Heintz 1 carb ketchup, I realized that using the ketchup and liquid splenda, I could make a l/c sweet french/catalina dressing that was just like the original home made salad dressing we used for the recipe, before we went "low fat" for 20 years. As a result, I am now able to enjoy my weekly taco salads from May through September.

[CarolynInTexas]

Henry, I have taco salads all the time... I however don't use any salad dressing... I will use lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, taco meat (beef or turkey made with a taco mix packet), cheese, (sometimes olives, or artichoke hearts), some avocado if I have some, then I use sour cream and salsa as a dressing....of course, we have tons of mexican restaurants here in austin, and can get that at most places, just don't eat the shell....

Taco salads are one of my lunch to work staples... I will make up a bunch of the meat and then portion it out and freeze it... in fact I have some in the fridge now that defrosted on sunday....

I have kept from using lc recipies for my sweet treats.... if I went that route, would be disaster ... just like the peanut butter cookies I learned to make a couple years ago (its just peanut butter, splenda and an egg) Just wanted to eat them all the time and not just one or two....
so, before I get into doing more of that, I want to see a significant loss....
on my way to there...
carolyn

[hdyhouse]

Carolyn, you are absolutely right to avoid "trigger foods" that lead to uncontrolled eating. Nuts are a "trigger food" for me. I think everybody brings a set of eating habits with them when they start a l/c WOE. I think there is a certain comfort level in those habits, for better or for worse. Of course, you have to stop some habits, and learn new habits. However, if you can adapt a former habit to be compatible with a l/c WOE, it creates a sense of familiarity that facilitates the transition from "diet" to a true WOE. For example, having a sweet french type dressing as part of my taco salad was a flavorful taste combination that I was used to. When I tried a taco salad without the dressing, it was not the same, not bad, just not the same. I can a do eat a taco salad w/o dressing when I am out, but it is a different dish for me. Having my l/c dressing to use on taco salads and spinach salads creates a continuity of pleasurable tastes I was used to that I can continue to enjoy while following this WOE. I am not adverse to finding new pleasurable tastes, but if I can retain old ones too, it makes it easier to maintain this WOE and not feel like I am giving up anything.

[CarolynInTexas]

I have to remember that those trigger foods will always be there... I understand adapting food, but what usually happens to me is that I will eat the "new lc version" and it only makes me want the "real thing" again....so if I just keep those items out of my mind by not eating them - or substitutes- than I am happier and healthier....just how my body/mind is working at this point....

[QueenMama]

Carolyn, it's really a big step when we come to the realization that even "legal" versions of foods can trigger cravings, that we can easily overeat those foods, and that it's usually best to just avoid them altogether. Some low carbers never do this, they feel they have to have those treats in order to stick to their plan. Really, though, I think that those who avoid those treats, or who use them as only rare, occasional treats, do better in the long run.

[babybluejay1]

Those darn trigger foods! I can't keep mine in my home because they call for me. I got a thank you from the head boss at my DH work today for all the treats I often bring in. My reasons aren't truly unselfish because these foods are junk. My boys are good and understanding knowing that birthday cakes, holiday goodies, grandma's deserts will only be here tonight...that is all I can stand...next day left overs are taken with DH to work. Grandma doesn't know I do this because she wouldn't understand but I know she would feel bad if she was part of the reason one of us developed heart disease or diabetes right? Keep on doing what is right for you!