I've been doing LC off and on since 1999--did really well and lost 20lbs, kept it off for several years. Then I got lazy and gained it all back, plus 20 more. It seems that I'm now an emotional eater (never was before) and I need help taking my mind off food. Hoping you guys might have some advice for me. Also, need to know how people handle the maintenace phase of the plan once goal weight is reached (had problems here before). I'll enjoy meeting you!

Hi Laura. I'm new to the organized LCE too. Keeping your mind off food... that's probably been my problem most of my adult life. Always felt if I just had to feed myself it would be easier but planning, preparing meals for others especially those who have no problem with carbs always made it difficult. Having things that I can eat easily, quickly that are LC foods has been what has made my past two weeks very good. I also keep various LC books around to pick up when I have a few free moments. I am home all day so I have to keep food I don't want to eat but may be tempted to in a pinch - out of sight. I was never much of a celery eater but find I enjoy it as filling and crunchy snack if I'm not really hungry but want something. I also keep my water glass filled and by my desk all day long. I work at my kitchen counter at home. Probably not a great place to spend my days alone but my computer hook up is there and my little TV for background company. One more thing I do that I think helps is I keep a spiral notebook and each page is a days worth of everything I put in my mouth (except cigarettes). and then I transfer it to a program someone here told me about called Fitday. I love the charts and graphs it makes for me! Good Luck and nice to meet you here.

Welcome, Laura.

Which plan are you following?

Hope you'll make yourself at home here.

__________________

Laura. Recognizing that you are an emotional eater is the first step in dealing with the problem because you are eating for a reason other than that you are actually hungry. What I have found is that by eating good meals regularly, I am better able to avoid binges of emotional eating because I know that I won't be actually hungry between meals. That does not mean that I won't feel an occasional "hunger twinge" between meals when I think I want something. However, because of the regular eating pattern, after having a glass of water or a diet soft drink, I am able reason with myself that I am not actually hungry and I can look forward to my next meal. That brings me to another issue you raised, thinking about food all the time. What I do is plan my meals in advance. Each day, before I have breakfast, I have planned my meals for that day. Actually I plan a weeks worth of meals at a time so I can do any advance preparation to make them easier. In addition, I plan meals around foods and dishes that I like. Therefore, meals become something I look forward to and knowing that I am going to have something that I like at the next meal helps keep me from snacking between meals and "reasoning" with myself when those psychological "hunger twinges" strike.

__________________
Henry

Hi all. I am following the Atkins plan. Thanks for making me feel welcome here. I'm really looking forward to trying some of the ideas that you suggested. I think planning my meals does work--I notice that I run into trouble when I get busy and forget at night to make sure that I have something for lunch the next day--will have to work on that. Keeping a food diary is not my favorite thing, but I can see how valuable it is--so I'll give that a whirl. Will also check out fitday--I love charts and graphs too! Have a good day!

Glad to have you with us, Laura. My brain is not processing anything "insightful" today, so I'm going to leave it at the welcome.

__________________

Welcome, Laura! Glad to "see" a new face around here.

__________________
Nita