A new NOPE

[SarahP]

Today is Day 1 of my diet.

I’ve had two epiphanies since quitting smoking. First is the role that “fear” has played in my life, and how many decisions I’ve made (or passive-aggressively NOT made) based on fear of failure. Second, and hand-in-hand with fear, is that “junkie thinking” applies to more than just addiction. We lie to ourselves and make excuses all the time for things we don’t want to face, don’t want to deal with. Facing these demons to quit smoking has opened my eyes and I am now facing these same demons in other areas of my life. Some of you read my blog about learning to ride a motorcycle; here’s another.

My weight struggles – the same junkie thoughts and excuses apply to my food issues as to quitting smoking. I can no longer kid myself that “it’s only a few pounds” or “I’ll be more active this summer and the weight will drop off” or the million other excuses I’ve lived on for the last few years. Is my weight that bad? No, I’m just a little chubby. But I’m on a path, I can’t deny that any longer. Every woman in my family is obese from a slow gain of 10lbs a year starting in their mid-30s. Guess where I am.

So I’m treating it like quitting smoking – I’ve analyzed my food triggers, made a plan, listed all the reasons I have for losing weight (which are all summarized by a picture of my mother from behind), identified the traps I fall into and how I’ll deal with them differently next time, and identified the “junkie thoughts” related to food that trip me up. I’ve thought about past diets and realized they have followed the same pattern as past attempts to quit smoking – yes it was successful for a while and I lost some weight, but ultimately I got complacent and believed I could justify “just one…” which put me on the path back to my old eating habits, and the weight slowly but surely came back on. Just like quitting smoking, losing weight is a lifestyle change, not a single event, and I have to re-learn how to do things.

NOPE gets me through my days without smoking (157 and counting), and now it will help me lose weight, too. Not One PopTart Ever.  J

[MarcieWhosoever]

haha not one poptart! Thats funny.

I went to doc yesterday for my wrists. They weighed me and I forced myself to look. WHOA! Holy cow!

yup same here, cant fool myself any longer. Its gotten very out of control. I dont really over eat, I usually only eat 1 or 2 times a day. But for me its food choices and MAJOR LACK of exercise! I said after I was settled in my new home I would work on myself. I think Im with you Sarah! Lets do this!

My favorite foods are prob one of the worse ones ever! BACON AND CHEESE! YUMMY!

[SaraSmile]

Love your post, thanks for sharing!  I am 10.5hrs into my quit and was worried about the weight gain so reading this really helped me.  Good idea looking at both the same way AND I LOVED and LOL'D at the "Not One Poptart Ever"!!

[SarahP]

@Marcie -- bacon and cheese, yummmmm!  I'm like you, it's not the quantity of food I eat, it's the quality. Oh well, starting over today with a nice big salad for lunch!

@SaraSmile -- damn I wish I had thought of that user name. Congrats on your brand new quit, and be sure to focus on that for now!  You can always lose weight later -- that's where I am now, in "later". Being aware of food issues will be helpful but your primary job right now is quitting smoking!  You can do it!

@Joni -- rewarding 100 times in 156 days, yep!  Pop Tarts (hey, it's just breakfast!), fast food for lunch (I "deserve" to get out of the office for a bit), and dessert with dinner (I "deserve" a reward for quitting smoking). Sigh.

[mojo8]

Sarah great thinking I am with you, not one poptart ever.  I broke down and bought ice cream, I knew not to buy it but it was on sale and now that it is in my freezer I will eat it.  I never started this program from the beginning I was quit a few days before started here.  So now I am going back to the beginning and go through the process, thanks.

[newlife5]

my major problem is  lack of exercise too.. i have even gone out and measured  exactly how many blocks i need to run tomake a mile.... but just havent actually done it yet....

i dont eat poptarts ...so i will use  not one potato chip ever....i had a boyfriend once who refused to eat potato chips... i asked him why  he responded... potato chips are for fat people if you ever notice only fat people eat potato chips..

i have noticedd and hes right... except for  an occasional child....

there are lots of empty calories floating around out there   so now its on to our new adventure...

forward hooooo!!!!!

[Alice23]

We are all victims of ourselves. Our nicotine addiction - our transferred addictive behaviors - it's all about getting to know ourselves better.  Breaking free from nicotine and the smoking habits - has enabled us to see some other things much more clearly.

In time, we can begin to relearn a lot of new behaviors.  156 days is awesome Sarah!  I just hit 105 🙂  we are doing this thing.  I recently set a goal that there is a particular outfit that I want to be in by Thanksgiving.  I'm working toward that goal.  I truly hope to make it - if not - I sure won't smoke over it! 

Not One PopTart Ever - I LOVE IT!

I'm working on my weight via exercise and smaller portions - can't wait to see where we all are by Thanksgiving!

Thanks for your ongoing inspiration!

[whitneykay]

Hey Sarah! I totally hear you about convincing myself I 'deserve' something and then going out and having a giant burger with fries and beer. I had to seriously reconsider this thinking, and now choose to think I 'deserve' a healthy body. It's a tough transition especially in our society that is so preoccupied with a work/reward thought process. 

I find that working out realllllly helps. It helps my focus and my determination in everyday lilfe, including staying strong in my quit. Once I work that hard (on my bike, in the yoga studio, tennis court, etc) I find I dont want to ruin it by dumping a jar of crunchy peanut butter over all my hard work. It's a matter of not thinking, just DOING. If I think about working out, I'll find some BS excuse and wont do it, but if I make up my mind that between 630 and 730 I will be working out, then it's already decided. If I start thinking about other ways I could spend my time, I remind myself to shut my mouth and just do it. That way I can enjoy my food and my leisure time because I have truly earned it!

Not one Pizza Ever!

Stay strong. 

[barbt12-30-2015]

Well i'm going to Farm and Fleet to buy bigger pants my Not One ________ ever would be pretty long. I will work on that later. Love the comment......have a great day!!!!

[Ex_Nancy]

For me the P is processed food....YUK and no fattening foods!  If we can control these I think we're on the right track...@ Sarah, Poptart, lol.

[Patty70]

For me it is constant eating.  I have convinced myself that I can eat about 8 or 10 popsicles a day because they are only 30 calories each. That is on top of everything else I am eating such as mangoes and ice cream, etc.  NOPE to everything but the popsicles (baby steps).

[SarahP]

I love how many "P" items we've uncovered... pop tarts, pizza, potato chips, pecan pie, processed food, and popsicles!  Too funny!

[shakymott]

I have always liked a lot of food and wore it well, weighed 120 - 125 and height is 5'7", great metabolism.   People couldn't believe how much I ate by looking at me, hated me, j/k.  I always said I can't carry around a lot of weight.  Heck, I only gained 11 lbs. when I was pregnant, 10 in the first 3 1/2 months, then up and down 1 or 2 lbs. a month after that.

Fasttttt  Forwarddddd - Yikes!  I've gained 13 pounds since I quit smoking.  That's like carrying a gal. and a half around with me and not being able to put it down ever!   The weight gain has stopped but the problem is losing, something I've never really had to deal with.   In my case, I can't be very active either.

I think Sarah is onto something and like smoking, a commitment has to be made as far as food is concerned.   But not today because my aide brought a few "homemade"  Peanut butter brownies and regular ones!   Now that's a YUM.

[sspahn49]

You know what, if we can quit smoking we can do anything!!! Some famous words from Tommy and so true. I think you are 100% correct when you say the same principles apply, you just gotta implement them. I know I sure am struggling with the same issues of not smoking and fighting the weight. I already had 30 too many when I started my quit, but I did not gain any after I quit. Check out the website www.myfitnesspal.com. It is a great tracker for food as well as exercise and it is free. Keep us posted.