Planned Splurges Getting Out of Hand

Hi All,

I've been rather quiet for awhile, but I have been doing rather well
these past work week (averaging about 1200-1500 a day!) because I ate
substantial breakfasts, a hearty lunch, and decent-sized snacks
throughout the day, so by dinner time I ate very little and did not
feel the urge to graze throughout the cupboards at all. I had two
social commitments this week that involved food, and I had planned to
splurge a bit during these events. The thing is, I went overboard a
little bit. Yesterday my friends and I ordered four entrees, and I ate
the majority of the four. And today there was a party and I had two
small turkey sandwiches, two grilled veggie kabobs, one chicken kabob,
TWO pieces of cheesecake, and five pieces of rugulach. Yes. This wasn't
too great. I am thinking the Thai food was a little over 2000 calories
and today's disaster yielded me perhaps 2000 more calories. That's over
one pound of calories eaten within a day. I did, however, exercise for
3.5 hours today, and I probably burned around 1300-1500 calories doing
it. I am planning to exercise again tomorrow for about four hours, so I
can keep my calories in check.

I have such a sweet tooth. I mean, I like fruit and all, but when
cheesecake presents itself to me, I am much more interested in its
offerings than what fruit might be able to give me. I don't know how to
control my "splurges," instead of splurging they turn out to be more
like out of control binges. Help!

HS.

146/136/130.

I have that problem, most recently on a dinner out last night. I've been
thinking about it today and I think one possible answer could be to define
what the splurge is, i.e. how far we intend to take it. That way we can know
when we are about to cross the line.

One idea I had was just to have 'one' of everything, you know, like one
turkey sandwich, one vegetable kabab, one chicken kabab, one piece of
cheesecake, one glass of wine etc. It may still be a bigger than normal meal
but it should cut calories dramatically. It's also good socially because you
are seen to be trying everything.

But I agree it's a frustrating problem. I feel that if I could lick this my
eating problems would be over.

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:55:55 GMT, "BCJ" wrote:

I have that problem, most recently on a dinner out last night. I've been
thinking about it today and I think one possible answer could be to define
what the splurge is, i.e. how far we intend to take it. That way we can know
when we are about to cross the line.

One idea I had was just to have 'one' of everything, you know, like one
turkey sandwich, one vegetable kabab, one chicken kabab, one piece of
cheesecake, one glass of wine etc. It may still be a bigger than normal meal
but it should cut calories dramatically. It's also good socially because you
are seen to be trying everything.

But I agree it's a frustrating problem. I feel that if I could lick this my
eating problems would be over.

It's interesting that you use the expression to"cross the line",
because I know exactly what this means but I guess for some people it
isn't an issue in quite that way. It probably resonates most with
those of us who are given to all or nothing behaviour- either staying
on track or bingeing.

I find that planning ahead to go slightly off plan in a managed way is
a strategy that for me stands a much better chance of success than
being taken unawares and giving in at the last moment. Here I'm
defining success as managing to get back on track at the next meal as
if nothing special had happened. The alternative would be to not only
go on to eat everything in sight, but in many cases to carry on
overeating for weeks before I can get back on the wagon.

The interesting thing is, to the outsider I would have been seen to
eat exactly the same food up to and including the point where I first
went off my plan, but inside my head the two approaches to the same
thing would have been worlds apart.

I wonder if this makes sense to anyone else.

janice

Here I'm defining success as managing to get back on track at the next meal
as
if nothing special had happened.

That's an incredibly good point and one I'd like to adopt. The alternative
is to go on overeating for days, as you say, which has been my habit, or to
try to compensate for the 'breach' by dramatically cutting
calories/increasing exercise for a day or two, which is likely to cause
further disruptive reverberations in your eating patterns over the following
days.

I see for myself 'crossing the line' is merely an excuse to blow the whole
day away, or sometimes a few days. For some it may be an excuse for a whole
week of overeating. But you're right. Just get the next meal right.

On 23 Jan 2005 00:35:22 -0800, "Her Subj."
wrote:

I did, however, exercise for
3.5 hours today, and I probably burned around 1300-1500 calories doing
it. I am planning to exercise again tomorrow for about four hours, so I
can keep my calories in check.

I don't think it's a really great idea to view exercise as a way to
atone for overeating. It's making it too much like a penance, whereas
it should be a normal and enjoyable part of your life. I'd recommend
just getting back in step with your regular habits after a splurge,
not feeling like you need to do something extreme. This can set up a
bad cycle that makes you repeat it -- like, you exercised so much that
now you're starving and feeling sorry for yourself, or like you
deserve a treat, so you splurge again.

Chris
262/134/(130-140)
started dieting July 2002, maintaining since June 2004

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 13:35:47 GMT, "BCJ" wrote:

Here I'm defining success as managing to get back on track at the next meal
as
if nothing special had happened.

That's an incredibly good point and one I'd like to adopt. The alternative
is to go on overeating for days, as you say, which has been my habit, or to
try to compensate for the 'breach' by dramatically cutting
calories/increasing exercise for a day or two, which is likely to cause
further disruptive reverberations in your eating patterns over the following
days.

I see for myself 'crossing the line' is merely an excuse to blow the whole
day away, or sometimes a few days. For some it may be an excuse for a whole
week of overeating. But you're right. Just get the next meal right.


Exactly! This is what worked for me :-). In all the time I spent
losing my excess weight and maintaining it so far, I've never
compensated for a splurge with a day of overexercising or
semi-starvation; I've always just gone back on plan. Getting out of
the "punishment" mindset is important, I think, as it's just the flip
side of the "reward" mindset -- also something to be avoided. Don't
reward yourself with food; don't punish yourself with starvation or
exercise. Just try to live each day right, plan in some treats, and
some rest days from exercise. Get it right 90% of the time and don't
fret about the other 10%.

Chris
262/134/(130-140)
started dieting July 2002, maintaining since June 2004

"janice" wrote in message

I find that planning ahead to go slightly off plan in a managed
way is
a strategy that for me stands a much better chance of success than
being taken unawares and giving in at the last moment. Here I'm
defining success as managing to get back on track at the next meal
as
if nothing special had happened. The alternative would be to not
only
go on to eat everything in sight, but in many cases to carry on
overeating for weeks before I can get back on the wagon.

I think getting back on track at the very next meal is success.

The interesting thing is, to the outsider I would have been seen
to
eat exactly the same food up to and including the point where I
first
went off my plan, but inside my head the two approaches to the
same
thing would have been worlds apart.

I wonder if this makes sense to anyone else.

I think I can understand.

Moira, the Faerie Godmother

I think we all do this from time to time, and for me just before TOM is
the big risk time, because I get utterly ravenous and nothing fills me.

When I do overdo it I have a liquid day - just soup made with leeks or
even plain chicken broth until dinner time, or herb tea with sweetener,
but as much of these as I want. Plenty of water. That rebalances
things. Put in a bit of extra cardio, too. The great thing is to climb
right back on the wagon the day AFTER that.
--
Jane Lumley