Soon I'll need to weigh on 2 scales and add the numbers. If keep gaining!

[Glenda]

I read the self discipline comments.  But I've been working so hard on my decluttering and bamboo yard work I feel I DESERVE  to eat what I want.  I guess it isn't a reward to gain weight.  It isn't a treat.  Right?   If you don't eat junk for a long time you forget the appeal of it.  When I start in on flour foods I just want more and more it seems.   I have to get my head right again.  I hate being fat.   You would be blown away by how clean, organized and emptier  my garage is though.

[AmandaGeorge]

It sounds like you've been working hard to get your garage sorted out, @Glenda!  You can, of course, eat what you want, but you need to gradually lessen how often you have those rewards and how much of them you have each time.

We used to have two take-aways a day, every day, but now it's a rare treat that's a genuine reward for something big that we've done and it's only a couple of times a month, tops, instead of every meal.  Don't deny yourself, but instead of having a whole large pizza for lunch with ice cream for pud, maybe still have the large pizza, but leave a couple of slices for your next meal or even the next day or something?  We had sandwiches for lunch and were going to have some chocolate cake for pud, but we're both stuffed just from our sandwiches and we've agreed to keep the cake for our tea instead.  We couldn't have done that 18 months ago... it's hard but sooo worth it!

[AmandaGeorge]

Also, have those floury treats, but cook them at home instead of having them as a take-away - we still have pizza, for example, but we buy them from the supermarket instead of a take-away place and there are significantly fewer calories in them too... just one slice of a take-away pizza is the same as a quarter of the entire home-cooked pizza but the only difference is that the one you cook at home isn't ladled with fat and calories and you get to control exactly how stringy the cheese is, how much oil you use on the tray you cook it on and you get to decide exactly which toppings you want on it too.

Bribe yourself if you have to - I had to with Steve initially - his favourite sweets are fudge and Creme Eggs so I invested in a pack of 15 Creme Eggs and said that he could have one Creme Egg on Friday night if he cooked for us every day during the week then he would get his second of the week on Sunday evening if he cooked both days of the weekend.  The rule was that if he didn't cook for just one meal then he wouldn't get his Creme Egg.  When the Creme Eggs were almost finished, I invested in a multipack of fudge fingers.  It seemed to work for him 'cos he missed one single reward and he reliably cooks every day now.  To celebrate his newly refound love of and motivation to cook for us, I invested in one final box of fudge squares for him and he was allowed the whole box to himself on the Sunday of the final week of the bribery.

It's far from easy, but it's sooo worth it if you stick with it.

[Glenda]

I thought all of your suggestions were good.  Smaller servings and fewer each day and more restraint at the grocery should do it.  Tomorrow I'm safe, since my daughter and I will be  painting her extra house for her in-laws to move into.    Being active or busy is better than sitting around eating one thing after another for sure.      I do make a sort-of Pizza at home with  low carb, high fiber 50 calorie tortilla cut up for a "crust" .  And instead of ice cream I have frozen blueberries and greek yogurt with artificial sweeteners.    Even with low cal stuff I guess you can overdo but I like sugar free jello with a small handful of fiber one cereal tossed in just before eating it and fat free real spray can whipped cream on top.  Probably cool whip would be just as good. ??  Thank you for suggestions.