I see tweets, comments on Facebook,  and even hear person to person how people cheat on their diets or sneak to eat foods that they shouldn’t. Truth is, it isn’t worth it. Believe me, I have been there. I used to work at a day care center that was about 3 minutes away from McDonalds. I would go (mind you this was over 15 years ago) and eat lunch there some days. Instead of eating back at the day care, a normal lunch, with some co-workers. I would drive to McDonald’s eat a Quarter Pounder with cheese and fries, a large soda, and then also eat a pack of chicken nuggets (not a 4 count pack, a larger one). I would sit in my car and eat away. Eat away my sorrows, pain, arguments with boyfriends, problems at home, not having money, problems with school. Anything that caused me bad stress I would eat it all away at McDonalds, in my car, where no one could see the amount of food I was piling over top of my stress.

Eating for me, is an addiction. Some people drink alcohol, some drugs, some have sex, gamble, and some work.

For me, it is FOOD. I eat when I am happy, I eat when I am sad, I eat to celebrate, I eat when I am full, I eat when I am hungry, I eat and eat and eat.

What I also remember about “hiding” and eating in my car is, I never felt too good when I went back to work knowing what I just did. The guilt would set in and would feel horrible. And hiding, who am I kidding, how can you hide how much you really eat when you weigh over 250 pounds. You CANNOT. They may not have seen the food itself, but anyone would know that I eat a lot by just looking at me.

Alcoholics, smokers, drug users, sex addicts, gamblers, even nail biters cannot hide it either. You can try but people can and will be able to tell. Even if not at first, eventually…

So when you cheat and sneak to do any kind of addicted behavior you may have, it never feels good. The guilt is always still there.

To me, food addiction is one of, if not, THE hardest addiction to overcome.  After all, if your an alcoholic, you can go to support groups, and get help, and yes I know it is tough, but if you never buy another alcoholic beverage or product with alcohol in it, you do not have to. If your strong enough to never shoot up, smoke or snort another drug, and get help, you never have to buy another drug ever again. And you can put yourself in situations where you do not ever go around or to places where these vices are happening again (ie : you don’t have to goto a bar, liquor store, parties, crack house, etc.)

But with food, it is a beast that you cannot survive without.

Now, that being said, I can stay away from McDonalds, or places where maybe not so healthy food is being served.  And I can buy only healthy foods for home.  But, food addicts cannot just put the fork down and say, I will never eat again.

It just cannot happen. We need food and water to survive.

So the beast of food addiction is there,  it is everywhere.  If you think of every event in your life, pretty much food is present.

And usually it isn’t healthy food.

Birthday cakes, Wedding cakes, picnics, reunions, conferences, vacations, holidays, funerals, work parties, sporting events, baby showers, and many many more events. Food is there. If you do not eat, people wonder what is wrong with you (or what is wrong with their food).

It is so so so hard.

The same people who wonder why you aren’t eating their “wonderful pasta salad” are the same people who wonder how you got so fat.  And why you aren’t doing something about it. The same people who tell you that you need to lose weight are the same ones who bring dessert to Christmas dinner.

Whole lifestyle changes is the only route you can take.

You have to eat in moderation. And if you can put your self in an alcoholics shoes for a split second, that would be like telling them to just drink 1 drink. It is almost impossible. I have lots of friends and relatives that are alcoholics and/or recovering alcoholics. I know a person in my family has to watch what mouthwash to use because of alcohol content.

The truth is, they cannot even drink a sip of alcohol or they can chance getting right back to being a drinker.

So, how can I tell myself, to never eat 1 more bite of food ? … I cannot.

When I am eating healthy and moderately and then I do cheat and sneak in a piece of cake I feel like such a fat loser. It is horrible.

I know in my mind I am only cheating on myself and my family.  I HATE the feeling.

I have decided to really give more thought into what I am eating, how much, why, and how It will make me feel in the future (after I eat it).  With hopes it will help me arrange in my head what I am doing and why. And hopefully after I answer these questions, I will be able to make a better decision to what I eat and help in my weight loss and relieve me of the guilt and stress of the guilt.

I know this is going to be a very VERY long road for me, but others have gone before me and have accomplished it. Everyone’s life path is different and everyone’s travels hard at times. And I have to keep thinking it has taken me 35 years to get this fat, and it should hopefully take me less to lose it.  I have to keep thinking about the quality of my life now, and keep imagining how it will be when I have reached my goal. I think it will be a wonderful place

I know I can do this…

The Plus Size Mommy

Disclosure – All products have been supplied by Nutrisystem complimentary as part of their Nutrisystem Blogger 15 program. Views expressed here are my own.

It has been a week now since I started on my Nutrisystem Diet. The weigh in is in and I lost 2 pounds this week. I May have been able to lose more if I could’ve gotten more exercise in if I could’ve gotten out more, but we had a heat wave in Pittsburgh last week and it was VERY hot. I did go swimming with my kids at the YMCA for an hour one day but that wasn’t much. Then that caused me to have severe allergy problems and made me uncomfortable as well.
The Nutrisystem foods I have been finding, so far, to be pretty good. My only complaint I have this week is I do not like the pretzels. But everything else I have eaten taste very good. And the main part they are very filling. I know I am eating less because I can visually see it, but my stomach doesn’t know it, because it still feels full. Which is excellent! As a matter of fact the one day I wasn’t ready to eat dinner (didn’t feel hungry yet) when my family ate their dinner. And I only had the Nutrisystem desserts 4 days. I just wasn’t hungry after dinner.

I think 2 pounds is a pretty darn good start. I am using the Nutrisystem to supplement my weight loss. I know I have to still drink tons of water and exercise more. The water I have down pat, I have been drinking and drinking it all day long.
The exercise, well, I will work on that diligently.

As far as my goal goes from when I started (prior to being on the Nutrisystem program) my goal was to lose 30 pounds before Aug. when I goto Blogher10 in NY. Well, I am past the 1/2 way mark to a 17 pound total loss. 13 pounds to go, and I have about a month to do it in.
I was racing my twitter following against my weight loss too (as some of you know) and that goal was to see if I can lose 30 pounds or reach 7000 twitter followers first ?
(I was trying to get my 30 pounds off first) but both goals make me happy and accomplished.
Well, the results for that this week are – I have 6,999 Twitter followers at the current minute!
So I think the Twitter following will be first, which is wonderful! and in my heart, I believe the 13 pounds will be gone before NY too. I just need to make it happen.
And if I lose more then that is a BONUS !!! It is like the NON- Icing on the cake !!!

I will continue to keep you all up to date with my #transformationinprogress and you can follow the hashtags in Twitter to see my tweets as well. The 2 hashtags are : #transformationinprogress & #NSDiet15. You can also see the other 14 bloggers that are on the Nutrisystem diet and see what they are saying and how much they are losing too.

Also, if you are on a journey to a healthier you, please let us know. I will help cheer you on, motivate, and keep you going. I know it is hard and I know even making the decision is hard, but nothing is harder than leaving your kids parentless or your family without YOU on this Earth because your weight kills you.
We all have our struggles, no one is perfect. And YOU CAN DO THIS. WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER. There is power in numbers and we can kick our weight to the curb together and be and feel healthier and have healthier families. It will bring a better quality of life. It will be a long hard journey but in the end, well worth it !

Love to All and if you need support, just ask!!!!

The Plus Size Mommy

*Disclosure – All products have been supplied by Nutrisystem as part of their Nutrisystem15 program. Views expressed here are my own.

Congrats to the following person for winning the Suddenly Pasta Salad gift pack. The winner is : JoeyfromSC

Please email me at plussizemommy@gmail.com with “Pasta Winner” in the Subject line. I will need your name, phone # (For shipping) and address.

Please email within 48 hours to claim or another winner will be chosen (NO EXCEPTIONS).

Thank you to all who entered and to JoeyfromSC Enjoy !

The Plus Size Mommy

Disclosure – This gift pack will be sent direct from the company. I am not responsible for any damage or lost prizes via shipping.

Today is the day! I will be starting a new diet to boost my weight loss. I, along with 14 other Bloggers will be starting on a new program with Nutrisystem. I already ate my blueberry muffin this morning and I am ready to go. (by the way, the muffin was wonderful!)

I will be part of this program for 4 months and I will be documenting my success (and failures   ) while on the program. I will also share my thoughts about the food and if I am feeling hungry or satisfied.

I cannot wait to share this new journey with you.

Watch for upcoming posts updating you while I am on this great program!

You can also connect with Nurtisystem on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Nutrisystem . Nutrisystem is also active on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nutrisystem so feel free to Tweet at the team.

Along with eating Nutrisystem’s new food plan along with working out and drinking water, I cannot wait to boost my weight loss.

I am hoping the pounds will drip off with the sweat!

Here’s to a NEW ME !!!

The Plus Size Mommy

*Disclosure – All products have been supplied by Nutrisystem as part of their Nutrisystem15 program. Views expressed here are my own.

Mrs. Wages creations bring the family together on long summer days. Mrs. Wages offers a safe, healthy and easy way to involve your little ones in preparing tonight’s dinner. Make a day out of finding the freshest ingredients in town.  Check out your local grocer or fruit stand and let your kids pick out the peaches and pineapples. Kids will love seeing the “fruit” of their labor when it all comes together in Mrs. Wages Fruit and Cilantro Salsa. Or get things cooking in your own backyard- plant your own tomatoes and cilantro for delicious additions to Mrs. Wages Guacamole!

“Mrs. Wages is the national leader in the home canning industry, and now we’re able to serve the busy consumer who wants to eat and entertain with fresh ingredients, but doesn’t have extra time to assemble multiple ingredients,” says Timothy McCreery, vice president of sales and marketing at Precision Foods.  “You just chop your tomatoes, add a packet of salsa mix, and you are on your way.  With renewed interest in shopping locally and home gardening, Mrs. Wages is an ideal way to use fresh produce to create homemade salsas and guacamole instantly and easily.”

Best of all — a packet of Mrs. Wages sells for approximately $1.49.   You can buy them online at http://store.mrswagesstore.com/instantsalsas.html “For a budget conscious consumer, you can serve homemade gourmet guacamole and salsa at your next party for just a few dollars,” say McCreery.  “And that’s something to cheer about!”

Shared by: The Plus Size Mommy