What is your biggest nutritional challenge?
It’s not going to be easy. Losing weight and learning how to eat is hard work. There are many things that could be challenging. Here are just a few:
- Portion control
- Giving in to trigger foods/binge eating
- Food allergies/sensitivities
- Not knowing WHAT to eat to be healthy or lose weight
- Unrealistic expectations for rapid weight loss
- Not eating enough
- Not getting support from people regarding your weight loss attempts
- Breaking old habits
- Negative thinking
There’s so much more that we face when we decide it’s time to lose weight. How we deal with those challenges is what makes us successful or not so much…
What are my challenges? Before I lost 110 pounds, my challenges were portion control, bingeing, and not knowing what to eat. I changed my thinking, I told myself I CAN DO THIS, and I did. I did not have unrealistic expectations about how long it would take to lose the weight–I knew it would be a hard journey–and I was lucky to get support for almost everyone in my life.
And then I lost the weight and the challenges changed a bit. Portion control was still the devil on my shoulder, but I had gotten a handle on the binge eating. I’d broken the bad habits I had and learned what to eat.
So what about you? What are your challenges and what can you do to change that?
Now the CHALLENGE:
I challenge every single one of you to remove ONE thing from your house that is causing you grief.
Candy. Cookies. Chips. Cheese. Potatoes. Bacon. Beer! …whatever your trigger food is, whatever food item is on your mind and currently in your house. Take it to your neighbor’s house as a gift, give her the box of of cookies. Take the bag of chips to work and share with coworkers. Just remove ONE of those things that are tempting you from your house for 1 week. See how you do. You might be surprised at how powerful “out of sight, out of mind” really is.
Are you in?
Michelle @ Eat Move Balance
Great idea for a challenge. I agree–it’s amazing what “out of sight, out of mind” can do to help!
Lisa Eirene
It’s simple but it WORKS.
Marc
“I challenge every single one of you to remove ONE thing from your house that is causing you grief.
Are you in?”
I’m in! But if I remove one particular son-in-law at Thanksgiving dinner, then he takes the daughter and kids with him:) Oh, what to do, what to do?
Lisa Eirene
HAHAHA…I never thought about people…but people can definitely be a challenge to good nutrition! Good luck! 🙂
Biz
I can’t have any type of pretzel/crackers/chips in the house – salty snacks are my weakness, and if they aren’t there, I am not tempted!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Lisa Eirene
My boyfriend is the same way–crunchy and salty! My weakness is sugar. Thankfully my house is pretty sugar-free right now…
Karen P
You are on!!! I have several shelves of food that need to be cleaned out from old food plans. And any and all baked goods or candy will hit the trash. Nobody needs a plate of diabetes or obesity for the holidays.
Lisa Eirene
Donate it to a food bank?
Daphne @ Daphne Alive
I don’t think anything is bothering me currently, but I certainly know it when I found a food that bothers me! I tend to stalk the kitchen when I buy triggering foods! I tend to not be mindful when I eat, so thank you for the reminder today 🙂
Lisa Eirene
No problem. 🙂
I’m the same way, when the trigger foods are in my house, I tend to stalk the kitchen too. And sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it–just grabbing bites here and there.
Manda
I’m in! I’ve struggled with portion control as well. This may sound odd, but french fries are my trigger food. I don’t keep them in my house, but we eat out at lunch a lot for work. I’m going to sub a baked potatoe when I get the craving.
Lisa Eirene
GREAT! Good for you! What about sweet potato fries?
Jess
My challenge is falling back into old habits. The sitting on the couch and eating chocolate habit is how I got fat in the first place, so I try and avoid doing it when possible. I also struggle with knowing what to eat, especially if I’m not in the mood for anything but junk (which happens sometimes). I press on and I do my best, which is all I can do!
Lisa Eirene
Yep! Falling into old habits is easy to do. It’s comfortable, it’s easy, it’s familiar. Good for you doing your best.
Deb
I already will not buy any of the foods I love to snack on- there aren’t here, so there’s no temptation. Cheez-Its? If I buy them I will eat the whole box in one sitting. Baked goods? I bake them and give almost all of them to the neighbors. Love baking, but I also love stuffing them into my face.
Unfortunately my biggest challenge with eating is if food is siting out, I feel like I *have* to eat it. Like there is no other option. My plan for tomorrow? To stay out back in my craft room working as long as humanly possible to avoid seeing the food that will be around all day.
Lisa Eirene
I understand that, Deb. If food is sitting out (buffets, parties, snacks etc) it’s REALLY hard to resist. Especially today, Thanksgiving. There will be appetizers out all afternoon while the turkey cooks. It’s difficult for me not to snack for hours mindlessly!
suzanne
I’d have to say that anything will chocolate can set me off! I very rarely have it in the house for that reason.
One of my busiest challenges is to listen to my body. To know when enough is enough!
Lisa Eirene
Yes! Chocolate is a hard one!!
Annie Miller
My biggest problem would be portion control. I find it hard to balance the amount of food I eat. It’s a dilemma that I really want to be solved. Maybe I could learn some great techniques on how to know the right amount of food to eat.
Lisa Eirene
That’s a challenge for me too. I’ve always wanted to eat more than I should. My advice for portion control is measuring. Measure out a serving and then put the bag away and don’t get seconds. If you’re at a restaurant, ask for them to bring a box with the food and immediately put half in the box for leftovers. THen you won’t be tempted to eat all of it at once.