Well, this is really making me unhappy!! I can get so excited about something but then I don't stick to it very long. It is a struggle because I want to be consistent. Or I will decide to do something and then completely forget about it. UGH!!

One major problem is sticking to a diet. I am diabetic and considerably overweight so I absolutely must eat healthy and lose weight or I am going to keep getting sicker. However, I will try to eat healthy and will do that for awhile, then quit. I will start eating junk and not caring about my health and then I will get back on the diet. See where I am getting at?

Same way with other areas of my life. It seems I can't stay focused. I get bored or frustrated and then give up.

I will do well for awhile and then start sliding backwards again. It is so frustrating.

Any ideas how I can stay on track?

Considering I struggle with the same issues (minus the diabetic aspect), I don't have a magical solution. I would suggest trying www.fitday.com (which is free) as a method of tracking and holding yourself accountable. I like charts and stuff, so I find it fun. In addition to being able to track your food choices, there's a section for journaling. Maybe matching your habits to your feelings at the time would be a helpful motivator?

re: follow thru issues
Learn about Executive Function in the brain and how that affects your follow through, for starters.



re: not paying attention to eating while doing it; need to name emotional states rather than stuffing

Some overeating is social learning: Are other people in your family large? How do they eat?

There are three ways of eating:
(a) eating til you are not hungry anymore (how skinny people eat);
(b) eating til you are feeling full or very full (uncomfortable);
(c) eating til all the food is ALL gone (regardless of how the body is feeling).

People who do this are often totally out of touch with how their body is feeling. :(

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I think it is also important for overweight/obese people to develop some/more emotional awareness.

This can help us get out of the bad situations/relationships that make us *hurt or numb ourselves with food*. (e.g. 'my friend calls me fat and I eat 1/2 a chocolate cake'; emotional awareness would say that 'maybe it is time to get out of that friendship?')

Some people seem to almost 'go into a trance' when they overeat.

Speed of eating (some folks hardly breathe when they eat, they eat so fast) and eating *while distracted* (never eat in front of the TV or computer!) are also issues.

Seen this a lot with my own v. obese family members.

They tend to be v. 'low self monitors' and have 'low EQ'. (They don't talk about feelings and process their feelings.)

It's really an issue of learning to 'self care'.

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I like this link BELOW (about the "ACE STUDY") b/c it shows that whether someone is '90 lbs or 300 lbs', having a food addiction _can_ be the sign of bigger problems...


http://www.cavalcadeproductions.com/ace-study.html