please, please help me!

My roommate, the little darling, has just come home with enough sesame chicken (the fried variety) and vegetable tofu and rice to feed a large family. It's all laid out on the table in our lounge and the wonderful smells have wafted into every nook and cranny of the house. Moreover, she very generously keeps inviting me to indulge.

Problem is, I've already hit my 1200 calorie limit for the day (though I last ate at 4pm). I've not lost anything for several months now and I desperately need to stick to this limit in order to lose (I've tried 1500 with no results).

How do I resist???? What do I do? It all looks so goood :(((

Wed. Mar 1, 9:14pm

go for a walk....
leave the house if you can... even if it is only to go to the store for a bottle of water..... stay on here and chat with people....whatever it takes...do it... be strong... you took the first step by asking for help.... so you really do have the strength to avoid indulging.... But I definately relate...my dad rents my basement from me... and he has his own kitchen... and is a wonderful cook... he often comes home late and will cook his dinner at like 8:30 or 9:00 at night. Just when I am attempting to avoid the snacking hour... and the smells wafting through the house are killer. So I hear ya... I really hear ya.

Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 9:20 PM

That is an incredibly difficult situation and one I don't think I could deal with. In order to stick to 1200 calories I really have to plan or I'll be dying by the end of the day. Sounds kind of like your position. I don't mean to be unkind but 1200 calories is not a lot and not planning your daily food is like blowing your paycheck the same week you get it and living on nothing until payday. It's possible with iron willpower and some luck but what do you do when your car breaks down and you need it to get to work? Budget your calories throughout the day and situations like this will not be so tempting.

You need to eat something or you'll go nuts and eat everything. Look for a healthy, low-cal snack that you can have like a cup of vegetable soup (Progresso Vegetarian Vegetable is particularly satisfying), light popcorn, or a salad with low-cal dressing. You won't exceed your calories by too much, and it will be easier to resist if your stomach isn't twisting itself into knots as you smell the yummy food.

Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 11:43 PM

The smell sound torturous! In this situation, eat something healthy, don't worry about going over a little on calories today, it's better to eat 100 or 200 extra of something healthy than 5-6 hundred if you must.

I agree, go take a walk, go mall walking, get away from the house!

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 6:04 AM

OP here, thanks for all your advice - especially the first poster who helped me a lot at the time by making me feel less isolated in my predicament. I couldn't actually go for a walk, since I was working at home, but next time it happens that's the perfect solution. As it was, I resisted all the Chinese food, explained that I'd have a little the next day, so as not to offend my roommate (who really was being very kind) and then had an abundance of tea.

To the second poster, yes, of course I planned my calories, in fact I prepared all my food in the morning and knew exactly what I could eat to make it to 1200. Problem was, having woken early, I was hungry much earlier than usual and had to eat to be able to concentrate on work. Hence running out at 4pm.

Usually, I would say anything up to 1500 is still ok, but being stuck at my weight for so long, I really need a week of 1200s. Ugh. Wish me luck!

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 8:13 AM

I am glad you made it through. SECOND POSTER here. I specifically came back to check on you....I can relate to the "work at home" I do that on a daily basis as I run a home daycare.... so I know how even more frustrating it can be when you need to get away from the temptation and are "STUCK" where you are... Koodos on saying you would have a bit the next day...very diplomatic of you...congrats and good luck

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 12:17 PM

this sounds counter intuitive but . . .

a little off subject but maybe helpful to the OP. if you were plateauing at 1500 cals and are having trouble losing weight still, it sounds ridiculous but it may be a good idea to actually up you calorie intake for a couple of days. Your body may think you are in starvation mode (hard to tell w/o knowing your weight, height, how long you have been cutting back etc) and has adapted to getting by on the calories you give it. I hit a plateau for about 6 months-i couldn't drop a pound no matter what i tried (after having a smooth time dropping 35 lbs), and then a friend suggested i up my calories for a little bit. well sure enough after 5 days of eating a couple hundred calories more than i had previously allowed myself, i saw the weight start to move again. it might be helpful to go from 1200 to maybe 1700 or 1800 calories a day for just a few days, and then go back to a lower point. You will jump start you metabolism again and see some results.

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 12:46 PM

I agree with the last poster....

also, what I have done (my family loves this kind of chinese) is steamed up a huge plate of brocolli, then had just a single serving spoon of the rice and maybe a single piece of chicken. The broccoil fills me up and gives me my veggies, so I can be satisfied with the meager chinese food portion. Sounds like you did great, so long as this didn't make you feel deprived and set you up for a binge in the following days. (sometimes you just have to give in and have a little of what you crave to avoid overeating at a later time)

Thursday, March 2, 2006, 1:13 PM

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