Caregivers that are trying to diet.

pamzi, I like those soups too! I add some extra veggies like frozen spinach, broccoli, mushrooms. Yummy and healthy.

" I can't eat while the turkey ghost is looking at me!",
says the avatar. (Avatar subject to change any moment).

Jennifer, I find those low cal soups (Progresso makes some yummy ones) are a godsend. You can have the whole can for less than 200 =300 cal. And the fliud fills you up. If you like it thicker, add some saltines. Of I am wanting a sweet snack I grab a low cal instant cocoa.

I may be somewhat of an emotional eater but feel I am mainly a hungry eater and/or eating for energy to get through all
I have to do. I used to rely a lot on diet pop to lose weight in the past and keep it off, but the word is mixed these days on how it affects health. I like a caffeine fix and do not like coffee or tea so my substitute for diet pop is regular pop, which is just more calories. I wish they knew for sure about diet pop. Certain flavors and brands I really like. Plus there are a number of different sweeteners to study up on, and see which is best regarded. Someone sold caffeinated water but it is about a dollar a bottle and
I think they are phasing it out. I thought of buying caffeine pills but I am not sure they sell them by themselves and I don't want to figure out how to cut them up and such and not overuse.

I do sometimes eat fast food breakfasts that are healthy such as oatmeal or an egg white sandwhich. It is good to know they are available when out and about.

I do know if I can go about a week or two of not eating at night and getting through the hunger pangs I can change my eating habits and can get by with less food without being ravenous. It is just hard to do this lately with a lot going on.

Good luck to everyone though!

Well the diet part is going soso... so I decided to up the stakes and do someting else to make me feel a bit better about myself. I got my hair cut (short for me) and highlighted!! It feels so much better.. and looks better too! Now back to the eating situation.... I seem to eat better at work, as I pack my food and thats that. I have been able to avoid the sweets, etc that are always popping up at the hospital (thank you wonderful families.. ) Made a big pot of chicken corn soup, been eating on that. Tonight is salisbury steak ( made 9 instead of 6 to cut down the guilt,) and the gravy will be mainly mushrooms.

AM started off rough with another podiatry visit for mother, she was not pleased with what the podiatrist had to say. I was thinking I am really gonna mess up my diet today.Got home, decision time, is it gonna be mayonnaise to solve my problem or take my dog for a walk.You have to understand the emotional turmoil for an emotional eater. Got my dog's leash,told myself to just keep moving. Got his collar on and practically ran out the door before I could think.Once I got the walk started the anxiety started to leave.It's the getting started that is so hard. Just have to remember how much emotionally better I feel after the excercise, the same pro.blems are still there but I feel better able to deal with the mama drama.

I did it! At least for this am I am below the highest weight I have ever been. Still to ashamed to actually post how much I weigh but 3 yrs. ago just before mother moved in I was down to 170lbs. and still losing, exercising, had a great job and then with one phone call from her the 19th of Oct.2012 both our lives changed. I had to stay at her home that month trying to make arrangements for care and this was also Halloween. My big relief was to run to walmart and buy multple bags of chocolate candy and when she just got to be to much I would make some lame excuse that I had to lay down and would go in the bedroom and consume bags, yes , bags of these chocolate candies and just lay in the bed and cry and eat.Only now do I feel like I am getting a handle on things.So no matter what guilt trip she tries to lay on me today, I am TEFLON.

My husband is such an enabler. Still tried to tempt me with Mcdonald's for breakfast.He stops by there after he drops mother off at church. I thanked him for the offer but I lovingly declined but again reassured him I appreciated him asking me. He feels bad about how much my life has changed with mother moving in and how she acts towards me and he tries to "fix" everything with food.He was obese as a child and even now is a type 2 diabetic.He is a retired nurse and knows all about what he should eat but he is a man and well enough said on that.

Timbuktu, you borrowed my saying! That's ok, because have I got some pounds for you! No longer accepting pounds here! Where shall we send them?

Jessebelle, you need to talk to Sharadale, her mom was in the ER with a UTI. I really empathize with the dangerous delay in treatment these days, dipsticks!!

Ah, success for one night only! Entertained thoughts about donuts, you know the kind, like Gershen explained, a second on your lips, forever on your hips? Because I knew you were all here, with support, we had the last of the healthy kale salad mix with a sesame seed white dressing, instead of going out for a donut. Ok then, you all have to watch out for me (not really) because I am the one who goes to a spa, spends money to diet, then sneaks out late to buy candy at the nearest open store just for fun. Guess I missed being bad as a teen. Good choices for us all today!

I think you gave the lbs. to me.

I'm on the other side of things. Stress makes me not eat. My mother has had a UTI this week, so it has been a week from hell. Her doctor told me she would prescribe, then didn't. Then the lab had a false negative on the urinalysis, so her doctor didn't prescribe. Mom knew she had one, and I knew by the psychotic behavior that she probably did, so we went to urgent care. Her urine sample looked awful, almost like renal failure awful. She has a bladder infection. Doctor gave her a shot and prescriptions. Thank goodness! If the med community only understood what a cg goes through when there is a UTI.

But anyway... I lost 4 lbs this week. I think it was all lost from my brain and nerves.

That sounds about right, grief bacon. I love bacon and bacon sandwiches and I am also german.So far, on day 3 of not so much a diet but trying to react to "mother stress" with something other than eating myself silly.

Just picked up a German word on Facebook -- kummerspeck. This is the excess weigh from emotional overeating. It is translated as "grief bacon." I thought about this thread as soon as I read about kummerspeck this morning.

You said it Eddie, food is my "drug" of choice.My husband means well but he is an enabler,he does all the cooking ,eats fast food, it isn't easy staying on a diet with someone who eats like that, and I won't nag him he is an adult but I did tell him quit using me as an excuse to go to Mcdonald's and get 2 of those huge breakfast biscuits with egg,ham oh lord they are good because it you set it in front of me I will eat it.My biggest struggle will be dealing with husband's behavior as I stay with a food plan,however, so far so good , he hasn't been to mcdonalds now for a week as I have quietly eased my way out of being his "food" buddy.

Caregiving sometimes compel us to overmedicate ourselves with food. And it's either junk or calorie-rich meals. Can't go out on a date? Feed your face. Life isn't worth living? Stuff your face some more. Needy in-laws? Let's eat.

Wouldn't be so bad if we had a treadmill or a gym in the house; and used it for exercise instead of hanging our clothes to dry.

I'm not saying don't eat. Just watch what you eat so you can eat what you want.

Just read that grapefruit juice is an appetite suppressant and diuretic. Enjoyed this stuff earlier this year, then stopped, wondering why I was so hungry, and gaining back 5 lbs. Will start that again, because it was good to be losing weight without trying.
Contraindicated with some meds.

Well, took all my meds, housework done,mother "satisfied". I'm hitting the hay as this is my "danger " time to eat ,love eating in bed.

Didn't make my walks today but did stay on my diet despite interactions with mother and that is a work out.

Went for a short walk yesterday, boy was it nice to get outside!

but I hate to take my shot timbuktu!! sigh, ok...shuffles to refrigerator.

Well I'll just say it. Did all caregivers remember to take THEIR meds today? No one ever seems to enquire how we are.

Going now, it's so early in a.m., but going for 10 minutes, because you said so!

However , be careful about the protein bars, get the ones in the diabetic section at wal mart, the ones that are 21grams of protein and 160 calories per bar, not the most tasty thing but with a cup of coffee not to bad and it does knock out that gnawing hunger feeling,protein keeps your blood sugar on an even keel without the high and lows of sugar.

Thanks for the tip about protein bars, I'll have to give them a try. I don't know what is going on lately but I am hungry all the time, even though I am eating properly. Maybe I'm getting ready for winter? lol

I have found that a protein bar knocks out the "hunger" feeling real quick. Also protein stabilizes your blood sugar better than carbs.Will keep you feeling full a long time.

I haven't exercised yet today. It is getting pretty late here, uh oh. I have noticed though from just the couple of days of light exercising I could walk faster and move more fluidly, a younger type walk which was exciting. I am kind of hungry, but there isn't much to eat around here. Maybe just some chilled water would be refreshing and somewhat filling in its own way. Thanks for checking in with everyone Timbuktu. Glad you are doing well.

Anyone have evening cravings for comfort Food?

Okay,so far so good. Just checking in . Did anybody else take a mini walk today? Please all caregivers please make, take, create at least 10 minutes a day just to exercise just for your even if it is just meditation,10 minutes just to yourselves,.