I am having a bad day I ate McDonalds and justified it I am telling myself to be positive and be grateful and to not focus on myself but to focus on others. Why am I stuck here? I have so much to be grateful for but I am stuck in a funk and it is starting to affect everyone around me. PLEASE HELP THANKS

I don't know why you're having a bad day. Do I know why I'm having a bad day, yes, I do. I am having a bad day because I didn't put enough effort in at work yesterday and now my work today is suffering and since I'm straight commission that means no $$ too.

So, why did yyou have McDonalds? What was your inner voice saying to you when you ordered it, ate it, and right after?

There is NO justification for not doing the right things and making the right choices. This is too important that you show yourself you are STRONG, and COMMITTED that you will not falter! Not THIS time!

You STOP telling yourself anything negative...NOT ONE WORD!!!!!! The second it creeps into your consciousness you stop yourself and say NO those are LIES!!!

I am strong and I can do this. I don't need to eat that crap because all it does is make me miserable and beat myself up all day for it!!! Grab some fruit or almonds, a healthy sandwich and then see how amazing you feel because you made the right choice!!!!

You want to live and to live you need to take care of the body you have been given and McD's is NOT gonna cut it....not anymore...not for you!

Say it!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM STRONG
I AM COMMITTED
I WILL NOT FAIL
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
I DESERVE THIS - I DESERVE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF INSIDE AND OUT
ALL THOSE NEGATIVE THINGS IN YOUR HEAD ARE LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent advice above. Figure out your whys, banish the negative selftalk and come up with a plan to keep it from happening again.

FORGIVE YOURSELF and MOVE ON. PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION.

What has always worked for me is to poke around and notice all of the people with REAL hurdles to overcome and find a way to lighten their load. There will always be someone out there who needs your help and their cross to bear makes yours look like a pebble in the sand. Most of all, keep reaching out!

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Originally Posted by jimandrachel I am having a bad day I ate McDonalds and justified it I am telling myself to be positive and be grateful and to not focus on myself but to focus on others. Why am I stuck here? I have so much to be grateful for but I am stuck in a funk and it is starting to affect everyone around me. PLEASE HELP THANKS

DO NOT GIVE UP. One meal does not FAILURE make!

You are not your past...your past does not dictate your future. You are not bound to be that person anyomre...you CAN DO THIS.

Failing isn't making a mistake...failing is giving up after making a mistake. DO NOT GIVE UP.

You are worth every change that you are making in your life!!! This isn't PERFECTION...it's PROGRESSION! You've realized what you did was not how you wanted to live and you are learning from it. THIS IS THE PROGRESSION MY FRIEND!

Love you!

Mellie, thank you for your words. I rewrote... placing Lord in front of each line! Therefore making it a prayer and I'm going to meditate on this!!!

One of the keys I found helfull is to break you time increments down into smaller componenets. If you look at the challenge as an 18 week program you will be overwhelmed. You should have 18 week goals, but you should also have smaller goals. I have goals written down for every week. I want to weigh so much by the end of week 1 then week 2 and so forth till I get to where I want to be.
But I go even further. What is my daily goal? What do I want to accomplish today? If that still seem overwhelming, break it down to smaller increments. What is my goal for breakfast, mid morning meal. lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, before bedtime meal.
Last night I had my delicious chocolate mousse. It was great and I was still hungry. So what did I do, I drank 16 oz. of water and sloshed all the way to bed knowing I would be up using the bathroom during the night, but hey it's a choice. My weight was great when I woke up.
Another key to remember is the next meal you eat is not your last meal. YOU WILL EAT AGAIN. Treat all meals like that. A meal is not to fill you up but to get you by until the next planned small meal. keep that fire burning nice and hot with small meals. Good luck!

And expanding on what Martin says, I have daily goals. I take my weekly goals, and break them down daily. For example, my weekly goal is to eat clean every day (can have some extra, or eat differently on cheat day, but...). Then when I am preparing my foods, I make sure that daily I have enough to eay 5-6 meals a day, each with a protien and a carb. I keep it simple. Dinners I have directly from EFL. Snacks might be a protien drink and a fruit, or a cup of cottage cheese and fruit. If I eat every 2-3 hours, I have found a PROFOUND difference in how I feel, just in the last two weeks.I am constantly fueling my body, and losing weight and feeling better every day. I exercise 30 mins a day. I commit. Wether I feel like it or not, I push myself. I tell myself "I can do 30 mins of ANYTHING".
Also, the CHOCOLATE MOUSSE in the EFL book.....ABSOLUTLY delicious. I use that for one of my meals once a week. It's great. My wife made it, and it was easy. We picked up a packet of the myoplex light chocolate at the local GNC, and still have some of the other ingrediant.
You can do this. I know you can. How do I know?? Because anyone can, and the truth is that you ARE worth it. You are worth feeling better. You ARE worth doing better.
Don't beat yourself up about the one meal thing. I ate Mcdonalds chicken cesar salad (no dressing, I hate dressing), about a week and half ago, and I felt fat afterwards, and swore I'd not eat there again, unless it was my cheat day, so I called it my cheat day. It had been a week before on a monday, so...there ya go.
Just like Bill says, it's unrealistic to think you are going to TOTALLY give up on foods. That's too strict a diet. I WILL eat my favorates again. Here and there. I just don't keep them in my house. IF, on cheat day, I want to have some Chips AHoy with a glass of milk....I do. Why not? I deserve it. I just will get a portion size package, no more. Reward myself, and move on. That's the idea.
you CAN do it!!!! Lot's of people here to help.

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Originally Posted by jimandrachel I am having a bad day I ate McDonalds and justified it I am telling myself to be positive and be grateful and to not focus on myself but to focus on others. Why am I stuck here? I have so much to be grateful for but I am stuck in a funk and it is starting to affect everyone around me. PLEASE HELP THANKS

Hey Jim!

What is a bad day in your world, and what feeling is triggering the emotion to indulge?

Focusing on yourself is something you must do to succeed. Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow............habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.

We are here for you Jim!

Here is a link on pattern's, that may help identify certain triggers:
Law of Patterns - Brain Food

Hi Jim..I wanted to tell you something..I bought Bill's books etc in 1999...it is 2008..I JUST NOW am actually APPLYING IT...I have had MANY falls off thewagon..I just got back UP! I learned from MANY years of horses ,if you fall get up..EVEN IF YOU ARE THROWN..GET BACK UP! This is a great ride and there will be some bumps on the trail..just don't let any falling rocks hit you on the head and knock you off your horse..LOL...I KNOW you CAN DO THIS & I KNOW you must WANT to or else you would not be here & being HONEST & saying ...I meesed up ..is BRAVE & shows you CARE...So guess what the mormal is to this story? LOL...I CARE,YOU CARE & SO DOES EVERYONE HERE CARE..CARE FOR YOU to be the BEST YOU ,YOU CAN BE!!!!! I think your off to a pretty good start! Now I will walk hand in hand with you to the FINISH LINE..Hugs and MUCH SUPPORT,Laura

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Originally Posted by jimandrachel ... I am telling myself to be positive and be grateful and to not focus on myself..

Hey, you got the right game plan already - be positive, be grateful.. it's ok to focus on yourself too. So what, you had mcdonalds. It happened, learn from it. Figure out what got you there (some emotions?) and see that as awareness so you can PLAN to have other healthier choices. Along this journey, there will be setbacks & obstacles that may pop up.. but you cannot beat yourself up over it. Absolutely not. All those moments are simply opportunities to readjust.. finetune your game plan or simply warnings to let you know you aren't planning enough or something else. Each day, as you get up.. state "I am 100% responsible for my life" and then use that to PLAN out your game plan. Poor planning usually leads to poor choices.

There is no failure, only feedback.

Jim,
At our house, when we mess up, we use the phrase "Isolate it!"
Put walls up around that bad meal, or that missed workout, and make your next meal or workout, as great as it can possibly be. This has helped us time and time again to get BACK on track, instead of stumbling backwards and falling off the wagon. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

ISOLATE IT!

Love,
Amy

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Originally Posted by jimandrachel I am having a bad day I ate McDonalds and justified it I am telling myself to be positive and be grateful and to not focus on myself but to focus on others. Why am I stuck here? I have so much to be grateful for but I am stuck in a funk and it is starting to affect everyone around me. PLEASE HELP THANKS

all I can tell you is if you are having a bad day and you went over to uncle Mc, that is a positive sign that you need to stick with your transformation challenge. Don't worry about being perfect with your day to day living, no one is. Bill advised something exremely wise and powerful, and that is: "Focus on progress not perfection." When you have crapy days like that, at the end of the day, do a quick review, find something positive you were able to accomplish no matter how small it is, remember it and focus and build on it the very following day.
This is not easy, as others have pointed out, if it is, everybody would do it.

sincerely,

I know at times it may be hard,but you have to bare down and keep pushing forward.Be humble but open minded,realize that you are important and matter.Stay with the positive thinking,healthy eating and training it will come back to you.I know its hard sometimes to overcome opstacles of the past,let them go forgive them and yourself.Holding on to all that excess baggage will only eat you up and hold you back,I know becuse I did the same thing for a long time.I have forgiven those who hurt me and pray for forgiveness from those I hurt.We all make mistakes.Remember why you started this the reasons and the whys and keep moving with positivity and forward motion.I hope that my words helped and you keep moving forward with great results.If I can help with anything please send me a note.Your fellow brother in transformation T-DOG

Keep a protien bar in your bag/desk/car. Or two. That way if you happen to have a lightning bolt of hunger you can reach in your bag and stave it off instead of whipping through the drive thru.

Good planning = better results tommorrow.