The whole time I've been losing weight I've always struggled with trips "home" - back to St. Louis where ALL of my family is. I am the only one out of my immediate and extended family that now lives outside of the St. Louis area.
Nashville isn't a very far car trip to St. Louis so I get back quite often - usually every 2-3 months. And usually the trip is a weight gain waiting to happen. Every fat bomb that is possible happens while I'm there. Eating out with friends or family, nights of binge drinking with friends (or family), mom's homecooking, and my mom's endless supply of junk food she keeps in her house. I still haven't figured out how to survive.
Also, does anyone else associate long car trips with fast food and junk food? I blame this on childhood trips to the Lake house. Every time we made the 3 hour trip up to the Lake of the Ozarks we would beg my mom to stop at the half-way point to get McDonald or some other fast food. Sometimes, it wouldn't even be a meal time, but it wasn't a family trip to the Lake without some McDonalds fries. That's probably for a whole other blog post...
So back to the point, I can avoid fast food when I want to. Even on long car rides I can plan to bring my own meals and snacks. But for some reason as soon as I step into my mom's house I fall into a puddle mess of no-willpower and raid her fridge and pantry of every junk food item in her house. This time she had Entenmann's donuts, swiss cake rolls, Doritos, Cheez-its, ice cream (she always has Haagen-dazs or Ben & Jerry's pints), and the list goes on. And every time, I feel like I have to sample EVERYTHING.
Her house must be a vortex where all my willpower is sucked out of my brain because I often have things in my cabinets that I could binge on and I don't (usually). Like right now I have some leftover Oreos from a dessert I made. I thought about them last night, but I did not touch them. Now, if that was at my mom's house I would have eaten a whole sleeve of Oreos as soon as I started thinking about them.
I've been trying to come up with an answer for how to avoid this pitfall when I visit home, but after almost 2 years of trying, I just haven't come up with a solution. Thoughts? Ideas?
I'm determined to make a trip home this summer without falling into the junk food pit of doom.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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8 comments:
Does she normally stock that food at your house, or does she bring it in when she knows you'll be home for a visit (favorite foods and all that)? Is it possible to ask her to have less the next time you're in for a visit?
I struggle at my parents' house, too, and it's just across town.
No, that is what she normally has on hand. She actually buys things like fresh fruit and veggies for me when she knows I'll be in town.
I feel that one. Is there a way to maybe just declare some foods hands-off and just enjoy company? I know - easier said than done.
Hi,
I read your blog from time to time. I can whole-heartily relate to what you are saying about going back to your parent's home and the subsequent binging. I am nowhere near overweight , I am pretty underweight but healthy. However, when I go to my parent's house there is no stopping me. Things I would have no desire to eat at my apartment suddenly become so appealing. Why is that? I always feel like crap afterwards, but I just can't figure it out.
Just know that others of all bmis, weights etc. are going through the same weird phenomenon.
I think it is the whole comfort thing - being home, safe and happy. I can also relate to the fast food in the car thing.
I have the same issue at my In-Laws house, which I call "the land of no veggies". The neighbor has even made cheesecake from scratch when she knew I was coming!! Ahhh my kryptonite!
Last weekend we went there & at my weekly weigh in I was the same! Which I'm counting a victory.
I made sure I had veggies w/ all my meals, and focused on getting all my water and veggies in each day. This helped me feel in control & not totally go nuts. I also tracked everything I ate AS I ate it so I wouldn't "forget" a few hundred calories. It helped to have thar to look at before I ate something else.
Good Luck! You are totally up to the challenge!
I'm in the same situation (except my mother and grandmother live across town). You have to get her on board with your program. If she knows you're coming, maybe she lightens up on the amount of junk she keeps in the house or finds a drawer or pantry to hide it in?
Whatever will work. My grandmother is the worst at enabling...I don't even think she realizes it. I had to pretty much pound the idea into her head that I don't need junk food offered to me every 5 seconds and that I was giving this healthy lifestyle a serious go. After seeing me drop weight consistently every week the last month since I started, she is definitely onboard now and trying to help me.
Good luck to you! Love you blog - keep us updated!
HI there. I have just encountered your blog and this post jumped out at me. I'm not expert on these things but I think the problem may lie in 'association'. For example I could go from one end of the year to the next without even thinking about popcorn, but as soon as I enter a movie theatre it pops into my head. Movies and popcorn go hand in hand and I have had to make a conscious decision to break that link. Your mothers house and junk food are linked. you associate overeating junk food with going there. So perhaps you can decide to create new associations. Decide that from now one going to your mothers house will be associated with you cooking a meal for your family, or learning to cook a traditional dish from that area in the healthiest version possible. Make a conscious decision that you will break this link between junk food and your mothers and create a new exciting healthy link instead.
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