Trish Winkler

I have successfully completed one week on the 500 calorie diet. So far the weight is coming off much easier than I thought it would. I am down 16.4 since pre load weigh in. This past Sunday I went to a fellowship meal with my family. There was nothing I could eat, and though it was a bit awkward, I sat with my family and talked with them while they ate. Let me just say...that was an experience! Never in my life have I turned down food. I love to eat and there were things that I would have loved to chow down on. But, I made the choice not to. And I feel really good about that.

We also had a small SuperBowl party at the house. That wasn't as bad as the fellowship meal, as I had the TV to distract me and my own food to slowly munch on. All in all, an interesting week. Lots of big losses in the beginning and now its down to about 1 lb a day. I'm good as long as it keeps going down.

I have noticed there are so many advertisers for food and they make it all look so good, that you want to immediately eat that food. I think that's part of the problem today. Society says fat people are unhealthy, undesirable and yet, everywhere you look you will see nothing but food ads. Its a constant barrage of negative/positive reinforcement. Limiting what I watch and how much I facebook, because of all the recipes and pictures posted there daily, will help, I believe, in retraining my mind. I know that's where it really begins. The body only needs fuel, and the mind, well, this is where we find solace in foods, or thinking that just a few bites or a burger here and there wouldn't be so bad. And they aren't at first...but then we forget to regulate that, and before long our eating habits have made us gain weight, and then we feel bad and a viscous cycle begins.