Junk food always in the house

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-29-2004
Junk food always in the house
5
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 11:39pm

I want to lose weight so bad, but how can I do it with tubs of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer, donuts, muffins and at least 3 packs of cookies always on the counter! DH and I are living with my MIL (hopefully only until later this year), but she eats so much junk. We've lived here for a while and I have tried everything to get her to keep it away, or hide it, but she doesn't. She doesn't even drive, and DH and I don't buy the stuff, but she calls my BIL and he comes over with a big bag of junk. The crazy part is that she is diabetic and shouldn't eat this stuff, but she doesn't care about her health. Since I was diagnosed a few months back with diabetes, it is even more important for me to not eat that stuff. It's sooooo hard. I don't know how to handle it. It's gotton to the point where I don't even want to go into the kitchen, yet I can't eat healthy if I don't go in the kitchen. I just don't have the willpower to stay away from a lot of that stuff. Last week BIL brought in two packs of mint chocolate cookies, which I LOVE and MIL hates... so I ended up munching on them. Any ideas???

Wendy

282/short term goal: 225/long term goal: 150




Edited 6/9/2006 11:44 pm ET by wlcw
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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2003
Sat, 06-10-2006 - 6:09am

I had a simlar problem a couple years ago with my husband. i was trying to lose and he was diabetic and insisted on the junk. first I took pictures of bugs, the creepy crawly type and pasted them to the containers. that kind of made it quite unappealing. On the ones i couldn't i just wrote in marker how many say chips = 1 point on a couple places so anytime i would grab for it, i would see that reminder.
As the last straw i just took all his stuff i didn't want and tossed in "his drawer" and just refused to open it. in the freezer i made "his section" and that seemed to work. the freezer was the hardest part and his stuff i always pushed in the back with veggies, fish etc in front.

i did these after useless efforts talking and trying to explain why i needed it out of the house as well as why he shouldn't be doing it.

Good luck

Sue
295/140/160

Sue

 

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-22-2001
Sat, 06-10-2006 - 12:02pm

Hey Wendy! I was wondering if DH would talk to his Mom and see if there could be some sort of compromise. Maybe there could be a seperate place for her to store the junk? Maybe even a locked cabinet, etc in the beginning when you are really try not to be tempted.


I hope that she will be receptive to an alternative solution!


HUGS!


Melissa



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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2006
Sat, 06-10-2006 - 12:15pm

Sue had some great suggestions about putting little reminders about how many cals/fat/whatever you track would be. if you can't do that. Read the label first and ask yourself if it's really worth it to you.


My First 10% of Body Weight

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-01-2006
Sat, 06-10-2006 - 10:54pm

Wendy, you're too sweet for your own good! So I suppose you're not willing to consider hiring a kidnapper, or locking dear mamma in the basement for the duration...

Seriously, this makes a tough situation even more difficult for you. Can you put healthy, on-plan snacks that you love next to those toxic cookies on the counter? If you can get her to "hide" the bad things (or do it for her), even better, but it sounds like she's in Complete Denial and might not want to play along. (As someone who visits that land once in a while, I feel qualified to comment!) I also like the aversion-therapy suggestions...

This is your health and happiness at stake, and you can be a good example for MIL at the same time. Be strong, you CAN do this! Good luck to you!

Misha

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2006
Sun, 06-11-2006 - 8:33am

Tough situation.. and touchy too. I personally can't make it with junk lying around the house, but I do have plenty of junk, but it's in my son's drawer. He knows if he wants it, he'll have it, but at the same time it's out of my site and I know that drawer is off limits.


Don't be soft on this one.. be tough with her (you can always claim that you're worried about her health too). Don't ask her to put the junk away, you do it for her. Empty a drawer and make it her junk drawer. Anytime you see some stuff lying around, open the drawer and put it there.


Out of site, out of mind (usually)


HTH

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