Triggers that you have to completely avoid??

For me, eating out at a restaurant almost always triggers a binge/purge episode.  Even if I order something healthy and eat a reasonable amount, I will think that I've lost control (because I didn't actually prepare the meal) and go home and binge and purge.  I'm starting to wonder if I should just completely avoid eating at restaurants all together.  To me, eating out isn't worth going through the horrendous habit of b&ping afterward.  I'm starting to realize that I may never be able to eat at a restaurant.

What do you guys think?  Are there any specific triggers that you just have to completely avoid like the plague?  Or have you been able to learn and "train" yourself to approach these triggers and make them a normal part of your routine.  If so, how did you do it?

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Can Hi-Tech Avatars Promote Real-Life Weight Loss?

Virtual sessions on portion control and exercise helped women in small pilot study

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- Watching an avatar exercise and learn healthy habits in a virtual community might help people shed excess weight, a small new study suggests.

An avatar is the graphical or physical representation of the user, in video games or online, for instance.

"This pilot study showed that you don't have to be a gamer to use virtual reality to learn some important skills for weight loss," Melissa Napolitano, an associate professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, said in a university news release.

She added that the findings suggest "that virtual reality could be a promising new tool for building healthier habits."

The new study included eight overweight women who once a week watched a 15-minute DVD featuring an avatar demonstrating healthy weight-loss behaviors. In one lesson the avatar sat down for dinner and learned about portion sizes. In another lesson, the avatar used a treadmill and learned the walking pace needed to lose weight.

At the end of four weeks, the women had lost an average of 3.5 pounds, which Napolitano called a fairly typical amount for traditional diet plans. But it's hoped that by watching the avatar, people using this type of program would be much more likely to establish long-term healthy habits and keep the weight off for good, she said.

"This is just the first step to show that women -- even those who are not gamers -- are interested in an avatar-based technology to help them with a weight-loss plan," Napolitano said. "We are excited by the potential of this technology as a scalable tool to help people learn the skills to be successful at weight loss over the long run."

The study appeared in the July 1 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.

If further studies show that this type of program is effective, it may offer an inexpensive way for millions of overweight and obese men and women to learn the skills and behaviors they need to lose weight and keep it off, Napolitano said.

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help with the binge temptation

Hi I'm quite new to this forum but its ace for support , just what I need when I don't see much of my girlfriends since my baby was born , however I do absolutely fine with my calories and my healthier choices etc, but I'm noticing on a weekend come when the kids go to bed I wanna reach for the sweets and crisps what do people do to help with the temptations of just binging out on everything in sight I lost 6 stone on my own but can't seem to get this last stone away I'm sticking at the same weight or going up a lb or too

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Wagon Jumpers July 1st -7th

This thread is designed to encourage long term commitment to our goals by publicly declaring them and asking the other members of this thread to hold us accountable. The primary focus of Wagon Jumpers is not how much weight you have lost, or need to lose, but what you need to do on a daily basis to meet your long term goals.

The idea of Wagon Jumpers was to create a close community where participants could get to know each other, creating a virtual support network as they attempt long term weight management.

This is impossible with an 'always open' group as there would be too many people coming and going. For this reason we have capped group membership numbers to 20 participants.

** If you would like to be a member of this group please contact our wait list manager: the_dragon

There are two rules for Wagon Jumpers:

1. All members must post once per week between Monday and Sunday.

2. All members must check the thread for members who have not posted by Saturday (a short list is posted at the end of the week) or are on the MIA list on Sunday and send them a polite and positive message to stay involved in the group and on track with their goals.

Wagon Jumpers Participants:15

CURRENT GOALS

By Sunday, August 11th I will...

68551 (Sue) – NEW: Exercising 30 min dailyDefrog3 (Denise) - Maintenance: Workout 3x week for 9 of the 12 weeks. New: Avoid grain-based carbohydrates 6 of 7 days/week for each of the 12 weeks.Feljones (Debbie) - NEW: log my food 3/days a week, keeping below 2,000 cal; 200 minutes of exercise every week, which includes a minimum of two walks during office hours each week.Figurethefat (Laura) - NEW: Exercise for 1500 minutes every 4 weeks. Eat 5 fruit and veg daily. gertie1birdy (Gertie) - NEW: log each day, stay under, 1300 or 1400 calories.gterv (Galia) – NEW: avoid caffeine, and irritants, continue training.healthmd (Monica, Co-Moderator) - NEW: gym 5 days a week and logging daily.Kellyonthecoast (Co-moderator) - NEW: I will exercise for 3 of 7 days for 10 out of 12 weeks; I shall take my vitamins 5 of 7 days each week.     kleibs - NEW: get in at least 4 cardio and 2 strength training sessions a week.librarianlisa (Lisa) - Exercise 5 times a week for at least 30 minutes.  At least 3 of those times must be cardio.mhNYC (Mari) - NEW: Take my vitamins (especially calcium!) daily. Maintenance: Wake up at least 5 days every week at 5:30 am.newdock (Donna, Co-Moderator) - NEW: exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week for 10 of the 12 weeks.   I will drink 8 glasses of water a day  runyourlife (Carmela, Co-Moderator) - To stop munching while preparing dinner. I have a hard time not grazing when I’m cooking. Exercise:  run 3x per week + HIIT, leg and upper body workout 2x per weekthe_dragon (Hilary, Co-Moderator) - NEW: Drink 4 pints of water daily; 6 portions of F&V daily.x-lawrence (Lawrence, Co-Moderator) - NEW: I will count calories daily; For exercise row 20 times a month and do 100-200 pushups a day. 

MIA one week:

MhNYC

Gterv

MIA two weeks:

NONE

MIA three weeks & will be removed from the list if there is no contact by the end of this week:

Wagon Jumpers on Hiatus:

Waiting List: 

Wagon Jumper threads now have a separate host for each week, as listed below:

Mid-Week Reminders: x-lawrence (Lawrence)Waitlist Management: the_dragon (Hilary)Thread Issues: If there are any issues with a thread, first contact should be the thread host for that week. 

Previous Threads

Wagon Jumpers June 24-30th

Wagon Jumpers June 17-23

Wagon Jumpers June 10-16

Wagon Jumpers June 2-8

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Early Respiratory Infection May Double Type 1 Diabetes Risk: Study

Researchers looked at children who had first-degree relatives with the autoimmune disease

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- What may seem like a harmless cold during the first six months of life may more than double a child's chances of developing antibodies that often lead to type 1 diabetes, new German research suggests.

Infections that occur later don't seem to pose as high as risk. When infants between 6 and 12 months had a respiratory illness, their risk only increased by 32 percent, the study found.

The researchers noted that these findings probably don't apply to all youngsters, because this study was done with children who have a high risk of developing the disease because they have a first-degree relative who has type 1 diabetes.

"In general, the early immune system is still in a phase of development, and may therefore be particularly susceptible for challenges by infectious agents. However, we cannot explain yet why specifically respiratory infections might be relevant in this phase," said study author Andreas Beyerlein, head of the working group on epidemiology at the Institute of Diabetes Research in Munich.

Results of the study were published online July 1 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Infections have long been suspected as potential triggers of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly attack and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, according to background information in the study. Insulin is a hormone needed to metabolize the carbohydrates in foods so that they can be used as fuel for the body and brain.

Substances called islet autoantibodies appear in the blood before the development of type 1 diabetes, sometimes years before diabetes is evident. These autoantibodies help researchers predict whether or not someone will develop type 1 diabetes.

In the current study, the researchers followed 148 children who were under 3 months old when they started the study. All of the babies had a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes.

When the children were 3 months old, the parents were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire that included information about their baby's history of infections, fever and medication use. They were asked to detail the types of symptoms their child had. They were also asked about family history of diabetes, and questions about lifestyle factors, such as whether the mother smoked during pregnancy.

Parents were then asked to record information about any illnesses or diseases that occurred until the child was 3 years old. The children also had their blood tested every three months to look for evidence that they had developed islet autoantibodies.

Over the three-year study, there were 1,245 infectious "events." Most -- 669 -- were respiratory infections that affected the upper respiratory tract, including the ear, nose, throat or eye. Infections that affected the digestive system totaled 257, and another 319 cases were classified as "other" infections, such as skin infections.

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What is with all the guilt and remorse?

I've noticed that a lot of people will post daily reports in which they say they feel bad because they ate too much of a particular food, or they didn't consume quite enough of a given nutrient, or they (heaven forbid) couldn't exercise because they were tired and/or in pain. And when you look at the total numbers on their reports, they mostly still have a huge deficit. What is with all this shame and perfectionism? It disturbs me. The confessions people make are like the confessions some guilty Catholic would make. This just gets my goat.

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