How to Get Out of Eating, Excuses Not to Eat

Weighing myself daily is a bit of a hassle because I don't have a scale of my own. That means I have to go to visit a friend or one of my relatives to get it done. My aunt asked me what the deal was after I'd been going to her house for a week just to weigh myself. I told her I was on a new diet and wanted to see how well it was working... but I know that excuse won't last forever.

I've decided that I'm going to weigh myself every three days to see how effective each method is. I tried a water fast and ended it with a salt water flush, now I'm going to try keeping my calorie intake under 500 every day. After that I'll try staying under 300 and see if the results change dramatically enough for it to matter. Today I had half a pack of Chicken Ramen (190 calories) and 2 Cheese Bagel Bites (100 calories.) Probably not the best choices but that's what I had in front of me.

During the water fast I was losing about a pound a day. We'll see how much I lose while I'm eating something small daily. I'm going to try and space it out... maybe oatmeal in the morning, a yogurt for lunch, and a salad for dinner. The biggest issue will be liquid calories because I love to drink super fattening things (whole milk, soda, hot chocolate, etc.) I'm surprised that I haven't plateaued yet... I think it's because I'm always trying something new from week to week. It has only taken me about two and a half months to go from my highest weight to where I am now. That's about 30 lbs / 13.6kg lost so far.

I know a lot of people struggle with hiding what they do, especially if they live at home or with roommates. I want to dedicate most of this post to excuses I've used that have worked pretty well:

Excuses For the Fat
It's a lot easier to make up excuses if you have a legitimate reason for losing weight. If you're 250lbs and dieting, people aren't going to ask questions. If you're 100lbs these fibs won't be nearly as affective because people will wonder what the heck you're doing. Fear not! I have a fib section for thinner people too - and even one for people with prior eating disorders. (:

* "I'm on a new diet, and I have to stick to it."
* "Does that have wheat/dairy in it? It looks so good but I'm trying this new
diet, so I can't!"
* "I'm doing SlimFast/Weight Watchers/Atkins/Jenny Craig, so I can only eat
their stupid frozen meals... but that looks good! Too bad I can't have any."
* "I'm fasting for religions reasons, don't tempt me!"

Excuses For the Thin
These are a little harder to pull off because you can't just spit out, "Sorry, it conflicts with my diet" at every curve in your path. They were also a little harder for me to come up with since I'm not at this point yet!

* "If I want to stay where I'm at, I have to watch what I eat. Sorry!"
* "I'm finally getting where I want to be, so now comes the hardest part:
being careful about what I eat."
* "I'm almost at my goal. I just need to tone myself, so I can't have any of
that."
* "I gave up that food for lent/religions reasons."
* "I only eat raw foods."

Excuses For the Already Diagnosed
Naturally, these are the hardest of all. If you're already razor thin (beautiful!) or have been in treatment for an eating disorder, people are probably watching you like a hawk. You need to make everything you do extra convincing!

* "At least let me eat what I want to eat. I'm just not in the mood for that
right now."
* "I just ate at a friend's house/school/when I went out."
* "I'm not feeling well enough to eat."

Tips For Everyone
One of the most important things you can do is always express a willingness to eat! People are FAR less likely to question you if you say, "That looks delicious, I really want some, but my stomach is killing me. I'm so sad, that's one of my favorites!" Instead of, "Oh I'm not hungry. I don't want to eat." Always try to cushion every excuse you use with an affirmation that you are hungry and do want food, but for some reason you just can't eat at the moment.