======= Date Modified 13 Sep 2011 18:57:19 =======
Yesterday evening I have been thinking about the things which I will have to stay away from until I submit my thesis and decided to temporarily give up:

Facebook - I linger too much on it now and then as I am far away from home/family/friends when ever I feel down and lonely (as a matter of fact I am going to reduce the frequency of switching on my laptop at home as internet is too distracting).

Chocolates - I haven't been doing much of physical work lately so I have decided to give up chocolates too :-) until I become active again :p

Hey Cindrella! You know, I wouldn't give yourself a hard time whilst you're writing up. It's a difficult process and sometimes you might just need a short distraction or a choccie :) We all have our vices lol. Good luck with it- when is your deadline? Best, KB

Hi KB, I agree with you that in a way it is good to have some distractions now and then. In my case I have been feeling low lately as my experiments were not working. I tend to just sit in front of my laptop for quite some time at home without actually doing anything useful scared to go to work to see more simulations and experiments fail :-( I am missing home too these days. I have been away from home for almost one year (I am an international student ~6000 miles away from home). I have also been eating lot of chocolates which I want to avoid.

Perhaps I should relax my constraints and have these once in a week or so!

My deadline is end of March/beginning of April - I have time until the end of December for data collection and then 3 months for writing up but I really want to get this done by the end of this year and aiming to submit by Jan 1st week. I don't know if I am being a bit too ambitious.

Cheers!!

======= Date Modified 14 Sep 2011 06:29:12 =======
Just seeing the title of this post makes me really want chocolate.

But if you think you are eating out of habit or as a distraction (and if you think it is making you unhealthy) try substituting the food. I read in the "tips" section of this site that it is a good idea to substitute chocolate for a healthier alternative like carrots. When i was in America the person i was staying with liked to snack on these little baby carrots. You can eat them with dip if you like, they sell this lovely spinach dip over there (yeah it doesn't sound nice- spinach dip, but it is really nice!) but i am sure there are many nice dips. So you can treat yourself with other nice foods that are more healthy.

I am not sure how related this actually is to your post, but i hope it helps.
(i'm starting to realise that i am talking about food a lot, and realised i forgot to eat today, been too busy, i have to get that corrected- and here i am giving advice on eating!- whilst half thinking that it is another 2 and a 1/2 hrs before the shops open if i want to go on an early morning chocolate shopping spree).

Ender

Don't make the thesis all there is or you'll go stir crazy. The odd distraction does help.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Totally agree with the giving up chocolate, I found during my writing up I became incredibly unfit. Luckily I don't have the type of metabolism that puts on weight, but you should definitely think about trying to eat a bit less if you are less active. I only really noticed how bad it had got after i resumed exercise again, post submission.

As far as facebook goes, you still do have to be having fun, remember the whole process of thesis writing can take months, sometimes even more than a year for some people. I don't know how close to finishing you are, so if it's a couple of weeks with a tight deadline, then maybe go for it, but remember thesis writing must not be allowed to take up all of your waking hours, such a situation is probably counter productive.

[quote]Quote From Cakeman:

Totally agree with the giving up chocolate, I found during my writing up I became incredibly unfit. Luckily I don't have the type of metabolism that puts on weight, but you should definitely think about trying to eat a bit less if you are less active. I only really noticed how bad it had got after i resumed exercise again, post submission.
quote]

I took the opposite approach- I carried on eating my beloved chocolate but also made sure I went to the gym every day- not just to burn the choccies off but because it really helps me with anxiety/stress/concentration etc, which all helped me get on with the thesis. We're all different lol!

Good luck :) KB

Hi KB, Ender, Mackem_Beefy, Delta, Cakeman (;-)),

Thanks for your replies. Today, my lovely office mate (she is also a PhD student but part-time) got me a treat - guess what? Chocolate Brownieeeeeeee!!! I couldn't resist and fell for it :p

Anyway I understand agree all of the points you guys made - so instead of putting a full stop I have decided to surf social networking sites/have chocolates now and then but I definitely will reduce the amount of time/intake. I will may be snack on fruits :-)