Do you feel better?

daniwilford

When I tell people, “I have lost xx pounds”. They ask, “Do you feel better?” It made me start to think.
As a yoyo from the time I reached puberty. I have been this weight (207 pounds) before, I have lost weight at this rate (2 pounds a week) but I have never felt this good at this weight. The difference has to be CICO. My calories in are higher in quality and my calories out are higher in quantity. I am feeling too good! I don't want to experiment with, how much of each side of the equation is responsible for my well being and mess with the success. Does anyone have any thoughts?

BoxerBrawler

I have to say from my own personal experience that the quality of my calories in certainly relate to how I feel physically and mentally. If it's legitamate or not I don't know. I could be my mind convincing me that the cleaner I eat and the better my food choices in terms of low calorie / high nutrient is making me feel better from the inside out, or it could actually be true. I am just not sure. I can tell you that (weight loss aside), when I eat crap, I feel like crap! Examples include... when I eat wheat products I feel joint stiffness/soreness and generally head-achey. When I eat dairy I feel bloated and lethargic. When I tighten up my choices to lean meats, raw veggies and healthy fats I feel wonderful! I know that one can lose weight eating just about anything, going back to calories in/out, but after a few years of experimentation, trial and error, I can honestly say that clean eating has its advantages, at least for me. As a 5'5" woman with an average calorie burn of 1200 - 1300 per day I find that I can stay at around 1100-1200 calories per day, as long as they are extremely nutrient dense, high protein, high fat and hitting my macro's and I feel absolutely wonderful! When I go over/under that and when my carbs are higher I feel awful. I have been down to 113 lb's and 10% BF (extremely unhealthy for my stats). I felt like a living skeleton. Not a lot of energy no matter what I ate or did. Sure, I was light on my feet but I couldn't sustain that weight and level of activity for very long. I bumped up to 115 - 120 where I maintain at my current nutrition plan (my diary is open), and feel AWESOME! My "healthy" weight is really around 135 but my body & mind doesn't feel healthy at that weight. I am a believer that food is fuel and I eat to perform, not the other way around.

Kind of a long comment, hope it touched base on at least something you were looking for.

Good thoughts, good question

Jruzer

I have lost 50 pounds and am the most fit I've been in my life. That is why I feel better.

The fact that I get to drink high quality beer and get to have whatever I want to eat - just in limited, reasonable quantities - is a bonus.

tulips_and_tea

I agree with @cushman5279. When I started eating healthier I felt 100% better. In typical MFP fashion people will start posting about how you can eat "anything" and still be fit or healthy. Not going to argue. But, this is a very personal thing. If you feel better when you eliminate certain types of food from your daily diet, then so be it. Everyone is different.

BoxerBrawler

BZAH10 wrote: »

I agree with @cushman5279. When I started eating healthier I felt 100% better. In typical MFP fashion people will start posting about how you can eat "anything" and still be fit or healthy. Not going to argue. But, this is a very personal thing. If you feel better when you eliminate certain types of food from your daily diet, then so be it. Everyone is different.

There has to be some truth behind it

tulips_and_tea

cushman5279 wrote: »

BZAH10 wrote: »

I agree with @cushman5279. When I started eating healthier I felt 100% better. In typical MFP fashion people will start posting about how you can eat "anything" and still be fit or healthy. Not going to argue. But, this is a very personal thing. If you feel better when you eliminate certain types of food from your daily diet, then so be it. Everyone is different.

There has to be some truth behind it

I believe so. And if anyone wants to argue with me? (not you; others, particularly in real life) Meh. Works for me, so I don't really care.

And to be clear, I don't preach about it or even volunteer diet information, but if someone asks me directly I'll answer them. Generally after a few sentences I get dismissed "tsks" followed by a barrage of, "Oh, I could never give up (X) food." Alrighty then.

MostlyWater

I'm happy not to huff and puff as much as I used to, yes !

daniwilford

I am a little surprised at how many responses seem to indicate it is food rather than activity is credited for the happy state.

Sued0nim

Yes I feel great

My food is under control..I generally eat to my protein macro, keep an eye on my fat micro

But I really credit the swagger in my walk to lifting weights..,it's pulled everything back in and I feel and look like my body is tight, strong and fit

And I love that

mistikal13

I feel great overall. Yes it's nice to be slim, but what makes me really happy is knowing how far I've come and how much my body is capable of. Wrapping my head around the fact that I can eat whatever I want and not feel guilty was a huge turning point for me years ago.

tulips_and_tea

daniwilford wrote: »

I am a little surprised at how many responses seem to indicate it is food rather than activity is credited for the happy state.

For me, it's because the quality of my food is the first stepping stone. I agree with @rabbitjb that weight lifting has completely changed my body for the better. But if I did not eat the way I do I couldn't accomplish what I have. I'm very active and can tell if I eat something heavy (for me) I struggle with my workouts.

zyxst

90% of the time I don't feel any different. 10% of the time, I'm sad and depressed that I can't eat what I want in the amounts I want and play video games all day anymore.

bwogilvie

I was very active when I was borderline obese, and I felt great. I still feel great now that I've lost 65 pounds, plus I can do things that I couldn't do earlier (like run without killing my knees). But when I was overweight and sedentary, I felt pretty bad.

I haven't really changed what I eat, just how much of it I eat, so I can't speak to the effects of diet on my mood.

mbaker566

i'll be honest, no. I don't.
but maybe I need to loose more

I just hurt all the time but I have myalgia

G33K_G1RL

Moving from a carb intensive diet to one more focused on protein has done wonders for my energy levels. My energy levels are steady throughout the day, but even better, I can hike, run or train for longer without bonking.

That said, eating a high carb/junk food meal once in a while doesn't affect me much, though I find I don't feel full as long as I do with a protein centric meal.

daniwilford

G33K_G1RL wrote: »

Moving from a carb intensive diet to one more focused on protein has done wonders for my energy levels. My energy levels are steady throughout the day, but even better, I can hike, run or train for longer without bonking.

That said, eating a high carb/junk food meal once in a while doesn't affect me much, though I find I don't feel full as long as I do with a protein centric meal.

I definitely agree with the more steady energy levels and I do not miss the crashes that were probably caused by the simple carbs. The higher protein helps me feel full longer, so I don't become frustrated with the calorie deficit. I still have kids in the house, so I smell pizza and see chips, and eat them once in a while but only a serving or less.

faithyang

cushman5279 wrote: »

I have to say from my own personal experience that the quality of my calories in certainly relate to how I feel physically and mentally. If it's legitamate or not I don't know. I could be my mind convincing me that the cleaner I eat and the better my food choices in terms of low calorie / high nutrient is making me feel better from the inside out, or it could actually be true. I am just not sure. I can tell you that (weight loss aside), when I eat crap, I feel like crap! Examples include... when I eat wheat products I feel joint stiffness/soreness and generally head-achey. When I eat dairy I feel bloated and lethargic. When I tighten up my choices to lean meats, raw veggies and healthy fats I feel wonderful! I know that one can lose weight eating just about anything, going back to calories in/out, but after a few years of experimentation, trial and error, I can honestly say that clean eating has its advantages, at least for me. As a 5'5" woman with an average calorie burn of 1200 - 1300 per day I find that I can stay at around 1100-1200 calories per day, as long as they are extremely nutrient dense, high protein, high fat and hitting my macro's and I feel absolutely wonderful! When I go over/under that and when my carbs are higher I feel awful. I have been down to 113 lb's and 10% BF (extremely unhealthy for my stats). I felt like a living skeleton. Not a lot of energy no matter what I ate or did. Sure, I was light on my feet but I couldn't sustain that weight and level of activity for very long. I bumped up to 115 - 120 where I maintain at my current nutrition plan (my diary is open), and feel AWESOME! My "healthy" weight is really around 135 but my body & mind doesn't feel healthy at that weight. I am a believer that food is fuel and I eat to perform, not the other way around.

Kind of a long comment, hope it touched base on at least something you were looking for.

Good thoughts, good question

Strangely I've been getting the same problem with wheat but in the sense that I get achey and bloaty and embarrassingly um, very gassy when I eat any wheat these days...but this was after I lost the weight. Come to think of it because my diet is naturally mostly gluten-free thanks to my preference for rice as my starch of choice I've never really been a big wheat eater. Perhaps that's why when there was an increase in wheat product ingestion through a period of time all the garbage and junk I ate were wheat based - sweets or savoury!

AND YES I GET THE SAME BLOATED THING WITH DAIRY TOO! But I can't put down my caffe lattes in the morning...so I was introduced to almond milk. But its alot dearer in cost than regular milk where I'm from.

After going to mostly lean meats, raw veg and healthy fats recently I've noticed an improvement too!

But yes its alot of trial and error and experimentation. Sometimes its just not practical for many to be able to consistently do clean eating due to the nature of their work, their surrounds, etc.

faithyang

zyxst wrote: »

90% of the time I don't feel any different. 10% of the time, I'm sad and depressed that I can't eat what I want in the amounts I want and play video games all day anymore.

I can really relate to this. Sometimes I feel I guess a little sad at the fact that I can't plop myself on the couch with stacks of crisps, chocolates, biscuits, cookies and ice cream and just button-mash away at a great game or binge-watch horror movies for hours on end without it taking a massive toll on me, not necessarily only weight-wise, but feeling really terrible physically with the after effects after having been on a healthy diet on the long term. My body seems to react negatively to it. I will enjoy the first few bites..then the 'feel good' feeling disappears...I'm satiated so quickly and that initial excitement of binging just disappears in a puff of smoke. Then I feel lethargic and kinda blah and then the guilt sets in on calories and being 'bad' which is just crap tbh.

And not to mention when eating out too. I want to go to a cafe and have with my latte a massive Opera slice, tiramisu and 5 macaroons of various flavours (Green tea and salted caramel FTW) to myself, finished with 3 flavours of Gelato in a cup...but I only manage 1/4 the Opera slice, two spoonfuls of the tiramisu and a bite of macaroon. The buzz is gone. I look sadly at the unfinished food. I wish I could either finish it and enjoy the whole damn thing, or rewind and go through that happy experience again.

Not to mention - I'm fresh out of foodie friends!

daniwilford

Thanks for all of the responses.