Why Can You Eat Fattening Food? What's Your Secret

csheltra26

I was in the same boat as you. I never allowed myself any of the "tasty" food I loved, and when I did boy did I go overboard. I have learned a couple of things:

First, don't create such a large calorie deficit where you can't ever enjoy anything. Yes, I saw a registered dietician and yes she put me on 1200 calories a day. Ridiculous for someone who worked out 12+ hours a week including several kickboxing classes and running 4X a week. This lead me to have a list of "good foods" and "bad foods".

Second - don't have that list of "good foods" and "bad foods". Everything in moderation. this is a lifestyle, not a diet. it's not realistic to never have a piece of pizza again.

I am now at a place where I don't have to eat all the fries on my plate or the whole bacon cheeseburger. or the whole HUGE bag of M&Ms. Now I can have a snack size and feel satisfied because there is no food that is off limits.

Good luck!

rainbow198

Here are the tips I have learned for my body:

I'm a bigger girl so my daily calories are higher so I can eat more.

I exercise a lot, I lift heavy weights and I am very active. Since I burned a lot of calories I can eat more.

I plan and work treats into my daily calories or eat a little less during the week so I can have my weekend treats/meals.

Portion control. It took me a long time to learn to eat a little something sweet and be satisfied with it, but once I did it was smooth sailing.

Don't keep any treats or unhealthy snacks in the house. When I want some candy I go to bulk section in my grocery store and buy like 15 gummy worms. It does cost a lot more than buying them in a bag, that that is plenty for me to enjoy and I don't have to worry about binging on them.

Doing all of this enables me to eat off plan and not gain weight.

cwolfman13

Hi - this is my question based on another topic here. How come YOU can eat pizza, donuts, fried chicken, a big candy bar, a big pie, etc.. etc. and I need to NOT eat that? I mean this is for the people that admit they eat this but yet in the big picture, it doesn't seem to hurt their weight loss. So what is it that you have that I dont?

for me to eat healthy, I fit it into the MFP guidelines, and yes I could "cheat" and eat something like a piece of pie, and still be within my nutition info. However, when I choose to eat that stuff, i cannot stop at a taste.................

Your answer is in bold. I can have a serving of ice cream or a piece of cake or whatever without having to go back and eat the whole tub or whole cake. My rule is, get my nutrition...my vitamins and minerals and protein and essential fats. If I get all of that in my food then everything else is just awesomeness and I enjoy within my calorie goal.

jinna86

I used to have certain foods that I couldn't just leave alone, i *had to* have them, and i couldn't just stop at one bite, I had to eat it all.... those were foods that I'd always considered to be "bad" foods that I should refrain from and even felt somewhat guilty about eating them.

I have since changed my attitude towards food. firstly, I see food as primarily for nutrition, so rather than focusing on what i *shouldn't* eat, which is what nearly everyone who tries to eat healthy or lose weight does... instead I focus on what I *should* eat, i.e. plenty of protein, healthy fat, healthy carbs, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water. (yes, within a calorie goal when losing fat, but for the past few months I've been maintaining or eating for strength gains and not tracking). I've also stopped considering any food to be forbidden. If I've eaten enough nutritious food then I'll eat whatever I want that fits in my calorie goal if I'm cutting (or if I'm not tracking then i have a sensible sized portion of it) - I remind myself that I can have these foods whenever I want and there's nothing wrong with enjoying them, or any food. Since I've been doing that, and changing how I think about food, I've no longer had a problem with cravings or with being unable to stop eating any particular kind of food. I literally used to think of any forbidden food, that if I don't eat as much as I can of it now, that I won't get to eat this food again, so make the most of it. I didn't really realise this was how i was thinking, until after I stopped thinking like that. Now I think of nothing as being forbidden, I can eat any food whenever I want, so that urgency simply isn't there any more, I eat some, I leave the rest for another time.

Also, if you are not eating enough, the desire to eat high calorie food, or food containing the nutrients you're not getting enough of in your diet, is actually a normal physiological response. it's not a psychological problem, it's something that evolved to enable our evolutionary ancestors, who had no idea what a balanced diet is or how many calories they should eat, to not die of starvation or nutritional deficiencies. So anyone who's suffering from any kind of binge eating should first rule out the possibility that their diet is deficient in any nutrient, and also ensure that they're getting sufficient calories. Aiming for slower, steadier weight loss is better, because it's less likely to trigger bingeing or constant snacking... i.e. it's a lot more sustainable and the goal is long term maintenance of a healthy weight, not how much you can lose in x amount of time. So it is vitally important to ensure that you're eating properly before you decide that any binge eating or inability to eat treat foods in moderation is a psychological issue. For many it's a normal physiological survival response to not eating enough.

This is a great post! I agree with the idea that if you label something as "forbidden," then when you eat it, you feel like you have to eat as much as possible because you tell yourself it's the last time you're ever going to have it.

I find the one of the keys to maintaining a mentality of moderation is to remind yourself that those tasty foods are always going to be there if you want them, so there's no need to gorge on them now when you can always have more tomorrow.

NonnyMary

Hi ya'll wow great answers! i really mean that. You guys rock!

The thing that bugs me now, is the hidden sodium in food, im aiming for low sodium, i am trying between 1,000 and 1,800 mg (g?) per day. That way i have wiggle room, and 90 mg sugars because i want to eat 3 fruits a day.

Fine and dandy sugar candy lol... anyhoo, today they had food catered in, so i chose a turkey wrap, however, i think it may have had a lot of sodium, which im finding a lot of restaurant food has too much sodium even though I can't taste it.

so in order to keep in my numbers, i have to watch what i eat. I know its just a day, but its annnoying that i am trying to choose good foods within my numbers and this stupid sandwich seems to be too expensive as far as sodium content. Heck, in comparison, a piece of thin crust cheese pizza has better nutrients than that sandwich wrap.

So that is what i am dealing with now - If i am not making my food and eating out because Im in that situation, then it is hard to find food that has low sodium numbers. I think i may have to eliminate the bread in every case and just each the insides. Thats what was catered, but hurray I didn't crave the brownies they had for dessert! so that is a win!

Oh i am not going to fret much over it, just a momentary annoyance, i know if i gain weight from it, it will go down in a few days and then i am ok again. i dont want you to think im going to go into a funk, its just a challenge that im learning about these food items. i think i am choosing right, but nope, stupid high sodium restaurant food is on my plate. I'm going to see if my job can order a special plate for those of us who need a different kind of lunch when its served in meetings at work.

LOL, I re-read my above comment, i dont mean to sound like those people that crash into a lightpole when they say for an excuse "i was walking down the street and this light pole just walked into me".

jonnythan

Did a doctor tell you to keep sodium that low? If not, you should beware. Sodium levels that low have been directly linked to heart failure and death.

neandermagnon

The British national health service advice is to not exceed 6g sodium a day (i.e. 6000mg) - so unless a doctor has told you not to go over then numbers you mentioned in your post, then I think you can eat quite a bit more sodium without any negative health effects. I think this will make it easier for you to make good choices in terms of foods that fit your macros for fat loss. If your doctor did tell you to keep sodium that low then maybe ask your doctor to refer you to a dietician who can help you to eat both for very low sodium and fat loss and get a lot of ideas and also advice on how to make the right choices from them.

It sounds like work is a pain in the rear re catered foods for meetings - would they allow you to eat your own lunch that you made at home instead? Or alternatively you could eat your own lunch right before the meeting so you're not hungry and not tempted to snack on what they've provided for the meeting.

ash190489

I'm a self confessed ex foodie addict and reached my goals by not eliminating foods but having little tiny bits in moderation. To begin with my partner had to hide particular foods and give them to me. Eventually you get used to smaller portion sizes and find that both your physical results and small serving satisifying.
Once I reached my goal I began eating my favorite things again in moderation and at the smaller serving size.
Now I don't crave things anymore unless its TOM haha. Eventually you'll learn to control things but for now its hard and younneed to bevstrong.

crandos

I eat it to my calorie total for the day

Camera_BagintheUK

nonnymousse1 you've spent your lifetime educating your body to eat this way, so it's going to take time and effort to educate your body to eat differently. I would say I was like you - a treat was never enough, I had to finish the packet/plate/whole thing etc. And I had to fill my mouth, and then fill it again, and I was putting food inside myself without even noticing it sometimes. I called it my Hungry Head - it was like I was filling an emotional hole. Usually I think it was when I was bored or anxious or lonely.

I think - no I know I've stopped that now.

I don't know why it's working for me. I do know, that because I'm restricting calories, and because I've been learning what's high in calories and what's lower, I'm learning and making choices. But I do know it's all in my head.

I have noticed little things that help - like I used to go to the biscuit tin and pull out a fistful of - say - bourbon creams, stick the first one straight in my mouth, and I'd have polished them all off by the time I got to the front room, where I wanted to sit eating them in front of the TV. So I'd just have to go back and pull out another fistful. Now, I know that one bourbon cream biscuit is 68 calories, so I can't afford more than one. So when I catch myself with the biscuit on my lips as I put the lid back on the tin, I stop myself, and take the biscuit back to my seat, put it down, and wait. then I eat it slowly. It works for me - I feel like I've enjoyed my biscuit instead of swallowing it without noticing.

I'll bet you'll notice things like that, in the way you eat all your favourite naughty food. And you'll find ways, like me and my biscuit, of getting control of your sugary and fatty food instead of feeling like it's in control of you. It's not in control of you. You've always been in control of it, you just haven't realised that. So I'm sure you'll be able to find little strategies like me and my biscuit to allow you to enjoy your treats without overdoing it. But it will be something you have to work at over time.

Camera_BagintheUK

I am now at a place where I don't have to eat all the fries on my plate or the whole bacon cheeseburger. or the whole HUGE bag of M&Ms. Now I can have a snack size and feel satisfied because there is no food that is off limits.

Isn't that all we're all aiming for! To eat *normally* - this is excellent! well done you!

hookilau

I'm in the same place you are. Sweet breads such as doughnuts and cinnamon rolls are my downfall. If I screw up and eat on I have to have 2-3 more. My safest option is to stay away.

I remember a time when this was the way I'd accurately describe myself & my husband too. Not that it happened often because we just stopped bringing trigger foods into the house. It helped us not go to town on junk food but did nothing for the cravings or weight loss, which should've been my first clue.

It turns out we are both very carb sensitive, I, more so than he. I was insulin resistant and eventually became T2D while eating healthy foods & regularly working out. Again, my clues should've been that I was keeping well within a reasonable caloric goal, lifting weights & had sworn off sodas & fast food for years, also cooking and eating whole foods for at least 2 years before dx.

Since the dx, and controlling my bg's to below 120mg/dl, I don't crave sugary treats anymore. I feel satiated. I eat high fat, low carb. Mostly it means real cream on strawberries for desert, half and half in my coffee, cooking with ghee or real butter, etc.

Once I changed from low fat-fairly high carb to full fat-low carb, I was able to decrease my baseline bg's and the weight just started falling off. So much so that when I started MFP in Jan of this year, I was weighing and logging foods obsessively but still struggling in the weight loss area.

After my diagnosis in April, I wound up not needing to log food. As long as I kept control of my bg's by low carb-high fat food choices, my old food cravings left me for good.

Extreme blood sugar spikes can cause excessive hunger. I was always fighting a food monkey prior to this, metabolic disease is no joke. :ohwell:

blossomnu

I found what works for me is to ask myself a simple question before eating anything: Will this help me achieve my goals?

If the answer is 'no', I don't eat it. There's literally no point in doing so, and it reminds me I'm eating for enjoyment when I could be replacing that with a dozen other healthier things that also give me enjoyment. It also helps remind me to focus on what I *do* need to do to achieve my goals, like eat something with more protein and less sugar instead, or go to the gym after work.

I've started applying the question to other areas of my life too and it's made me a lot happier and more confident in my decisions (I'm one of those people constantly analysing if I'm doing the 'right' thing).