Addictive personality and food.

Alarmed_one

So I love carbs to death. I love food in general. It’s seriously killing me.... I can’t control myself. I was doing so good for 3 months and lost 20lbs.... all of a sudden I started eating carbs again and stayed under my calories and was being good, but slowly but surely I started being bad and now I have absolutely no control. I’ve been skiing horrid for 2 weeks and gained back 7lbs. I’ve had different advice. Some people say that tasting is ok to get the craving out of the way, like one bite. Other say as long as you stay under your calories it doesn’t matter what you eat. Other people say to stay away from trigger foods completely or you will fall again. I need to know what works for you. Not short term, but people that have kept the weight off for a long time. Please. Thank you.

NorthCascades

NWCR Facts

You may find it interesting to know about the people who have enrolled in the registry thus far.


80% of persons in the registry are women and 20% are men.
The "average" woman is 45 years of age and currently weighs 145 lbs, while the "average" man is 49 years of age and currently weighs 190 lbs.
Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.
These averages, however, hide a lot of diversity:
Weight losses have ranged from 30 to 300 lbs.
Duration of successful weight loss has ranged from 1 year to 66 years!
Some have lost the weight rapidly, while others have lost weight very slowly--over as many as 14 years.

We have also started to learn about how the weight loss was accomplished: 45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program.
98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.


http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

LAWoman72

You love carbs which is normal - a huge portion of people do, liking carbs is not a character flaw or a disorder - and you deprive yourself of them, making them only that much more tempting, so that eventually you plough right through them.

Eat them in the first place, stop making them a dirty secret that you must deny yourself in order to be a good person and see if your "addiction" doesn't lighten up.

PAV8888

Seriously?
Someone flagged the National Weight Control Registry as spam on MFP?
OK kewl!
Good luck with your weight loss. Have you ordered your ACV steeped raspberry ketones yet?

youngmomtaz

I have to avoid my trigger foods completely or I end up in an all out binge.
-cottage cheese
-Cookies
-buns/bread/cinnamon buns(I can eat Keto varieties and be satisfied, anything high carb and I eat until I am sick)
-nutella
-nuts

All these things I do not eat. Once I start I do not stop until they are gone. Without them I can moderate thank goodness. Learn what you can and cannot tolerate and if bites and tastes just make the cravings worse then stay away.

My opinion only of course. But I have tried “everything in moderation” nope, I cannot moderate.

fitoverfortymom

For me, calories are king. I eat a variety of food types and groups, including a sweet treat almpst every day. I avoid trigger foods completely which for me are chips and cookies and candy. If I crave something, I wait 3 days. If I still crave it, I find a way to work it into my calories.

middlehaitch

I've kept the weight off for over 7 years.

What worked for me was eating all the foods I loved while staying within my calorie goal (by weighing food), and meeting my nutritional needs most of the time.

I also chose to exercise ( for fitness and health) in a manner and intensity that I knew I could maintain long term, eating back all the calories.

You have to decide what will work for you. I don't have a problem with carbs or any other macro, nor do I have a problem over indulging in any food, so a simple reduction in portions and increase in movement worked well for me.

Cheers, h.

kommodevaran

Of course you can control yourself. But you need correct information and a more relaxed attitude, and you may have to organize your environment differently.

Food is good and meant to be loved. Most of us love to eat. But eating too much isn't healthy. "Carbs" would be short for "carbohydrates", and carbohydrates provide the bulk of the energy in most nomal (and healthy) human diets. But "carbs" has also become the new word for "junk food": food that is easy to like, easy to find, easy to eat, easy to overeat, not very nutritious. Giving it all kinds of negative associations and fearing it, gives it ironically power over us. Find out what you mean by "carbs".

"Been doing good" is just diet talk for "been depriving myself". Of course that makes you want to have what you've missed.

You are bad when you do something unethical. Eating food you like isn't unethical; routinely eating too much isn't good for you, but that doesn't make you a bad person.

What practical approach is best for you, depends on how you react to "trigger" foods. If you feel satisfied by a small amount, incorporate it often. If you just want more when you have a lick, avoid it. If you're like me, eat "anything" on "special occasions".

It is true that if you stick to your calorie goal, you lose weight, no matter what you eat. But if you can't stick to your calorie goal, no matter how "perfect" the diet is, it's not effective for you. Find what works for you.

Francl27

My addictive personality is actually what helped me lose the weight... once I started, I was completely into it.

But unfortunately yes you just have to find what works for you. For me, moderation is best, or I end up binging... and unless I really want something specific, I try to make a good choice. For example, if I want pizza, I'll eat pizza, but if we're going to a pizza place but I don't REALLY want pizza, I'll have a salad, dressing on the side etc. Same for dessert at restaurants, unless I've been craving something specific, I won't order if they don't have it. The key for me is to follow my cravings but say no if it's high calorie and I'm not specifically craving it.

Also keeping higher quality food at hand helps with the random binging because they're not actually satisfying (like homemade chocolate chip cookies vs Oreos if I want a cookie).

And low carb doesn't work for everyone. For me, restriction just leads to binging (plus I need carbs to feel physically satisfied). Eating what I really want and making it fit in my calories is more satisfying and typically prevents a 'I don't care, I'm already over anyway' attitude... although obviously some things require more planning to fit than others.

What helped me to is figure out what foods I can actually do without but have a hard time stopping when I start - those I try to avoid (chips, juice, unless I have a very strong craving for them, I'm just better off not starting).

I joined MFP 5 years ago and lost 80 lbs (I did gain 15 back, but it's because of poor choices and pretty horrible cycle hunger - working on losing those now).

jgnatca

I have an addictive personality. I stay away from cigarettes, gambling, alcohol and drugs.

I transferred my habit of repetitively eating to compulsively logging on to MFP.

Here are some excellent expert resources.

http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_ID=48

Did you notice your use of language such as “all of a sudden”? It is as if you are transferring that decision to eat above your needs to an external force. As weird as it seems, it helps to acknowledge that you made those choices. Own it and you can control it.

jgnatca

@Francl27 I switched to high quality for the foods I love, too!

I’d rather have one square of high quality dark chocolate than five Hershey’s bars. Multiply the pleasure and much lower calorie. I have to pay attention to extract all the pleasure.

RoxieDawn

You lost 20 pounds? This in itself is amazing progress. Was your calorie intake too low to sustain your calorie deficit? Did you overhaul your diet so much that you thought you could only eat xxxxx kinds of calories to lose weight?

The advice you received is not necessarily wrong advice many have to stay away from trigger foods, and many do and do can eat foods of their choice of food and completely be successful in lose weight. All of the things we choose for what works for us is individual. I have been 4+ years and I am all in for variety in my diet, low carb or restricting diet strategies end up in epic fails for myself.

You described yourself as being bad and having absolutely no control? Negative thoughts about ourselves only keeps us from progressing. I am grasping straws here... are you an emotional eater, do you eat or go back to habitually eating for comfort when you are stressed out etc.?

Take some time out and think about what invariably is preventing you from progressing. You can lose weight 'slowly', take time to work on you in the process cause change is hard.