Foodies and weight loss

Francl27

Just some random thoughts that occurred to me during my walk today...

I'm a foodie. I mean, even when I was growing up, the main appeal of going somewhere new was to try new foods. I've always lived for food and food makes me happy (I also get cranky if the food is a waste of calories). I'm seriously in a much better mood after a good meal. Even now when I go somewhere, the first thing I look at are restaurants and bakeries...

I was just thinking earlier that it's one of the things about losing weight... It's made me less happy in that aspect. I'm just less happy when I have to order grilled chicken without sauce at restaurants, skip dessert... it's not that a lower calorie meal can't be as tasty, but let's face it, most restaurants don't really have low calorie options that are that good. It's unsatisfying and frustrating for me.

My last vacation was not so fun because I pretty much had to decide between eating healthier and enjoying my food (I like variety... eating grilled meat with a side salad for a week is torture). And even when I splurge a bit, there's always that little voice in my head that tells me that I'm just sabotaging myself (I try to make room for it, but I'm always hungrier in the morning so if I go out for dinner, I just don't have many calories to spare).

I've always been in the 'everything in moderation' camp but unfortunately my tastes go towards things that, even in moderation, have too many calories to eat on a regular basis (baked goods mostly). I've lost 80 lbs, gained back 15 (which I want to lose, but so far I just can't seem to get a grip), and I just feel so deprived all the time. I do cook my meals and I'm not bad at following a recipe but let's face it, I'll never be someone who enjoys spending hours in the kitchen either. And 'having half an entree' at a restaurant typically doesn't cut it for me - I mean, I won't eat a whole 12oz steak, but I have no problem eating the sides, for example - because I'm usually too hungry.


I was just wondering if anyone else feels the same way? I know that most of us here love food, but for others like me for whom food has always been the main interest in life, how do you manage?

callsitlikeiseeit

im a foodie and i love everything i eat. i make it fit. on vacations, and on holidays, i dont worry about it and try to stick around maintenance. im going to mexico next month. you bet im going to enjoy my meals!!

i get my baking fix in by giving it to friends and neighbors.

im very popular lol

103 pounds down, still a foodie, and still happy as a clam. :P

VintageFeline

I honestly don't make too many sacrifices and I'm not a super active person with a lot of calories to play with. On holiday I indulge in whatever takes my fancy but I do pretty active holidays so damage is minimal.

Harder when in a deficit sure. When maintaining I don't have too much trouble fitting in most things I want.

janejellyroll

I have subverted a lot of food-related energy into planning my meals and consuming food media (websites, television shows, reading). This may not work for everyone, but it works for me. Like you, I find that many restaurants aren't the greatest at creating lower calorie food (and it can be more challenging when additional voluntary restrictions, like my veganism, also come into play). As a result, I cook most of my own food because it allows me to have what I really enjoy. But still I'm like you -- when I travel I want to know where I'm going to eat and what they have there. When I go to someone's house, I'm always curious about what they're going to serve me.

In practice, "everything in moderation" means I'm not having everything that I want as much as I want it. I'm someone who could easily eat 800-900 calories a meal and have additional drinks on top of that . . . that's just not sustainable to maintain the weight I want.

So . . . I don't think I have the answers. I thought maybe my appetite for food would reduce as I was maintaining and while it's true that I'm rarely starving, many of my desires for food were not related to *actual physical* hunger, but instead a desire to eat. I'm realizing that for the rest of my life I'm probably going to have the appetite of a much larger woman.

Increasing my TDEE has helped because it allows me to have some of my favorite things more often or in larger portions. Relentlessly eliminating the calories I don't enjoy as much also helps.

And new hobbies . . . nothing can take the place of food for me, but there are many non-food things I do now to fill up some of that time/mental space food had for me before.

I don't think I have the answers, but you're not alone in this situation.

Marilyn0924

I feel very much the same way @Francl27 and still trying to find that balance, while I dream about a killer risotto I'd very much like to have for dinner.

kommodevaran

I don't know if I am a foodie... English is not my first language, but... I love food. I would be cranky if I always had to pick the most boring thing on the menu. I actually tried for years to eat low fat/low sugar/low salt/low taste, but only at home; sometimes it feels like eating out was what stopped me from developing an eating disorder... Now I cook and eat "restaurant style" meals at home, too, and I have no trouble maintaining weight. The satisfaction I get from balanced and delicious meals keeps me from overeating.

About food being main interest in life... I used to have a love/hate relationship with food, as you can imagine from the above. Food has become a passion for me, and I love to plan meals, dream about meals, grocery shopping, cooking, even cleaning up (I have a dishwasher, lol), not just eating. I think getting more involved in the whole process has made me more appreciative, and I don't want to overeat anymore.

HoneyBadger302

I'm a foodie, who works in the center of a city with a fantastic selection of places and things to eat. And boy do I enjoy eating.

Thing is, I've found I can enjoy all the things, but I have to be careful and plan for it. If I'm going out that night, eat light during the day and ask for a to-go box with my meal (or have them box half right off the bat). As long as I've adjusted to not pigging out, it allows me to enjoy the meal and feel satisfied. I'm also getting better at learning to stop when I'm satisified, even if there's food left and I could eat it (I was raised with the idea that you don't ever leave food on your plate).

On my last vacation (to Italy) I didn't hold back. I ate what I wanted. I actually LOST weight. Their food was just healthier to begin with, plus all the walking we did.

MegaMooseEsq

As something of a foodie myself, I would rather stay home and have a sandwich than buy a low-cal item that I didn't really want at a restaurant. I think it's just a matter of balancing priorities. I've lost 40 pounds over the last 12 months through banking calories so I can eat more when I go out. If I didn't eat out as often (1-2 a week) I'd certainly have lost more. I still have 35 pounds to go, and I project that those last 10-15 are going to be really slow unless I cut that 1-2 a week down, but I'll face that bridge when I get there.

I'm afraid I can't help with the half an entree problem because I've pretty much never not been satisfied with half an entree and I love ordering stuff that makes good leftovers - maybe eating a low-cal high-volume snack beforehand will take the edge off?

ZoneFive

Oh BOY do I understand this. I enjoy cooking, I love baking, and I just like food. My first reason for eating at a restaurant is to try something I can't or don't know how to cook at home. Often those new dishes are the ultra-delicious, hyper-palatable ones that set the bar too high and make me dissatisfied with the usual grilled-meat-and-veg. Let me get hold of some really good restaurant bread and I can go off on a carb-spree that takes me days to rein in. It's not just the one or two pieces of bread, it's the aftershocks that throw my blood glucose into orbit. Someday maybe I'll be able to be a foodie again, but it's going to have to be one meal at a time, at well-spaced intervals.

I'm eyeing a new soup place not too far from me. They publish all their nutrition information online so I can make decisions before I'm in the shop and the aromas mess with my head. I have hopes.

ladyhusker39

I've had the opposite experience. When I eat out now I only want very high quality food that's prepared in a simple way.

If a food is done up with too much fanciness just for the sake of being fancy, I don't want it.

For example, there's nothing tastier or more enjoyable to me as a very good piece of lightly seasoned, grilled salmon with a touch of lemon. Or a quality cut of steak seared to a perfect medium rare.

Maybe I'm not so much a foodie as a food snob.

RoxieDawn

I am a foodie. I cook at home a lot and bake as well. Heck I made cookies the other day and still eating on them. You have to ask my husband, but everything we do, food comes first. Seriously, what are we eating when we get there? lol My husband calls me disciplined. I'm not sure if that is what it is, maybe it is, for example crackers and dip the other day could have turn into eating the entire thing as my old self, but my newer self said you had enough. I was counting the damn crackers anyways out of habit, but the point is I was eating yummy dip and crackers and it was delish.

I have increased my TDEE greatly through exercise and activity, being short, older and my current weight MFP gives me a sedentary TDEE of 1400 calories. That was never going to be good enough for me.

That said I don't eat out much, but when I do, I kinda pick a happy medium. I don't go so bland and tasteless that I would rather not consume those calories, but I find something that is a protein source and supplement that with a side(s) I know I am going to eat and enjoy. Example I am not ordering broccoli as one my sides. lol I am a huge white potato eater, so even if they are french fries I am gonna have them. If the order is too large I won't eat all of them.

I was a food restricter when I first started out, it was through many months to a year of haggling over calories that I just decided to eat what I wanted. My vacations are pretty much the same as eating out, I pretty much can tell what 6 ounces of meet looks like, can tell if there are too many potatoes on my plate, etc.

I am 4 years in and I still count and I still don't really trust myself to take too many calorie tracking days off. I am always counting calories and grams and ounces in my head.. sometimes I wish I didn't know so much about food but the trade off is I would still be overweight if I didn't.

I will always be planning my days around food, even my weekdays enjoy nice tasty dinners and a dessert. lol

vingogly

If I'm going to a restaurant with others and I know or suspect I'm a better cook than the folks in the kitchen, I'll get something relatively low calorie - it's weighing the pleasure I'm likely to get from the meal against its cost in calories.

If I'm going to a top-notch restaurant with food I don't have the skills to make it and/or it uses ingredients I wouldn't have at home, calories be damned.

A favorite Italian restaurant I used to go to often when I could afford it had sides like a salad with thinly sliced celery, wild mushrooms, shaved high-quality parmesan, thin strings of leek flash fried, and drizzled with white truffle oil. That's not something I'd likely make at home - and it's one of the best summer salads I've ever had. By contrast, your neighborhood red sauce restaurant with your basic lasagna and mostaccioli with the pre-made cannoli and tiramisu for dessert is yawnable - no point spending my calories on that kind of food when it's no different than what I'd get at home (or in many cases, what I'd get in the supermarket freezer).

I love good, full fat ice cream and once every couple of weeks or so I'll go to the dairy near my house and get a dish with a couple of my favorite flavors. But I won't keep their stuff in my freezer because I'll overindulge - and I won't spend my calories on "ice milk" or that Halo Top stuff because it's not worth it to me. You can budget for anything - it's like being on a financial budget and going to a movie once a month rather than every week to save money.

jseams1234

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. On my current cut I have a 2250 calories limit and eating my favorite foods at my favorite restaurants can hit that number with one meal. Well, that's what I'm doing tomorrow. I get one meal... but damn, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it.

try2again

I guess I've always thought of "foodies" as being rather particular, but if using it in the respect of being overly-focused on food, yes I am. In fact, when I originally signed up for MFP, I was very sad because I already felt my life lacked joy and that weight loss was going to rob me of one of the few things I still enjoyed. My stats are pretty much the same as yours as far as weight loss, though I didn't lose all the weight at once but in chunks over many years. I never felt too sorry for myself while in a weight loss phase, but I do struggle with having to deny myself the things I want in the amounts I want otherwise. I've never been the best at banking for things, either.

I know you were just using it as an example, but vacations/travel are pretty easy for me. Partly for financial considerations, we tend to only eat out for one big meal a day and have healthy, lower calorie snacks the rest of the time. That, combined with extra activity, usually gives me a loss when we travel. But I would never deliberately deny myself on vacation or when out somewhere special.

VintageFeline

You know, I've thought further on this. From the perspective of what I would define as a foodie (someone who enjoys great quality produce cooked/served/combined to perfection or as near as dammit) it's nearly always not horrifically calorific. There are exceptions of course, Indian food being one, curries are generally oil heavy in a lot of dishes. Some tapas dishes are also pretty oily/fatty. But because it is fresh, portion appropriate and delicious it is pretty difficult to overeat without making huge sacrifices in the day or week to balance it. Even something like seafood linguine in an Italian restaurant is more than easy to fit in with a started or garlic bread or bruschetta.

I eat out or take out very regularly. I recently went to a moderately fine dining restaurant with a friend. The portions, to a lot of people, would appear tiny but I did not walk out hungry nor did I go home after ice skating for an hour. So the notion that being a foodie and maintaining moderate to significant weight loss is kind of alien to me. And as I said, I say that as someone with a not stellar TDEE.

DebLaBounty

I started buying the foods I'm "supposed to" eat, and then I'd search the internet for quick-to-make recipes for the ingredients I had on hand. I found that kind of fun. So I'd search for "quick broccoli carrot chicken" and see what I would be in the mood to make. I would absolutely have no fun if I didn't try new things! I started topping more foods with salsa or pico de gallo, and interesting seasonings. I made a chicken enchilada soup and a spicy Thai chicken and rice noodle soup (both of which I find tasty and filling). I experimented with all kinds of stir fry meals. I learned to make Greek salad, a vegetable dish with weird ingredients, whatever. My cooking skills really improved. You got to incorporate variety! I don't like to spend much time in meal prep, so ruled out anything that required more than 45 minutes from start to finish.

For eating at restaurants, there's no way I would confine myself to a salad and chicken every time. How about fajitas without eating tortillas? How about Pho? Grilled fish or prawns, substituting extra veggies for rice? It's taken some creativity on my part, but I've managed to get to my goal weight.

Also, I'm wondering whether you can re-set your daily calorie intake? Maybe try to lose half a pound or one pound a week instead of two? That will allow you to eat more calories a day. The weight will come off more slowly, but that's better than torturing yourself and denying yourself the pleasures of life.

JeromeBarry1

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nowine4me

I love the experience of dining out. Lingering over a meal with some great wine and conversation. This week is restaurant week in my very foodie town, so we went out. I ordered salmon, asparagus and green beans. It was tasty, but dripping in butter and way saltier than I’m used to, it dawned on me that my preparation at home - with the same ingredients - would have been better. I still eat out, but I really prefer cooking and controlling my own destiny 90% of the time.

You also come to a point when you realize that this is just how it’s going to be. 2,000 calories a day is my budget, eat a little crap or a lot of super nutrient dense foods. Those are the options. I truly don’t take pleasure in heavy or fatty meals that make me feel like crap. There are plenty of great options at many restaurants. Yes, It’s possible to be a lean and healthy foodie!

Alatariel75

I'm a foodie. The money I have spent on restaurants would make you weep. The bill at the end of a 7 course degustation I went to with my 2 best friend recently would have covered 5 nights in Bali for the 3 of us. Food is life. Once a month, I have 3-4 people over and serve a 3-4 course themed meal. next weekend is Italian and includes duck prosciutto I cured myself, truffled goats cheese and sweet potato cannelloni in basil cream sauce and a whole bunch of other thing I can't be bothered listing.

I don't confuse being a foodie with going to regular restaurants and eating large portions of 'nice' food though. I can make 'nice' food at home, and I do. Every day. If it's not going to be spectacular, I'm quite happy just going for a nicely cooked piece of meat and some fresh sides. Plus, if I'm away, I'm moving around a lot and it seems to work out.

And when I do give into my 'foodie' side, calories be damned.

VintageFeline

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I'm a foodie. The money I have spent on restaurants would make you weep. The bill at the end of a 7 course degustation I went to with my 2 best friend recently would have covered 5 nights in Bali for the 3 of us. Food is life. Once a month, I have 3-4 people over and serve a 3-4 course themed meal. next weekend is Italian and includes duck prosciutto I cured myself, truffled goats cheese and sweet potato cannelloni in basil cream sauce and a whole bunch of other thing I can't be bothered listing.

I don't confuse being a foodie with going to regular restaurants and eating large portions of 'nice' food though. I can make 'nice' food at home, and I do. Every day. If it's not going to be spectacular, I'm quite happy just going for a nicely cooked piece of meat and some fresh sides. Plus, if I'm away, I'm moving around a lot and it seems to work out.

And when I do give into my 'foodie' side, calories be damned.

I can has invitation yes?

yirara

I love to try new food, and on every trip I do I go to one posh restaurant that I chose carefully and have a multi course dinner. My thought is: while I travel quite a lot I don't gain weight while travelling (other than the plane water weight) but I gain weight while at home snacking. I'm active when travelling, and, never having been a big eater but rather one who has many small meals across the day. As such I know I won't overeat massively and am very relaxed about it. I never book al-inclusive and only eat a-la-carte, which helps I guess. Quite honestly, all-inclusive food cannot be of such quality that I'd be happy about it anyway.

This year I'll be travelling to Alderney (lots of fish), Brazil, Utah, Scottish Highlands and one of the Canary Islands, part of it is on business with added private trip afterwards. I don't expect to gain weight from those trips as with last year, or the year before.