THIS IS HARD!
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joecooler
Posts: 10 Member
Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.
But
THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
But
THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
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Replies
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So are you cutting things for now or making permanent changes? You claim both in your post.
Have some pizza. Make it work within your goals.8 -
You know what I had for breakfast yesterday? A donut. A big one. Know what I had for lunch? McDonald’s. A bacon McDouble and a medium fry. For dinner, I had some broccoli, some parsnips and some grilled boneless/skinless chicken thighs. It all fit within my calorie goals for the day, so I was good. I’m not going to eat like that *every* day, but once in awhile? I absolutely will, and there’s zero wrong with it.
Food should be enjoyable. If you’re making a lifestyle change, make sure you change it to one your ok with having for life. You can eat anything you want...you just can’t eat everything you want, all the time.11 -
concordancia wrote: »So are you cutting things for now or making permanent changes? You claim both in your post.
Have some pizza. Make it work within your goals.
Cutting things out is permanent changes. Just can't do the mid afternoon candy run any more. Fast food has to be absolutely minimal. Problem with this stuff is, when I have one, I just want more.3 -
DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »If you've lost 10-12 pounds in six weeks then how have your slip-ups been detrimental to your weight loss?
Actually you make a really good point. I guess it's working isn't it?4 -
You don't have to cut any of those things out to lose weight. I eat pizza, hamburgers, donuts, ice cream, had a big bag of popcorn at the movies yesterday, chocolate, whatever... and still keep within my calorie goal. My diary is open if you'd like to see how. Assuming "Joe" means you're a man, it would be even easier as you'll have a higher allowance than I do as a 5'4", 43 yr old woman.5
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Do some meal planning, and find the things that satisfy you...aim for satiety. Not feeling hungry will go a long way in helping you avoid the weak moments and mindless eating. Drink your water. And yup, be patient.
Also, some overeating will not undo the hard work, just delay the results. If you stay consistently at a calorie deficit and have an excess here or there, well, that's just living. You'll only undo your progress if you make a habit of binging. Don't!2 -
the problem with fast food is that it is manufactured to be addicting. Just the right taste to make you want more. It is like the country song about whiskey, "One is too many and two is never enough." I am speaking to myself right now, too. I am back on the "stop in for a little ice cream cone" loop. Then I don't have a balanced dinner to make up for the cone, and before I know it, I'm shakey when it is time to eat, instead of being able to carefully plan and enjoy a meal. It's hard work.. because ice cream is really good.
Though unlike you.. my weight is at a stand still5 -
I struggle with the same thing. If I give in to temptation then I manage to end up completely derailed. I am trying to get on track and figure out how to keep myself on track.0
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This is what I tell myself and others a good diet or lifestyle has 2 primary goals each day. Stay within your calories and eat to be happy and satisfied. The former you need to lose weight the latter you need to stay with it.
I am usually happy with a weekly indulgence so I bank my calories on days where I eat just to nourish. I have messed up a little over the last couple of days but that is life sometimes.1 -
I failed repeatedly by trying to cut out the foods I love, because demonizing just makes us binge. Now I eat anything I want, but not everything at once, and not all the time. I'm maintaining a healthy weight, too.1
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Food should be enjoyable. If you’re making a lifestyle change, make sure you change it to one your ok with having for life. You can eat anything you want...you just can’t eat everything you want, all the time.
this
plus you need to understand the difference between water weight gain when you eat a high carb/high sodium meal (like pizza or a takeaway burger), and actual fat gain.2 -
Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.
But
THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
Just a little slip won't destroy everything you achieved in the week! Don't worry, if it happens, just keep going on as before the next day, just a burger is not going to ruin everything. You did lose weight, haven't you? Try to be more indulgent, and if you can, try to find ways to insert the food you enjoy in your diet, maybe once a week, maybe smaller portions then before, but how can you live without pizza??? And then, think that when you reach your goal weight, maintenance calories will probably be higher then your actual calories, so maybe you will be able to eat more of the good stuff when you get there. It can be risky to think this way, because you risk of allowing yourself too much and gaining all the weight back, but if you eat some of the things you love now that you're in a deficit too, you won't crave them so much that you will binge when you are done. But knowing that you will be able to eat them more when in manteinance may help you stick to your cals.
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So have those things in moderation. I had pizza last night. I’ll be up on the scale today, more because of TOM starting than because of the pizza. Today I’ve already planned out my meals so I can have pasta tonight. I’ve learned that cutting things out completely is dangerous for me and I end up bingeing on those eventually. And that weight loss is about the overall trend, not the immediate.0
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Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.0
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What everybody else said.
Also, 2 pounds a week is plenty fast. Have you considered going a tad slower so you have more wiggle room with the calories?2 -
Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.
I eat what I want, just not as often or in as great a quantity as I used to. My diary is open to public if you want to see how it works for me.1 -
Well yes whn someone says you can eat everything it is meant to be under your calories. But what we mean is not to say eat as you want and then stop, but more on the note of: try to plan your meals so that you have enough calories to eat a treat once in a while. Not everyday, and not big portions. I think the most important thing is balance, so somedays you should eat low cal food that keep you full, but some other days it is good for you, mentally, to eat maybe less in total, but a tasty thing. Foe example, I eat pizza once a week, and I know a whole margherita pizza is going to be 700 cals, and I'm on 1200/1300 max, so I try to eat like 200 at breakfast and only 300/400 at lunch, no snacks, so when I have pizza it's within calories.3
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Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.
But
THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
You don't have to be "perfect" to lose weight...you already noted your "slips" and you're obviously losing weight. I eat a very healthy diet overall, but I also plan for more "fun" foods...like Friday evenings are usually pizza and movie night at my house...it's not a slip...it's planned fun.
At home, we call these foods "sometimes" food...they're really not an issue when it's sometimes. They can become an issue when sometimes becomes all of the time.
You really have to look at your diet and nutrition on the whole rather than in the isolation of a particular food or meal. What is going on most of the time is what actually matters.2 -
Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.3
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.
But
THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
You don't have to be "perfect" to lose weight...you already noted your "slips" and you're obviously losing weight. I eat a very healthy diet overall, but I also plan for more "fun" foods...like Friday evenings are usually pizza and movie night at my house...it's not a slip...it's planned fun.
At home, we call these foods "sometimes" food...they're really not an issue when it's sometimes. They can become an issue when sometimes becomes all of the time.
You really have to look at your diet and nutrition on the whole rather than in the isolation of a particular food or meal. What is going on most of the time is what actually matters.
This is how I've always tried to teach my son about splurges. Fast food, candy, cake, they are all referred to as "sometimes foods" rather than junk food or anything else negative.3
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