Food...control...the endless loop
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Can't even - read / think / speak intelligently on this. But - I have observed that once someone "diets" they seem to set themselves up for a lifetime of challenge. Sometimes I see an overweight/obese teen diet for the first time - then it becomes the chicken or the egg question. But often that teen is not really overweight/obese until they start the cycle with a diet.3
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Laurie's last mirrors my own personal experience.
Being normal weight but at the higher end as compared to others in school. Add a bunch of family challenges/changes. And a good summer ultra diet and winter regain to set up.
However I will disagree with the lack of internal measure of satiation IF (that's not a small IF) you only count food and only post weight loss for me
I.e. during weight loss I did discover a couple of cues that I'm actually hungry (usually if I start overthinking about food and the needle shows a large deficit brewing I now know what is going on!) And have discovered that (if I eat slow enough and normal level as opposed to super high reward food) I *can* tell that I've eaten enough to not be hungry for a few hours or to even be full.
In fact a few times when Fitbit/logging disagreed with actual body cues invariably the body cues were more accurate (based on weight changes) as opposed to the logging/Fitbit
Doesn't mean that i will always (or ever) listen/obey the signals and actually stop. Especially when other things are going on2 -
Lost it big time yesterday with grab n go snacking. Meals were fine but in between the hamsters were screaming 🙀.3
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I hope you can wrangle those beasties into submission today, Yooly🤞🏻2
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I've got bets on yooly smacking down some beasties! (smacking not snacking!)1
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Yeah, Yoolie!!!2
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I’m working really hard on limiting snacks or random tastes/nibbles. That’s generally what makes me go over the deficit. Not enough to gain weight but enough to prevent further loss.3
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I’m still dealing with some sadness and stress. Some days I’m in control until late evening, others it’s just a mess. Fortunately it seems to even out without a big weight uptick. But wow it’s a daily struggle.
I’m hoping to fall back into a boring daily routine to ease the calorie juggling 🤹♂️.3 -
Glad and really impressed that you’re managing to control it enough to avoid a significant weight uptick. Try and be gentle with you, Yooly2
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Still dealing with wild swings followed by crazy restrictions. I need to get my equilibrium back.2
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Dampen the wave
Reduce the amplitude
🤗 Hug 🫂2 -
Back to the street again.
(that is not what I meant to write but that’s what came out on my phone screen and it was so funny I had to leave it)
Back to this thread again.
If I have the energy and focus I track my calories in and allow Fitbit to track my calories out. I can keep a really high deficit going with no problem (for a while).
What I’ve been wanting to do and trying to do is to just eat healthy food. I know if I can achieve that my calories will be fine. I’m not trying to limit the amount of food I’m eating… so long as it’s real food that’s fine. (plus of course the magical green soup and blueberry/spinach/beet smoothies)
I can’t seem to do that and it makes no sense.
I have either absolute control and micromanage every bite…or I just lose all control and inhale all the bad food (if I have any money available to go buy all the bad food).
Sometimes it’s caused by an overdose of stress and these days my life has plenty of days like that. But usually it’s just a case of “oh - I’m not on a diet so just go crazy”
I know this is a problem we all have to one degree or another , but I keep coming back to it because it seems if this one is solvable we’ll have this weight issue beat.
So I keep phrasing it in different ways in my mind and try to understand the finer aspects… And sharing with you guys thinking that eventually all the pieces will fall into place.
Now that I’ve written all those words I’m thinking maybe but I need to do is start a checklist of what needs to be done to keep things on track.
And rather than track I can rely on the checklist every day and see if that works.
These are key points for me.
1. Keep good easy food available.
2. Eat on a schedule… hungry or not.
What key points would you add to this list???2 -
The schedule thing before you think you're hungry may prove useful. I've definitely found out these past few years that I sometimes wait too long to eat. Even now, as I type this while eating a sandwich which I bought even though I wasn't "hungry", I can feel myself perking up from eating the food--so apparently I *was* hungry.
I think that I belong to a category of people where not remaining somewhat conscious of my food is not a viable option. Thus I've made peace with this need.
I mean would i begrudge a type 1 diabetic the need to regulate food and insulin injections? Begrudge a person who has high blood pressure the need to monitor it and take their pills? Am I agree at my teeth because I have to brush them?????😹
With food you do have an option as to what degree of investment you want to make. People manage weight (more or less effectively) by exercise, by cutting out things, by eating healthy, by never eating desserts or sweets, by only eating once a day, by never having second, by going on bread and water in order toto drink wine, by counting points unless they're eating chicken and salad which is free food 😹, by counting their sins 😹 (isn't that big in England and i think pasta or rice is a freebie on the syn one), or even, I hear, by counting calories!
And when counting calories you can just have a general idea, or count as accurately as you can, or somewhere in between.
And you can either count to create as large a deficit as possible, or count so you can eat as much as you possibly can while still achieving some reasonable goals, or anywhere in between.
I think that for me the "I don't care and I'm free to eat anything" routine is basically a lie.
So the only thing left is to figure out the variable amount of self care I'm willing to provide to me at any point of time given what else may be happening!2 -
I'm with you, PAV. I'll never be able to relax on the food front. I'm just hoping - for a while - I can use my general knowledge of what I can eat - and how much food I can safely eat in a day rather than tracking every morsel.
The problem (so far) hasnt been that I dont judge accurately - its that I just completely fly off the handle when I'm not tracking. I'm praying for a middle ground where I eat mindfully - rather than tracking - and don't "fly off the handle"
I honestly just don't have the cognitive energy to deal with that at the moment.2 -
Well there are a few things in your life that are, unfortunately, consuming some of that cognitive bandwidth
You don't have to be perfect
You do have to be able to say "enough", most of the time
And we're not always willing and able to do so3 -
E N O U G H
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Something good seems to be happening in my hamster brain. Many things came together maybe? Having a housemate that has ridiculous amount of goodies that he wants to share in the kitchen all the time? Not eating at a deficit? Weird side effect of the general anaesthetic?
Whatever is the cause - my eating ( appetite and binge desire ) has been reasonable???
I was going to write under control but there’s been no control required.
Now I’m going to have to think long and hard about how to proceed if this continues. I don’t want to trigger another hamster revolt.
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My weight is creeping up. Some probably due to injury swelling/water retention. Some due to enforced inactivity. There’s not much exercise I can do without reinjuring the bruised hip.
So all that’s left is to cut back on intake of calories. Boredom eating is definitely dangerous.3 -
The comfort that comes with eating, especially when recovering, is such a dangerous thing.
It makes such sense on the survival level… but not in the day-to-day lives that most of us here have the luxury of living.0 -
And that’s on top of the boredom eating!1
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Do you have something you can be doing with your hands? I find that it is easier to ignore the hunger rat if I am occupied. Even if it is just playing cards or building Legos. I also have some low calorie snack items that take me a while to eat so that I feel like I am wasting some time. I do mini bags of smart pop popcorn. They are only 100 calories a bag and I can eat them over a 30 minute period which then tricks my brain into thinking I have been eating a lot more than I have1
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I do a lot of knitting which keeps me from snacking - for a while. I’m just used to being more active. Time to adjust to the new reality for a while.2
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Experimenting with eating usual breakfast -egg, Greek yogurt, fruit-, variety at lunch and a very light evening meal. So lunch is the big meal which for me is about 500-600 calories. That leaves 600-700 calories for snacks and dinner. I generally come in under maintenance by not preparing a second hot or full meal. Might work in the long run…..3
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I’m fine with regular meals. It’s the mindless snacking thing that puts me over. I’m working really hard on keeping the snacks 🥨🧀🍫🥜down to one per day and minimal calories.
And trying to make sure - if possible- to have a 12 hour fasting period of no eating. Usually 7pm to 7am. 🕖3 -
Snacking bad I agree! If stick, I do, to regular meal times without eating out I probably won't even hit maintenance calories. If snack, I do, all bets are off about totals!😳3
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Snacking bad I agree! If stick, I do, to regular meal times without eating out I probably won't even hit maintenance calories. If snack, I do, all bets are off about totals!😳
The question is - why snack? Regular meals take care of nutrition and often I’m no longer consciously hungry. What NEED is that mindless snacking fulfilling?
Worse yet, once I start the mindless grab n go eating, it just goes on all day! Obviously the NEED isn’t ever satisfied. Illogical and frustrating!
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Trying to control the after supper snacking. If I can stick to the 6pm to 6am fasting period I do ok. But it’s a long haul to my 11pm usual bedtime. What to do???2
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Had a small binge on chocolate yesterday afternoon. I think it was emotional eating because I still don't feel good and I am stressed out. Hopefully today I can do better.2
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Food and stress - not a good combination. Hope you feel better and calm the stressors.2
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One of my longtime mfpeops swears by Crio Bru which seems to have relatively few calories and by the ritual of making plus time consumed consuming may be worth a shot re yooly snacks1
