fearing food

tigersword

Do away with the concept if a "cheat meal," and eat moderate amounts of food you enjoy every day.

This. Get rid of arbitrary food labels.

WendyTerry420

Do away with the concept if a "cheat meal," and eat moderate amounts of food you enjoy every day.

^^ This


Once I got under 200 pounds, I lowered my calorie deficit to just 200-300 calories. In the last couple of months, I have started logging *after* I eat so as not to get caught up in the OCD of tracking, as well as to see if I could make smart choices on the fly. And guess what? I'm doing it. I'm averaging 2038 calories a day without pre-planning. (My goal is 2100/day) Eat the food. Log it. Watch your macro numbers. If you let yourself love food, and you let yourself love your body, everything else will fall into place. :flowerforyou:

drenergy

RRRREEEEELLLAAAAAXXXXXX

Food is not the enemy! And you're just making it worse by being freaked out about all of these things. Did you hear what you said? You're anxious about this, so you're anxious about that, and stress etc. etc. But you're stressing about things that aren't even happening! What good is that doing you? None at all!

I have lost 25 pounds this year because I stopped eating back my calories on weekends and nights out with friends. Seriously. I was training for half marathons, and stayed really active for almost a year, but my weight was totally flat. Once I realized that I was going out too much and eating too many wings and fries, I went down to just one dinner out each week and started losing consistently. Now I just eat reasonably during the week and keep running and I'm almost down to my goal. I don't tell myself I 'can't' have certain foods; I just know that I shouldn't be pounding burgers and fries and shakes. If you plan out your meals and spend a little time thinking about healthy snacks to have on hand, and lots of veggies and lean proteins for dinners, you'll be fine.

If you're worried about grad school derailing your schedule and healthy habits, just plan ahead. I found rice cups that are healthy and super easy, so I keep frozen veggies and precooked chicken around to have a legit healthy meal in like 5 minutes. I always pack a lunch. If there's a day I forget or just can't juggle all the balls, I go to Subway. No biggie. You can work exercise into your schedule even if you only have twenty minutes a day. You know how to do all of these things, so worrying about maybe not doing them in the future seems very silly. If you want to eat one meal out with some fries now and then, it's really not a big deal. That's not going to be the downfall of everything you've worked hard for and cause you to be morbidly obese, living under an overpass.

lalonmeg000

Thanks everyone who posted. I don't agree with the phrase "cheat days" I just didn't know how else to put it.

Reading all your post make me feel a little less crazy lol. I think I will try writing down the situations and foods that are making me a little stressed and see how that helps. Off the top of my head French fries and pizza are the two biggest triggers of guilt, and maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of either to begin with which leads into..making the not so healthy meal worth it. Great philosophy. Tiramisu totally worth it, fries and pizza...ehhh

Yesterday I was hungry when we past that fast food...I think more than being afraid of the food itself, I am more so afraid of falling back into my old habits with food (aka I see it I eat it) which is equally as unhealthy as my new stress over food is. And let's face it, fast food isn't filling, so I knew in my head in order to be full, I would end up eating more than I could budget in my daily cals.

Overall I think these first couple of weeks are going to be a new level of learning for me in many ways, time management, money budgeting, and staying stress free enough from the work load to still carry on my normal planning ahead. I am still working out after work, and brining my lunches...idk what came over me yesterday, but feeling much better today.

Thanks again for all the responders and advice !!!!

vet272

Do away with the concept if a "cheat meal," and eat moderate amounts of food you enjoy every day.

This.

QFT

laserturkey

Making it "worth it" is very important, IMO. If you're going to enjoy a milkshake, for example, make it a really good one in your favorite flavor. If you're going to spend calories on pizza, make or get a really good pizza with just the toppings you like. Being particular in that way makes it easier to resist the crappy versions of these things when they are all around us. If you're going to invest calories in enjoying food, then really, really enjoy it.

likitisplit

Off the top of my head French fries and pizza are the two biggest triggers of guilt, and maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of either to begin with which leads into..making the not so healthy meal worth it. Great philosophy. Tiramisu totally worth it, fries and pizza...ehhh

I love this ^^^

It took me a long time to get to this realization.

In my case, I'm not a big fan of Cheetos - I can enjoy them but I'm not going to seek them out. However, cheeseCAKE is a huge treat. One day I mindlessly ate Cheetoes from the vending machine because I "needed a snack" and they were available. Later that day I had an opportunity to eat cheesecake that I TURNED DOWN because I'd already had too many "junk" calories from the Cheetos. What the hell was that?

Then I ran into this quote from a Rabbi, something like, "God is going to ask you whether you enjoyed the delicious food he made for you. Are you going to say, 'I was too busy dieting.'?"

Ah ha! Forgoing cheesecake that I would enjoy because I MINDLESSLY ate Cheetos is actually a SIN. So, one of my goals is to make sure that my snacking isn't mindless. Food is too yummy to eat without thinking about it.

tworthen79

There shouldn't be a cheat day. Eat what you love in moderation and in your daily calorie allowance. And stop thinking of certain foods as "bad".

sjanejack

I don't quite have that problem, but sometimes I do get afraid of eating more even once in a while, like being afraid I'll gain weight.

neandermagnon

Do away with the concept if a "cheat meal," and eat moderate amounts of food you enjoy every day.

This. Get rid of arbitrary food labels.

This

foods are not good or bad............... someone's overall diet can be healthy or unhealthy. healthy = providing the body with all the nutrition it needs without eating way too much of certain things that can be harmful in excess. unhealthy = insufficient nutrient intake and/or way too much of anything that's harmful in excess.

What that means is if the majority of your diet is nutritious food that's providing your body with what it needs, then eating so-called "junk" food within limits (e.g. while sticking to your calorie and macro goals, or not going over then too often) isn't going to make your diet unhealthy.

In terms of weight gain, you need to eat 3500 calories over and above your TDEE to gain just one lb of fat. Eating over your TDEE day in day out will make you gain fat.... massive binges of thousands and thousands of calories will make you gain fat..... but one normal sized meal in a restaurant every now and then isn't going to make you gain any significant amount of fat, and your body tends to adapt... personally I find if I have a really big meal one day, I'm less hungry the next, so naturally eat less and it balances itself out. Or if I'm more active one day I get more hungry and naturally eat more and again, it balances itself out. So really, don't be afraid of food.... .it's there to be enjoyed.... it's a vital life skill to learn how to enjoy all the foods you want to eat in moderation.