The freedom not to eat

themyriadthings

Since I started MFP about 6 weeks ago, I have noticed something interesting. I have the freedom not to eat. Before I would agonize over what to eat and what not to eat, justifying my food choices when I succumbed and feeling deprived when I decided to turn something down. I've been able to let that go now, and the freedom of it is just wonderful! If I don't have enough calories left in the day's budget to eat something, I just don't eat it. I don't have to agonize or wonder, I just 'do the math' and that's that! I can put my energy into something more useful! Thanks MFP for this new-found freedom!!

summerblunden

Amen!! I have also found it so easy to just not eat things. I have my day planned out before I leave for work, so I know what I'm eating for the rest of the day, and I also know if I have room for dessert, and if I don't, like you said, I don't have to justify anything, it just isn't in the plan for today. It helps me not feeling like I've deprived myself, if I want it, I plan my day around it, and that is that. I'm so glad you've found the freedom from food, and you seem to be doing wonderfully!!

goal30Lori

Well said sista!! I totally agree! There is no grey area anymore, I either can or I can't, and I don't have to put any effort into making that decision! It's a wonderful freedom, indeed!

adeanie

Wow, to have the freedom not to eat is wonderful. My problem is pushing myself to eat - I can barely get 1000 calories a day and I have to "force" myself to eat in order to get to at least 1000. I am just not hungry and feel like I shouldn't have to "force" myself to eat something but I know I have to get the calories up in order not to go into starvation mode.

Any advice would be great.

A typical day is yogurt (60 cal), granola bar (90 cal), and a scrambled egg with a cup of skim milk. For lunch, I normally have a baked potato with brocolli and cheese and some sort of meat. I try to fit a snack in between lunch and dinner but mostly I forger because I am just not hungry. For dinner I just have a very small serving size of whatever I make for dinner (normally under 300 calories). I don't eat after 7pm.

I am up moving constantly throughout the day - I do an 18 minute mile around lunch time and then normally do 1.75 miles in 25 mins in the evening time.

I drink almost a gallon of water a day. Anything I need to change or adjust. Don't want to get into starvation mode and not lose anything.

Thanks for the help.

misspenny762

Wow, to have the freedom not to eat is wonderful. My problem is pushing myself to eat - I can barely get 1000 calories a day and I have to "force" myself to eat in order to get to at least 1000. I am just not hungry and feel like I shouldn't have to "force" myself to eat something but I know I have to get the calories up in order not to go into starvation mode.

Any advice would be great.

A typical day is yogurt (60 cal), granola bar (90 cal), and a scrambled egg with a cup of skim milk. For lunch, I normally have a baked potato with brocolli and cheese and some sort of meat. I try to fit a snack in between lunch and dinner but mostly I forger because I am just not hungry. For dinner I just have a very small serving size of whatever I make for dinner (normally under 300 calories). I don't eat after 7pm.

I am up moving constantly throughout the day - I do an 18 minute mile around lunch time and then normally do 1.75 miles in 25 mins in the evening time.

I drink almost a gallon of water a day. Anything I need to change or adjust. Don't want to get into starvation mode and not lose anything.

Thanks for the help.

I had this same problem when I first got started on MFP! The solution people offered me was to pick higher calorie foods, rather than eat more. For example, I notice you're eating 90 calorie granola bars. I don't know if you've tried Nature Valley Sweet n' Salty nut bars, but they're AWESOME and they're between 160 and 170 calories a bar, so if you tried them instead of the bars you're eating now you'd be adding on 80 calories without eating more! You could also maybe switch to skim or whole milk. Examine your diet and try to find substitutions like these that will up your calorie count without filling you up too much! Hope that helped!

themyriadthings

Adeanie - I think the freedom of the math works both ways. If your numbers just aren't adding up, then bumping up the calories per item like misspenny says would help balance your calorie budget.

One thing my sister (goal30lori) said to me when she first started MFP has really stuck with me and it's that it's all about the math. I used to resent not being able to eat like I thought other people did, but heck, the laws of physics and math are the same for them as for me! Input of calories and output of energy has to balance out, that's just how it is. And there is freedom in that, I've found.

coderedcoderedjkjk

I don't think you should try and eat more. If you're not hungry, you're not hungry. Just make sure you're getting the right amount of vitamins. Take a multivitamin with one your meals and your good! 1200 is the lowest because you can't possibly get the right amount of nutrients under that without a supplement. I think you should just eat when your hungry or low on energy. You won't go into starvation mode if you eat under 1000. It's perfectly fine!

thickntired

Adeanie - I think the freedom of the math works both ways. If your numbers just aren't adding up, then bumping up the calories per item like misspenny says would help balance your calorie budget.

One thing my sister (goal30lori) said to me when she first started MFP has really stuck with me and it's that it's all about the math. I used to resent not being able to eat like I thought other people did, but heck, the laws of physics and math are the same for them as for me! Input of calories and output of energy has to balance out, that's just how it is. And there is freedom in that, I've found.

I'm going into my 4th day of starting over my weight loss journey, and the first two days were hard because everyone around me were eating ice cream and cookies and snack crackers and just tons of stuff I would have previously absentmindedly ate and perhaps finished off the box by the end of the day. But the first two days I counted everything and if a bag of cookies were open I would see I didn't have the calories for it, so I didn't have it. But it bothered me to see others having 6 or more of these 90 calorie cookies. Ugh! But then it hit me that it did all come down to math and my calorie in and out is the same as theirs. If they bring calories in and don't put them out some way then they will gain like I did. I don't know if I feel more empowered because I have learned that I am "normal" instead of feeling the usual "weirdo" in the family who couldn't eat like normal people. It feels great now to be able to say "No thanks, I don't have enough calories for that." and to know I am in control and to know I don't need that cookie today but if there are any left tomorrow and I can fit one into my calories then I can have one or decide not to have it at all. In the end it all works out.

thickntired

I don't think you should try and eat more. If you're not hungry, you're not hungry. Just make sure you're getting the right amount of vitamins. Take a multivitamin with one your meals and your good! 1200 is the lowest because you can't possibly get the right amount of nutrients under that without a supplement. I think you should just eat when your hungry or low on energy. You won't go into starvation mode if you eat under 1000. It's perfectly fine!

I hadn't thought of a vitamin. I haven't been taking them recently but was going to get one with lutein in it. They say it helps with the skin sag and Centrium has a vitamin with that in it. But I too find it's hard to get my calories up so I will try a vitamin. I'm upping my cals to 1200 tomorrow and I have this feeling I won't be able to get to that at first so this tip is helpful. Thanks for the info.