Life after dieting

johnthefatman

Hi
I'm new here - lost 50 lbs before starting here but still have 120+ to go. I will post an intro to myself soon!
Anyway I was interested to read an article in the Guardian (UK) about the experiences of Slimmer of The Year winners' experiences of their new slim lives/selves. Some very positive but not all.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/21/life-after-weight-loss-champion-slimmers

Are there any threads on here that address the 'after-life'?

Really enjoying using this site and hope it will be factor that makes this journey stick this time as I have made the first stage from > 370 to < 320 4 times before! Just call me YoYo!

Best wishes
john

HealthyChanges2010

Welcome to the site John, good to have you join us:drinker:

Not sure about 'after life' for me, I'll always be a work in progress and healthy eating and excercise will continue to be a huge part of my life. I don't see that changing after I reach my goal weight.

My life is changed and food is no longer the focus in my life since I realized there's far more to it than that. Once I chilled out on food and got conscience on what was going on around me I realized how much I'd been missing out on.

Here's to a New Life, Good Friends, Great Health and all that comes with it!:drinker:

johnthefatman

Hi Becca
You're right of course the term 'after-life' is wrong there is no end - 'new-life' is better but really like alcoholics the best we can achieve is a permanent state of 'recovering'.

Thefatman

kerrera

John
Fasinating article and some real 'food' for thought, normally save the paper until the afternoon but had a quick peek and read this.

I am losing weight (again) and will always be in recovery, the interesting thing for me is the psychlogy of it all. I dont think i will ever get to the bottom of why i feel the need to eat. My neighbours like wine and often fill the recycle bin, when i said i couldnt care if i never drank again and there are bottles of wine in our garage they gasped. Yet they have draws of chocolate from easter and i find that shocking and cant comprehend it lastin more than a day in our house. Why am i like that? and why are they like them? i dont think i will ever know.

The parallel to addiction is shocking when i really think about it.

Well done on losing 50!
C

johnthefatman

Hi C
I know exactly what you mean about chocolate - in previous days I would nearly always munch my way through all the Xmas/Easter/Birthday goodies on the day - almost unable to leave chocs uneaten at bedtime. This year I made 1 easter egg last 3 days!!

On this journey (I don't like the word diet) I have been allowing myself 100cals of my favourite 70% dark choc every day in my calorie count - high cacao fat choc has health benefits too! Now I'm using MFP I have dropped that for the last 2 weeks and am not really missing it. Alcohol I used to use to a dangerous level (20+ units daily average) but now I have an odd glass of red 3 or 4 times a year and really have lost the taste for it - that's after a 2 year period of total sobriety.

I think the parallel with addiction is very real in fact for some things e.g. refined sugars I think the addiction is real.

As to why we are like we are I have given up the attempt to pin it down - it's a whole mess of negativity built up over many years from early childhood.

Best

J

Kate_UK

the interesting thing for me is the psychlogy of it all. I dont think i will ever get to the bottom of why i feel the need to eat. My neighbours like wine and often fill the recycle bin, when i said i couldnt care if i never drank again and there are bottles of wine in our garage they gasped. Yet they have draws of chocolate from easter and i find that shocking and cant comprehend it lastin more than a day in our house. Why am i like that? and why are they like them? i dont think i will ever know.

The parallel to addiction is shocking when i really think about it.

This is me too. I just can't resist the draw of sugar! But since starting the diet instead of a bar of chocolate, swiftly followed by a magnum and then half (or even a full) packet of chocolate biscuits, I now have a child size bar of chocolate followed by a skinny cow icream and a kitkat. Less calories than the initial chocolate bar in my 'pervious existance'.( I'm shocked at how horrible that first list sounds - How could I have? )
Yes I know the smart thing would be to give up all the snacking all together, but the reality of breaking life time habbits isn't as easy as that. At least for now I'm making better choices, reaching the goal of giving them up altogether is there for the future.....

Good luck to everyone for reaching your goals.

Kx

johnthefatman

Don't worry about your chocolate snacks as long as you are within your targets for the day it matters not at all as long as it doesn't trigger a binge - that's why I keep my chocolate treats till bedtime - that way I know if I can 'afford' it and also you can't binge whne you sleep!

My previous efforts loosing weight were much more aggressive and restrictive (10 lbs a month) but always failed as my will weakened - we need our treats - they're good for morale!