Waving madly

call_me_harmony

Hi my name is Harmony and I am fat.

Not heavy, plump, cuddly, big and beautiful or any of the other words we use to avoid saying fat. Just fat :ohwell:

Actually most of the time I don't mind being fat. I love my body, I love the curves and the soft feel, I love the way I feel when I walk.

But I have a health condition that causes me intense pain, and when it is particularly acute like it is at the moment then shedding weight helps. I don't actually really know whether the easing of pain is caused by mechanical or psychological functions, I don't really care because it works.

Therefore I am aiming to shed two stones of my excess fat.

I am here because my relationship with food is far more psychological than physical and psychologically I find it very difficult to control my food intake. Already the cravings have started but thanks to an awesome idea from a friend I am so far keeping them under control with small portions of frozen fresh fruit.

Pleased to meet you all :flowerforyou:

fr053n

Welcome! Good luck on your weight loss journey

galprincess

Your post is quite frankly one that has touched me you are very honest and frank and you own it i wish you luck and welcome you and frantically waving back i really hope you do it because you are worth it and no one deserves to be in pain

neandermagnon

hi

some advice about dealing with cravings (just general advice - in case any of it helps you):

- don't cut your calorie intake too low... cravings, especially for high fat high carb food, can be the direct result of hunger. This is really counterproductive.. it may result in faster weight loss, but what's most important is keeping the fat off long term - that's much more likely to happen if you're not constantly dealing with hunger and cravings. There's a thread on here "your guide on your path to sexypants" which explains clearly how to calculate the right amount of calories to lose weight without feeling deprived, hungry or getting any other problems from undereating.

- make sure you're getting all the things your body needs... it's a common mistake to cut all fat out of the diet... but the body needs fat (in the right amounts) and low fat diets typically cause cravings for fatty foods, because the body isn't getting fat... also fat soluble vitamins are found in fatty foods and you don't want to be deficient in those either... the same applies to carbs and low carb diets... eating both carbs and fat in moderation

- make room for all the foods you want to eat within your calorie goal... of course you must make room for the protein, vitamin, mineral, fibre etc foods as well, but you don't have to give up foods you love... you just have to learn to eat them in small portion sizes (eating them slowly makes the taste last longer and is a good way to get used to eating smaller portion sizes)

- high protein foods and high fibre foods are good at keeping you feeling full for longer, and fuller on fewer calories, which also helps you to get used to eating less, and to avoid hunger and cravings.

If the above suggestions don't help with cravings, then emotional eating is likely to be the issue, but there are a lot of people who diagnose themselves with emotional eating and similar, when actually it's just a plain, normal physiological response to not eating enough, or not eating everything the body needs. Even if emotional eating is a major cause, getting rid of hunger and cravings caused by insufficient food intake will make it easier to tackle the emotional eating.