Does anyone feel like me?

LittleMissAlx

I wish I could go back to feeling about food the way I did before I started trying to lose weight. I've never had a particularly healthy relationship with food - I've always been a picky eater, and veg is a very, very tiny factor in my diet; in fact most of the time it's none existent.

Anyway, that's not really the point. I went into this so whole heartedly, and probably borderline obsessively, that it's very much a part of my life now. The calorie counting, the portion sizes, the exercise. Now I'm on maintenance, I'm finding it very hard to eat back all my calories, and if I do I feel guilty about having eaten them all. It's not like I'm even terrified of putting the weight back on - I only had to lose 11lb in the first place so it's definitely no big deal in comparison to a lot of the people on here who've lost so much more than me.

I'm not saying I'd like to go back to eating the quantities that I used to - definitely not! Or all the junk food either. I guess I'd just like to be able to consider grabbing pizza with my friends, or going out for a few drinks occasionally, without obsessing over the calories. I feel like my relationship with food is still unhealthy, despite the fact that I've made positive changes to how I eat.

I'm not saying there haven't been good things to come from this - apart from the weight loss. I fit back in my jeans, my legs look more toned than I think they ever have from the running, I've got more self confidence...

I'm just not sure how to stop feeling how I do about eating. At the moment I can't just 'not care'. I don't know if anyone can advise, or is going through the same thing at all?

fteale

Not exactly, but I do know what you mean. I feel like food in general has been ruined for me a bit with all this logging. I just can't be bothered with it any more, where it used to be a source of happiness. I am cooking less, much less, as I find I rarely eat proper meals any more. I tend to just have yoghurt or an omelette for a meal, rather than taking the time to cook and eat something complicated, and there's a certain tragedy in that.

wjkfloyd

I think you can still grab pizza with friends and just be cognizant of your calorie intake during the day. Easier said, than done, but try and grab healthier snacks through the day knowing you will reward yourself with a slice or two of pizza. What I usually do is have a lighter lunch, maybe an apple later in the day. Then, for dinner, I make it my 'treat' to get something other than salad for dinner (pizza, burger, etc).

Try to get used to eating salad with your dinner to add some bulk (I know you are not a veggie lover). Just add the normal serving of a lighter or non-cream based dressing. I love to eat in bulk, so salad has helped replace eating the bad stuff in bulk.

Good luck!

Amo_Angelus

I'm not in maintinence yet, but here's some advise...

Your body is very adaptive. Before you started your diet it wa ued to eating what it ate and that's what it expected and demanded. When you tarted your diet, you probably felt the same sense of what do I do? But you ept at it and your body adjusted.

Now you're used to the diet ammount of food and the idea of eating more is just as daunting as the idea of eating less was. For exactly the same reasons, you're used to it. You're used to counting and worrying, whatneeds to be done is you need to force yourself to eat those calories for a while, even though it' hard work, you need to push through, because your body is never going to adapt to it unles you force it to. That's why people with eating disorder are so hard to cure. Changing your eating habits is hard work and takes a lot of will power both to increase and decrease. Just tackle it the same way you did the decrease.

jmcholden

I have felt that way. But for me, it is more of a personality issue. When I do things, I really do it!

When it comes to dieting and being successful, it is rewarding, so it becomes a problem.

For me, it is more about the successful feeling of coming in at my calorie count each day and seeing the scale in the morning, than about the food. It is like a challenge, and the challenge of success outweighs my desire to let loose and eat what I want.

For me it fades over time, as my life gets busy, I find other things to obsess on. Then it takes me about 2 years to put the weight back on (10-15 lbs) and then I do it over again.

If you give it a little time, and find something fun to spend your time on, It will likely fade.

LittleMissAlx

Everything you all said makes sense, it's just putting it into practice. I do like a challenge, so maybe if I start viewing my target calories as my challenge, that might help.

Doesn't help that at the moment because I'm struggling to eat back all my calories and my weight is continuing to drop (still very much in healthy range for my height) but think my boyfriend is concerned that if I don't get a grip on this, I'll slip into anorexia. Ironic when you were overweight to start. I'm just not as hungry as I used to be.

And maybe I should try proportioning my calories a bit more evenly through the day, because at the moment I find I'm spending the evenings trying to eat as much as possible so my deficit is a bit lower.