Food is the Enemy - NOT!

issystclaire

Finding this more recently amongst the people on my friends list. They eat WAY below their calorie goals, or have like 1-2 things to eat for each meal and little to no snacks/

I find this disturbing, bc as most of should know by now, starving yourself is not the answer to loosing weight healthily and getting healthy. In fact, it is the way to achieve the exact opposite!


I think the problem for most who have struggled with food and being overwight is that they start to regard food as the source of all their health/weight issues. Whilst food is what causes it, this is not true. The problem is that they/I have turned to unhealthy foods time and time again for a variety of reasons - coping mechanisms, dependency, etc etc.

The problem is that we have to reprogram ourselves not to use food as an outlet, and start using it to nourish and satisfy our bodies needs and wants! Food is not the enemy - it is what will help us become more healthy and less dependent on the bad stuff!!!

Has anyone else experienced feeling this way or known anyone who has as well?

TavistockToad

there is no such thing as 'bad' food - just people who eat badly.

the problem is, people want results RIGHT NOW, and in the short term drastically cutting calories is the way to see immediate loss on the scales, regardless of how healthy it is!

issystclaire

Well, have to disagree with the bad food thing, as I do not think any processed foods or foods full of chemicals are good in any way.

But yes, I think that is the other issue. As soon as people are at a point where they are ready to do something about their weight, they want the weight to be gone right then and there. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

To me, it is very encouraging as long as I am loosing something from week to week, versus nothing at all. When I step on the scale and see x ammount lost from last week, it gives me the motivation and encouragement I need to keep going!

HappilyLifts

speaking from personal experience, it may be that these folk don't know about BMR, TDEE and metabolism slowing down with very low cal intakes. I certainly didn't before I joined MFP and it wasn't until started absorbing stuff like a sponge in the forums that I realised how important it was to eat above treble digits. I have never eaten very low calories because I love my food too much, but if I had, I bet I would've believed I would have lost more weight, and quicker.
Why, even an NHS nurse here in the UK recommended that I stick to 1200-1500 calories a day, not snack at all, just have 3 meals, and up my burnt calories (at the time I was burning around 600-700 per day) by walking more and getting to the gym more than my existing 5 days a week. I think I would have fainted if I'd done what she suggested for a week! :-)

issystclaire

This is quite disturbing when even health professionals give the wrong information! I guess it would be easy to think "If I barely eat anything, I will loose more weight", but at the same time, I hope people would listen to their bodies and when they feel that gnawing bite of hunger, eat something healthy to fulfill that need.

When I was much younger I tried the cabbage soup diet - I got to day three, was at work and started feeling extremely dizzy all of a sudden. I then fell over and pretty much fainted! I learned very quickly that basically depriving my body of essential nutrition was not the way to go!

BCSMama

I definitely agree that many of us have an unhealthy relationship with food. Personally, I struggle to find a healthy balance between eating whatever crap I want in out of control portions and restricting my calories too much and obsessing about everything I put in my mouth. It's hard because my mind knows what I need to do, but I often have a hard time shaking the voice telling me that food is the enemy. I guess for a lot of us it's a learning process; we have to unlearn that food is bad and replace it with the knowledge that we need to adequately nourish our bodies and what all that entails.

oOMusicBabii

Finding this more recently amongst the people on my friends list. They eat WAY below their calorie goals, or have like 1-2 things to eat for each meal and little to no snacks.

I find this disturbing, because as most of should know by now, starving yourself is not the answer to loosing weight healthily and getting healthy. In fact, it is the way to achieve the exact opposite!

I have deleted 2 people for religiously eating lower than they should be and 1 or 2 are on the way out for the same reason.

I am working to re-establish a healthy relationship with food (stress over-eater here) and learning to balance my caloric needs. I am trying to become a very active person and food=fuel so.

SoDamnHungry

Well. In a way. But there are things such as bad goods. Refined sugars, saturated and trans fats, etc. Not that I'd ever quit eating any of them...

But yes, being overweight and unhealthy isn't the food's fault.

VelociMama

The first 20 lbs or so I lost, I lost by borderline starvation. It was exhausting. I yo-yo'd a lot during that phase as well (only eating 1200 calories, not eating exercise calories back, burning 800-1000 calories 3-4 times per week per workout, etc.). I'd stick to it for a week, fall off the wagon the next then binge because I was starving, repeat. It took me almost a year to get 20 lbs off doing that, and I really was no better mentally with my food choices either.

After I figured out that eating closer to 1700-1900 calories with a goal of 1-1.5 lbs lost per week instead of 2-4 lbs was the saner approach to this, I lost a lot faster and felt 100% better.

The thing is that what I learned along the way was even better. I learned how to eat for life, not just eat for weight loss. That's been the key for me to stay healthy and in control of my life unlike before, and I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything.

Food is NOT the enemy.

issystclaire

BCSMama and Pregosaurus - you guys have hit the nail on the head! It is indeed about re-training/reprogramming how you regard food and it is definitely a process to get there. BCS - I am astress eater as well, so totally understand what that is like!

The other thing I find, and not just on this site, but amongst my friends/family as well, is that very few people eat breakfast! I don't know how they can do it, bc I am absolutely starving when I wake up in the morning and ready to get some good food in my belly! But breakfast really is the most important meal of the day as it provides you energy up 'til lunch and gets that metabolism going!

VelociMama

The other thing I find, and not just on this site, but amongst my friends/family as well, is that very few people eat breakfast! I don't know how they can do it, bc I am absolutely starving when I wake up in the morning and ready to get some good food in my belly! But breakfast really is the most important meal of the day as it provides you energy up 'til lunch and gets that metabolism going!

Sorry, but this is 100% false. Meal timing does nothing to "rev up your metabolism" and I actually managed to not eat breakfast even when I was eating more calories per day and still lost 42 lbs. Breakfast is not necessary to losing weight or having a life-long healthy relationship with food. Some people just don't like eating in the morning. I'm one of those people most of the time.

logdunne

I have a habit of skipping breakfast but find when i do it has no effect on my energy levels at all, if i have breakfast however, even if it is protein, like scrambled egg or something, am starving again by 10am and start to munch anything in sight.
I think it wakes up my cravings more than anything else.

Gallowmere1984

This is one of those things that is highly individual. Yes, some people go way overboard with it.

That said, I am currently at 1540 cals per day roughly, which sounds too low to some people, considering that I weigh 225, lift four times per week, and hit the elliptical twice per week. Granted, I've dropped 15 pounds in less than a month, but my gauge for food consumption is a bit different. If I am busting out PRs under the iron, I am eating enough, since my body has plenty of fuel to burn in my fat *kitten* storage for right now.

nicleed

Finding this more recently amongst the people on my friends list. They eat WAY below their calorie goals, or have like 1-2 things to eat for each meal and little to no snacks/

I find this disturbing, bc as most of should know by now, starving yourself is not the answer to loosing weight healthily and getting healthy. In fact, it is the way to achieve the exact opposite!

I don't get it either - how can people survive on one or two meals a day and no snacks? Feel free to friend me - my diary is proof I snack all day! And I am about to start upping cals as I head into the home straight (9 pounds to go!)

(admittedly, I am often under my goal but only cos I don't trust the exercise cals..)

painauxraisin

I have a habit of skipping breakfast but find when i do it has no effect on my energy levels at all, if i have breakfast however, even if it is protein, like scrambled egg or something, am starving again by 10am and start to munch anything in sight.
I think it wakes up my cravings more than anything else.

This is the same for me too!

issystclaire

I am hungry again a couple hours after breakfast as well - but I know this will happen so I am ready with my "mid-morning snack". This is always something like a piece of fruit, some cheese and fruit, yogurt, nuts, etc.

Sometimes I get hungry again between lunch and dinner (esp right now with doing bikram) so I do a "mid-afternoon snack" as well. If I already ate fruit in the morning, then I go for something else, like whole earth peanut butter, nuts, etc. Aside from my calories, etc, I do actually think about the food pyramid and try and make sure I get a balance of everything throughout the day.

Personally, I think a healthy breakfast is key to a healthy diet/lifestyle - it's not good to basically "starve" your body by not eating from dinner the night before all the way to lunch the next day! I know everyone is different and their body is different, but to me, I could not live without breakfast! :-)

issystclaire

I don't get it either - how can people survive on one or two meals a day and no snacks? Feel free to friend me - my diary is proof I snack all day! And I am about to start upping cals as I head into the home straight (9 pounds to go!)

(admittedly, I am often under my goal but only cos I don't trust the exercise cals..)

Good luck to you, only 9lbs to go! I will add you and look at your diary if you don't mind. :-)

nicleed

I don't get it either - how can people survive on one or two meals a day and no snacks? Feel free to friend me - my diary is proof I snack all day! And I am about to start upping cals as I head into the home straight (9 pounds to go!)

(admittedly, I am often under my goal but only cos I don't trust the exercise cals..)

Good luck to you, only 9lbs to go! I will add you and look at your diary if you don't mind. :-)

Not a problem, friend request accepted.
What I don't get with these people who just eat one or two meals a day, wouldn't their blood sugar spike then drop really, really low between meals. If my blood sugar drops, I'm the ***** from hell!

withchaco

If I am busting out PRs under the iron, I am eating enough, since my body has plenty of fuel to burn in my fat *kitten* storage for right now.

Sounds like a good way to measure it to me!

issystclaire

[ If my blood sugar drops, I'm the ***** from hell!

Yup, I am the same. The more hungry I get, the more angry and scary I get! I have noticed too, that when I finish a bikram class (bikram yoga), I am absolutely starving! I usually go to class at night, come home and eat dinner, so what I have started doing is bringing a small snack with me and I eat it on the way home. That tides me over just enough until dinner and then I avoid being scary Becca, lol.