What does 'normal eating' mean to you?
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funkyspunky872
Posts: 866 Member
Not here to start a debate (cue starting a debate), but I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. I'm not about to argue with anybody (unless they say something incredibly stupid).
What do you think of as normal eating? The way you're eating now? Counting every last calorie and eating only whole grains, lean meats, low fat dairy, veggies, fruit, and the occasional treat? Proper food pyramid right there!! How about eating based on hunger? Or cravings? Nutrition? A combination of all three?
Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting calories. My goal is to get to a point after I've reached my weight goal where I can eat intuitively, eat healthy because I like the taste of good-for-me food, satisfy a craving without guilt, etc.
*Warning: some of these scenarios aren't to be enacted every day of course, but they're not to be planned either. They're not to be dangled above my head, taunting me because I've already had my treat for the week and I don't deserve another until next week or the next.)
1.) I want to be able to go to a bakery, look in the display case, and pick something that looks delicious. I want to eat it without a single feeling of guilt or anxiety about calories and weight gain. And if I don't like it, I want to be able to throw it away without feeling like I NEED to eat the rest. I want to feel like one cupcake is enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, but hell, if it's not, there's no harm in having two.
2.) I want to be able to go to the movie theater, order a small popcorn, and nibble mindlessly during the previews. I want to share a box of candy with a friend without counting how many pieces I've had or how many servings.
3.) I want to stuff myself silly on Thanksgiving and laugh about how much I ate and how thankful I am. I don't want any guilt or any urges to restrict afterwards or before.
4.) I want to sit down for dinner every night with my balanced meal and eat until I'm satisfied. I don't want to base my dinners solely on calorie content. I don't want to care that the tacos are less calories if I'm really dying to have pasta or that this soup is 20 less calories per serving than another. I want to eat food, not calories if that makes any sense.
5.) I want to pick up a banana and not try to gauge if it's a 105 calorie banana or a 120 calorie banana. It's just a damn banana, and that's it.
6.) I want to be able to have a healthy snack whenever I'm hungry, despite time or past meals. I don't want to spend the rest of my life waiting until 1:00pm when I'm "allowed" to eat lunch even though I'm starving at 12:30.
7.) I want to be able to try a bite of somebody else's food instead of just asking if it tastes good.
8.) I want to 'pig out' on junk food with friends on game night or watch a chick flick with my best friend, surrounded in tissues and chocolate wrappers.
9.) I want to order a diet coke and not have everyone at the table taste it and make sure it's diet coke because I'm beyond paranoid that I got regular by mistake.
10.) I want to eat cake at a birthday party (especially my own!!).
11.) I want to eat a spoonful of peanut butter, close the lid, and walk away without imagining myself bingeing on the entire jar.
12. ) I don't want to label foods as good and bad.
13.) I want to say goodbye to MFP! Not because I don't love it, but because I don't need it anymore. :P
I want to be normal. Is it too much to ask? Maybe. But I can strive for it. I can think of hundreds of other scenarios that I want to be able to face without fear and anxiety and guilt. I think it's kind of funny that most of the scenarios I post have to do with junk food; probably because it's been drilled into my head that it's the devil.
What do you think of as normal eating? The way you're eating now? Counting every last calorie and eating only whole grains, lean meats, low fat dairy, veggies, fruit, and the occasional treat? Proper food pyramid right there!! How about eating based on hunger? Or cravings? Nutrition? A combination of all three?
Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting calories. My goal is to get to a point after I've reached my weight goal where I can eat intuitively, eat healthy because I like the taste of good-for-me food, satisfy a craving without guilt, etc.
*Warning: some of these scenarios aren't to be enacted every day of course, but they're not to be planned either. They're not to be dangled above my head, taunting me because I've already had my treat for the week and I don't deserve another until next week or the next.)
1.) I want to be able to go to a bakery, look in the display case, and pick something that looks delicious. I want to eat it without a single feeling of guilt or anxiety about calories and weight gain. And if I don't like it, I want to be able to throw it away without feeling like I NEED to eat the rest. I want to feel like one cupcake is enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, but hell, if it's not, there's no harm in having two.
2.) I want to be able to go to the movie theater, order a small popcorn, and nibble mindlessly during the previews. I want to share a box of candy with a friend without counting how many pieces I've had or how many servings.
3.) I want to stuff myself silly on Thanksgiving and laugh about how much I ate and how thankful I am. I don't want any guilt or any urges to restrict afterwards or before.
4.) I want to sit down for dinner every night with my balanced meal and eat until I'm satisfied. I don't want to base my dinners solely on calorie content. I don't want to care that the tacos are less calories if I'm really dying to have pasta or that this soup is 20 less calories per serving than another. I want to eat food, not calories if that makes any sense.
5.) I want to pick up a banana and not try to gauge if it's a 105 calorie banana or a 120 calorie banana. It's just a damn banana, and that's it.
6.) I want to be able to have a healthy snack whenever I'm hungry, despite time or past meals. I don't want to spend the rest of my life waiting until 1:00pm when I'm "allowed" to eat lunch even though I'm starving at 12:30.
7.) I want to be able to try a bite of somebody else's food instead of just asking if it tastes good.
8.) I want to 'pig out' on junk food with friends on game night or watch a chick flick with my best friend, surrounded in tissues and chocolate wrappers.
9.) I want to order a diet coke and not have everyone at the table taste it and make sure it's diet coke because I'm beyond paranoid that I got regular by mistake.
10.) I want to eat cake at a birthday party (especially my own!!).
11.) I want to eat a spoonful of peanut butter, close the lid, and walk away without imagining myself bingeing on the entire jar.
12. ) I don't want to label foods as good and bad.
13.) I want to say goodbye to MFP! Not because I don't love it, but because I don't need it anymore. :P
I want to be normal. Is it too much to ask? Maybe. But I can strive for it. I can think of hundreds of other scenarios that I want to be able to face without fear and anxiety and guilt. I think it's kind of funny that most of the scenarios I post have to do with junk food; probably because it's been drilled into my head that it's the devil.
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Replies
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TL;DR? Probably. I just found this quote though and thought I'd share. Maybe someone will read it.
"Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it -not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life." - Ellyn Satter0 -
I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting calories. My goal is to get to a point after I've reached my weight goal where I can eat intuitively, eat healthy because I like the taste of good-for-me food, satisfy a craving without guilt, etc.
^ ^ ^ This.
I want to eat more vegetables as a habit and not have to think about it.
I want to know intuitively what a single serving is without having to weigh everything.0 -
The way I look at it, calorie counting is what *lets* me do most of those things without gaining weight. It means being *able* to eat consciously, and adapt.
Left to my own devices (and my taste buds, and food manufacturers), history says I might be prone to eating all that stuff in the same week. All the time.
I mostly eat veg, lean proteins, soups, etc. Sometimes I enjoy carb/fat heavy things - on maybe 3-4 occasions a week - but by counting I feel I have a sense of control over things. I can adjust my intake more easily, and am more likely to make smarter choices at the next meal or day.
The thing is, once we've been overweight, our bodies are - some think permanently - shifted towards a higher set point. Losing is harder, staying lean is harder, then for people who were never overweight.
And according to a decades-long study that looked at a few thousand people, the statistical few who managed to keep it off long-term (can't remember, it's less than 10%!):
- ate lean protein & lots of veg & whole grains, exercised, and counted calories
And those who gained it back:
- consumed potatoes (5 versions of potato products were at the top of the fat-making list!), fatty meats, candies/sweets/chocolate, more alcohol, exercised less, and did not count their calories
I've been maintaining for over a year. I know I feel better now than at any time in my life. I LOVE being able to wear any damn thing I want without having to pay through the nose for ugly clothes, which were really disguises. My body is no longer a source of shame. I move around better. I have more energy. I relate to myself and others better. I've learned that I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it.
There's no way I'm going back, if I can help it, and I can.
**
Seriously, the list was like, 'mashed potatoes', 'potato chips', 'potato potato'.... I still have potatoes, but only occasionally, and only one.0 -
I think it's kind of funny that most of the scenarios I post have to do with junk food; probably because it's been drilled into my head that it's the devil.
I actually think you should take a few days off your diet, and then come back to it. Without guilt, ideally. Sounds like you're in deprivation mode.
More: I think you should DECIDE that you will take a SPECIFIED number of days, and explicitly DECIDE to enjoy those foods you miss in that time, totally without guilt, and then DECIDE to come back. You have more freedom here than you think!
Here's the most important thing about counting for me: I don't get anywhere near as emotional about it (any more!). It lets me STAY OBJECTIVE. I log everything - my 2800 days, everything. I think, ok, so I ate that much today. Tomorrow I'll eat differently.
If I didn't count, things would get slippery and WAY more emotional.0 -
There's psychologically normal eating, which is totally the quote you shared.
The problem with it is that - with packaged foods - you're fighting food manufacturers who design the food to make us want to eat ALL of it, because of our taste buds, which evolved to want the things that make us fat. At restaurants, you're fighting more of the same, plus ridiculous portion sizes, which every human has trouble correctly perceiving.
So your sense of hunger and satiety are totally manipulated (with those foods especially). And they've also been manipulated by having been overweight.
I think it's probably easier to eat intuitively (without gaining weight) with non-processed foods, though, for sure. I'm wary of it, because I'm not sure how much I trust my signals, even now that I much prefer 'clean' foods*. And, because it's fine when I cook all my meals or eat at home, but I'm not home all the time.
*And I do! It's about teaching your taste buds, with habit. I used to love a thing called poutine. It's 900 calories of fries, gravy and cheese. I still have it sometimes, but I either only eat half (because it tastes kind of gross to me now), or have it all and feel so crappy I don't go near it for another six months. The difference in how it makes me feel (worse) is real, and my body knows the difference now.0 -
Bump for later. Interesting topic.0
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bumping will read again later
but i agree
my mother has never counted calories in her life
she enjoys cheese, wine (after dinner at 8pm) chocolattes whatever
she doesnt pig out she just eats intuitively
i think the truly healthy slim people dont count calories(although some do of course)
but if you look at the majority of calorie counters they are people trying to lose weight. (ie have had weight problems in the past)
people who have been thin their whole lives dont think obsessively about food.0 -
I have an insane metabolism and have a tendency to under eat because of it. So normal eating for me would be not making everything I eat be as calorific as possible and to be able to eat more vegetables and not be so frustrated at their low calorie value. I would like to eat till I'm full not force feed myself the entire serve to be sure i get enough calories. I would like to eat bigger portions less often instad of small portions all the time but my blood sugar drops if I don't eat every couple of hours.
Eventually I would like to not have to depend on mfp to keep me responsible for eating enough. That would be normal eating for me.0 -
id say look at animals in the wild.
ever seen an obese lion in the african savanna?
nope
only humans gorge on food.
normal eating = intuitive eating.0 -
i think normal eating is all the things you have said... and i can generally do all of those things, because as someone else said MFP and tracking my food/calories has taught me that one cupcake wont ruin an otherwise heathy day, and that pizza on a friday night wont make me fat if i have worked out on friday morning... MODERATION!
that being said how many people do you know who eat 'normally'. i see people who eat 1 lettuce leaf all day so they can have a dessert when they go out for dinner in the evening, people who spend 3 hours in the gym working off the bottle of wine they drank the night before, people who are being 'good' one day but reduce their calories so far that the next day they are sat stuffing dougnuts in their mouth because they are starving... so few people know what 'normal' eating is!0 -
you will get to this point, it does take a while but I can now go a day without logging my food and still be ok on the calorie count, i have treats if I want treats! I had a twirl yesterday and I enjoyed it a lot!0
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I would consider normal eating to be not having to weigh everything to find out its calories and then making sure you stick to them.
to be able to eat without worrying you might go over you daily allowance.
But saying that, the above is what got me into this state in the first place, so if be it, I will weigh my food and count calories forever if it means bing healthy and staying healthy.0 -
Bump!
At 5'10", I used to eat whatever I wanted to. Three times a day, I'd eat as much as I could. I was active, and I stayed between 155 and 165 for about 9 years, from age 14 to age 22. Then I started counting my calories and keeping the same activities in my life, and I'm down to 148, with a goal of 140. I'd like to eat whatever I want and keep that 140, but that may not happen! In that case, I'd have to decide what I like better: eating everything and being 165, which was healthy, or eating carefully and being 140. I love my body at 148. I'd love to be down to 140. But I know it won't be a bad thing if I go back to 160!0 -
Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting calories. My goal is to get to a point after I've reached my weight goal where I can eat intuitively, eat healthy because I like the taste of good-for-me food, satisfy a craving without guilt, etc.
I am the complete opposite. MFP has changed my life. For me, eating normally now is, wherever possible, knowing exactly what I'm eating and how much of it. Even when I reach all my goals I will never, ever stop tracking. I know how quickly and easily I put on weight if I let myself get slack even for just a couple of weeks (I gained 14lb in a two week holiday in Vegas in June where I was reckless and didn't track and I still haven't managed to get shift it). Even if I reach the stage where I just want to maintain forever, normal for me is a set of kitchen scales, a macro breakdown and a monthly report. I wouldn't ever have it any other way.0 -
Normal eating for me is eating enough to fuel my day and my activities. Lately I've been eating (and drinking) way, way, WAY over my activity level. Hence the reason I've gained about 10 pounds in a month. I'm usually higher protein, lower carb. Sometimes I just eat whatever the hell I want. I'm not sure I have any real concept of 'normal' in any capacity of my life, even after losing 85 pounds. Haha. It'll always be a work in progress.0
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Sounds to me like you have some guilt associated with food. If I were you I would seek some kind of therapy. Normal eating is not over thinking it. Just something to chew on. ( pun intended )
I could be wrong so my opinion may be invalid.0 -
TL;DR? Probably. I just found this quote though and thought I'd share. Maybe someone will read it.
"Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it -not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life." - Ellyn Satter
This.
Overall, being able to see food as something that I enjoy and not just numbers and values (calories, nutritional info, etc). Being able to make informed choices so that I can eat ealthy and nurture my body, but enjoying it, because being healthy doesn't just involve the body - an healthy body with a distressed mind isn't healthy at all.0 -
Normal eating to me is preparing fresh food for meals 95% of the time with a treat a day and watching portion sizes.
After 8 months of logging food, I think I know when I am overeating or eating junk. The point of this journey is to change my eating habits and I have. You become more aware of bad choices. Do I eat candy bars or ice cream, hell yes. Do I feel guilty, nope! But I have learned to eat the proper serving size, so you dont eat the whole pint of ice cream its 1/2 cup.
There are days I don't even log or totally go off plan and I have consistently
1. Lost weight
2. No guilt
3. Cook 95% of my food
4. Save at least 175 dollars not eating out0 -
bump for later0
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I was having a conversation with my sister over lunch yesterday. There are four siblings and she is the only one who has never been obese or overweight. She likes the same kinds of foods we do and eats the same kind of diet, she doesn't exercise much either although now she's older (she's 60) she's having to watch what she eats more and exercise a bit more too to keep her weight down. I have noticed that she eats what she wants but has much smaller portions, she stops eating when she is full and leaves food on the plate. If she is not hungry she will skip a meal. This, I think, is the key to eating normally.
Those of us who are overweight or obese have ignored our 'feeling full' body signals so much that we cannot recognise them any more. Yesterday my sister and I ate the same lunch in a cafe. It was a large bread bun with beef, mushrooms and onions on it and a side salad. I knew that that bread bun would cost me loads of calories so decided from the start only to eat half the bread. My sister just ate as she normally does and stopped when she was full. When I looked at our plates at the end there we had probably eaten about the same amount of food overall.
I can't always tell when I am full so I have to calculate calories. Maybe as I re-educate myself I will begin to recognise it again but until I do I will continue to count calories.0
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