Frustrated Food addict? Is it about meal planning?

CivicSi71

:mad: My weight and diminishing fitness are so frustrating. I feel like by now in life I should have this figured out and settled. I do not. I love to eat and enjoy cooking. Apparently, portion control is at the root of this or possible a form of addiction to eating. I am 45 almost 46. I have enjoyed sports as a kid and through college and was committed to fitness into my 40's. In hindsight, my past working out offset my eating issues enough to keep me on the acceptable side of health. Now I am even tire/bored with exercise and it has become work to even get started. I need to lose weight to help control my blood pressure. I just feel like I have hit the wall on doing what I need to accomplish the weight loss. I am 232 and need to be under 200. It may as well be a million, becasue I cant even lose 5 and keep it off.

I know there are many people out there with greater challenges; I feel your struggle. For me this task has eluded me for about 5 years. In fact, when I began a few years ago, my 'normal' weight was about 227, now I have crept to 232 and have been over 230 for most of this year. I need to put less stress on my heart, not more. Ughh! The more I rant, the more I feel like an addict and need to take this, literally, a meal at a time.

WinnerVictorious

yes. pre-planning your meals for the day or week will help keep you disciplined. if you plan them to meet your calorie and nutritional goals each day, it will be alot easier to resist temptations because you'll know the consequences of succumbing. also, if you just eat all day and log at the end of the day, the day is done and you can't make changes. so log as you eat so that you have instant feedback for the rest of the day. i pre-plan on a spreadsheet and have various calculations set up that change as i make changes so i can see the impact to my daily/weekly/monthly goals.

Hopelessone

I feel your pain I went from being severly underweight my whole life to obese in less than 8 months 10 long years ago, I am literally now twice the woman I used to be :sad: I have alot of the same issues you have. I cannot get motivated to exercise either and have let my portions get out of control.

One suggestion I can offer is that I bought a kitchen scale to weigh my food last year and it really helped me, I did lose 20 lbs, but alas i found them again PLUS a few more because I stopped being vigilant. Also a wise person told me recently to just take baby steps, one at a time.

Good luck on your Journey. We can do this! (I know easier said then done, but we have to try)

Katla49

I'm new here, and nobody's expert. For now, measuring my food and recording what I eat is helping tremendously. It gives me structure. Portion control is all about measuring things. We've bought commercial dishers (look like ice cream scoops) to help us control our quantity of food, and have ordered a digital scale so we can weigh things. We log every bite into our phone apps, and it is helping. I seem to have hit a plateau after losing 7 pounds, but I"m sure I'll work through it. The message boards here are full of encouragement. I couldn't for the life of me imagine planning a whole week's meals, but it might appeal to some as a satisfying challenge. My newbie advice is, log what you eat, and come to the message boards for support. Good luck.

letjog

Stay POSITIVE. You CAN do this, your body is no different to anyone elses. You just need to count the calories in the food you eat and plan ahead. There's no such word as can't.

stephdeeable

The one thing I do differently now than any other time I attempted to lose weight and failed is plan. I plan everything, I pre-log most of my days so I know what I'll be eating, I plan my grocery list so I don't buy things I don't need, if I go to dinner I'll usually check online and plan what I'm going to eat. I don't get obsessive about it, and eventually I know I'll be able to loosen up, but for now planning keeps me in check and helps me feel in control of my eating instead of the other way around.

sapphireswi

Little baby steps and you'll get there . . .

1)Eat smaller portions - use a smaller plate or eat 50%of what you would previously have
2)Drink more water - Get two large bottles, fill them in the morning and have them handy all day
3)Include more vegetables, fruits and grains - try substituting your usual dinner with a yummy salad some fruits or soup
4)Finish your last meal 3 hours before you sleep
5)Exercise everyday atleast for 20 mins but give it all you've got

You can start by following just one of the above or start with all of them.
Decide to commit and write it down. Put it up where you can see it
Tell everybody about your decision so that they hold you accountable and you'll be less liable to falter
It's ok to slip up . . just keep getting up and keep going on
One day at a time . . .
And cheer up . . . You're Fabulous :flowerforyou:

ripemango

I can identify with your struggles. I also enjoy cooking and baking. I like cooking old faves and new recipes. What has worked for me is embracing that passion. I like to cook, so now I save and try to cook healthy recipes. I modify old faves. For example, I love collard greens. Well, I use to use the grease of 8 pieces of bacon to make the collards. One time I decided, I'll just try it with a little olive oil instead. Ya know what, I and no one else can tell the difference. All of the garlic and onions are still there and they are just as tasty.

Get into finding and trying new recipes that are more health conscious. It has been a major turning point in my home. Now for the baking, that has pretty much taken a back seat. Sweets are a struggle for me, so baking goodies will be reserved for Christmas time. I will rarely bake healthy muffins, but they just aren't my sort of thing.

My recipe for weight loss is exercise (just get moving, bring it back around into your rotation of activities), and trying new healthy recipes and altering old faves. My family now loves crockpot chicken...there isn't even an oil in it. I make a big ole pot of black beans at a time and freeze the rest. My daughter loves them! Mom, can I have a black bean burrito. These black beans are much better than anything out of a can. Focus on getting in 5 vegs and fruits a day...it really makes a difference in satiety and health. Good luck. You CAN do this!!!

SUSANSIZZY

As my doctor told me one day after reviewing my chart, "You were not born to be a fat person". I have doubled my weight in the past 10 years and mostly have myself to blame. I've been doing MFP for exactly 1 month and have lost 10 pounds. According to everyone that is the best rate to lose and KEEP IT OFF. I have always known that portion control is the problem, and this plan has helped me immensely. I figured my daily needs on a 40% Carb, 30% Protien, and 30% Fat, with my daily calories between 1200-1400. I try to lean toward 1200 but don't get discouraged as long as I'm under the 1400. It definately matters how you cook your food, and the choices you make. I have been transforming my recipes to meet what I need. I have stopped making more than 4 portions total for my entire family of 3 (a little extra go to my husband and daughter). By doing this, you can't overeat "the really good stuff" because it's just not there! It gets easier everyday because I print the recipe and everything is figured out for the next time. It's all about the dicipline. I am slowly introducing excercise too. After I lose another 5 lbs I will lower my calorie intake to 1300. Yesterday a dietician looked over everything I've eaten in the past month and told me I have done a great job in my meal planning and food intake. Plan your meals ahead of time and track everything that you consume because it is much, much easier. You would be surprised how many calories you're eating that you would never think about. The day I had started this plan I had eaten a grand slam breakfast at Denny's. That one meal was equal to an entire days worth of calories! That was a real wake up call. Good Luck, hope this helped you.

larryc0923

One thing that has helped us is to not think about being a food "cook" but rather to be more a "chef". In this way we spend more time focusing on how to make and enjoy food with different/better flavors rather than large portions.

mmiski

I feel your pain, I find it easier to plan my meals for the week, I'll cook up egss for about three days so I can just nuke them in the morning because I'm usually just trying to ready for work. I'll add a banana with that, For my lunches I'll take an hour out of my Sunday and cook up a crap load of chicken on the Grill and during the week I just bring it in and have that for lunch with a salad. For dinners I just steam up some veggies (and I HATE veggies, but I'm getting used to them). That alone seems to put under my calorie count each day, and adding exercise to it becomes a bonus. I'll send a friend request so we can enjoy the pain together

HoneyIShrunktheMom

I've been doing MFP for exactly 1 month and have lost 10 pounds. According to everyone that is the best rate to lose and KEEP IT OFF

Actually, the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your lifestyle. Regardless of whether you lose weight slowly or quickly, if you start eating fast food, pizza and donuts every day you will gain it back. Just something to think about. Congrats on your awesome success so far! You're doing great!

To the original poster, 2 years ago I could have written every word you said. Word for word. I feel like I have finally figured myself out and you're right when you mention planning. If I take a day where I DON'T plan, it ends up being an off day. I will send you a friend request. I hope I can be some inspiration for you.

CivicSi71

Thanks for the encouragement. I can appreciate your passion and anger. The concept of caloric defecit is easy and should not be this hard to execute. I just need to accept that I have to plan the meals first. (I hate planning meals.) I also need ot embrace food as fuel, not celebration, hobby, encouragement, anger, stress...