Empty, tired and missing out on life

eliseswietek

Does anyone ever feel trapped because they constantly have to watch what they eat? I know it energizes you and is good for your health but at the same time you see someone eating fries everyday at lunch, and they are so tasty and filling and its like FML I just can't eat that stuff. I often feel empty and deprived. Motivate and relate to me here people!

riveraphx

I'm sorry you feel that way, I've feel deprived too when my by boyfriend is eating cheesecake or something. You just need to focus focus focus, and allow yourself the good things in life, just keep it in moderation and keep it within your calorie range.

steffi1686

I agree if you really want those things just make room for them in your calorie allotment for the day. If you don't have enough calories just do some exercise. Even just walking around the mall or something for an hour will burn around 200 calories.

GTOgirl1969

Work a treat or two into your calorie allotment. As long as you aren't OD'ing on chocolate ice cream or cookies, and getting plenty of good healthy foods, the "good stuff" is OK in moderation.

I know for me, feeling deprived leads to me feeling rebellious (I can't STAND being told that I can't have something and it makes me want it that much more).

sheri3762

I was just wondering, have you been on here long? Lost much weight yet? For me, I felt the same way when I first started, but, as time went by and I started losing, I started feeling better about myself and once i could see changes in my body, I was determined to the point where i didn't really care what others were eating around me! Of course, I still get cravings for certain things once in a while, and as another poster stated, just fit a favority food into your calorie allowance, and excercise to help keep you to your limit. If you've been on here a while and have lost weight and still feel deprived, mabye you need to have a cheat meal or two just for that reason. Since this is a lifestyle change, making ourselves happy through food or whatever we need in our live is really important, but balance is the key!! good luck!!!!!

shortwasp

Oh boy, you sound exactly like me when I found out that I was diabetic. It took a LONG time to adjust to eating healthy and ignoring what other people ate. I really felt sorry for myself for a long time, but when I finally got used to the healthy food, I started looking at the fast food as empty, toxic calories. When I'm out at a restaurant and I see something wonderfully greasy and good pass by my table, I'll look to see who ordered it. More times than not, that person is very overweight, and I don't want to continue to look like that too. Sometimes I'll see a skinny person, but I'll also notice that she will barely nibble at the meal and then throw the rest away. Oh how I wish I could be like that! But I have a big appetite, and I love to chow down.

Never deny yourself, have a treat now and then. It doesn't matter what it is, just eat one portion, and throw the rest away like a skinny person does. I do this all the time now when I go out. I pick out what I really, really want, like a big juicy burger, eat a sensible portion while skipping the mayo and such, pick healthy sides like a salad or veggies, and I feel happy both emotionally and physically. If it's fries that I want, I'll order a burger and fries, but I will share the fries with someone else, never eating a whole order by myself just like a skinny person. This also works great. My sister and I will share restaurant meals all the time when we both want something unhealthy, like BBQ ribs. We are both happy to get to eat what we are craving yet are satisfied that we got half the calories and still made our calorie goal for the day.

It's very hard at first when you are trying to replace food with something else that makes you happy. Food was my comfort, my friend, my blankie when sad, and my celebration when happy. You will grieve for your "best friend" but you will later embrace healthier food and active fun knowing that this will make you feel and look better.

empiremom

when i got past the " i am really missing something" and ate because my body needed real nutrition, i quit craving the foods i loved soooo much!

now i eat all the time...but i eat only those things without a label. no i mean ALL the time. i am constantly eating. but it is what my body craves now.

dont be a lab rat...if the ingredients are explained in chemical terms...you dont need it!

OddSquid

dont be a lab rat...if the ingredients are explained in chemical terms...you dont need it!

Truly. If it ends in "-ate" and consists of more than 4 syllables, it's probably not good for you anyway

So we all know that "fat = flavor." No gettin' around that, so all we have left is to just stay strong and do the right thing. But the kicker is that the "right thing" doesn't necessarily mean "abstinence." Order the lasagna at the Italian restaurant! But get half of it to go.

Eat it the next day for the Best. Lunch. Ever.

jarelary4

I find that when I'm trying to watch what I eat, if I get a craving for something like fast food I'll get a nutrition fact sheet first then after I see how many calories are in the large sized bacon double cheese meal I kinda loose my appetite. Anyway the greasy fast food does not feel good sitting like rocks in my stomach hours later. I am getting better about not caring so much what others around me eat now that I see noticable changes in my body. I LOVE warm grilled chicken on lettuce with some lite italian dressing and shredded parmesan cheese. I eat this alot when I crave other not so good choices. It fills me up and tastes GREAT!!! I'm not mssing out on food I love and I feel better after this kind of treat.

jillcwhite

How long does it take to start seeing results?? I have cut calories and exercising more, but not a lot of results. Finishing up my second week on myfitnesspal.

sylvaldez

Hello everyone!

I am having so much difficulty working out. I cannot get motivated to do so. In the past it was not a problem but now forget it. I know in order to meet my goals I need to include some form of exercise. Why can't i just get up in the morning and do it?

I do know that I have been having problems sleeping at night and this may or may not be the problem.
I generally fall asleep around 11:30pm - 1:30am and then back up at 05:30 am to be into work at 07:00am.

After work 05:00pm I am so tired to even consider working out in the afternoon. I just want to go home and for no one to talk to me for at lease a couple of hours.

Please advise! I need to get back into shape and it's much harder now than in the past.

Thanks!

stratdl

How long does it take to start seeing results?? I have cut calories and exercising more, but not a lot of results. Finishing up my second week on myfitnesspal.

Well, it takes as long as your body wants it to take. When I first started on my fitness journey (way back in August 2005, long before I found MFP), my husband and I both logged our food & exercise into a computer program we'd purchased for that purpose. I started seeing small changes within a week or two (mainly because I was discovering how much crap I was eating and started cutting it out quickly). It took hubby about 3 months before he saw any changes (which was okay, since he was only logging stuff to see what his cholesterol intake was and he didn't care about his weight). But when his body finally started to change, it really went quickly after that (he surpassed me in a hurry)!

So, my advice to you would be to be patient. As many people say on this site, it didn't take a week or two for you to get to the point at which you decided to change your lifestyle to become more fit and it certainly won't take only a week or two for you to start seeing drastic changes. This is especially true if you don't have a whole lot of weight to lose (if that is what you are using this site for). Enjoy the beginning of your journey! It does nothing except get better from here!

Cheers :drinker:

stratdl

I am having so much difficulty working out. I cannot get motivated to do so. In the past it was not a problem but now forget it. I know in order to meet my goals I need to include some form of exercise. Why can't i just get up in the morning and do it?

I do know that I have been having problems sleeping at night and this may or may not be the problem.
I generally fall asleep around 11:30pm - 1:30am and then back up at 05:30 am to be into work at 07:00am.

After work 05:00pm I am so tired to even consider working out in the afternoon. I just want to go home and for no one to talk to me for at lease a couple of hours.

Please advise! I need to get back into shape and it's much harder now than in the past.

I totally understand where you're coming from! A while back, exercising was my downfall. I hated it and I hated getting sweaty and I honestly felt like it was a waste of time that could be better spent doing something else (like reading a good book )!

However, I have since changed my tune. I now actually hit the gym EVERY day before work and I even go in on weekends (it's great because I can shower at the gym and that way I don't have to pay a huge water bill for my house - I can stay in the hot shower a LONG TIME if I want to and not feel guilty :laugh: ). I do cardio 6 days a week and on my off day I do abs or strength or stretching or a combination of the three.

So, what made me change? I guess that something just clicked one day. I made my first goal to do 3 days a week. That worked for a while. Plus, my gym will lower the monthly rate if I go 30 times in a 3-month period. Now THERE's an incentive! Anyway, I gradually worked up to at least 5 days a week. Then, at the start of this last 3-month period (Dec 30th), I decided that I wanted to try and get my 30 visits in during the first 30 days of the period. I figured that after that, I could take a day off, but that I probably wouldn't revert to becoming a couch potato since it'd be a habit (or addiction ) by then. I was successful and that just made it easier to continue to do it.

I have also found that if I don't work out before work, by 9 or so I'm so sleepy tired that I could probably drink a pot of coffee and still fall asleep! So that gave me motivation as well.

Now, for you, I'd definitely say that your low amount of sleep may have something to do with your lack of motivation. And, you may not be a morning workout person. I would advise you to start small. Just commit to exercising 3 times a week for a month and see how that goes. It's a small step, but our lives are built in small steps! If you get into the habit, after a month, kick it up and add a day or two. I'm not saying you have to become a gym rat (unless you really want to), but it could be possible .

I hope that this helps. Don't be too hard on yourself. I know that, when I wasn't working out (from de-motivating myself) I felt really guilty about it and strangely enough, the guilt made me even LESS likely to work out. I don't know how that works, but don't let it happen to you. Be proud of your small accomplishments and build upon them and you'll be able to do anything you set your mind to doing!

Cheers! :drinker:

xonophone

How long does it take to start seeing results?? I have cut calories and exercising more, but not a lot of results. Finishing up my second week on myfitnesspal.

I agree with Stradtl. It didn't take 2 weeks for you to gain t he weight you are now trying to lose, therefore it won't take 2 weeks to lose it. More likely, you are like many of us and the weight just gradually started creeping up on you. Be patient, the pounds will drop off. Take a search through the message boards and you will find many inspirational stories from people who have similar stories to yours: it took them a little longer to jump start their weight loss, but once they did, they got great results.

The other thing to keep in mind that this should be a way of life. Not meaning that you need to obsess over every calorie, but that you should be eating responsible sized portions of nutritious food. It is not a quick fix. Once you (or me) goes back to our old eating habits the pounds will find us again!!! Good luck, hang in there, it will happen!

eliseswietek

Oh boy, you sound exactly like me when I found out that I was diabetic. It took a LONG time to adjust to eating healthy and ignoring what other people ate. I really felt sorry for myself for a long time, but when I finally got used to the healthy food, I started looking at the fast food as empty, toxic calories. When I'm out at a restaurant and I see something wonderfully greasy and good pass by my table, I'll look to see who ordered it. More times than not, that person is very overweight, and I don't want to continue to look like that too. Sometimes I'll see a skinny person, but I'll also notice that she will barely nibble at the meal and then throw the rest away. Oh how I wish I could be like that! But I have a big appetite, and I love to chow down.

Never deny yourself, have a treat now and then. It doesn't matter what it is, just eat one portion, and throw the rest away like a skinny person does. I do this all the time now when I go out. I pick out what I really, really want, like a big juicy burger, eat a sensible portion while skipping the mayo and such, pick healthy sides like a salad or veggies, and I feel happy both emotionally and physically. If it's fries that I want, I'll order a burger and fries, but I will share the fries with someone else, never eating a whole order by myself just like a skinny person. This also works great. My sister and I will share restaurant meals all the time when we both want something unhealthy, like BBQ ribs. We are both happy to get to eat what we are craving yet are satisfied that we got half the calories and still made our calorie goal for the day.

It's very hard at first when you are trying to replace food with something else that makes you happy. Food was my comfort, my friend, my blankie when sad, and my celebration when happy. You will grieve for your "best friend" but you will later embrace healthier food and active fun knowing that this will make you feel and look better.

I LOVE the part when you said "throw it away like a skinny person." I just had a revelation. While your trying to eat healthy ext. you don't get to eat all those unhealthy things. So when you do its like "OH MY GOSH I HAVE TO EAT THIS WHOLE THING TO MAKE IT WORTH WHILE." No, it shouldn't be like that, one serving is all that is necessary and NORMAL. DUH Elise! lol

Also I felt the same way this morning about junk food. I was craving something sweet and I hadn't had anything all week so I got a 100 calorie chocolate bar and some jujubes. After, I felt soo grosse and felt like I needed some fruits or vegetables! It was an awesome feeling to feel like I need these things more then junk!