Extremely discouraged... overeating is killing me

It is not for us to say whether someone needs medicine or not.

Sounds like I've been in the proverbial boat with lots of other people. I was really struggling with staying within my calorie count (1600) until about 10 days ago. Then I decided to start to figure out this macro thing. My cholesterol was way up. The good kind (hdl) was super high, the bad, and total were also high so I decided to do an experiment. I cut my fat intake from 30+% that I was eating due to daily intake of good fats from nuts and olive oil to 20% and upped my carbs to 50%. I've been trying to get 30% protein and am finding protein foods take away my cravings. I don't know if the numbers are good or bad, but I'm simply amazed at how I look at food these past few days. I don't choose my food based on how many calories I have left, but I do make sure it works with my macro goals. It's like I have less desire to eat high fat food because I know it won't serve my purpose of getting my cholesterol numbers down. It means looking at food as fuel, not as something that will fill an inner need other than hunger. If I'm hungry, I eat. But I know I can't go rummaging through the frig or cupboards looking for something that I can't justify eating. For an evening snack I might have albacore tuna with pickle relish and multigrain crackers. It really works for me. I also love fat free lime or vanilla greek yogurt with a tablespoon of chocolate syrup (150 cals...no fat). I'm going back in 10 days for another blood profile and I'll see if this made a difference. Even if the numbers don't change, I'm going to continue watching my macros and trying to stay within them most days. I believe we can take control of our health but it's all about the choices we make and where our goals are on our priority list. Good luck to everybody.

Hi all,

I am feeling extremely discouraged today. I am finding it so hard to find balance in my life. I want to enjoy the foods I love which is mostly junk, but I need to lose the weight...

I have always been a yo-yo dieter. I will eat healthy, fell great about the weight I am losing and then all it takes is one slip up like eating a piece of candy and I am binge eating for the rest of the day. I feel that I am always craving junk even if I do allow myself to have a small handful of chips to curb the cravings. I just want more and more.

I never used to be like this. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted - but since I didn't think about my weight I would never go on psychotic binges where I have to eat everything in sight - therefore I always maintained my weight. I hit my highest weight after losing 20 pounds on a pretty restrictive diet... I couldn't take it anymore and ended up binge eating for a month.

I don't know what to do. I sit here all day craving food. I am trying to eat 1500 calories per day instead of 1200 but the weight just isn't coming off...

I need some advice and support

- don't restrict foods from your diet.
- don't buy into all that clean/primal/paleo/low car/low sugar/low fat/gluten-free/etc. nonsense that tells you that certain foods are good and other foods are bad. food is just fuel.
- don't hold yourself to a standard that NOBODY can meet. we are not perfect.
- learn about your macros and strive to meet those goals.
- set a smaller deficit from your daily TDEE and strive to lose the weight over a longer period of time.
- be patient.
- allow yourself treats every day if that's what you need to do to avoid later binges.

losing weight is not rocket science. so many people fail and yo-yo because they fall into an antiquated mindset about what they must or must not eat in order to be "healthy". it's all unnecessary. worry about your calories and macros and not what food choices you're making. if you are meeting your calorie and macro goals, the majority of your food choices will be good ones anyway, but you can still have pizza and ice cream and bread and hamburgers and all sorts of other things you love, as part of your diet.

also, lots of people find that protein helps keep them full, longer. not keeping too many snack foods in the house can help combat mindless eating. switching to drinking mostly water can be a big calorie saver.

Why are you trying to sabotage someone who is struggling with craving/bingeing with the above advice? "Treats" often trigger binges. Yes, sometimes the only way to overcome cravings/bingeing IS to eliminate certain foods (sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently), most of with are low in nutrients and not healthy anyway. It would help if you understood how certain foods affect hormones in the body-hormones that regulate appetite and fat storage. Just because you don't have experience with uncontrollable craving/bingeing that can't be resolved with willpower and a "balanced" diet doesn't mean that other people aren't experiencing just that. Thanks for playing your part in helping keep someone in the dark and away from trying a possible solution. If I had kept eating a "balanced" diet I probably would have been dead before 60. I might as well have been dead at 39 because that's how bad my quality of life was because i was so sick and fat.

But yeah, I'm soooo deprived by eating steaks and salads. It's so terrible. Feeling AWESOME is soooo not worth giving up a few foods. Instead, I should have never eliminated any foods or changed anything until I had full blown diabetes, etc. Whatever.