I love food, Why is this wrong?

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notwithoutsalt
notwithoutsalt Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love food, to me there are 2 types: the regular food and the "art" food.

They can both be healthy (natural organic ingeredients)... that's not the issue.

Here is my problem: My pleasure is to eat and taste, that end up causing weight gain (yes, because every WE is a lot), I may be able to do this "portion control" with regular food, but not with "art" food.

So every year, I go back on a weight lost mission, I lose a little and then I "reward" myself with food. For any event that would require a little "gift", I'll choose food. See the pattern?

How can I stop this horrible circle? anyone feels the same?

Replies

  • Mitzigan94
    Mitzigan94 Posts: 393 Member
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    Will power, self control, set a goal.. if you really are willing to reach that whether to lose weight goal or maintain weight goal... you can do it..
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Accurate portion control and logging will be the key to success for you. Weigh and measure everything you eat, and log every bite. It's OK to love food- it's even a good thing IMO. Just accurately record what you eat and stick to your calorie goals and you can eat the foods you like, just stick within your goals. You will learn along the way to make compromises on foods you just like to make room for the things you love.
  • lunapetu0311
    lunapetu0311 Posts: 96
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    I am the same way. I reward weight loss, exercise and anything else with food. It's what makes me happy. Unfortunately, the frequent "rewards" prevents me from finally losing those last 10 lbs I have been trying to lose for years now.

    I recently came to the realization that I am never going to quit enjoying food and I probably will never be able to fully tame it so to try to counteract some of that I am choosing to increase my exercise. I have gone from 2-3 days per week to 5 days per week and for longer time. So far it seems to be helping me lose weight while still enjoying rewards (I am trying to make them not so frequent too). This is the only way I can think of balancing my need to enjoy food :)

    Good luck to you. !
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Accurate portion control and logging will be the key to success for you. Weigh and measure everything you eat, and log every bite. It's OK to love food- it's even a good thing IMO. Just accurately record what you eat and stick to your calorie goals and you can eat the foods you like, just stick within your goals. You will learn along the way to make compromises on foods you just like to make room for the things you love.

    I totally agree with this. I LOVE food. I think about food pretty much all the time. I've just worked on moderation and better choices (example - I have a delicious apple crumble pie I made for guests on Sunday in the fridge. 1/8th of it is 520 calories. There's no way I can fit that, so I'm letting my husband have it. But I felt like apple crumble this morning, so I made a 160 calorie 1 serving microwave apple crumble instead. And it was fine.).

    Just get rid of the mindset of having to reward yourself. You really don't. In the end you're only cheating yourself. I kinda get it because I've been more lenient since I got within 10 lbs of my goal, but in the end I'm still trying to stay under my calories most days (and my goal is probably lower than it should be to make up for it). And if I'm hungry and have to eat more, I still try to stay under my TDEE. Sometime I blow it, but I'm back on track the next day, and I just won't allow myself to be over more than once a week... that way worst case I will just maintain.

    Just tell yourself this - gaining weight is just not an option. Do you really want to have done all this for nothing? I really don't. And I don't want to gain the weight back ever. But you're the only one who can make that decision.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    it's not wrong.

    I love food...comfort food, fast food, pub food, "art" food, food food food...

    And the stuff I love the most is high in calories...ie cornbread...white sauce on pasta....garlic bread with my pasta ...

    I portion control. I still eat what I want but I have found now (44lbs lighter) I can't eat as much as I used...literally "CAN"T"...which can sort of suck cause it tastes so good but at the same time is good because it means portion control is working.

    Still eat the food just not as much. When I have white sauce on Pasta instead of extra cheese now I add extra seafood or veggies to it.

    INstead of garlic cheese bread, I go for garlic bread, cornbread half a mini loaf instead of a full loaf...
  • mamahannick
    mamahannick Posts: 322 Member
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    "Art" food? What the heck is "art" food?
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    I love food, to me there are 2 types: the regular food and the "art" food.

    They can both be healthy (natural organic ingeredients)... that's not the issue.

    Here is my problem: My pleasure is to eat and taste, that end up causing weight gain (yes, because every WE is a lot), I may be able to do this "portion control" with regular food, but not with "art" food.

    So every year, I go back on a weight lost mission, I lose a little and then I "reward" myself with food. For any event that would require a little "gift", I'll choose food. See the pattern?

    How can I stop this horrible circle? anyone feels the same?

    I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
  • Julesdublin
    Julesdublin Posts: 39 Member
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    I think the issue is associating food with feelings. You see food as a reward instead of seeing it as a way to nourish your body. It’s the same as when we are sad and we eat 2kgs of chocolate just to feel sick afterwards. At that moment the pleasure of eating overcomes the real meaning of ingesting food. We eat to compensate. So we overdo it.
    There’s nothing wrong with liking food. It is one of the most basic and enjoyable things in life. If eating becomes an issue to the point of changing our body shape (either by becoming obese or anorexic), our relationship with food is not healthy. I think a healthy person with a healthy relationship with food eats enough to give the body the nutrients needed without excesses. Moderation is the key.
    Try to change your reward mechanism. It’s not easy to lose weight and you should pat yourself in the back for doing so. So maybe instead of buying food – try reward yourself with a little gift. A nice manicure. A new top. Some nice cosmetics. It will take some time for the brain to change the way it sees food but eventually with the right amount of effort I think everyone can get there.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Learn how to eat the foods you love within a specific calorie range. My question is, when you do lose weight, how many calories do you eat? And how active you? Heck, I practically work out so I can eat a lot more calories.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    wtf is art food?
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
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    I love food, to me there are 2 types: the regular food and the "art" food.

    They can both be healthy (natural organic ingeredients)... that's not the issue.

    Here is my problem: My pleasure is to eat and taste, that end up causing weight gain (yes, because every WE is a lot), I may be able to do this "portion control" with regular food, but not with "art" food.

    So every year, I go back on a weight lost mission, I lose a little and then I "reward" myself with food. For any event that would require a little "gift", I'll choose food. See the pattern?

    How can I stop this horrible circle? anyone feels the same?

    I love food. I love really tasteful, artfully created, complex flavors and textures, too. Oddly, it was my love of REAL, quality food that helped me lose the first 20 lbs. I became a bit of a food snob, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! There should be no guilt in loving food, nor in fueling the body. The problem comes in when you eat for reasons beyond enjoyment, or for "rewards" or "gifts," as you put it. It becomes an excuse to overeat.

    We eat for fuel (appropriate portions) and enjoy it for quality of life.
  • kelseypalmer1614
    kelseypalmer1614 Posts: 36 Member
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    I know what you mean. Anyone that doesn't love food is just weird, in my opinion lol.

    I can't get completely away from the "rewarding myself" mentality, so I'm trying to find more productive things to reward myself with. I have a jar that I put $$$ into after a workout, so that when I hit my goal, I've already got a good chunch of $$$ to buy a new wardrobe. My other reward is a bit of a guilty pleasure. If I have a good workout at 5 am, sometimes I'll reward myself with a breakfast burrito from the hospital I work at. It has a lot of veggies, and protein, and I don't put the sour cream on it. I figure it's not harming me too much, and it helps keep me full through the morning.

    Basically, what I'm trying to say, is you can still reward yourself. And it can still be with food. But it doesn't have to be. Try finding healthier versions of the foods you usually reward yourself with. Or have a smaller portion.

    Taking out the rewards you love completely will just make you feel resentful of your diet . . . trust me, I've been there. As long as you plan your calories out accordingly, and don't over-do the rewards, you should be fine.

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