I am really active - but struggle with food!

lindsaywil4
lindsaywil4 Posts: 3
in Introduce Yourself
Hello,

My name is Lindsay and I would love to lose weight. I love to cycle, walk my pup, hike, kayak, run marathons and have recently adding swimming to the mix. Activity is not my problem - Food is. I am hungry ALL the time and not for the good stuff like I should be!

I am hoping that by logging my food, I will gain a better and more clear perspective on what I actually need as fuel to continue my active lifestyle. The areas that I struggle the most are between 1-4 PM when I am at my desk at work and when I get home from work (I often cycle home!) and am too tired to make something healthy and fulfilling.

I would love and appreciate all words of encouragement and would love to make new friends working towards similar goals!

Thanks!
-Lindsay

Replies

  • ClaphamCommoner
    ClaphamCommoner Posts: 5 Member
    Lindsay, the best of luck! Logging food is a fantastic way of doing things. Just remember, if you have a bad day, don't stop logging. Have 5 good days afterwards and then you can look back in disdain at the bad day and still feel good about yourself :).

    I have a similar problem in that I used to do an insane amount of exercise in my mid-late teens. Cycling 4 miles a day (2 to school, 2 back), football training once a week with a game every Saturday, Karate four times a week etc. When I stopped the exercise, I carried on eating whatever I wanted, and still to today struggle to not pig out a lot of the time. Hence why I today joined my fitness pal!
  • lindsaywil4
    lindsaywil4 Posts: 3
    Thanks for the encouragement! I wish it was just that easy!

    During a week that I feel good about my activity, I will either cycle 17 miles a day Monday - Friday (8.5 miles one way to work) or run 4.5 miles and cycle 8.5 miles, then do a combination of activities on the weekend, like running 6-8 miles, and cycling for 30+ miles. Things don’t always go as planned, so I will sometimes just do about 3/4 of what I listed above. I rarely count walking my dog, as it is more about meeting his needs than mine.

    On the days that I do not do my feel good activity, I still seem to eat like crazy! I had a problem coming out of the last marathon season, where I shouldn’t eat like I was still running 14+ miles each Saturday, but I did.

    Oy! Maybe this will help - like it seemed to help you!
  • 4aces61
    4aces61 Posts: 292 Member
    Open your diary so we can see what you're eating. That can be very helpful, otherwise, what type of food do you eat? Oh and welcome. With as active as you are I can't believe you would need to lose any. What do you weigh and how much are you trying to lose? How tall are you
  • BirdGirlFit
    BirdGirlFit Posts: 36 Member
    Hi! I think tracking your food will be really helpful, and it sounds like you already know your 'danger zone' time for eating (1-4pm). I used to work at a desk and it was SO hard not to snack but here are some tips that helped me lose almost 20 pounds:

    +Stay hydrated! Most of the time when I was hungry I was really thirsty. Keep a water bottle with you at all times and drink throughout the day.

    +Bring your own healthy snacks to work. It sounds so simple but having great tasting and healthy options in front of you will make snacking so much easier. I love Quest bars, greek yogurt with some fruit or a little bit of honey, almonds and plain, sodium free rice cakes with almond butter.

    +Plan your meals. I always think about what I want for breakfast and lunch on the weekend before the work week begins. I eat a very healthy breakfast, lunch and morning/afternoon snack everyday. No excuses. I don't eat the cupcakes at work or the candy left out because it's not worth it to me. I rather save those calories and nutrients for something I TRULY love, maybe an ice cream cone, a delicious glass of wine or some really nice chocolate. I know that I'll never truly enjoy those junky snacks at work because they're not my favorite things and eating tons of sugar and fat midday make me feel horrible.

    +Make sure you're eating enough! With all that activity you are doing you need to eat wonderful, nutritious foods! Make sure your calories are high enough because if they're not you will go into starvation mode and then binge on unhealthy foods.

    +Focus on one change at a time. You are already really active which is wonderful! Give yourself a lot of credit for that because that can be the hardest thing for a lot of people.

    Best of luck- you can do this! :)
  • bridgie101
    bridgie101 Posts: 817 Member
    Thanks for the encouragement! I wish it was just that easy!

    During a week that I feel good about my activity, I will either cycle 17 miles a day Monday - Friday (8.5 miles one way to work) or run 4.5 miles and cycle 8.5 miles, then do a combination of activities on the weekend, like running 6-8 miles, and cycling for 30+ miles. Things don’t always go as planned, so I will sometimes just do about 3/4 of what I listed above. I rarely count walking my dog, as it is more about meeting his needs than mine.

    On the days that I do not do my feel good activity, I still seem to eat like crazy! I had a problem coming out of the last marathon season, where I shouldn’t eat like I was still running 14+ miles each Saturday, but I did.

    Oy! Maybe this will help - like it seemed to help you!

    Sounds like you need about 3000 cals a day to survive. I bet you're trying to eat way less than that. :D

    Have a bigger lunch and have an afternoon tea, even if it's just coffee and a piece of cake, and 1/2 hr sit down when you get home. Something to recharge your batteries enough to cook a healthy dinner.

    I'm a recent convert to this site: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ - go see what it says you need to eat, and if you only need to lose 30lb then choose maybe 15% fat loss, or 10% fat loss, but not 20.
  • lindsaywil4
    lindsaywil4 Posts: 3
    Thank you!

    Your tips are going to get put to use today! I knew that planning will help me this week, so I am doing a lot of food prep today (after my run of course!)

    I did purchase some nuts to keep at my desk and I have no excuse for not drinking enough water as my workplace provides us with water bottles to reuse.

    After a few days under the belt of tracking, I can find a pattern of what I am doing wrong to turn it around!
  • arl1286
    arl1286 Posts: 276 Member
    You sound like me, haha. Avid runner, weight lifter, hiker, snowboarder, casual soccer/basketball player, kayaker... you name it. But the food is always calling me (especially as I'm a student and spent half my time sitting ten feet away from my kitchen studying...). I just added you!
  • heysarge13
    heysarge13 Posts: 403 Member
    For myself, I didn't see any results until I started logging my meals. Then after a few weeks I was able to start adjusting my food to achieve the weight loss goals I had. In addition, a couple others have said it, open your diary so your friends can hold you accountable.

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