Last Supper Syndrome
WhitehorseBound
Posts: 1
I've been "starting" a diet for nearly a year. Each day stuffing my face (net gaining) through feeble justification of a healthier me tomorrow, that never came.
I've got the principles to start, MFP app, healthy food, workout gear...it's just the motivation/self love that I'm worth this discomfort to just make it through the first 3 days. (Haha...that's the point where I'm at, a realistic goal is to make it through 3 days without binging)
Any tips? Any Advice? Anyone is the same boat?
I've got the principles to start, MFP app, healthy food, workout gear...it's just the motivation/self love that I'm worth this discomfort to just make it through the first 3 days. (Haha...that's the point where I'm at, a realistic goal is to make it through 3 days without binging)
Any tips? Any Advice? Anyone is the same boat?
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Replies
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Just jump in! It does take a few days to adjust, but you can never start until you start!
simple yet so hard! I started a month ago and am so happy I did! I got tired of waiting to lose and started losing! 0 -
You have to start somewhere. 3 days without binging is a good goal. Every time you want to binge, take a minute to fight with yourself. Ask yourself, is it really worth it? Think about how good and strong you are going to feel if and when you achieve your goal. It will get easier the more days you go without binging.0
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If you're not already doing so, start by logging everything you eat/drink. Don't make any changes but keeping a diary will enable you to see exactly what you're eating and how much.
This will make it easier to see where you can make simple changes to cut down calories and start losing weight.
To lose weight you need to eat fewer calories than your body uses. This doesn't have to mean starving yourself or making huge changes to your diet. Just consuming 250-500 calories below maintenance each day will allow you to lose 0.5 to 1lb per week.0 -
I do the same thing. It's a tough habit to break. It's so easy to have a slip up and then go crazy the rest of the day and say tomorrow is a new day. But then the same thing happens tomorrow. I think it's a matter of getting yourself to the point where you say today's the day and follow through. Unfortuantely I can only relate, I don't have any tricks to make it happen.0
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I understand this completely and now I'm glad I have a word to call it I like what others have said here. I guess what helped my mom lose that mentality was replacing it with the "Just do it" nike mentality. By that, I mean why what until tomorrow to start? Start now. Start with your next meal. It does not mean deprivation. Do no deprive yourself after you start. I think too often we suffer this syndrome because we associate with eating for weightloss as "bland" and not enjoyable. It definitely doesn't have to be that way.
I wish you luck on your journey 0 -
meal plan and pre-log. make sure your goals are set up for a realistic goal, and give yourself all the green-colored calories. if something else comes up (let's say... a cupcake), review the food choices you have for the rest of the day, and decide which one(s) you are willing to give up for this cupcake. as long as it fits, you can have it. you might be hungry later, but maybe next time you'll only want half of the cupcake.
I still struggle with "eating all the foods." this has helped me GREATLY. and, no matter what... always take this one day at a time.
best of luck!0 -
I came to the realization that, by having "treats" every day, I no longer really enjoyed them. They were no longer special. So I decided that I would stick to my diet, work in treats as I could, and when I couldn't, realize that not having dessert one night would help it to really seem special when I could spare the calories for it.0
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I agree with PearlAng! According to my MFP log, I started logging food (trying to hit a deficit calorie target) in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday. No procrastination. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago...the second best is RIGHT NOW!
You also might find it helpful to change one thing at a time. First start tracking what you eat. Then start trying to hit a calorie deficit target. Then work on hitting macros (amounts of protein and fat, mostly--I, at least, never have trouble eating enough carbs) or trying to eat more "healthy" foods instead of only fewer pieces of pizza and ice cream cones. (While, I stress, still enjoying pizza and ice cream when you can and want to! This is CRUCIAL for my success.) Then try moving around a little more. Then maybe get yourself to the gym. Small steps to make it manageable.
Good luck!0 -
I suggest getting some graph paper, number a line of the little boxes 1 - 24 and fill in a little square for every hour that you didn't binge. Start with one day one hour at a time. Sleeping hours are free! I did this when I loved to drink soda.0
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I am not with the "just do it" crowd when it comes to your specific situation. It's a daunting task for you to flip bad habits into good ones overnight. I know this from lots of experience with "Last Supper planning", so this might work for you.
I suggest you take it one step at a time for about three days. Begin with logging your food and making sure you drink water. Drink 8x 8oz. glasses. I always have found that if I can just do the water, I feel like I've made a little progress, and I get motivated to do the next thing: plan my meals to cut calories. In those first few days, I also chuck out all the foods I know I can't trust myself with in the beginning of a diet. You know, the ones that cry out your name at 10pm?
I'm not recommending that you don't exercise the first week, but you also don't need to go whole hog. I didn't exercise at all the first two weeks because I had the flu and frankly, I was too fat to bend over without killing my back. So I just casually walked around our large yard with the dogs. I just moved more those first two weeks. You don't need any special workout gear to do that.
Every little victory will spur you on to do more. Drink water and walk for a few days. Plan your meals. Look at healthy recipes and get motivated to make them. Buy the ingredients you'll be needing and get ready to jump in -- but don't jump in too soon. Sometimes the pool isn't full enough!0 -
cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »I agree with PearlAng! According to my MFP log, I started logging food (trying to hit a deficit calorie target) in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday. No procrastination. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago...the second best is RIGHT NOW!
You also might find it helpful to change one thing at a time. First start tracking what you eat. Then start trying to hit a calorie deficit target. Then work on hitting macros (amounts of protein and fat, mostly--I, at least, never have trouble eating enough carbs) or trying to eat more "healthy" foods instead of only fewer pieces of pizza and ice cream cones. (While, I stress, still enjoying pizza and ice cream when you can and want to! This is CRUCIAL for my success.) Then try moving around a little more. Then maybe get yourself to the gym. Small steps to make it manageable.
Good luck!
Oops, should have read this before posting! I totally agree with this approach!0 -
lists, lists and more lists.
MFP is your list of everything you eat. Start logging every single thing and it really has to be everything. Do you have butter/marg on your bread, log it. Don't go with the "oh it's only X, no point logging that". You don't even have to start your diet on the first week.
Treat it like any other week and log every single thing you eat and then you will at least know what you are eating.
Next, start planning your meals.
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snacks. Work out what you are going to eat at each meal, 7 days a week.
Use the above plan of meals to make your shopping lists. Consider doing shopping online if thats possible and ONLY buy things which are on your shopping list and therefore part of your food plan. A lot of people buy things they don't need at the shops because its on deal or they fancy it at the time.
There will be days where you want a pizza for dinner or a couple of beers, that's fine. Just make sure you have planned those days and you only get what you need.
If you can't resist the unhealthy stuff when you want to binge then you are just going to have to get rid of it from your house. Likewise if you find yourself going out and buying unhealthy stuff at work, leave your money indoors until you have developed the willpower to resist.0 -
i lost a stone and since that day ive been ''rewarding'' myself with whatever food i can eat. Keep saying I will get back on track etc, but cant find the motivation like you! Keep at it, one day at a time
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Try to pre log as much as you can, it may help to hold you acountable. Decide that you are worth it and start the change today.0
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The best advice I can give is you have to want it. I was very involved in sports for most of life and then when I went to university I didn't have time anymore so I kind of dropped them, but kept eating like I was active all the time. The end result was bad. I sky rocketed to 340lbs before saying holy crap, what have I done?
But then I didn't really want to do anything about it, until one day I did. You've got what it takes, but it will take everything you've got. It will drain you, maybe make you cry, make you love and hate yourself all at the same time. It's a tough road, but you have to want it. What I've learned is that if you don't want it, you won't do it. It's really that simple. I want to get up at 4:45am every other day and run - I'm training to run my first 5K in April. Me, someone who weighed 340lbs a little under 2 years ago. I want to not feel like crap so I want to not eat an apple fritter every afternoon. It's about what you want for yourself. If you want it, you will figure it out. If you don't, you will find excuses. And that's really true - the things we want the most we find a way to do it, at all costs. Want yourself. Want the health. Want the good feeling of fitting into clothes you previously didn't. Want it all - because you deserve it all.
Start small, but dream big! My goal is to weigh 200lbs (as of now) and I started at 340lbs so losing 140lbs is a big goal, but I broke it down into 2 50lbs and 1 40lbs increments. I'm well into my second 50lbs and I'm pretty happy.
It took time - it took time for me to not want to eat everything in sight. It took time to know when to say enough and get up from the table or push my plate away. It took time to know when dishing out food how much to put on my plate. It simply took time and patience and tested every ounce of will I have. But I grew, and I grew stronger and better and healthier for it.
Give it time, and fight like hell for the person you want. If you don't fight for it no one else will.0 -
Pre-logging does wonders!
Something I did when I first started out was when I had a rough day I added an exercise entry that was custom and said "Maintenance day" which increased my calorie goal to what I would maintain weight at. Although it wasn't going to be progress towards weight loss, it kept me from going really far over.0 -
Okay, how do you make yourself want it? That's a question I've been asking myself for over 40 years. The want doesn't come from just thinking about it. It comes from a medical emergency or seeing your weight on a doctor's chart. @Acosaut89 and I reacted the same way to seeing that chart. But years before that day, I was trying to figure out how to want it bad enough. No luck.
Sometimes, you have to put your head down, commit to doing one little thing that is out of your current comfort zone, and work your way up to wanting it. Sometimes, a little achievement under your belt is just the push you need to get in the swing of it. And soon, you will be building a new and healthier comfort zone for yourself.0 -
I'm not sure if this helps but I have found once I begin to lose..it only has to be a few pounds, I become much more motivated. Just start and see what happens...0
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My difficult times seem to be after work and on my weekends. I can't seem to get myself to log faithfully. Partly because once I get home, I seem to want to eat anything I can find. I have been working on that and trying not to snack while preparing dinner. Weekends are a totally different animal. If I am out away from home, I tend to not make the best choices for myself and what I am trying to accomplish. My main goal is to keep at logging and one day I will get this down. I have to be faithful to the process or it will not work.0
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I'm sensing a lot of negative feelings in your post--"last supper...feeble justification...I'm worth this discomfort." You may not be ready to take this on alone. A good starting point would be nutritional counseling by a registered dietician. You need to find out *why* you feel and eat as you do, then develop a plan of attack for success.
Diet does not have to equal Deprivation. Diet has become a dirty word because it sounds so miserable and self-denying. Instead, look at it as road map for a new "good for me" way of eating and living and thinking. I don't even use the word diet. Everything you do from now on, is for the new you. Replace quantity with quality. Replace doing things the easy way with taking on new challenges. Replace good enough with 'I can push myself to do a little more/a little harder/a little longer today.'
Wait until you feel the buzz after a good workout, or someone tells you you're looking different lately, or your jeans are feeling a bit sloppy in the butt. NSVs (non-scale victories) are like a tailwind as you're working hard to make positive changes. Once you start to see good come from all your effort, you won't see it as a diet that's making you miserable. Change your mindset, change the outcome.
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WhitehorseBound wrote: »I've been "starting" a diet for nearly a year. Each day stuffing my face (net gaining) through feeble justification of a healthier me tomorrow, that never came.
I've got the principles to start, MFP app, healthy food, workout gear...it's just the motivation/self love that I'm worth this discomfort to just make it through the first 3 days. (Haha...that's the point where I'm at, a realistic goal is to make it through 3 days without binging)
Any tips? Any Advice? Anyone is the same boat?
Actually, what is your goal set to? If you are like me and most others you set it to lose 2 pounds per week. Change it to one pound per week and it's not as hard. This doesn't have to be painful.0 -
I think we see this "diet" as black or white, you are on a DIET, or not....rather than just a gradual shift to healthier eating and lifestyle change.
Just make one goal a week, maybe than this week your goal will be to not eat out, or reduce fat, or carbs...or just choose a salad for dinner one night this week, instead of pizza. Or just add 1 hour of exercise to your schedule this week. That is a positive change.
You can't make a radical lifestyle change, and expect immediate results. That is set up for fail.0 -
One thing that helped me was to identify my worst times for binge eating... such as late at night when I watch a TV show (I was snacking and eating a lot). Some nights I just go to sleep earlier... some nights I paint my nails while watching so my hands are occupied, or 'multitask by browsing on my laptop while I watch... and some nights I prepare by having a bag of baby carrots or a bowl of cut up fruit and allow myself to binge eat that. At least it is healthy and very low in calories and satisfies my desire to chew on something. It is very hard to make these changes but with some planning ahead you can do it.0
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Rather than looking at this as "starting a diet" (i.e., starting a life sentence), resolve to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, but ADD in healthy foods to what you are already eating. Do you like fruit? What kind? Step one is ADD one piece of fresh fruit every day. Don't remove anything, don't limit any other foods, just ADD one piece of fruit. Try that for a week. Then resolve to ADD four glasses of water each day in addition to your piece of fresh fruit. The following week, ADD one fresh vegetable to your diet each day. You will find that by adding healthy foods to what you are already eating, you have to think about and plan some of your food choices each day. Build on that weekly by adding in one healthy meal each day (i.e., a lean meat, broiled or baked, a fresh vegetable and a small portion of carbs) and now you are getting in the habit of planning one meal each day. Don't deprive yourself and it won't seem like a "diet".0
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WhitehorseBound wrote: »I've been "starting" a diet for nearly a year. Each day stuffing my face (net gaining) through feeble justification of a healthier me tomorrow, that never came.
I've got the principles to start, MFP app, healthy food, workout gear...it's just the motivation/self love that I'm worth this discomfort to just make it through the first 3 days. (Haha...that's the point where I'm at, a realistic goal is to make it through 3 days without binging)
Any tips? Any Advice? Anyone is the same boat?
Actually, what is your goal set to? If you are like me and most others you set it to lose 2 pounds per week. Change it to one pound per week and it's not as hard. This doesn't have to be painful.
with only 30 pounds to lose, why not just put it to "lose .5 a week?" take it slow and steady. and eat more in the meantime. 0 -
In my experience, it takes more than three days to get started. You're going to slip up. If you can learn that eating over your goal one day or having a piece of food you didn't plan for another is NOT FAILURE it's just part of the whole thing, it will be easier. Take your time. Don't expect perfection right out of the gate. If you need to start with small goals and work your way up, do it.0
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I agree with some of the posts above. Start eating at maintenance for a couple days (this already may be less than you normally eat), then gradually drop 100 calories over the next couple days and then more until you reach the deficit you are looking for. Do this over a couple weeks. Maybe the whole "jumping in" thing and feeling deprived just doesn't work for you at this point hence the year of starting and stopping. Maybe it's just easier to start smaller and work on consistency with that first. Even a small deficit will gradually give you some fat loss over the weeks. Good Luck!0
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In my experience, it takes more than three days to get started. You're going to slip up. If you can learn that eating over your goal one day or having a piece of food you didn't plan for another is NOT FAILURE it's just part of the whole thing, it will be easier. Take your time. Don't expect perfection right out of the gate. If you need to start with small goals and work your way up, do it.
Such good advice! I have had so many binges and "days off" and even "that six weeks around christmas where I gain 10 lbs" pretty much once a year for the last four years... if I'd given up each time that happened, I wouldn't be 110 lbs lighter today.
Easing into it is definitely the way to go.... make one small change now, and when you feel comfortable with that, move onto the next small change. Over time, they will add up! It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
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Wow, what a great post this is. Nobody got snarky or rude. Actual sincere advice. How strange, and how helpful. Thank you for your posts. I'm in this boat--serious last supper thinking is making me fatter and fatter. I found it happened more after I read Intuitive Eating which is where I first heard the phrase Last supper eating. Maybe knowing I'm not the only one who does it has given me an excuse to keep doing it?0
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thecharizardtamer wrote: »I suggest getting some graph paper, number a line of the little boxes 1 - 24 and fill in a little square for every hour that you didn't binge. Start with one day one hour at a time. Sleeping hours are free! I did this when I loved to drink soda.
by the way, I love this advice.0
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