Diets are making me fat!

ErinCanRun
ErinCanRun Posts: 24 Member
in Motivation and Support
I recently had a revelation, and am looking for some friends with a similar mindset.

For the last 10 years i have lost and re-gained the same 30lbs over and over. I KNOW how to lose weight, i just cant keep it off. I come here and calorie count, stick to my 1200 calories, and exercise 3-5 days a week. I have been super strict, but try to give myself a few "cheat" days to enjoy life. And this JUST doesnt work for me. Eventually i miss a few workouts in a row, eat a few too many cheat days, binge, and i just stop....and back comes the weight along with all the negative thoughts of self worth. This will last 3-6 months before I'm so disgusted with myself that I do it all again.

So here's my revelation, I have NEVER worked out when I'm not restricting myself. I am either binge eating and give up on everything, or super strict with my diet where i feel like i am missing out on food (except on my cheat days) and working with a starved body.

The new plan: I'm going to work out every single day. Sounds crazy, but bear with me. I'm going to focus on just being healthy, rather than being a certain weight. I know now that if I don't make exercise absolutely a daily part of my life that eventually 'a few times a week' will become not at all. Next, I'm going to jump on the intuitive eating bandwagon. Not entirely sure how this will work, but i recently listed to a Ted Talk by Sandra Aamodt and started her book, "Why diets make us fat,' and it has really resonated with me. Has anyone here read it?

I'd love some thoughts or advice, and please feel free to friend me!

Thanks!

Replies

  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Have you tried eating in a calorie deficit? With a small deficit that includes using a food scale to weigh everything that passes your lips? You cannot out exercise over eating. That is what I finally did and have finally found success. Yay me and so can you. No more yoyoing dieting!
  • ErinCanRun
    ErinCanRun Posts: 24 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Have you tried eating in a calorie deficit? With a small deficit that includes using a food scale to weigh everything that passes your lips? You cannot out exercise over eating. That is what I finally did and have finally found success. Yay me and so can you. No more yoyoing dieting!

    Thanks for the thoughts, i just dont think that would work for me. When i exercise I eat better, and the strictness of weighing food wont work long term for me. Glad you found something that works for you!

  • MarkusDarwath
    MarkusDarwath Posts: 393 Member
    For me, "intuitive eating" just doesn't work. Part of it is that the signal when I'm full takes too long to register. I'm also terrible at judging appropriate portion sizes without measuring in some way. On the other hand, I'm also able to lose weight with diet only. At some point I will be adding exercise, but it will be for building muscle and stamina rather than for the calorie burn.
  • superpowers2016
    superpowers2016 Posts: 76 Member
    I can relate with me it was all or nothing and that is why this time around I am doing it differently. I am not dieting. I am eating at a deficit but I am eating everything that I want. I found a challenging workout that I actually love. Good luck to you I hope that your plan will get you where you want to be...just remember it's a journey and we have to find something that is sustainable and that we enjoy enough to last a lifetime.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    Because working out every single day isn't some kind of unrealistic strictness?

    I don't care if you want to use a scale and count calories, but unless you pick a method that is actually realistic for you know, the rest of your life, your cycle is just going to continue.
  • violakate
    violakate Posts: 1 Member
    I don't think this is crazy at all. I started working out regularly (5-6 days a week) at the end of May because my doctor told me to. I didn't make any changes to my diet until a few weeks ago, and the exercising is what tipped me into it. I am invested in my workouts and now want to eat to perform better. If you had told me this is what was going to happen when I started exercising 10 weeks ago I would have laughed. This is the first time I have focused on exercise before diet. For me it seems to work. I hope you find success too!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited July 2016
    OP, it sounds like it didn't work because you were being overly-restrictive. You don't have to cut out any foods to lose weight, just make sure you are eating the right amount. I have been using a food scale (as often as possible) and logging every day for over 2 years, and it changed everything for me. I eat all the same foods I used to, I just mind portion sizes, and it takes almost zero effort now. I gained the weight in the first place thinking I was eating the right amount - it was when I started measuring and logging that I realized my "intuition" about food was off.

    Please keep in mind that increasing exercise can cause increased appetite, so if you aren't minding your diet you could end up eating back all the calories you are burning off.

    Ultimately, in order to stop the cycle, you need to find a lifestyle you can stick with for the rest of your life.

    I hope your plan works for you, or if not I hope you find something that does. Best of luck.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    So you're going to workout every day forever?

  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    ErinCanRun wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Have you tried eating in a calorie deficit? With a small deficit that includes using a food scale to weigh everything that passes your lips? You cannot out exercise over eating. That is what I finally did and have finally found success. Yay me and so can you. No more yoyoing dieting!

    Thanks for the thoughts, i just dont think that would work for me. When i exercise I eat better, and the strictness of weighing food wont work long term for me. Glad you found something that works for you!

    If weighing food is too stressful then don't do it but you still have to eat less than you burn.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Nothing wrong with focusing on fitness goals. Just know that working out alone won't put you in a calorie deficit for sure.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    edited July 2016
    If it helps, I don't weigh everything. Starting out, I weighed for a week or two to get my eye in, then switched to eyeballing. Now I will weigh occasionally to check for portion creep, but mostly I don't. It works for me.

    I agree with others that it seems like your problem is the "all or nothing" thing and being overly strict. It does seem like "I'm going to exercise every single day no matter what" is still overly strict, and when you inevitably miss a day, you'll be back to your slippery slope.

    I think you need to find some way to expect and allow for falling short , and practice getting back on the horse, rather than white-knuckling it to stay on at all costs, which then makes you so discouraged when you inevitably do fall off. This is a lifelong change you're trying for, you will not be perfectly consistent every day for the rest of your life, and that's Ok. It's the overall trend that matters.
  • berolcolour
    berolcolour Posts: 140 Member
    I think changing too much too soon can be a problem. I did the opposite to you - I cut a little calories first and then some more and around six months later started exercising. No reason you can't do it the other way around!

    I like precision nutrition. The course is expensive but they have a lot of information online for free about no rules eating. It has changed my mindset - things like you can eat 4lb of food to feel full, how nutritious they are depends on your choices, they also advocate slower changes (although I like calorie counting so I still do that).

    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/what-are-your-4-lbs
  • Krisfit40
    Krisfit40 Posts: 106 Member
    sounds like you might want to try Intermittent Fasting. There are a lot of good articles out there on it now that its becoming more popular. My wife does it and it works awesome for her because she still eats a lot of the foods she loves but stays in the weight range she wants to be in.. She eats from 12-8 PM everyday and she loves it.. she eats about 1600-1900 calories a day at 130lbs and doesnt gain weight even if she indulges in not so "clean" foods lol
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Try it and see if it works for you. It does work for some. Personally, heavy exercises make me hungry and I intuitively eat back every single calorie burned plus 200-300 more.

    I also don't think this approach would be sustainable for me personally. Unless something feels natural to me it doesn't have staying power and I just burn out. What if you get injured and have to rest for a while? That's not a distant possibility either if you are going to be exercising everyday. What then? Would you just fall out of habit?

    I treat exercise as something I enjoy doing moderately (I don't force myself to do things I don't like) and extra credit for more calories. When I can't exercise I'm a bit sad because I miss it, but I have my food habits and calorie deficit to fall on.

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