How is it so easy for so many people to eat less?

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  • KD7900
    KD7900 Posts: 11 Member
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    When I'm depressed I actually end up not eating anything at all until my mood becomes normalized again.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited June 2017
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    Log what you're currently eating for a week with no changes.This gives you a baseline. Put your stats into MFP and set for 1 lb per week. . Then drop 100 cals each week til MFP goal.
  • LeelaaC
    LeelaaC Posts: 17 Member
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    You could try menu planning..as in taking the time to plan out healthy meals and have all ingredents ready. That way you have meals to look forward to that can help you resist temptation. I find it way easier to be ok with being a little hungry at 11 if I know that I like what I'll be eating at noon for lunch. Then I play the 'can I hang on till lunch' game with myself and drink a cup of tea or water and before I know it I've done it.
  • rugratz2015
    rugratz2015 Posts: 593 Member
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    I don't think it's about eating less, but about eating better. I have days I eat everything in sight, but I try and exercise regularly.

    My loss is slow but it's going in the right direction. I log my food, even though it doesn't fit into my allowance so when I'm wondering why my loss is slow I can look at my diary and see exactly why,
  • megsi886
    megsi886 Posts: 27 Member
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    One of my breakthroughs was realizing that a lot of what I think of as hunger is actually thirst. Carrying a bottle of water helped build the habit of drinking a lot more. I try to get through two fillings of the bottle in a day.

    Another was that I just can't have the high calorie junk foods around. I don't have the discipline to resist them in the cupboard. I usually can summon the discipline to resist them for the few minutes it takes to get out of the grocery store. Even some normally wholesome foods tend to tempt me to overindulge.

    I had to log food and try to hit my calorie goals for a while before I reached any regular success. During this time you're building a sense of how many calories things have and what lower calorie foods you like and find satisfying.

    Based on what you say, I would try to cut out the high calorie stuff and consciously look for lower calorie options. Keep foods that you can't resist out of your house.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
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    Cardio/being active is invaluable for me, a lot of people seem to be dieting off calorie restriction alone, no idea how they do it because I would be starving all day.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    nosebag1212 wrote: »
    Cardio/being active is invaluable for me, a lot of people seem to be dieting off calorie restriction alone, no idea how they do it because I would be starving all day.

    I do it. I mean I lift weights but no cardio. It's fine. I get such a small calorie burn from cardio the time isn't worth an extra 150 calories.
  • LisaFellis
    LisaFellis Posts: 5 Member
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    My tdee is areound 1700 apparently, my BMR is around 1250 according to iifym. I have been doing 1300-1400 a day for the past 2-3 months (except maybe a day here or there). I realized I was eating wayy too much before. Especially carbs. I started 145lbs (im only 5'0) and my point was when I went on a cruise and saw the pictures and hated it. I have crohns so my weight goes up and down. I am now down to at least 130 but I have also gained a lot of muscle during the time. Waiting on my scale to see what my muscle mass is. I try to eat about 105 carbs, I think its about 60 fat and 130 or so in protein a day. The protein is definitely what helps. I would try to do more protein to keep you full. I also got some optimum nutrition protein powder which is the best one I have ever tasted. And if I am low on my protein for the day I will add that. I also want the protein to keep my muscles and have also started drinking BCAA's. It is super hard for me to stay away from chocolate. A little easier to stay away from chips and stuff but still.. But I am doing pretty well. And I havn't been to fast food almost none in the past 3 months. So proud of myself. Especially because when I started I was eating out almost every day because I didn't want to cook. Thank goodness for meal prep.
  • buffalogal42
    buffalogal42 Posts: 374 Member
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    My gym has a sign in the ladies room: Losing weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard. While there are strategies you can use (many helpful ones listed here) it all comes down to you being committed to following them. I got fat because I ate too much. It's that simple. I have now lost 110 lbs because I made the decision to eat less. It is not easy for most people but it IS doable. You can do it!
  • Jriggs46615
    Jriggs46615 Posts: 50 Member
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    Do you try to work with the macros or just the calorie count? For me, I've been able to eat fewer calories because I'm working on nailing the fat, protein, and fiber counts each day. I think that's been the biggest difference. I'm actually filling up on healthy, nourishing foods and not just eating x-amount of calories.
  • brookekaczor
    brookekaczor Posts: 59 Member
    edited June 2017
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    I think for most of us, this weight loss journey is difficult. It isn't easy to cut or change eating habits and it takes internal motivation to change and be persistent. I often use running as my way to burn extra calories so that I can eat more comfortably while losing weight. If I were trying to eat only 1200 calories a day, every day, (I tried for a bit) I would be more likely to fail because that is even tougher. The problem is we see what people do for a short period of time, we don't see the work that goes behind it and so we think it is easier for them, when it's not. Except for my 15 year old 6'1" son... he is eating me out of house and home and is still thin, but I don't think that will last long ;)
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    AniaMania81 wrote: »
    Thanks for bringing up the mental bit. I had never thought of that before. I don't think that all of it is mental, some of it is definitely physical, but now that I think of it I can see where I need to challenge myself mentally. I normally cannot stand hunger at all, I lose all resolve after a few minutes of being hungry and it's because of my thinking. Thinking that I'm starving myself, starving my body, and starving my brain of the calories and nutrients it needs to function properly.

    I just want to follow up on this part, because I think it's important. I started MFP in January 2013 and set it to lose 1.5 lb/week; I had about 50-70 lb. to lose. For the first three weeks, I found it really hard to stick to my deficit because I felt hungry much of the time. After that, it got a lot easier, though it was still no walk in the park. Here's what helped me:
    1. If I felt hungry between meals, I would try to focus on something else—work, if I was working, or a puzzle, or a good book—something that took concentration. It's easier to deal with hunger if you have something else on your mind.
    2. If after 15 minutes I was still hungry, I'd have a glass of water.
    3. If that didn't work, I would have a low-calorie, filling snack. Dill pickles are my snack of choice.
    4. Finally, if I was still hungry 15-20 minutes after a couple of baby dills, I would have a small, protein- and fat-rich snack, like half an ounce of nuts.

    I was already exercising regularly when I started MFP, not that it had much effect on my weight. But I do think exercising while on a deficit helped my body adapt more quickly to burning more fat and fewer carbs as fuel.

    I didn't make many changes to my diet, other than eating less of everything, especially calorie-dense food like cheese. The main exception is that I stopped eating cereal for breakfast, because I discovered that 150 calories of buttered toast keep me satiated much longer than 300 calories of cereal with milk.

    Finally, I focused on maintaining an average weekly deficit. If I went over my goal one day, I'd make it up over the next few days. If I knew I had a party or dinner out coming up, I would "bank" extra calories for that event. Some people can't do that because they don't actually make up the excess, but if you can, it can be a useful way to think about your goal.

    That's what worked for me (65 pounds lost Jan. 2013-Dec. 2014), and what's working for me now as I work on taking off 10 lb. that I regained due to a couple vacations and a stressful period in my family life. Again, the second time around I found that a couple weeks into the process it got a lot easier to bear. It might not work for you, but I hope you do find something that does. Good luck!

    If you have time for some reading, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's book The Diet Fix is pretty good, both about why most diets don't work in the long run, and about what has been shown to work. His basic principle is that you can't succeed in a lifestyle change if you feel deprived most of the time. That means coming to terms with how your weight loss goals intersect with your other goals. It also means not cutting out foods if you don't plan to live without them for the rest of your life: instead, ask yourself, "How much of this do I need to eat in order to feel satisfied?" Then eat only that much, and savor it. It's one of a handful of really useful books on losing weight among the thousands of terrible ones.
  • rednote49
    rednote49 Posts: 124 Member
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    Switch up your macros a bit. If I ate the amount of carbs you do I'd always be aggressively hungry. See if your body is more contented with more protein or fats and less carbs.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    It's not easy to eat less. It's work.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
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    nosebag1212 wrote: »
    Cardio/being active is invaluable for me, a lot of people seem to be dieting off calorie restriction alone, no idea how they do it because I would be starving all day.

    Perhaps, but for myself I definitely feel hungrier on days I run. So while I can eat more, I also need to relay more.
  • tlasublime83
    tlasublime83 Posts: 35 Member
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    I just started working out 9 days ago and this is a big issue for me. I just recently stopped breastfeeding and have been used to eating a lot to maintain my milk supply. My stomach growls all day long.
  • WendyLeigh1119
    WendyLeigh1119 Posts: 495 Member
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    tlasublime83 wrote: »
    I just started working out 9 days ago and this is a big issue for me. I just recently stopped breastfeeding and have been used to eating a lot to maintain my milk supply. My stomach growls all day long.

    Cardio is known to cause instant growling. Try putting cucumber, lemon, and ginger in your water bottle. Helps the growls and reduces bloat (if you have any).
  • loki912017
    loki912017 Posts: 2 Member
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    Get your thyroid checked and get checked for insulin resistance/diabetes.
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
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    tlasublime83 wrote: »
    I just started working out 9 days ago and this is a big issue for me. I just recently stopped breastfeeding and have been used to eating a lot to maintain my milk supply. My stomach growls all day long.

    if it bothers you all day long, you could try replacing a full lunch with 2-3 snacks spaced out every few hours. see if it helps with that issue.

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