Once I start eating, I want to keep eating

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  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
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    Read Lose It For Life by Steve Atterburn
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
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    goldthistime wrote: »
    How about eating food for good health rather than subsistence? Subsistence just sounds overly strict, punishing even. I found viewing the process as treating myself well made this less of a gruelling or punishing and temporary process, and more of a pleasant new lifestyle.

    As to certain foods triggering you to overeat, I'm the same, although it's much less of a problem for me now than it once was. In the beginning it was easiest to just stay away from trigger foods. Even just pictures of certain foods caused me problems. But as time went by I found ways to have those foods occasionally. Mostly. I'm still imperfect in my ability to moderate certain foods but I'm at goal and holding so it's a lot easier to forgive myself.

    I didn't have to be perfect to get to goal weight. I just had to stick with it.

    Just in case, what is your calorie goal? "I am better off not to start eating" was something I might have said to myself back when I was a teenager and thought VLCDs were just fine.

    I had to look up IF, as I had not heard of that before. I think I have been doing that instinctively, on & off, for quite a few years. I am trying to eat in the 1500 calorie range daily. Speaking of trigger foods, I felt like I was doing really well yesterday until supper time when I ate a Christmas cookie brought over by a neighbor. Before I knew it, I had inhaled a half dozen of them. I never should have taken that first bite. I want to lose 25-30 lbs.
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
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    This time of year is always a struggle for me with all the sweets and goodies around. And then there are the food pushers.
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
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    DebLaBounty wrote: »
    When it seems like I'm about to cave in and overeat I grab a chocolate covered nut bar. It's salty and sweet and satisfying. Problem solved!

    The problem for me is that I can't stop at just one. It sets up an intense craving for more :(
  • Ruatine
    Ruatine Posts: 3,424 Member
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    I get this way occasionally. You really do have to experiment and find what works for you. Everybody has different appetites and things that keep them satisfied. Find your balance. Try intermittent fasting if that sounds appealing. Try playing with your macro ratios (fats, carbohydrates, proteins). Don't beat yourself up when you eat more than you know you should. Don't beat yourself up for feeling this way either. Many people struggle to find a style of eating that works for them, and many people overindulge in foods they find enjoyable.

    Sometimes there is no "reason" for the feeling. Sometimes I've looked back at what I've been eating/doing/feeling recently and been able to pinpoint where the desire to keep eating was born. Recognize the feeling; accept it; move on. Own your feelings and choices.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    iowalinda wrote: »
    This time of year is always a struggle for me with all the sweets and goodies around. And then there are the food pushers.

    Food pushers? What an odd phrase. Sounds like a total victim statement to me, unless they are literally holding you down and pushing food down your throat. And if they are, you should probably call the police and report assault and battery.

    Victim statements help hold us in our ruts. Seeing people as "food pushers" puts the blame that you ate the food on them, instead of on you where it belongs. I'm not saying eating the food is even inherently wrong. I'm saying the mindset needs changed in order to be successful.

    Although I agree with you on the mind-set point, "food pusher" perfectly describes a woman I work with. Yesterday she walked up to my desk, handed me a cookie, then stood there until I took a bite.
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
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    This is why I do IF. It is much harder for me to eat small meals and stop before getting full than to just wait and then be able to eat tell full. Fortunately I can do a 16:8 IF and maintain eating ad libitium in the evenings (eat about a 600 cal lunch) and can do a 20:4 IF and eat ad libitum in the evenings and will lose weight. Eating tell full is important for me to be able to do IF the next day.

    I've never had a binging problem but on a couple of occasions where I have fasted about 20-hrs or so and didn't eat enough the day before and started eating before I got home from work, I would go on what people above described as a binge which was I'm eating about 1500 cals or so and I'm not stopping or even going to try before I feel like I can or am going to stop. I don't get that doing IF if I eat a reasonable amount the day before but that could happen if I eat too little.

    Weird how things change but as a teenager and in my 20's, I was very lean and prided myself on how much I could eat. I would occasionally have competitions with my little brother to see who could eat the most. Those days are gone for sure!

    [/quote]
    Thank you for sharing this. I always felt like I was an oddball with my eating issues, but your post and some of the others rings a bell with me. As an example of well meaning people who have given advice: Some (not in this group) have insisted to me that I MUST eat breakfast. I am never hungry at breakfast time, so it causes 2 issues for me: unwanted calorie intake AND it sets me up to overeat that day. The other thing you mentioned that rings true with me is the multiple small meals thing. That does NOT work for me either :)

    I could eat anything when I was younger, too. Didn't start to have a weight problem until after I had my first child. Then it was just 5 or 10 lbs. It started really being a problem keeping my weight down after 40 for me.
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
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    [Sounds much like myself as well. So 16:8 is eating for only eight hours per day. Say, skip breakfast and only eat lunch and dinner. So a window of eating. Say you eat your first meal at noon. Then eat your last meal before eight. It’s easier for me, for ME, to not focus so much on the time, instead just eating my two meals when I’m really hungry.

    Last month I started doing this. Mainly unintentionally. I just stopped eating breakfast and started focusing on eating a big lunch and a bigger dinner. And I cut out snacking. Not because snacking is ‘bad’. I am just better able to control my mindless eating habits that way. I binge eat.

    I hope that helps.

    [/quote]

    Yes, it is very helpful. Thank you for sharing :)
  • byroman
    byroman Posts: 75 Member
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    Try chewing minty gum when it is time to stop eating. Seems to work for me to stop going back for more.
  • AZDiddy
    AZDiddy Posts: 4 Member
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    iowalinda wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    One of the main reasons I follow 16:8 is because eating breakfast early in the morning makes me hungrier than if I just wait to lunch.

    There have also been times where I wasn't hungry, but someone offered me a snack or whatever and eating that made me ravenous.

    That sounds a lot like me. Thank you for sharing that. May I ask what 16:8 means? I am new here.

    16 hours - "fasting" and then limit meals to an 8 hour window.
  • charlenekapf
    charlenekapf Posts: 309 Member
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    IF may help some and hurt others. Sometimes if you IF you may find yourself over hungry and feel it more difficult to hit the "stop" button. IF can also be good with a shorter eating window if you're finding you like having an eating window in general but not make it so extreme that it isn't sustainable. Also, getting adequate protein and fiber in first and foremost can help to tame the hanger. Meals with low/sugar help too.

    Personally, even healthy things like oatmeal just do not fill me up when I'm truly hungry. It takes a good 25-35g of protein to truly satiate me for a few hours and get my mind off food, especially after a taxing workout. Around TOM I also get hanger to a more extreme level where I'll be eating while thinking about what to eat next. Thankfully, I am cutting slowly so I allow myself a lot more calories than most women do on here, and am able to still lose without losing my mind.

    I can definitely relate in the past though to IF exacerbating the "I can't stop once I break my fast" feeling. It is much rarer these days and I do attribute that to emphasizing protein macros instead of just calories, and not getting into too deep of a deficit.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited December 2017
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    Disclaimer: I didn't read the thread. What follows may well be repetitive and vaguely annoying because of that factor.

    Okay, so...doesn't appetite get stimulated by eating? I remember reading that somewhere, but I can't remember whether it was in a medical journal or in Cracked Magazine or on the back of my hand jotted down after hearing it in a commercial or what. Anyway, I always found this to be true BUT I don't see that as a disorder or a negative issue. It's the way we are supposed to be. Isn't it?

    Am I just crazy...?

    I remember as a teen we kids never ate breakfast, and often skipped lunch too. Then somebody would come out with a snack to share in the afternoon and THEN we'd all be ravenous. One bite and we'd be off to the races.

    The only tip I can think of out of the above example is: don't let yourself get to the point where that first bite will be something out of NatGeo like a tiger falling upon a gazelle and frantically ripping its neck out. I still am stimulated appetite-wise by eating but not to that desperation stage if I'm not starving myself with excessive undereating to begin with.
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    edited December 2017
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