THIS IS HARD!

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joecooler
joecooler Posts: 10 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.

But

THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?
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Replies

  • joecooler
    joecooler Posts: 10 Member
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    concordancia wrote: »
    So are you cutting things for now or making permanent changes? You claim both in your post.

    Have some pizza. Make it work within your goals.

    Cutting things out is permanent changes. Just can't do the mid afternoon candy run any more. Fast food has to be absolutely minimal. Problem with this stuff is, when I have one, I just want more.
  • joecooler
    joecooler Posts: 10 Member
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    DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »
    If you've lost 10-12 pounds in six weeks then how have your slip-ups been detrimental to your weight loss?

    Actually you make a really good point. I guess it's working isn't it?
  • itsgood
    itsgood Posts: 85 Member
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    Do some meal planning, and find the things that satisfy you...aim for satiety. Not feeling hungry will go a long way in helping you avoid the weak moments and mindless eating. Drink your water. And yup, be patient.

    Also, some overeating will not undo the hard work, just delay the results. If you stay consistently at a calorie deficit and have an excess here or there, well, that's just living. You'll only undo your progress if you make a habit of binging. Don't!
  • cqueenbee12
    cqueenbee12 Posts: 48 Member
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    I struggle with the same thing. If I give in to temptation then I manage to end up completely derailed. I am trying to get on track and figure out how to keep myself on track.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    This is what I tell myself and others a good diet or lifestyle has 2 primary goals each day. Stay within your calories and eat to be happy and satisfied. The former you need to lose weight the latter you need to stay with it.

    I am usually happy with a weekly indulgence so I bank my calories on days where I eat just to nourish. I have messed up a little over the last couple of days but that is life sometimes.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I failed repeatedly by trying to cut out the foods I love, because demonizing just makes us binge. Now I eat anything I want, but not everything at once, and not all the time. I'm maintaining a healthy weight, too.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    rj0150684 wrote: »
    Food should be enjoyable. If you’re making a lifestyle change, make sure you change it to one your ok with having for life. You can eat anything you want...you just can’t eat everything you want, all the time.

    this

    plus you need to understand the difference between water weight gain when you eat a high carb/high sodium meal (like pizza or a takeaway burger), and actual fat gain.
  • Semele0
    Semele0 Posts: 114 Member
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    joecooler wrote: »
    Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.

    But

    THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?

    Just a little slip won't destroy everything you achieved in the week! Don't worry, if it happens, just keep going on as before the next day, just a burger is not going to ruin everything. You did lose weight, haven't you? Try to be more indulgent, and if you can, try to find ways to insert the food you enjoy in your diet, maybe once a week, maybe smaller portions then before, but how can you live without pizza??? And then, think that when you reach your goal weight, maintenance calories will probably be higher then your actual calories, so maybe you will be able to eat more of the good stuff when you get there. It can be risky to think this way, because you risk of allowing yourself too much and gaining all the weight back, but if you eat some of the things you love now that you're in a deficit too, you won't crave them so much that you will binge when you are done. But knowing that you will be able to eat them more when in manteinance may help you stick to your cals.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    So have those things in moderation. I had pizza last night. I’ll be up on the scale today, more because of TOM starting than because of the pizza. Today I’ve already planned out my meals so I can have pasta tonight. I’ve learned that cutting things out completely is dangerous for me and I end up bingeing on those eventually. And that weight loss is about the overall trend, not the immediate.
  • joecooler
    joecooler Posts: 10 Member
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    Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.
  • noblsheep
    noblsheep Posts: 584 Member
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    What everybody else said.

    Also, 2 pounds a week is plenty fast. Have you considered going a tad slower so you have more wiggle room with the calories?
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    joecooler wrote: »
    Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.

    I eat what I want, just not as often or in as great a quantity as I used to. My diary is open to public if you want to see how it works for me.
  • Semele0
    Semele0 Posts: 114 Member
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    Well yes whn someone says you can eat everything it is meant to be under your calories. But what we mean is not to say eat as you want and then stop, but more on the note of: try to plan your meals so that you have enough calories to eat a treat once in a while. Not everyday, and not big portions. I think the most important thing is balance, so somedays you should eat low cal food that keep you full, but some other days it is good for you, mentally, to eat maybe less in total, but a tasty thing. Foe example, I eat pizza once a week, and I know a whole margherita pizza is going to be 700 cals, and I'm on 1200/1300 max, so I try to eat like 200 at breakfast and only 300/400 at lunch, no snacks, so when I have pizza it's within calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    joecooler wrote: »
    Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.

    But

    THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?

    You don't have to be "perfect" to lose weight...you already noted your "slips" and you're obviously losing weight. I eat a very healthy diet overall, but I also plan for more "fun" foods...like Friday evenings are usually pizza and movie night at my house...it's not a slip...it's planned fun.

    At home, we call these foods "sometimes" food...they're really not an issue when it's sometimes. They can become an issue when sometimes becomes all of the time.

    You really have to look at your diet and nutrition on the whole rather than in the isolation of a particular food or meal. What is going on most of the time is what actually matters.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    joecooler wrote: »
    Wow, lots of great advice here. Really glad I posted. Just wondering, a lot of comments saying you eat what you want, but it sounds like then you stop for the day when you hit your calorie goal. Am I getting that right? That sounds like it could be really hard - some of the stuff I love, I'd be done w/my calorie count at lunch time. Not eating for the rest of the day after lunch just wouldn't work for me.
    Then prelog. You can eat enough, and make room for some of what you like best, every day.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    joecooler wrote: »
    Hello. I am not dieting. I have dieted in the past, and always regained the weight. I am making lifestyle changes - changing my relationship w/food, changing what and how I eat, and being more active. I've been doing this maybe 6 weeks now and have lost around 10-12 pounds (depends on the day). My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds so clothes will fit better and so I can be more active doing all the things I love - hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. I am pleased w/my success and willing to be patient and lose the weight slowly. I feel better and already feel my clothes fitting better. I am able to be more active than I was just six weeks ago.

    But

    THIS IS HARD!!! I miss the food that I love - pizza, ice cream, fast food burgers and fries, etc etc etc. I thought it would get easier but in some ways it's getting harder. I have been successful at eliminating some things from my routine completely - no more afternoon candy, no more fast food, no more pizza (for now) - but sometimes I slip, and it seems I pay such a high price for it - an entire weeks hard work erased by a single burger on the grill, or a late binge on salted nuts. How is this possible? Do I really have to be perfect to lose weight? And if so, how does one adjust to a life w/out all the foods you love?

    You don't have to be "perfect" to lose weight...you already noted your "slips" and you're obviously losing weight. I eat a very healthy diet overall, but I also plan for more "fun" foods...like Friday evenings are usually pizza and movie night at my house...it's not a slip...it's planned fun.

    At home, we call these foods "sometimes" food...they're really not an issue when it's sometimes. They can become an issue when sometimes becomes all of the time.

    You really have to look at your diet and nutrition on the whole rather than in the isolation of a particular food or meal. What is going on most of the time is what actually matters.

    This is how I've always tried to teach my son about splurges. Fast food, candy, cake, they are all referred to as "sometimes foods" rather than junk food or anything else negative.

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