The Food Addiction

pilot2007 · August 2018

I am 290lbs and 6'0". In addition I am a disabled Vet, and have spent a considerable amount of time studying nutrition and exercise. I know what to do and how to do it, but no matter how much I plan, it always seems to fail. Every week I start a new weight-loss journey and every week it seems like some unknown force will bring me to eat more than I plan. While everything else in my life is doing better than I have ever expected, this is the last area that I want control over instead of it controlling me.

My BMR is at 2400cal/day and my meals are weighed out to be ~1700cal/day.
How have others dealt with the food addiction when they first start out?

RAinWA · August 2018

It really sounds to me like you are restricting your calories too much. That always makes me go off the rails.

You should take your deficit from your TDEE, not your BMR. At your size 1700 calories may just be too little. For comparison, I am female, 5'1" and around 135 pounds. I lose 1/2 a pound a week on around 1600 calories a day.

What did MFP give you for a calorie goal when you entered your stats? I suspect you could lose a pound a week at about 2000 calories.

kommodevaran · August 2018

People struggle when they try to control what they can't control, and don't even try to control what they can control.

You control your weight by eating/drinking and expending energy. Calling your loss of control "food addiction", is giving up control.

If you BMR is 2400 (likely), and you're really eating 1700 (possible), you're massively undereating.

There are no unknown forces, it's you eating too little, and your survival instinct forcing you to eat more.

WinoGelato · August 2018

BMR is basal metabolic rate and is equivalent to how many calories you would burn if essentially bedridden.
To lose weight you should derive a deficit from your total calories burned which includes daily activity and any purposeful exercise.
MFP should provide you a calorie target if you select an appropriate goal - depending on how much weight you are trying to lose 1.5 lb/week should be a good start based on your current stats.
This calorie goal is a NEAT goal which means it estimates your activity level but doesn’t include exercise - if you do exercise you should log and eat back those calories.

Once you get the numbers right then you can start figuring out what foods to eat to deal with your other struggles. The good news is that you can lose weight eating any sort of foods you like, and focusing on things like satiety and nutrition can make sure that your plan is healthy, filling, enjoyable and sustainable.

Lose the rhetoric about food addiction. Food is tasty and enjoyable but you’re in control of what you eat and how you manage your weight.

Good luck!

pilot2007 · August 2018

So I just checked out the TDEE calculator (something I never looked at) and it explains a lot. To maintain my weight for my activity the TDEE is showing a 4000cal maintenance level. So even if i play it on the safer side and say light activity at 3600cal then its a 2600cal deficit for 2lbs a weekish. Using the TDEE numbers i was running a deficit of almost 2k a day previously, OUCH. That explains a lot.

yirara · August 2018

pilot2007 wrote: »

So I just checked out the TDEE calculator (something I never looked at) and it explains a lot. To maintain my weight for my activity the TDEE is showing a 4000cal maintenance level. So even if i play it on the safer side and say light activity at 3600cal then its a 2600cal deficit for 2lbs a weekish. Using the TDEE numbers i was running a deficit of almost 2k a day previously, OUCH. That explains a lot.

Great realization! You so can do this now!

thisPGHlife · August 2018

People have already responded about your numbers, and they are right. Even if you're sedentary and 1700 calories is setting you up to lose two pounds per week, you don't have to start at losing that much if you're having trouble with being actually hungry.

From my experience, this may not be true for you but I just want to give you some things that may be the issue, struggling with food is because of a few things. The first being the inability to listen to your own body. Sometimes I would eat thinking I was hungry but I was thirsty. Thirst mimics hunger sometimes. Maybe you could try having a big glass of water first and then waiting 15 minutes and if your still hungry, go from there.

Sometimes it was about perspective. I would be pissy about only getting X amount of calories and I would preemptively feel hungry. Then I would be pissy about trying to fit in the food I like, knowing I wouldn't feel full because there were a lot of empty calories. Then I would stress that I was going to feel hungry for the rest of my life. Instead, I figured that since I have a lot of weight to lose, I need to be eating in the higher end of recommended protein to help combat muscle loss. I figured out my macros and tried to hit protein first. I was focusing, not on how few calories I get, but how much protein I get. It helps that I like those foods, but it's also more like a fun game and starts me on a positive note with my eating.

The other mental aspect of it is amount of calories. Once I felt good about the food choices I was making I tried going from the amount of calories required to lose about a pound a week to the amount of calories that should let me lose two pounds per week. I'm heavy enough that that is a healthy rate at about 1% of my bodyweight. I went from 1600 to MFPs recommended calories of 1270. It put me in a really dark place to be eating in the 1200s and it felt like a huge set back as far as mental health regarding food. So I used that number as a jumping off point. I went into my macros and set to give myself plenty of protein and an amount of fat that was appropriate for me and livable. I then looked at how many carbs I could realistically be happy with. My new calorie goal is 1355. The extra 85 calories was a huge difference mentally and it's an amount that I can realistically work off during the day with just an extra walk with the dog. Or not. An extra 85 calories every day of the week means I would be losing 1.66 pounds per week instead of 2. My mental health is worth that. In the long run, it really is a lifestyle change and not a diet. Diets are temporary and your health is for life.

TL:DR,-- Make sure your numbers are appropriate. Make sure you're drinking enough water. Make sure you've got your positive perspective. Make sure you're happy with the lifestyle you are setting up for yourself.

If all else fails, talk to your doctor. They may be able to recommend a dietician (not a nutritionist) and a mental health professional. Sometimes our struggle is big and we need someone to hold the load for five minutes so we can breathe. Good luck. I'm rooting for you.

quiksylver296 · August 2018

Sounds like you got your answer.

Thank you for your service.

The Food Addiction

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