Any Bright Line Eaters Here??
PreciousGems1
Posts: 27 Member
I have been reading BLE by Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD. I have been imperfectly following the food plan, and so far, 2 weeks and 4 # down. My next weigh in is scheduled for Wed. I am excited as my cravings for sugar and flour are close to non-existent! When I "chose" to eat s&f, my stomach and head ached, tongue felt coated, intestines were obviously upset... This plan is do-able, one day at a time. 1 oz dry oatmeal cooked in water, 6 oz fruit and 4 oz part skim ricotta for breakfast. It is sitting here waiting for me to eat it as I type. As one of my fav. Austin Powers characters [who wears a kilt] would say, "Get in ma belly!"
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Is the basic idea still CICO ?1
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IDK what CICO means. the 4 bright lines are no sugar, no flour, 3 meals per day, what is the 4th? lol as you can see I haven't finished the book yet
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It uses structure to achieve the proper calorie balance (and without really talking about cals, I think). Main things are no added sugar, no flour, 3 meals, no snacking (I think), and probably some other things.
I found that a strict meal structure (3 meals, no snacking) worked well for me before I ever heard of BLE, so that part of it I will attest can be helpful for people. The no flour, no sugar stuff is similar to the Overeaters Anonymous thing and based on an idea of addiction. Personally, flour (or foods with flour) are ones I don't tend to overeat (with the exception of good, homemade baked goods). I never am tempted to overeat bread or pasta (pasta I used to overeat because I put too much on my plate and it can be higher cal with a high cal sauce, but I fixed that with weighing out my portion and making sauces with lots of veg and protein, bread I rarely eat because I think it's rarely worth the calories since it doesn't interest me much). Sugar I found relatively easy to control but for a few specific items, and so cutting it out entirely wouldn't be worth it for me (I eat very little added sugar anyway, and did cut it out for a while as an experiment, with no life changing consequences).
That aside, it perhaps could be a good approach for someone who finds moderating difficult and does find flour and added sugar the main things they tend to overeat (that again is so not the case for me).
I find the creator of the program a little sketchy in that she tries to sell programs for huge amounts of money and has a "take this quiz to see if you need the program" that I think tends to diagnose most who take it as "addicted" -- it did for me, even when I'd already lost a lot of weight and found how I was eating very comfortable and easy.
Again, her book at least isn't expensive, so if it's helpful, that could be good.
Edit: I cross posted. CICO is calories in, calories out.5 -
I started reading the book, which I got for free from my library, and while I did not dispute the science she referenced, I disagreed with her conclusions and bright lines.
Ex: there is no biological need for someone to have exactly three meals per day. People can be successful on OMAD or smaller meals plus snacks, etc.
This might be a good program for someone who is:- An abstainer (see https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-happiness-project/201210/are-you-abstainer-or-moderator )
- Specifically has issues with sugar and flour
- Able to be happy with three meals a day
https://brightlineeating.com/what-is-ble/
The four Bright Lines are: Sugar, Flour, Meals, and Quantities.4 -
neugebauer52 wrote: »Is the basic idea still CICO ?
Yes, the premise is that it will be easier to have CI < CO by not eating easily over-consumed foods like sugar and flour and by limiting meals to three.2 -
What does quantities refer to -- some bright line way of determining how much food to eat?0
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Yes, quantities are weighed and/or measured so there is no talking back from your addicted brain. "Did I eat enough?" "Did I eat too much?" bla bla bla I have had very little of that when I followed the suggestions in the book. It is very similar to the OA food plan that I followed many years ago. I have had a head injury since then so I don't remember the details. Plus [lol] I went through menopause so my memory is pooched anyway...
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What's s&f?0
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@lemurcat2 I know you challenge yourself to try different ways of eating for a limited time as an exercise...if you'd be interested in doing this for a month I would do it too.1
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Thanks.
That seems a problematic approach in that people need different amounts of food depending on activity, size, whether they are trying to lose or maintain or gain, etc. Granted, it's not that different than what you see about some other approaches like DASH (which I was experimenting with for a while) or the Fuhrman plan, etc.
I find it much easier to measure my own food (in grams!) and use calories as the limit, but I find these kinds of things interesting because I actually am drawn to a pretty rule-based approach (just my own rules -- if one buys into Gretchen Rubin's 4 Tendency thing, I am a Questioner).
For me, it was:
Multiple servings of non starchy veg at every meal.
Pick a standard breakfast (when I was losing it was 2 egg omelet with feta, varying veg, and then either fruit or cottage cheese or plain greek yogurt or smoked salmon on the side). Since then I did savory oats for a bit and smoothies for a while and am now back to eggs. Commonality to all of those is that they included veg.
A few pretty standard options for lunch (including dinner leftovers, or a salad with protein).
Dinner = protein, starchy carb or fruit, + non starchy veg. (Beans can be protein or starchy carb depending on what else is consumed.)
Amounts depended on cals, and I could have a little something after dinner if I had the cals (could be fruit, ice cream, good chocolate, or good cheese, but I'd vary and often had nothing).
Doing this for a while it was easy to have a good sense of how much to eat of various foods to hit my goals.
I don't think I could stick to a detailed program based on someone else's rules, but this could be a personality difference; it may well work for someone else, of course.2 -
I wasn't familiar with Gretchen Rubin's 4 Tendencies, but I imagine I am a Questioner as well, which is why structured diets never appealed to me, as all of them have things I find silly and arbitrary.
However, I could (probably) do something for a time-limited period, such as a month, or 6 weeks, like for Lent.2 -
Thanks.
That seems a problematic approach in that people need different amounts of food depending on activity, size, whether they are trying to lose or maintain or gain, etc. Granted, it's not that different than what you see about some other approaches like DASH (which I was experimenting with for a while) or the Fuhrman plan, etc.
I find it much easier to measure my own food (in grams!) and use calories as the limit, but I find these kinds of things interesting because I actually am drawn to a pretty rule-based approach (just my own rules -- if one buys into Gretchen Rubin's 4 Tendency thing, I am a Questioner).
For me, it was:
Multiple servings of non starchy veg at every meal.
Pick a standard breakfast (when I was losing it was 2 egg omelet with feta, varying veg, and then either fruit or cottage cheese or plain greek yogurt or smoked salmon on the side). Since then I did savory oats for a bit and smoothies for a while and am now back to eggs. Commonality to all of those is that they included veg.
A few pretty standard options for lunch (including dinner leftovers, or a salad with protein).
Dinner = protein, starchy carb or fruit, + non starchy veg. (Beans can be protein or starchy carb depending on what else is consumed.)
Amounts depended on cals, and I could have a little something after dinner if I had the cals (could be fruit, ice cream, good chocolate, or good cheese, but I'd vary and often had nothing).
Doing this for a while it was easy to have a good sense of how much to eat of various foods to hit my goals.
I don't think I could stick to a detailed program based on someone else's rules, but this could be a personality difference; it may well work for someone else, of course.
Men do get more protein, so women who are more active or overweight could use that:
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In that Breakfast Grains chart, how does, "Cream of wheat," not mean....wheat?
Color me confused.
I do have compulsion issues with some wheat products and added sugar, but I have problems with corn, too. I know no one asked me, right? Just butting in here.
Also, are potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, "grains," now??4 -
cmriverside wrote: »In that Breakfast Grains chart, how does, "Cream of wheat," not mean....wheat?
Color me confused.
I do have compulsion issues with some wheat products and added sugar, but I have problems with corn, too. I know no one asked me, right? Just butting in here.
Also, are potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, "grains," now??
This is a little difficult for me because I haven't looked at the book in 18 months and am not doing the program - I'm just doing keyword searches - but I imagine she draws a distinction between flour and wheat. Products made from regular flour can trigger me, but breads like Ezekial that use sprouted grains do not, so perhaps something similar is going on with Cream of Wheat.
But labeling potatoes as grains is just ill-conceived
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My understanding is: if wheat is a problem, don't eat it. There are many other choices. I have added Ezekiel Bread to my plan. BTW, this plan noted above is for the weight loss portion of the program. As the person gets closer to goal weight, larger portions are added in for maintenance.
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kshama2001 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »In that Breakfast Grains chart, how does, "Cream of wheat," not mean....wheat?
Color me confused.
I do have compulsion issues with some wheat products and added sugar, but I have problems with corn, too. I know no one asked me, right? Just butting in here.
Also, are potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, "grains," now??
This is a little difficult for me because I haven't looked at the book in 18 months and am not doing the program - I'm just doing keyword searches - but I imagine she draws a distinction between flour and wheat. Products made from regular flour can trigger me, but breads like Ezekial that use sprouted grains do not, so perhaps something similar is going on with Cream of Wheat.
But labeling potatoes as grains is just ill-conceived
One of the things I did when I was in weight loss mode was banish easy-to-eat-wheat products. Only wheat I allowed was wheat that had to be cooked. So I did allow Cream of Wheat and pasta, but no other wheat products. I just tend to overeat them. Cereal, crackers, bread of any type, of course pretzels - I didn't have any of that in my house for many months. It was an easy way to save myself several hundred calories per day and not randomly eat something just because I saw it on the countertop. I guess the same would apply to me and potatoes or corn products. I still don't buy potato or corn chips because I can't be trusted around them. As I've said many times, one package is one serving.
I've gotten better about wheat. I can have English muffins and whole wheat bread around without binge eating it. NOT true of French bread, crackers or cold cereal. ::nope::2 -
It just makes more sense to me (vs. the BL approach) to identify foods you personally have difficulty controlling vs. all flour or added sugar foods. Then if a bright line of some sort makes it easier, apply it (there are bright line approaches I mostly use).
I actually realized that one thing that made weight loss easier for me is that I typically don't -- and never did -- have foods around that don't need to be cooked (cottage cheese, plain yogurt, fruits and veg, and nuts are exceptions). Even when I was gaining I was much more likely to snack at work or overeat by buying something specific (or ordering delivery) or making overly caloric meals.
Mostly I don't like a lot of packaged snack foods, though -- crackers and chips and most packaged sweets (ice cream is an exception) are really take it or leave it for me and when I buy bread it's for a specific use and the rest usually goes bad, and I dislike all cold cereals. I still can overeat very easily if I stop being mindful, though! It's just other foods.0
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