30 Pounds to Go - High Cholesterol
AquaMeow
Posts: 296 Member
So I have been struggling with weight loss. 30 pounds to be exact. I notice in the evening's I get very bad cravings for junk food (pizza- wings, sweets, etc) so I just drink alot of water and sleep my troubles away. I have a healthy grocery list of: Mushrooms
Greens
Carrots
Spinach
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Pickles
Seafood
Seltzer Water
Lemons
Seasonings
Hot Sauce
Turkey
Onions
Eggs
But I still have urges to eat bad. I would eat healthy for 2 weeks and the pounds come off but when friends and family come by and offer free bad food I just cant wait to eat it. I always look forward to it and I cant stop. When i have the urge to eat junk and I eat a healthy dinner I just scroll through instagram and look at food there. I can't help it. It's awful and my self control is out the window and it's so hard and no one ever talks about it much. Especially when you lose the weight and you still have thr cravings for junk. I could use the help, thank you.
Greens
Carrots
Spinach
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Pickles
Seafood
Seltzer Water
Lemons
Seasonings
Hot Sauce
Turkey
Onions
Eggs
But I still have urges to eat bad. I would eat healthy for 2 weeks and the pounds come off but when friends and family come by and offer free bad food I just cant wait to eat it. I always look forward to it and I cant stop. When i have the urge to eat junk and I eat a healthy dinner I just scroll through instagram and look at food there. I can't help it. It's awful and my self control is out the window and it's so hard and no one ever talks about it much. Especially when you lose the weight and you still have thr cravings for junk. I could use the help, thank you.
8
Replies
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Everyone needs cheat days. I’ll have 1 a week and make it glorious (ie no chain pizza places, only gourmet). I look forward to my cheat day all week and feel no guilt over it.1
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No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.13 -
Your grocery list is the only food you allow yourself? Well of course you're having cravings!
Your diet is way too restrictive to be sustainable.
Even eating 'healthy' allows for a lot more different foods than you have on your list.
And attaching moral values to food is rarely helpful (good, bad, or even 'cheat' meals).
Eat healthy 80-90% of the time and the other 10-20% you can eat some 'bad' food if you feel like it, as long as you stay within your calorie goal. That way, cravings are a lot less likely and your weight loss is a lot more sustainable.10 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...1 -
CardinalComb wrote: »Everyone needs cheat days. I’ll have 1 a week and make it glorious (ie no chain pizza places, only gourmet). I look forward to my cheat day all week and feel no guilt over it.
I cant do cheat days, high cholesterol. Which leads to heart disease and cancer. So no cheating for me..1 -
Your grocery list is the only food you allow yourself? Well of course you're having cravings!
Your diet is way too restrictive to be sustainable.
Even eating 'healthy' allows for a lot more different foods than you have on your list.
And attaching moral values to food is rarely helpful (good, bad, or even 'cheat' meals).
Eat healthy 80-90% of the time and the other 10-20% you can eat some 'bad' food if you feel like it, as long as you stay within your calorie goal. That way, cravings are a lot less likely and your weight loss is a lot more sustainable.
Staying within my calorie goal is easy but I tend to end up binging on unhealthier food than healthier food.1 -
CardinalComb wrote: »Everyone needs cheat days. I’ll have 1 a week and make it glorious (ie no chain pizza places, only gourmet). I look forward to my cheat day all week and feel no guilt over it.
I cant do cheat days, high cholesterol. Which leads to heart disease and cancer. So no cheating for me..
But you can eat a way more varied diet without eating foods that will aggravate a medical condition. Perhaps put some time into thinking about what it is you're craving and what you will allow yourself to eat that is similar enough it might take the edge off.
I assume your doctor has told you there are certain foods you can't eat because of your cholesterol? Have you seen an RD? Because the prevailing medical wisdom is that foods high in cholesterol don't raise your blood cholesterol level, unless you have a relatively rare genetic predisposition.
If you eat an overly restrictive diet, you are going to struggle with cravings, and will be risking binging in response. I know you have made your mind up that this is the only way you can do it, but maybe at some point you'll reconsider.6 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...
Not true... Speaking with a nutritionist would do you a world of good.6 -
If I understand things right, you feel you can't have any treats/bad foods in your shopping cart because of high cholesterol, but when people bring over treats, you go overboard because you've been depriving yourself and can't help yourself.
I think you're probably in very good company here, like 99 % of everyone on a highly restrictive diet.
I also think if you ever added up your binge calories, sat fat, and cholesterol and divided it up over the total days between binges, you'd probably discover you'd have been FAR better off allowing yourself 50 or a hundred calories a day for a treat. That means a 44 calorie piece of Dove chocolate or one cookie or something along those lines.
You should really try this method. You are not going to increase your cholesterol by adding in a small treat everyday which then helps you stave off binges. If anything, it'll give you more control over your intake of bad stuff and eliminate or greatly reduce the binging.11 -
A few things, what cholesterol marking is actually high? There are several indicators and have to be taken into consideration as a whole. Is it LDL, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides, CRP, A1C?
Also, where are your proteins? What about fats? There is pretty strong evidence on improved metabolic markers with the consumption of fish (especially fatty fish), seafood, lean meats, olive oil and other low omega 6 oils, and fruits/veggies (especially avocados).
I suspect the variety will increase compliance and reduce cravings.6 -
A few things, what cholesterol marking is actually high? There are several indicators and have to be taken into consideration as a whole. Is it LDL, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides, CRP, A1C?
Also, where are your proteins? What about fats? There is pretty strong evidence on improved metabolic markers with the consumption of fish (especially fatty fish), seafood, lean meats, olive oil and other low omega 6 oils, and fruits/veggies (especially avocados).
I suspect the variety will increase compliance and reduce cravings.
I have alot of food allergies thus the food constructions. And all the foods you listed are what I eat. I'm allergic to avocados.2 -
If I understand things right, you feel you can't have any treats/bad foods in your shopping cart because of high cholesterol, but when people bring over treats, you go overboard because you've been depriving yourself and can't help yourself.
I think you're probably in very good company here, like 99 % of everyone on a highly restrictive diet.
I also think if you ever added up your binge calories, sat fat, and cholesterol and divided it up over the total days between binges, you'd probably discover you'd have been FAR better off allowing yourself 50 or a hundred calories a day for a treat. That means a 44 calorie piece of Dove chocolate or one cookie or something along those lines.
You should really try this method. You are not going to increase your cholesterol by adding in a small treat everyday which then helps you stave off binges. If anything, it'll give you more control over your intake of bad stuff and eliminate or greatly reduce the binging.
The problem is one cookie after a week or 2 of eating clean and healthy makes me indulge in more and more and I cant stop. It's like once my tastebuds touch the delicious unhealthy food my body just gets insane..3 -
A few things, what cholesterol marking is actually high? There are several indicators and have to be taken into consideration as a whole. Is it LDL, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides, CRP, A1C?
Also, where are your proteins? What about fats? There is pretty strong evidence on improved metabolic markers with the consumption of fish (especially fatty fish), seafood, lean meats, olive oil and other low omega 6 oils, and fruits/veggies (especially avocados).
I suspect the variety will increase compliance and reduce cravings.
I have alot of food allergies thus the food constructions. And all the foods you listed are what I eat. I'm allergic to avocados.
Do you know what your metabolic profile looks like? It's hard to advise without knowing where the issues are.0 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...
Not true... Speaking with a nutritionist would do you a world of good.
Ahhhhh more money to spend on a doctor to tell me to eat the things I already eat.1 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...
Not true... Speaking with a nutritionist would do you a world of good.
Ahhhhh more money to spend on a doctor to tell me to eat the things I already eat.
If your not willing to help yourself, I'm not sure how people on the forums here are supposed to help you....6 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...
Not true... Speaking with a nutritionist would do you a world of good.
Ahhhhh more money to spend on a doctor to tell me to eat the things I already eat.
If your not willing to help yourself, I'm not sure how people on the forums here are supposed to help you....
Well does anyone here have any experience with a nutritionist, how does it work and is it really worth it? Because I dont want to spend more money on doctors I already go to.1 -
Should I see a dietitian or a nutritionist?2
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Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »No such thing as good food or bad food..... its just food.
As long as you create a deficit, you will lose weight.
Days that I feel hungrier, I eat at maintenance.
I eat pizza, wings, sweets, etc. pretty much every week.
I wish I can eat that but as I mentioned i have high cholesterol so that's a no for me...
Not true... Speaking with a nutritionist would do you a world of good.
Ahhhhh more money to spend on a doctor to tell me to eat the things I already eat.
If your not willing to help yourself, I'm not sure how people on the forums here are supposed to help you....
Well does anyone here have any experience with a nutritionist, how does it work and is it really worth it? Because I dont want to spend more money on doctors I already go to.
See a Registered Dietician (not a nutritionist). Make sure to say that your reason for coming is to deal with your high cholesterol (it sounds obvious, but some people might not bring it up).
I'm not sure where you're located, but in my area Shop Rite grocery stores offer the services of a Registered Dietician for free. The person I saw was very helpful and easy to talk to. In addition to one-on-one sessions, they will walk you through the store, suggest healthy options, etc. The also offer healthy cooking classes. I'm very impressed with Shop Rite these days.
If your area doesn't have Shop Rite, there may be a local chain that has similar services.
Good luck!7 -
If I understand things right, you feel you can't have any treats/bad foods in your shopping cart because of high cholesterol, but when people bring over treats, you go overboard because you've been depriving yourself and can't help yourself.
I think you're probably in very good company here, like 99 % of everyone on a highly restrictive diet.
I also think if you ever added up your binge calories, sat fat, and cholesterol and divided it up over the total days between binges, you'd probably discover you'd have been FAR better off allowing yourself 50 or a hundred calories a day for a treat. That means a 44 calorie piece of Dove chocolate or one cookie or something along those lines.
You should really try this method. You are not going to increase your cholesterol by adding in a small treat everyday which then helps you stave off binges. If anything, it'll give you more control over your intake of bad stuff and eliminate or greatly reduce the binging.
The problem is one cookie after a week or 2 of eating clean and healthy makes me indulge in more and more and I cant stop. It's like once my tastebuds touch the delicious unhealthy food my body just gets insane..
Find snacks that are "good" but not "unbelievably fantastic". That in-between zone where it satisfies the craving for a treat without causing you to devour the rest of the package. For me, dark chocolate is in that zone. I can make a box of dark chocolate Milanos last a loooong time, 2 cookies a night for 110 calories, whereas milk chocolate Milanos will be decimated by the next morning, with the package likely in shreds from frenzied ripping at 3 am. You just need to find your own equivalent of that. Everyone's got one.11 -
I have high cholesterol that responds to a lower fat (but particularly low saturated fat) diet. Diet isn’t universally a cure though-so many people eat “clean” and it doesn’t fix their cholesterol.
Have you had yours retested after a period of eating “clean” to confirm that yours responds to dietary changes? Meaning- is the highly restrictive “clean” eating even accomplishing the intended goal?
Also-if you’re able to binge on treats without allergy issues, then you really may want to include them in your diet more regularly. Your grocery cart contains almost no fat (like unhealthily low) so even a daily high fat treat isn’t going to put your fat levels anywhere near a concern.
Do you eat anything with fat and/or anything with a hint of sweetness? Even fattier meats/fish? Cooking oil? Butter/cheese? Anything? Fat is a critical nutrient (it makes the brain work) and it can also help with feeling full (and curbing cravings). Not always-but often.
Things with a hint of sweetness - fruits/yogurts - can also help with satisfying a sweet tooth (plus yogurts can have protein and probiotics). Meaning eating watermelon regularly might help keep the urge to binge on other treats at bay.
FWIW-I eat 95% “healthy” stuff (very much what’s in your cart-but with expanded protein sources and I also include oats and beans/lentils, fruits, yogurts). The rest of my diet is comprised of “junk” (donuts, ice cream, pizza, chicken nuggets, Mac & cheese, etc). Also-I don’t call these foods junk. They are just higher calorie and often higher fat than what I typically eat and I don’t find them as filling so I eat them less often.
Eating that way I lose weight and my cholesterol is in check - without meds. Crazy restriction followed by a massive binge was not as effective for either.
Good luck!
7 -
Extra cardio should help with lowering cholesterol, or try adding in nacin at a decent dosage it’s one of the few over the counter supplements that will definitely help Boost HDL and modesty lowers LDL1
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I'm highish LDL and down 18 lbs of a target 25 lbs.
I noticed you dont have a lot of healthy fat in your list. I'm not a sweets guy but give me some fat and salt and I'm all about it.
One thing that has helped me reduce craving are healthy fats. So avocados, almonds, walnuts, olives, olive oil. Its helped me a lot. I'm 10x more successful when I make sure those.are in my diet.
My understanding is they also increase HDL which protects you from your LDL.
Hope that helps you.2 -
If I understand things right, you feel you can't have any treats/bad foods in your shopping cart because of high cholesterol, but when people bring over treats, you go overboard because you've been depriving yourself and can't help yourself.
I think you're probably in very good company here, like 99 % of everyone on a highly restrictive diet.
I also think if you ever added up your binge calories, sat fat, and cholesterol and divided it up over the total days between binges, you'd probably discover you'd have been FAR better off allowing yourself 50 or a hundred calories a day for a treat. That means a 44 calorie piece of Dove chocolate or one cookie or something along those lines.
You should really try this method. You are not going to increase your cholesterol by adding in a small treat everyday which then helps you stave off binges. If anything, it'll give you more control over your intake of bad stuff and eliminate or greatly reduce the binging.
The problem is one cookie after a week or 2 of eating clean and healthy makes me indulge in more and more and I cant stop. It's like once my tastebuds touch the delicious unhealthy food my body just gets insane..
Have you considered buying single servings of something you really want, and having one every day at a certain time? Thus have x cookies every day, or a wafer bar, or something similar. Make it fit into your calories. If, say such a wafer bar has 140kcal and you eat 1400 per day, then that's only 10% of your diet that is 'bad', and not all of the ingredients within this bar are 'bad', thus the percentage is likely a lot lower.3 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »I have high cholesterol that responds to a lower fat (but particularly low saturated fat) diet. Diet isn’t universally a cure though-so many people eat “clean” and it doesn’t fix their cholesterol.
Have you had yours retested after a period of eating “clean” to confirm that yours responds to dietary changes? Meaning- is the highly restrictive “clean” eating even accomplishing the intended goal?
Also-if you’re able to binge on treats without allergy issues, then you really may want to include them in your diet more regularly. Your grocery cart contains almost no fat (like unhealthily low) so even a daily high fat treat isn’t going to put your fat levels anywhere near a concern.
Do you eat anything with fat and/or anything with a hint of sweetness? Even fattier meats/fish? Cooking oil? Butter/cheese? Anything? Fat is a critical nutrient (it makes the brain work) and it can also help with feeling full (and curbing cravings). Not always-but often.
Things with a hint of sweetness - fruits/yogurts - can also help with satisfying a sweet tooth (plus yogurts can have protein and probiotics). Meaning eating watermelon regularly might help keep the urge to binge on other treats at bay.
FWIW-I eat 95% “healthy” stuff (very much what’s in your cart-but with expanded protein sources and I also include oats and beans/lentils, fruits, yogurts). The rest of my diet is comprised of “junk” (donuts, ice cream, pizza, chicken nuggets, Mac & cheese, etc). Also-I don’t call these foods junk. They are just higher calorie and often higher fat than what I typically eat and I don’t find them as filling so I eat them less often.
Eating that way I lose weight and my cholesterol is in check - without meds. Crazy restriction followed by a massive binge was not as effective for either.
Good luck!
I remember getting down to 135. And my cholesterol was still high but to be fair I was working out for over an hour and s half everyday. (I had a part time job and ALOT of time) to get in shape. I was eating not the greatest but I lost alot of weight due to high cardio and strength training.1 -
Still gotta ask, which part of your cholesterol is high?1
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Multiple questions about what type of cholesterol is high and why and whether it is of great concern. Multiple questions as to whether this effort is bringing the intended results. Is the OP's cholesterol issue one that responds to dietary changes?
I've yet to meet a doctor who wasn't ready to prescribe Zocor at the first hint of un-controlled cholesterol. I would definitely talk to my doctor and then a registered dietitian if the consensus decision was that my cholesterol levels were significant enough to warrant intervention AND that they were responsive to dietary changes. The doctor being ready to prescribe doesn't mean that you're ready to take the drug, it is just used as an illustration of how an outside professional is evaluating your risk factors.
The food ideation, the tendency to highly anticipate novel food and binge on it. They are all indications of highly restrictive diets and, perhaps, of higher than optimal deficits. They are NOT A MORAL JUDGEMENT OF WEAKNESS, FFS.
Multiple people have offered ideas on how to move beyond that. And how to even evaluate whether on average you would be better off to drop the good vs bad and average some treats together with the healthy stuff.
The biggest, correctable, weakness, that I see here is that the OP is so set in her decision making in trying to white knuckle through life that she is not open to rationally examining whether all these restrictions and rules are the primary driver for the problems she is having as opposed to an imagined lack of willpower.
When and if you're ready to re-examine everything, start from the beginning and question ALL of your assumptions.
I have a friend who needs epipen when she is exposed to shellfish. The last two ambulance visits at her workplace cost $550 each. THAT is a pretty clear cut case of an allergy.1 -
So I have been struggling with weight loss. 30 pounds to be exact. I notice in the evening's I get very bad cravings for junk food (pizza- wings, sweets, etc) so I just drink alot of water and sleep my troubles away. I have a healthy grocery list of: Mushrooms
Greens
Carrots
Spinach
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Pickles
Seafood
Seltzer Water
Lemons
Seasonings
Hot Sauce
Turkey
Onions
Eggs
But I still have urges to eat bad. I would eat healthy for 2 weeks and the pounds come off but when friends and family come by and offer free bad food I just cant wait to eat it. I always look forward to it and I cant stop. When i have the urge to eat junk and I eat a healthy dinner I just scroll through instagram and look at food there. I can't help it. It's awful and my self control is out the window and it's so hard and no one ever talks about it much. Especially when you lose the weight and you still have thr cravings for junk. I could use the help, thank you.
I don't think your cholesterol is as relevant as your Restrict/Binge cycle. What's your weekly weight loss goal set to? Bump it down one and use those extra calories for some treat foods.
You'd be better off losing more slowly during those two weeks than losing faster but erasing your losses due to binging.
3 -
A warm cup of something similar to hot chocolate works when I have a sweet craving at night.. ... cocoa powder, some splenda, dash of sea salt, almond milk and hot water.1
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jhanleybrown wrote: »I'm highish LDL and down 18 lbs of a target 25 lbs.
I noticed you dont have a lot of healthy fat in your list. I'm not a sweets guy but give me some fat and salt and I'm all about it.
One thing that has helped me reduce craving are healthy fats. So avocados, almonds, walnuts, olives, olive oil. Its helped me a lot. I'm 10x more successful when I make sure those.are in my diet.
My understanding is they also increase HDL which protects you from your LDL.
Hope that helps you.
Olives and olive oil are the only fata I could eat on your list. The rest u am highly allergic too1
This discussion has been closed.
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