Confess.

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  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
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    @callsitlikeiseeit That's an amazing accomplishment!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    __TMac__ wrote: »
    I recently did the math on the weight I’d regained over the last year, and it came down to an extra ~100c a day. Pretty surprising. I’d been beating myself up about how much of a glutton I must be. That’s just half of one granola bar per day. Not really an interesting confession.

    But here’s the thing: I also started paying attention to my activity level by looking at my steps, and found that, most weekdays, I was getting MAYBE 500 steps a day. Frequently less. MFP was set to “not very active” and was still showing lots of negative calorie adjustments. I reach 0 adjustments at 1k steps. So I’m working on a daily walking habit to get up to an average of 5k steps, which gives the ~100c I needed. Still not “active”, but no longer completely immobile

    After a period of deficit to get to goal, I’m reassured that I won’t have to completely reinvent my eating habits. Just be attentive to my intake and move more, which I need to do for health anyway.

    TL;DR: I confess to being a sloth, not a glutton. :)

    it wouldnt surprise me if thats about what my steps were back then. now my average (on a normal lazy day) is 4-5000 but thats because we live on a farm and even on a lazy day, at a minimum, I have to feed and water the livestock. back then, with my ex, i did NOT live on a farm and have those types of chores.

    now if my husband is home to do those chores and i can get away with NOT helping (and guilt wont really let me not help, at least at night).... you can halve that. but thats really really rare. maybe one day every couple of months.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    dralicephd wrote: »
    The difference between this thread and a "drunkalog" is that food isn't forbidden. We have to eat foods. I'm finding it quite insightful to see how small changes in diet can have huge impacts on calorie consumption and health. @wunderkindking 's response is a great example of how small changes to condiments can make a big difference.

    Well, it isn't any big deal to me, but reveling in the debasing excesses of the past is not my idea of healthy dialogue. I'm also not a fan of hot dog eating contests. And, of course, there is nothing wrong or forbidden about alcohol.

    not much amuses you......

    Its funny that you say that. My principal problem is guilt for how lucky I am and have been. I can't think of anything in my life I want for or would even change. I love this program and I love dieting and counting calories. From day 1 I've lost weight exactly as planned, now 72 pounds down to 170. Maintained without gain for two years. My graph has no peaks and valleys, only a nice gentle slope and a two year plateau.

    And, my only sadness is having to stand by and see others in pain, and frustration. A drunkalog is the manifestation of that pain. Let's call it a "bingealog" as relates to compulsive eating. Would you think that a person recovering from obsessive sexual fantasies would benefit from recounting the fantasies of the past to laypersons in a forum?
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    edited November 2021
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    My worst was during my doctorate because I worked 16 hour days including weekends, had no time to cook and no access to a fridge at the hospital. The hospital cafeteria was gross and way too expensive for my broke *kitten*, and there were no stores or restaurants nearby, and even if there were, I didn't have so much as 10 minutes in my day to go find food.

    So I would bring non-perishables like granola bars, but mostly lived on endless coffee with a ton of cream in it just to get calories and stave off gut rot, and then get home exhausted and inhale an entire frozen pizza and drink wine until I fell asleep. Repeat for a few years.

    Everyone in the program gained a ton of weight except for the ones who abused Adderall, or the ones who still lived with their parents who made them balanced meals and sent them to school with sandwiches.

    Even then, we all looked like total dumpster fires by the end of it. No one came out looking nearly as healthy as they started, but it was a matter of survival, we did our best, so no shame here.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
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    There are two periods in my life that I would consider the worst. One is when I would try to diet to lose some weight, and either restricted too severely or just wasn't eating the right kind of things to keep me satiated for longer periods. This lead to some pretty serious binges--to the point of extreme nausea and sometimes trying to make myself vomit (which never worked due to my fear of vomiting). Some of my favorite things to binge on were trail mix and those frosted animal cookies with pink frosting. Thinking about them now more than 20 years later still makes me feel a bit nauseous. However, once I got going I could binge on a lot of different stuff. If I was bingeing on sweet stuff, I might switch to salty/savory foods mod-binge.

    The 2nd time was in college. I ate a lot of junk and just didn't care. That's probably a pretty typical pattern though, but because I already had a bit of a weight problem, I think my moderation of those foods was even worse than your typical college student and the freshman 15. I barely ate anything nutritious--like sleeves of saltines with tons of peanut butter was a typical meal, or ordering an equivalent of DW's blizzard from the local I've cream place and having it delivered, or cheese sticks upon cheese sticks with ranch dressing.

  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,291 Member
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    I had tea or coffee for breakfast.

    And then I would get deep into a project.

    And I would forget to eat. Then I would become ravenous, and stuff myself with whatever was available. Thereby overeating.

    This was my typical day for decades.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
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    I've stayed out of this thread, and really haven't read past the OP, because it didn't feel like a healthy place for me. I don't want to think of what I eat as a sin that needs to be "confessed." But I came across this article that seemed relevant, and thought I would post it. Make of it what you will.

    https://www.thelily.com/tiktoks-what-i-eat-in-a-day-trend-can-be-harmful-heres-why/
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
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    Focus on the things you want more of. Talk about it, fantasize about it, brag about it as so many above have done. You'll get more of it. You don't have to have shame or regret but if you put it in the preset moment, it is your priority.

    I usually tell my divorced buddies, "let's not talk about her anymore - good bad or indifferent." I think that is good advice too.
  • NYPhotographer2021
    NYPhotographer2021 Posts: 506 Member
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    I think that looking back for me, helps me. I remember how I used to eat, how mindlessly I would go back for 2nds and not even think about it. I ate pretty normally, just more than what my body was capable of handling and staying slim. Add in that I stopped being active and worked at a desk job where the most walking I did was to the printer and back (5 feet if that) and to the restroom. So because of this thread, I was able to remember how I used to be. And the changes I've made since then. It's been very therapeutic for me, and reading everyone else' "confessions" has also helped me to see that I wasn't the only one who ate like that.

    An alcoholic in a 12 step program, looking back like this might trigger them. But that would be because even one drink could send them back into a spiral of drinking again. We still have to eat. I eat what I did before for the most part, just not as much. Looking back at how I ate, makes me proud of how far I've come, and gives me strength to continue on with the rest of my journey. Because if I've made it this far, it's no sweat in being able to keep going.

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