Does it ever get easier?

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TurnLeftNow
TurnLeftNow Posts: 171
in Motivation and Support
Sorry this is kind of long.

So it has been almost 6 months now (wow half a year!) since I started trying to lose weight/be healthier. I reached all of my goals, which is great. So I guess right now I am basically just trying to maintain. I know I don't want to gain the weight back that I lost.

However, the food thoughts have not stopped. The constant craving to eat more, the desire to eat a whole box of chocolates. Still there.

In the past I have put foods in to good and bad categories and denied myself certain things. That ended in disaster when I finally allowed myself that stuff again. So this time around, I've been really good about working in the foods I am craving and keeping it to one portion. Every now and then I might have some extra, but I have actually gotten really good at maintaining the portion control. I have worked in healthier foods and my diet is mostly based around the healthy stuff as I am finding that it's not as worth it calorie wise to have chocolate or chips instead of a banana and yogurt, or salad and vegetables. Mostly because they are lower calorie and I can have more than one tiny bite.

So, I know that being healthier and not giving in to temptation is more worth it than just giving up and giving in to the desire of over indulging and not counting my calories. I sort of feel like a drug addict or alcohol who has constant cravings but has chosen that a sober life worth more than a drug induced one.

But, counting calories is so exhausting. In a way, even if I can "fit it in" I can't fit everything I want in, and sometimes I am still left with not being able to have all that I want. I mean there is only so much food you can squeeze in there before you're over your calorie limit. So it depresses me, seeing those numbers add up and not being able to have an extra this or that. The obsession has just, not stopped. It has not died down. It depresses me and it makes me feel awful. Going to the grocery store is just pure torture. All of the snack and junk food. There's no way around it.

Does it ever get easier? Will I ever stop obsessing about food? Or am I doomed to be like a junkie who has to constantly remind myself that it's better to be healthy and active and thin than it is to give in to temptation?

I am sick of being in a constant obsession of wanting to stick to this and wanting to just giving up because the obsessions are just too much. It's like back and forth all day, every day.

Replies

  • sloanie1
    sloanie1 Posts: 276 Member
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    Yes it is tough and I wonder the same thing sometimes, I've been "dieting" since I was 16.....24 years!!! and I still haven't worked it out...I guess it's like a druggie, we always will have the urge and with food it's really tough because its everywhere!!! I am a diagnosed food addict so I struggle daily, hourly! I have accepted that I will always have to watch what I eat, I just love food and eating LOL.....but yes I can relate and it's exhausting, I'm enrolled in a mindful eating workshop over 6 weeks where a psychotherapist works with 8 of us women, all different, and we discuss food issues and body image issues, do experiments and learn how to deal with it, I hope it helps me! sorry I don't really have the answers but hopefully you will find some comfort in knowing you definately aren't alone, that I can tell you for sure...:o)
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I'm going to say no, but someone else could come along and tell you otherwise. I've been doing this for almost 16 months now and food is still on my mind an unhealthy amount of time. Controlling it all became easier, but it had done that by the six-month mark. The fact is, if you're anything like me, food is/was an addiction. I guess you never get over addictions, you just learn to control them. Smokers, alcoholics and drug addicts all have a choice and can go cold-turkey and stay away from the things they're addicted to for life, but when your addiction is food you have to keep having the thing you're addicted to every day, without letting it control you again. That's tough, but at least once we've learnt to get it under control we're the experts in it!
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    It can be tough. See when I quit smoking, I kept reminding myself the harmful affects of smoking, and how much I hated waking up with that chest pain and how much I hate the smell of smoke and all that stuff.

    But with food....I mean you gotta still eat. One thing that helps me ALOT is if I plan ahead. If I have plenty of cooked food in the house, and I eat in small portions throughout the day, i dont endup binging and I dont endup eating out (which I personally blame most of my weight problem to is eating out all the time)
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    It's like treating the symptoms instead of curing the disease.

    What makes you want lots of food?

    Eating is healthy, essential and pleasurable.

    Over eating is not.
  • myopus
    myopus Posts: 321 Member
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    The ability to work in a few more calories is sometimes my motivation to exercise :) It sounds like you're worried that you're tottering on the fence and could fall back in the pen at any moment. There are many others that also think about the things you do (including those who are successful), and they're fine, too. Try to approach it like a game. Cook up healthier versions of ooey gooey sweet or savory things (Skinnytaste mozz sticks, chocolatecoveredkatie.com's chocolate chip cookie pie). More exercise = a full dessert instead of half. You achieved so much, but you have to relax a bit. If you feel fear all the time, it will eat you up!
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    Sounds like you need a good splurge day or splurge week even.
  • AnaBackwards
    AnaBackwards Posts: 36
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    Nothing ever gets easier, you just become stronger. :)
  • happystars82
    happystars82 Posts: 225 Member
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    Sounds like you need a good splurge day or splurge week even.
    Totally agree with the above... i was feeling like you were, i had a day where i ate whatever the hell i wanted with no restrictions and felt very sick indeed after, and then i got that old familiar feeling back that i use to get which was feeling tired and no energy and just plain lazy.. i didn;t like that! so back on track now and no doubt i;ll have another one in time, think some people call them cheat days and US call them spike days.... if you struggle then have that day... 1 day is not going to undo all your hard work.

    Good luck!
    from another food absessor!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i've never been a dieter except for now that i'm trying to lose weight.
    i would definitely suggest exercising or doing more intense routines if you're already working out. back when i was more athletic and didnt have a weight problem, having splurge days didnt have any affect on my weight. that wasnt because i was working out hours and hours each day either, but i was doing a lot of power lifting and intense cardio.

    the other thing to look at is why you want to overeat. it sounds like you just put stuff in a good/bad category, and decided to stick mainly with the good stuff in order to lose weight. that's awesome that you lost the weight. is it possible that you never analyzed why you want to over eat?


    also regarding the drug addict/alcoholic comment, i have an aunt who was an alcoholic and who was also very overweight. she's been sober for many years now and finally lost all the weight she needed a few years ago and has kept it off. according to her food addiction was harder to let go because it's not like we can avoid food, we need it to live. so in that sense, i dont know if it ever gets easy, maybe just less hard?
  • TurnLeftNow
    TurnLeftNow Posts: 171
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    Thanks for all the replies everyone. It's good to know that others are out there and I am not alone. Thanks for all the advice and kind words, I really appreciate it.

    I guess it's just going to be one of those things that I am going to have to learn how to live with. Exercising more is a good idea, I have thought about that too. Also if I was able to find a really active job I would be able to fit in more calories.

    I am hoping that maybe one day it will all just even out, that I will learn how to just eat to be healthy without having such an emotional/mental connection with it all.

    Sorry to hear that others are going through the same thing as I am. It makes me feel a little less crazy and weird though, I was beginning to think maybe there was something seriously wrong with me.
  • annie7hudds
    annie7hudds Posts: 199 Member
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    I don't htink it gets easier - but over time you adapt to make it work for you.

    I had a reality check recently - when I realised that I had been watching what I ate and how much excercise I did - and complained about my weight regularly since the age of about 14 - that is 30 years! What a waste of my time...

    Unfortunately we are surrounded by junk food and tasty bad-for-you snacks - which all call out to be eaten/drunk. In years gone by - this stuff wasn't available on every corner, vendign machine whereever. If youwanted to eat you had to go out and buy fresh produce and cook a meal. That's why there weren't so many overweight people I guess :)

    my tip is to enjoy life now and again - i.e. yesterday I went out for a fab ladies lunch - we ate too much (but it was very good, well prepared food) and we drank waaaaay too much champagne and cocktails - but hey! that ws yesterday - it had been planned for weeks - and today I am back on healthy eating .

    It seems kind of unfair that some people have a naturally slim physique - and they seem to eat whatever they want - but they are either just lucky or they don't eat at other times.. whatever.

    Make th emost of what you have - and enjoy living a healthy lifestyle with good food and exercise - even though it is hard work it is worth it feel good !

    x

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