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Hey all. I've been lurking in here for a couple of weeks. I see some knowledgeable posts so I thought I'd talk about my personal struggles to get fit.
1- I just got off a treadmill and all I want to do is eat. I am always starving when I get done exercising. It doesn't matter if I eat before I exercise, I am still hungry after. And the thing I crave is junk food. I am eating oranges and strawberries right now, but all I am thinking about is junk food. I want some chips. I want some Chinese food. This fruit is not cutting it. I know I will be hungry until I break down and eat something fatty. I've gone to bed before and had to get up and eat something in order to sleep. I've found the only thing that is sure to make the hunger go away is 2-3 pieces of wheat bread with lots of peanut butter and a tall glass of milk. Does anyone have any advice on how to overcome this?
2- A couple of years ago I did the six week body makeover and it was fabulous. I felt great. Slowly stopped doing it until I had completely fallen off the horse. Now every time I try to repeat the eating habits I had then I find that I am starving. I mean starving, as in get the shakes, light headed, cannot focus hungry. I eat oatmeal and eggs for breakfast and two hours later I am shaky and ready to snap someones head off (which is not good since I am a teacher, can't be snapping at the kids and I can't just drop everything and go eat) I've tried to ignore it, I try to plan and bring yogurt or fruit for snack, but I am just so hungry. The same thing happens around 2 pm and by 4 you better get out of my way, I am getting something with fat in it to eat, I don't care if I have to hold up a convenience store. For some reason fatty food is the only thing that makes that feeling go away, not fruits, not vegetable, yogurt, none of the healthy stuff.
I realized that for about a year I have been planning to start eating healthy on Monday, only to be falling off the wagon by 4pm on Monday. And every Tuesday I say I am going to do better, just have to have a little more will power. While lurking on this forum I realized that that plan isn't exactly working. So I am welcome to recommendations. Does anyone have any experience with problems like mine and how did you overcome it.
PS- lurking here I have learned there are a few common answers that everyone seems to think work. I will save time and let people know that I am NOT willing to try any drug, pill, supplement, ect. If I need something like that I will see my PERSONAL physician. I am also not interested in any advice about just going hungry for awhile until my body gets used to it. I can't function as a teacher if I cannot stand and teach my class all day everyday. When I am hungry I cannot think or process information and I am very very crabby. I am looking for real food suggestions that I can test and see if they can get me through the day without visions of Egg Rolls floating in my head.
Are you overweight? I didn't read that you were. Maybe you simply aren't eating enough.
Is one or both of your parents overweight?
Do other teachers get hungry too? What's the difference between the other teachers and you?
How old are you?
If you didn't exercise at all, would you still have a hunger problem?
Have you ever lost weight before (as on a diet)? How much? Did you keep it off?
Wow those were a lot of questions. Okay here goes. Yes I am overweight. Neither of my parents are overweight but most of my extended family is. (Very Overweight). No the other teachers don't seem to have this problem. I am 32. Yes, I am always hungry, even when I don't exercise, but especially right after I exercise.
Yes I have lost and gained many times. I don't keep it off long and always gain back more than I was before I started.
First and foremost ... if you are truly serious about being healthy ... then STOP purchasing junk food.
Keeping a supply of junk food in your house is the main reason you eat it.
You can't eat what you don't have ... so keep that garbage out of your home.
Avoid buying potato chips, ice cream, cake, pie, and other pastries, candy, fried foods, foods high in saturated fats, foods high in sugar, and soda.
Instead, stock your pantry and fridge with plenty of healthy foods ... such as fat free yogurt and cottage cheese, fresh vegetables, tuna, fat-free poultry, fresh fruit, nuts, beans, whole grain breads, whole grain cereals and pastas, brown rice, whole grain oats (aka oatmeal), peanut butter, eggs, and skim milk.
Then I recommend eating 6 small meals a day instead of 3 large meals. This will help to keep your body feeling full throughout the day.
Make sure you drink lots of water. Drink a large glass before every meal.
After you exercise, you should try to eat foods high in protein, such as egg whites, cottage cheese, yogurt, and grilled chicken. Proteins help grow muscle after a workout.
Before you exercise, you should try to eat foods containing carbs, since carbs provide the body with energy. There are two types of carbs - complex and simple. Complex carbs provides long lasting energy while simple carbs only provide short term energy. Examples of complex carbs are oatmeal, pasta, and whole grain bread. An example of a simple carb is sugar. Here is a website which helps better explain this : http://www.briancalkins.com/simplevscomplexcarb.htm
Stop thinking about junk food. Once you put it out of your mind, you will stop craving it.
Also avoid eating fast food. It may be cheap, but it's full of saturated fat and extremely high in sodium. Fast food is one of the main reasons so many Americans are fat, because it is readily available and so easy to afford. I personally stopped eating fast food more than a year ago, and have never missed it one bit, and my body has never looked or felt better.
Instead of eating out, prepare most of your meals at home, and bring food with you whenever you go out. For lunch, pack sandwiches to take with you, such as tuna fish or turkey breast on whole grain bread, topped with veggies like spinach leaves, romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. Perhaps bring a 6oz yogurt, salad in a plastic container, baby carrots, almonds, and fresh fruit.
Once you begin to eat only healthy foods, your body will start to look and feel much healthier.
The old expression ... "you are what you eat" is very accurate.
RD5050 you are completely accurate about the junk food- I ALWAYS do better when it is not in the house. But my husband refuses to have a junk food free house. He did it the first time I did the 6 week body makeover and was very supportive. This time he says it too hard and unrealistic and that he and our daughter don't have to be on a diet just because I want to loose weight (he is overweight as well, it just doesn't bother him). Yesterday I went grocery shopping and didn't buy any junk. Last night after dinner he wanted to know where the chips are. Today he will go to the store and come home with two bags of chips, cookies, and cheez-its.
I think part of my problem is I don't know what to eat. Like your post mentions cottage cheese. I've been avoiding all cheese because I thought cheese was bad for you? And I thought peanut butter and nuts were high in fat.
I loved the way I felt after the first three days on the 6 week makeover. It was hard, expensive, and A LOT of cooking, no fat, sugar, or salt, but I felt fabulous.
I do wish I could get my husband back on board but it isn't his job to help me loose weight. I've finally realized I have to stop begging him for help and learn to ignore the junk food.
Edited to add- Reading the article and I see Fruit Juice, milk, and yogurt are on the bad list? I had no idea. So switching from soda to juice isn't much of an improvement.
BTW- we eat a lot of chicken. Not a big fan of fish. What other meats are good for protein? My parents own cattle so we get a lot of free fresh beef. We also have venison.
I finished reading that article and it was very informative. And it definitely shed some light onto what's been going on with me and my hunger. Thank you, that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
Last edited by sunnyskies1; 03-04-2012 at 05:52 AM..
Reason: Finished reading.
Charles I thanks for the info but I am not willing to go that route quiet yet. I've had two friends who had surgery. One changed her life and kept the weight off. The other did what she needed to meet the weight loss requirements before the surgery, had the surgery and lost tons of weight, then gained a bunch back.
And surgery scares me. If I can learn to live healthy then I will be happy, I don't need to go down to a size 6.
Sunnyskies, I'm reading your first post in this thread, and notice that your post-exercise cravings generally involve salty things. Chinese, chips, peanutbutter. You're also saying that when you feel hungry, you can sometimes feel light-headed. Listen to your body - not just that "I'm hungry" but "I'm hungry for specific types of things."
Your body is telling you - that you need more water, and more potassium, before you finish your workout. It is also telling you that you get blood sugar drops when you're hungry.
What I suggest -
Eat a small meal around 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before you get to the gym. Make sure that small meal contains *some* carbs/starch, and some potassium. A half-serving of oatmeal (old fashioned or quick-oats, not instant) and half a banana will provide exactly that. Wash it down with water. Just a glass, doesn't have to be a big glass.
Bring a sport bottle of water with you to the gym. Take a few sips before you start working out. Have a few sips sporadically throughout your workout, between sets, or between machines. Make sure that bottle is empty by the time you're ready to leave the gym.
When you get home, spoon yourself out a tablespoon of UNSWEETENED peanutbutter (lightly salted is fine - you can get organic everywhere these days, it's tasty and healthful), and slice up 2 of those giganormous jumbo oversized juicy red strawberries. Dip the strawberry slices into the peanutbutter and eat. If you're feeling the need for starch, get 4 ritz crackers - 1 smear of that spoonful of peanutbutter and 1 slice of strawberry per cracker, and finish the strawberries for "dessert" on this little snack.
Since your husband rejects portioning, and you know this in advance, and you know he'll just load up on sheer crap if you don't have it in the house, you're going to need to spend a little extra money and buy portion-controlled bags of stuff. Or, buy ziplocks and portion control it yourself. Pick up the snackpack boxes of chips and cheezits, so if someone wants some, they grab one bag, and that's what they get. If they want to be snivelling slaves to salt, they can have two bags. YOU - however - will wait a half hour. YOU will give yourself permission to have ONE bag - but you have to wait a half hour to eat it.
If a half hour passes and you still want it, take it. Eat it. Enjoy it. Eat it SLOWLY. Make it last. Eat it deliberately, savour the salty cheesy goodness, make your tongue really revel in the flavor.
If a half hour passes and you're over the craving, skip it. Obviously you didn't want it that badly in the first place
It is when we are feeling as though our diet is a study in deprivation, that we experience the most profound cravings. That is when we give in, and give up control. We're not losing control. We're yielding it. We're giving the control, deliberately, to the food. It is a conscious decision. You have to make sure it is a deliberate, conscious decision. When you give into a craving, you need to know that YOU are the one doing the giving in. The food is -not- demanding from you. Food just sits there, doing nothing at all. Food does not force you to eat it. It's all on you. You have to really wrap your mind around that. It's a struggle, but it's the only truth you really need to accept.
You crave what your body needs. But when you eat, you are not necessarily eating what your body is craving. You're not necessarily listen to what the craving *really* means. Just like when I crave ice cream, I know I'm really just needing some protein, calcium, and magnesium. I -could- take a pill. I -could- have some cottage cheese and a square of dark chocolate, and that will resolve the problem completely. But I -like- ice cream, and so my brain fixes on ice cream. The need is nutrition. The target of that need is purely emotional.
Your body needs to be fueled efficiently, and it's telling you that. Learn how to do that, and you'll be able to satisfy those cravings without sacrificing good health.
Hey all. I've been lurking in here for a couple of weeks. I see some knowledgeable posts so I thought I'd talk about my personal struggles to get fit.
1- I just got off a treadmill and all I want to do is eat. I am always starving when I get done exercising. It doesn't matter if I eat before I exercise, I am still hungry after. And the thing I crave is junk food. I am eating oranges and strawberries right now, but all I am thinking about is junk food. I want some chips. I want some Chinese food. This fruit is not cutting it. I know I will be hungry until I break down and eat something fatty. I've gone to bed before and had to get up and eat something in order to sleep. I've found the only thing that is sure to make the hunger go away is 2-3 pieces of wheat bread with lots of peanut butter and a tall glass of milk. Does anyone have any advice on how to overcome this?
2- A couple of years ago I did the six week body makeover and it was fabulous. I felt great. Slowly stopped doing it until I had completely fallen off the horse. Now every time I try to repeat the eating habits I had then I find that I am starving. I mean starving, as in get the shakes, light headed, cannot focus hungry. I eat oatmeal and eggs for breakfast and two hours later I am shaky and ready to snap someones head off (which is not good since I am a teacher, can't be snapping at the kids and I can't just drop everything and go eat) I've tried to ignore it, I try to plan and bring yogurt or fruit for snack, but I am just so hungry. The same thing happens around 2 pm and by 4 you better get out of my way, I am getting something with fat in it to eat, I don't care if I have to hold up a convenience store. For some reason fatty food is the only thing that makes that feeling go away, not fruits, not vegetable, yogurt, none of the healthy stuff.
I realized that for about a year I have been planning to start eating healthy on Monday, only to be falling off the wagon by 4pm on Monday. And every Tuesday I say I am going to do better, just have to have a little more will power. While lurking on this forum I realized that that plan isn't exactly working. So I am welcome to recommendations. Does anyone have any experience with problems like mine and how did you overcome it.
PS- lurking here I have learned there are a few common answers that everyone seems to think work. I will save time and let people know that I am NOT willing to try any drug, pill, supplement, ect. If I need something like that I will see my PERSONAL physician. I am also not interested in any advice about just going hungry for awhile until my body gets used to it. I can't function as a teacher if I cannot stand and teach my class all day everyday. When I am hungry I cannot think or process information and I am very very crabby. I am looking for real food suggestions that I can test and see if they can get me through the day without visions of Egg Rolls floating in my head.
Thanks!
My first thought is you are going through withdrawal, this happened to me when I started changing my lifestyle and losing weight about 14 years ago. Even though it is hard now it will pass and the more non junk food you eat the less you will crave the other stuff.
I'm not saying starve yourself I am saying make sure you are getting the proper amounts of all types of food and don't give in to the cravings for junk. It is like quitting smoking or giving up caffeine, it is withdrawal. Stepping out of your comfort zone and it does take time to adjust to it.
Go to this website (if you want to) and look for the book: Carb Counting and Meal Planning. It is on a diabetic website (my husband is diabetic) but the guidelines in this book are not limited to diabetics. There is a lot of information and good advice food wise in this book. It is free to download to any ebook reader.
If for some reason you cannot get the download let me know and I can send the file to you IF you would like it. Also, make sure you are hydrated enough and taking a multi vitamin daily.
You might want to consider a plan like Weight Watchers as well, very good plan that is long term lifestyle change and not a fad diet that only helps temporarily. Good luck with it all and I hope you succeed.
Sunnyskies, I'm reading your first post in this thread, and notice that your post-exercise cravings generally involve salty things. Chinese, chips, peanutbutter. You're also saying that when you feel hungry, you can sometimes feel light-headed. Listen to your body - not just that "I'm hungry" but "I'm hungry for specific types of things."
This was my instinct as well. Fat is the red herring, I bet the OP doesn't get cravings for stuff that is fatty but not salty, like a plain avocado or unsalted eggs.
On a not necessarily related note, OP, what's your caffeine intake like?
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