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You can have anything you want in moderation, successful dieters tell you. Yeah, not so much for me.
I'm in a really happy place in my life, but it's a very busy place at the same time. And the truth of the matter is that food is my vice. I LOVE it. I love the most bad-for-you fast-food burgers to homemade comfort food to high-end and healthy cuisine. I graze and I gorge.
I'm a sensation eater - there's nothing unusual there. But it really is like a hobby to me, to the point that my two best friends regularly question why I didn't become a food critic or start a food blog. The common wisdom that one's pleasure decreases with each bite does not apply to me. I revel in each bite just as much as the first and I'm sad when a meal is over. It's just how I'm wired.
Well, I'm now 50 pounds over what I should be, and I've done a total lockdown on certain things in my life. Bread, pasta, ice cream, dessert in general, candy, cookies, deep-fried foods (basically white flour and sugar and fast food) and started up doing the My Fitness Pal app again. And once again, I'm targeting upping my fiber and protein intake. I'm down 5 lbs in 3 days. But I'm not going to touch any of my big trigger foods until I've hit my goal weight.
I'm also trying to up my activity, but that can be a rough one given my penchant for sedentary hobbies (writing and reading - oh yeah, and cooking).
I like to say that moderation is key, but there are certain foods I just can't have in the house because once the floodgates are open there's no turning back. Keeping splurges out of the house is what works for me--splitting the occasional dessert or movie popcorn with friends, for example. I made some bad choices with a box of Thin Mints this weekend, and I just need to move on from that.
It's all or nothing for me. I can ban carbs from the house and do well, but if I'm cooking for the family and they want a lot of things like pasta and tacos, I don't do well with limiting my portions. If I cook the way I need to in order to lose weight, my husband has all kinds of stomach problems (because he will not eat vegetables and so he depends on heavy, starchy meals to keep things moving). If I cook the way he wants, I gain weight. So we seem to alternate...a year of me getting healthier and him getting sick, then a year of cooking like he wants me to and gaining weight back, then another year of limiting what I cook and my husband having problems.
It's all or nothing for me. I can ban carbs from the house and do well, but if I'm cooking for the family and they want a lot of things like pasta and tacos, I don't do well with limiting my portions. If I cook the way I need to in order to lose weight, my husband has all kinds of stomach problems (because he will not eat vegetables and so he depends on heavy, starchy meals to keep things moving). If I cook the way he wants, I gain weight. So we seem to alternate...a year of me getting healthier and him getting sick, then a year of cooking like he wants me to and gaining weight back, then another year of limiting what I cook and my husband having problems.
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Why a year for each person? I modify my weekly meals with a few days of diet and a couple of high calorie meals. My husband needs to diet (over 200 lbs.) and I most definitely don't (100 lbs.). On his "diet days" I will try to have pasta or tacos for lunch and snack in between meals, but not in sight of him. My husband makes a salad or smoothie for lunch.
I definitely understand the problem of a husband and wife with totally different diet needs. It is not easy.
Why a year for each person? I modify my weekly meals with a few days of diet and a couple of high calorie meals. My husband needs to diet (over 200 lbs.) and I most definitely don't (100 lbs.). On his "diet days" I will try to have pasta or tacos for lunch and snack in between meals, but not in sight of him. My husband makes a salad or smoothie for lunch.
I definitely understand the problem of a husband and wife with totally different diet needs. It is not easy.
It just works out that way. I do things the way I need them to be done for a while, it helps me lose weight and improve my health, but my husband ends up feeling horrible. So then we switch to cooking the way he wants and that seems to last about a year before I start having problems. If he could cook or he would buy food and consume it somewhere else (like lunch while he's at work), we could probably manage to balance things better, but he's sure he's going to get sick if he eats food from a restaurant or his work cafeteria, and he can't cook anything. I've tried cooking separate meals for us but that's a lot more work and I end up nibbling while I cook for him, or feeling really bad that he's got a plate of yummy food and I have a chicken breast and some broccoli.
OP, it's more about finding foods you like that are ok to eat instead of cutting out foods altogether. Things like omelettes, steak/vegetables, sweet potatoes, etc. Then you look forward to those foods and the other things you've banned become a treat food that you can allow yourself to eat occasionally.
What macros are you aiming for on MFP? Are you exercising at all? Walking with audio books might be a good option in terms of leisure activities.
As for cooking, maybe get a magazine subscription to Cooking Light? My wife and I basically built our cookbook binder out of CL recipes we've accumulated over the years. Find something that looks good, make it, and if you like it, tape it to some construction paper and put it in a binder. Rinse/repeat.
You can have anything you want in moderation, successful dieters tell you. Yeah, not so much for me.
I'm in a really happy place in my life, but it's a very busy place at the same time. And the truth of the matter is that food is my vice. I LOVE it. I love the most bad-for-you fast-food burgers to homemade comfort food to high-end and healthy cuisine. I graze and I gorge.
I'm a sensation eater - there's nothing unusual there. But it really is like a hobby to me, to the point that my two best friends regularly question why I didn't become a food critic or start a food blog. The common wisdom that one's pleasure decreases with each bite does not apply to me. I revel in each bite just as much as the first and I'm sad when a meal is over. It's just how I'm wired.
Well, I'm now 50 pounds over what I should be, and I've done a total lockdown on certain things in my life. Bread, pasta, ice cream, dessert in general, candy, cookies, deep-fried foods (basically white flour and sugar and fast food) and started up doing the My Fitness Pal app again. And once again, I'm targeting upping my fiber and protein intake. I'm down 5 lbs in 3 days. But I'm not going to touch any of my big trigger foods until I've hit my goal weight.
I'm also trying to up my activity, but that can be a rough one given my penchant for sedentary hobbies (writing and reading - oh yeah, and cooking).
Anyone have to take a similar approach?
Since you have a passion for food I would caution against eliminating any food groups. That approach may back fire for you. I believe you can have what you want, but there is that word again, moderation, is going to be your key. It is smart to eliminate your trigger foods and simple carbs like breads, pastries and pasta for the time being. The thing that you will need to adjust more than anything is your mindset. Losing weight is hard and takes sacrifices that are downright difficult - but not impossible.
Learn to love exercise. It will be your savior when you finally get down to your goal weight, exercise will allow you some indulgences. And with your passion for food it sounds like the quality of your life will be dismal if you cannot eat what you want once in a while.
Try to understand that it takes time - 50 lbs - 6 to 12 months to come off. Its a marathon and not a sprint. You need to mentally prepare yourself for that. But as the weight comes off you will get more and more motivation to keep it up. Do not look at what you're giving up, look at what you are gaining.
I lost a significant amount of weight eating carbs 3 x a day.
The carb thing is BS. IMHO.
Just eat your regular meals and start walking to work, at least part of the way. The pounds will DROP OFF if you don't eat deep fried crap every day or guzzle sugar in cans (soda).
Since you have a passion for food I would caution against eliminating any food groups. That approach may back fire for you. I believe you can have what you want, but there is that word again, moderation, is going to be your key. It is smart to eliminate your trigger foods and simple carbs like breads, pastries and pasta for the time being. The thing that you will need to adjust more than anything is your mindset. Losing weight is hard and takes sacrifices that are downright difficult - but not impossible.
Learn to love exercise. It will be your savior when you finally get down to your goal weight, exercise will allow you some indulgences. And with your passion for food it sounds like the quality of your life will be dismal if you cannot eat what you want once in a while.
Try to understand that it takes time - 50 lbs - 6 to 12 months to come off. Its a marathon and not a sprint. You need to mentally prepare yourself for that. But as the weight comes off you will get more and more motivation to keep it up. Do not look at what you're giving up, look at what you are gaining.
Like I said, moderation isn't my thing. I've proven time and time again that it does not work for me. I view this as a sort of long-term detox. When I reach my goal weight, I'm going to revisit the foods I love and see what is important to me and can be reintroduced. After eschewing some things, I have actually developed a distaste or indifference for them when I revisited them some time later. My wiring with regards to food is more similar to an addict's than a normal person's.
The other problem is that I generally want to indulge when I am stressed or in pain. I have a demanding and very sedentary job and a tendency to get very annoying sinus headaches that can last for days. In those moments, if I have a bacon cheeseburger, I'm going to follow it up with a giant sundae as well. Tasty food soothes me.
I'm basically giving myself a year to get rid of the weight, but if the 50 lbs happens earlier, I won't be sad.
Yes there will be exercise. But stress and headaches can derail that as well. When I get a sinus headache, any movement can be painful. Once the schedule gets derailed, it's hard to restart.
I am approaching this as I just don't really have a choice. I'm not stranger to hard work and sacrifices, but this is not an area where I can be rational or disciplined. So I need to shut things down while I reassess my relationship with food. Nothing else has worked with any consistency, so I need to try something different.
Yes there will be exercise. But stress and headaches can derail that as well. When I get a sinus headache, any movement can be painful. Once the schedule gets derailed, it's hard to restart.
A bit off the topic, but your comment caught my attention.
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