Got the exercise part. Can't get the eat less part.

Hi, everyone. I love these forums -- so supportive and it's nice that it's just us gals.

My name is Susie, and I've been a recreational rider off and on for a couple of years. I didn't do much riding this year, and I'm starting to build a foundation for next year.

I need to lose a lot of weight. My goals are all fitness oriented (finish a sprint triathlon in under 2 hours, jog a 5K in under 40 minutes, finish a half-century bike ride, commute to work 3x/week starting in the spring). I watch what I eat, and the hope was that the weight would come off by choosing healthier foods, better portions and exercising.

But I find I'm so HUNGRY all the time, despite choosing whole grains, vegetables and good proteins. For example, I'll eat a big salad at lunch with veggies and chicken, and be STARVING an hour later. I'll wait another hour, then eat an apple and low-fat yogurt, and I'm starving an hour after that. I'm eating roughly 1,500 to 1,800 calories/day.

I'm curious to see a breakdown of what you eat during the day (and especially your lower volume days or rest days). Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I do eat 5 meals/snacks a day and try to keep it varied.

And, to add a completely unrelated rant, why is it that cycling clothing manufacturers don't make women's XXL bike shorts? I currently use men's shorts, but the ... ahem ... parts are different.

Check out these shorts. At least some of them come in a XXL (2X), maybe all?

http://www.boure.com/shortswomen.html

I was a lot like you...perpetually hungry. everyone was amazed, they actually thought i was pregnant. anyway, with some experimenting this is how i am eating now...

I am a fitness instructor and teach 2-3 classes a day right now but not doing a lot of training (i also train 2-3 clients a day as well).

Typically i eat for breakfast:
2-3 fruits, one serving of spelt cereal with milk and two tablespoons of mixed nuts. coffee, my only vice. no sugar, just a bit of milk in it

4 hours later i eat:
a banana, some kind of home made muffin or a one piece of toast, one serving of protein (chicken, or tofu or something like that), one serving of dairy (usually cheese, not low fat) and some veggies.

4 hours later:
plain yogurt (but not low fat, no added sugar, gelatin or corn starch either), celery and peanut butter with raisins (my favorite) and that usually takes me to dinner a couple of hours later

dinner will vary: protein, one serving of grains, and all the veggies i can handle.

I don't find that i am tired or hungry. when i do my own training, i will add in extra servings of everything depending on what i am doing.

I don't eat more than one serving of regular wheat per day (all grains are other kinds like millet, barley, buckwheat etc) and i don't add sugar to anything. any sweetener is either honey or maple syrup.

I lost 13 pounds this way over the summer, and i have no problem maintaining it. (i was 130 and holding 117 now). i don't have cravings any more, and i was really amazed about not adding sweetener to coffee.

Anyway this is what works for me. I recommend doing a lot of reading, researching and talking to a nutritionist.

Good luck!

Hannah

Your caloric intake sounds a little low. Have you talked to a nutritionist?
I want to say doctor, but i know doctors don't take nutrition classes.

How much are you drinking?

I suck on my recycled gatorade bottle filled with tea, which puts something in the stomach, and then the caffeine serves as an appetite supressant.

SOme of it also just comes with time. You gotta get your stomach accustomed to not being full all the time.

And sometimes it helps just to be distracted.

I am trying wtih mixed success on this regimen: Bagel and cheese with tea in the morning (no cheese the past two mornings but only 'cause I'm out).

Try to stay away from the snack room... oops, a few tortilla chips...

Oatmeal for lunch (instant in the envelopes; put it in the coffee mug and get the instant-hot water from the cafeteria).

Sneak a few more tortilla chips. Make another glass of tea.

Tell myself hungry is GOOD within reason, for a little while, and it's not a bargaining thing ("I was feeling hungry, so now I *deserve* to eat more!")

Go home and make one of those Michelina pasta dinners and eat slowly. Drink water with two shots of OJ in it so it has some flavor; if I'm feeling luxurious, make it fizzy water.

Last night was a bust, 'cause the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee met and we had dinner first, tho' I did limitmyself to that pizza and water... but afterwards I was wound up enough to really want that Sam Adams. (Better than last Tues. after the MOvie... sigh, that was a worse bust...)

Now to ride home and savor that Michelina ... with tabasco sauce, anything is good :)

"They" say that American's have conditioned themselves to mistake thirst for hunger. Next time you are starving try a glass of water (not soda, coffee, or anything else, Water) and wait 30 minutes. If you are still hungry, eat a piece of fruit or veggies.
This, along with all the other things you are doing, worked like a charm for me - lost 50 lbs and kept it off for 3 years. I did not reach my goal, but I moved from "obese" to just plain fat and I'm much happier.

Also, just a personal nit - I also did the oatmeal thing, thought it was good protein source... Then I found that the non-instant takes less than 5 minutes in a microwave and has a lot more nutrients in it. So, I switched from the instant to the non instant. I also "Dr" it myself, for example, dried apples and cinnamon, no sugar, or a 1/2 teaspoon of honey if I'm feeling adventurous.

congrats on your goals that you have set for yourself. you CAN and WILL do it.

when i'm working out alot i'm the same way as you. i always feel like i can eat something, even if its 5 mins after i just ate. i notice when i cut my calories, for the first week i'm starving all the time, the second week gets a bit easier and so on.

you don't want to know my eating habits right now. i can't wait for a month when i'm in civilization and all i do is eat fruits and veggies all the time, and they are FRESH! :eek:

If you read through this article...towards the end it explains how for some people maintaining a lower weight can actually be associated with constant feelings of hunger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/ma...e54769&ei=5070

I'll add another $.02 here.

I think eating some fat might help. I know it's counter-intuitive. But it's clear that fat takes a longer time to digest, and in the meantime your stomach doesn't start screaming for more food. For example, if I have an egg along with the rest of my breakfast (big bowl of Shreddies cereal with 1% milk, plus one glass of apple-orange juice, plus coffee), I'm fine until noon or even past that. If I don't and have a couple pieces of toast or a muffin or the like in its place, I'm starving by 10:30 or 11am. The extra fat and protein keep my inners busy for a while...

So that piece of cheese, that egg, or a bowl of low-fat instead of no-fat yogourt or glass of milk might be helpful in preventing you from snacking all the time. And if you keep it in reasonable proportions, it will not impair your weight loss. Also remember that the low-fat stuff (especially yogourt) usually contains a lot more sugar to make it taste better (because fat enhances the taste, hence no fat = often bland, in industrial products at least, which means most of what we eat).

Hi -

I love to eat. It's a good thing I ride or I would be outta control. I hold myself to 1400 calories per day average. I have "go wild" days about every 3 weeks. My metabolism is sluggish to say the least. I have to be very careful or the weight and the poor eating habits get away from me. I have a few "rules" to keep me on track. I do not eat between meals 95% of the time no matter how much my body complains. Apples are "free" and I eat at least one a day. If I'm hungry, I find a project to keep myself busy. I was on Depakote for about 2 years to control migraines. The medication put 13 pounds on me and I was gaining faster and faster. I told the doctor I had to stop taking it because I couldn't wear my clothes. The weight has come off and I feel great. I weigh myself every day and adjust my intake according to the number. Hills are so much easier to climb when I'm lean. Hang in there!
Barb

I agree completely with Grog. I lost weight by low-carb dieting before I got seriously into riding and other forms of fitness (which require more carbs for energy). Although I eat more carbs now, of course, I don't force myself to eat really low-fat either. I try to eat good fats like olive oil, nuts, flax, fish oil, and the like, but I also allow myself some eggs and cheese. I don't eat fried foods and eat very little red meat, however. I agree that fat fills you up more so you don't get the between-meal munchies nearly as often as with a carb-heavy, low-fat diet. As a result, I think I eat fewer calories on days when I eat more fat than on lower-fat, higher carb days. I get hungry every hour or two when I eat that way.

I've been able to maintain my weight loss for five years eating this way (along with exercising pretty much daily). Of course, what works for me will not work for everyone. I have a fast metabolism, which helps a lot -- and exercising more helps with that as well.

Best of luck,

Emily

At my last post operation visit with my surgeon he advised I need to lose weight. He first recommended I exercise more. I told the doctor I do spin class every day, plus an hour of weights and on the weekends ride 30 - 50 mile each day. What more should I do?

Of course I also admitted I love to eat - junk food especially. He told me just have discipline and limit my calories. I looked him squarely in the eye and told him "Doctor, you have found the cure for obesity! Just don't eat too much! Why hasn't someone thought of that already?" Yes I was being a wisearcer. Thankfully the doctor laughed. I am just destined to be fat. :-(

I too got into cycling for my health and to lose weight. I needed to lose 80lbs total to get back into a size 8. (I have lost 40 so far. YEH!!!) An average week for me was Dominos; chinese take out; McDonalds; steak with a big fat potato loaded w/the good stuff. Starbucks and Double D loved me. You get the idea. Kinda pathetic but it was d*mned good eating!

Like some before me have stated, you need carbs. They will help with the cravings and they are very important in a cyclists diet. But you need to eat the right carbs. Also, to state what others have already stated, drink LOTS of water. I actually use the WalMart version of Crystal Light. I hate Crystal Light but love the walmart one. Go figure. But it has zero calories and tastes really good. Sometimes plain water can be boring.

Something else I am wondering about. You said you eat lots of salad. Are you using regular dressing?? Most dressings kinda negate the benefit of salad, and you may as well eat a burger for the caloric intake it can give you. Also try fat free mayo, not regular mayo. Fat free butter, sugar free jelly, etc. I even love reduced cal peanut butter now and I never thought that would happen. But these changes add up to pounds lost. Watch out for high sugar content and foods where the fat calories are a high percentage of the actual calories.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Well it took me about 2 months before I actually craved pretzels and not Swiss cake rolls. And one sandwich fills me up when before I would eat 2 or more.

I realize my post probably hasn't helped your situation, I think I posted mostly to say don't give up. It will happen. I think the idea of a nutritionist might be good for you as well. I know lots of people who have had great success that way.

[ON SOAP BOX]
Please, lovers of big-chain fast food, do not be offended as I step on my soap box. I LOVE food in general. I CHERISH good food even more. I ride to eat and eat to ride... Please bear with me.

I love steak. I eat vegetarian most of the time but I really enjoy a rare filet mignon or preferably a tartare (basically raw ground beef... of extremely high quality - but nobody seems to know what it is around here). I love potatoes as well, and anything including starch + cheese (potato, pasta or bread + cheese) is comfort food to me. I would not be able to eat that every day though... Boring.

But Dominos, chinese take out and McDo? Good eating? It's true that no taste is more legitimate than another, but I'm very certain that eating healthier food will make you discover an array of wonderful tastes and definitely good-ier eating.

I am amazed at how people equate eating healthy with eating boring.

Of course fat-free yogourt doesn't taste anything (which is why they add so much sugar to it). Why not pick up a low-fat or, why not, full-fat yogourt instead? It's definitely A LOT healthier than the swiss roll or other ready-made snack you would have "normally" had instead! Toss in pieces of fresh fruit (even a simple apple takes 1 minute to dice) and, oh! a teaspoon (I said ONE teaspoon!) of maple or honey and you still have a pretty healthy snack.

Pizza? Make your own pizza. You can buy ready-made crust to cheat, but throw vegetables on there (I can't have enough broccoli... as long as it's not overcooked), some proscuitto ham and a great, tasty cheese of your choice. Not gooey mozzarella that you have to put a pound of on your pizza to create texture because it doesn't taste anything. Go for, say, goat cheese. And some fresh tomato. Now THAT has a taste! It's not just a mixture of meat and cheese that you can't even identify.

Burger? Make your own open-face burger with extra lean meat that you buy yourself, in which perhaps you throw an egg to help it hold together better (adds fat but good proteins as well), some bread crumps, all sorts of spices. Grill. Add a very thin slice of blue cheese if you're so inclined, sharp cheddar otherwise. One slice of tomato, just a bit of curried mayo. Grow your own basil by the kitchen window and throw a leaf or two in there. Eat with a salad with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, accompany with a glass of water, with a dash of lemon juice if you feel fancy. You have just skipped the fries that tasted all the same (while every bite of your salad can be different if you tossed a few things in there), and who really enjoys drinking Coke anyway? It's JUST sugar. It's nonsense even to pay for that. Toss it.

Chinese food? Sorry I'm not very strong in that department. But I can throw a pretty good curry under 30 minutes and it will have less MSG, salt and fat than anything you buy ready-made. Now that you talk about it, a quick pad thai with rice noodles, tofu, curry sauce, some peppers, lime juice, peanuts, etc. would work wonders too. And cooking (with a glass of wine please) while listening to music I love or to the day's news is a great way to relax and to feel that I have some control on my life. And if I don't have 30 minutes to spare to cook, maybe it's about time I change my lifestyle, it's not healthy either. Eating "healthy" is also about taking some time to eat. If you actually sit down, enjoy your meal, masticate appropriately, and even talk with your partner, colleagues, children, friends, etc. you'll probably eat less, digest better, enjoy life more and be healthier at the bottom line. Throw in a glass of red wine for the antioxydants and you're all set! :D

The meals I have just described are not necessarily the "healthiest" by radical standards. But I don't believe it's healthy to totally cut fat anyway. If the only result is to turn you off eating healthy because it's not tasty or pleasurable, then you're going to go back to your habitual diet and that certainly is not better.

You can tell me that Domino's, chinese take-out, and McDo are more convenient, okay. That's true especially if you drive, of course. That eating there reminds you of your childhood maybe and makes you feel comforted, okay. But they are definitely not the tastiest food. And when they do have taste, it's achieved by industrial processes that take you very very very far away from the original ingredients and their nutritional value, while adding all sort of stuff you really don't need.

If it's "tasty" and comes from a fast-food source, be very wary of what they did to make it so.

One caveat, my personal pet peeve: Eating well and starting from scratch or almost (raw, fresh ingredients) is definitely more expensive than eating junk, and takes a little more time (although not that much). Junk food is readily available, takes no knowledge and no equipment. To save costs, all the food is produced in the same place now - look what happened with the spinach, we just discovered that 90% of the bagged spinach in North America is produced in a tiny area of California - and everything is organized to maximize the profit of the fast-food and big agrifood companies shareholders, not to maximize taste and nutritional value. People seem to positively react to cheaper food, so the industry provides just that: food that comes from further away that is sold in big surface megastores, fruits that were picked a week or more before they're sold (what's the nutritional value of that??), pre-mixed meals - just add water - that could be so easily prepared with basic ingredients... All is pre-manufactured or, sorry, "value added". We should be fighting that not just to loose weight, but above all to remain healthy in our bodies and our communities...
[OFF SOAP BOX]

One last thing, about chocolate... :)

As a kid, all I knew about chocolate was chocolate bars. I had a Caramilk a day :eek: I remember my mom telling me that one day I'd need to stop and would be addicted!!

Well, of course that was not a good habit, and I am addicted. But I'll go for a square of dark chocolate. Or, if I'm in a mall and walk by a chocolate store and am tempted, I will buy one truffle. It's the same price as a chocolate bar usually - about $1 - but there is so much more to discover! So much more pleasure! And many less calories, less fat, closer to the original product (cocoa beans).

Also a must: real peanut butter, i.e. peanut butter with just one ingredient: peanuts... No trans fats, no added sugar, just the good fats of peanuts, and an awesome taste.

Ok I'm done now.

First, try to make eating easy....and adventurous. Try a different fruit AND vegetable every week. There a lot of new choices in our vegetable sections these days. Sometimes, I like to concentrate on new mushrooms, which by the way can be grilled or sauteed with spray-vegetable oils and added to salads, or beans etc.

Then, speaking of beans. Try to incorporate that into your diet. If the side-effects are too much, buy Beano. But beans are a great source of protein and fiber and make you feel full a lot longer.

Diets are bunk! Eating is how we live so try to make it healthful but exciting. More garlic and hot peppers and less lettuce and cucumbers.

Also, soups are great. There is some scientific backup to the fact that our stomachs register satiety via fullness or weight. So, soups with lots of vegetables (add more via frozen veggies) are a great way to feel full and satiated without a lot of extra calories.

After all, we can scarf down a Big Mac in a few minutes, but some really hot soup or hot beans over some brown rice (with cumin, garlic and maybe a few extra veggies) not only take longer to eat, but have more volume, nutritional vaule, flavor and nutrition.

Grog - I am not sure if you misunderstood me or if you can't fathom how I could have ever willingly eaten McD's; Dominos; etc. Some people love black coffee. Some people have to have sugar in their coffee in order to drink it. Some people HATE coffee. (I know - hard to believe but its true).

Whereas I no longer eat those foods nor find them appealing at all, I did at one time. I savored greasy fast food. I craved it. And I would have thought YOU were the weird one for not liking it as well.

A person can get used to anything. Take Steak TarTar for example. I cannot think of anyone who would look at a basically raw piece of meat and say to themselves "D*MN that looks good! Don't bother cooking it, I want it to moo!". I would imagine its an aquired taste. The same as McD's; Dominos; etc.

And for the record, I stated that I USED to eat that way. Thats why I was fat.

Just MHO; FWIW.

Wow, you guys are amazing. I was so afraid to post this because I feared there would be backlash for such an overweight person being into cycling (I'm very self-conscious). And some GREAT suggestions here. I probably AM eating too few calories for breakfast and lunch.

I have actually done two sprint triathlons in the past, but I never lost weight because I love to eat and am not a good cook -- a bad combination.

I'm going to try making a better lunch: chicken breast, sweet potato and veggies on the side. I'll switch the salad as a side to dinner (I use only a little bit of low-calorie Italian dressing). The salad just isn't working for me as a lunch.

I'll also try switching to the regular oatmeal, and I'll add eggs on the days I don't swim in the morning (right now I'm swimming two days a week before work and I want to get it up to three days a week until the spring). The oatmeal is easy to make in the office. To get the protein in, perhaps I'll have an apple with peanut butter as a snack.

And I'll give the full-fat yogurt a try, too. I can't eat much cheese because I'm lactose intolerant, but the yogurt is supposed to help things. (Oh, how I wish I could have cottage cheese!)

Good morning.

Offthegrid, what a wonderful thing you are doing! You're taking control of your life! We are all about everyone - no matter what their weight or size - having great cycling experiences!

The wise ones before me have all given great advice. I'd like to add a bit of mine. Good carbs... whole wheat everything, pasta, bread cereal. Good oils... olive, walnut, even canola. Full fat dressings w/olive or canola oil - simply measure out a tablespoon... it's better to have just the tiniest taste of that wonderful flavor than a quarter cup of some bland no-taste *filler* dressing. Stay away from trans-fats AND high fructose corn syrup (as a sweetener) - you'd be surprised what you'll find those things in, and they are the worst offenders! Use the *real* deal - maple syrup or honey - in smaller measures.

Be sure you get enough protein before your workouts or rides, as well as carbs... oatmeal is great, but add an egg white (if you don't want the whole egg) or a cup of yogurt. Snacking on apples w/peanut butter is great too - just be sure it's only about 1T of pnb, though... it's easy to end up with 1/4 cup! A handfull of raw almonds is a great way to get protein too - and very little fat.

Anyway, you're doing great, and have my admiration!:)

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Wow, you guys are amazing. I was so afraid to post this because I feared there would be backlash for such an overweight person being into cycling (I'm very self-conscious).

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Well, cyclists (and triathletes!) come in ALL shapes and sizes! And honestly, I respect someone who has a few extra pounds on them... getting into cycling/etc.... more so than a fit person getting into cycling/etc. Good for you for getting out there and doing it!

OK... about the food... I will try to give you an idea of what I eat. I actually log all my food... and I wish I could just do a copy/paste of my days! HA! I log my food on www.sparkpeople.com, you might want to check it out.

A little information about me and my dietary needs:

:) I am a 15 year-vegetarian.

:) My body burns 1600 calories a day, this is my RMR (resting metabolic rate).

:) I am 5'4" and 125 pounds with 25% body fat.

:) I have currently been eating 1600-1800 calories a day, because I was up to 130 pounds- and I needed to lose a few pounds.

:) I exercise 5-6 days a week on average.


Here is a typical day:

BREAKFAST, 8:00 AM-
2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful Wheat bread (YUMMY!)- 90 calories
3 slices of veggie bacon - 90 calories
2 slices of FF American cheese (It's good cheese!)- 60 calories

SNACK, 10:00 AM-
Quaker Instant Oatmeal- Brown maple sugar- Low Sugar- 160 calories

LUNCH, 12:30 PM-
A frozen low fat/calorie meal- around 300-400 calories

SNACK, 2:30 PM-
2 String 'ems Mozzeralla Cheese - 140 calories
1 Lite and Fit Smoothie- 70 calories
1 Kashi Trail Mix bar- 140 calories

SNACK, 5:00 PM-
A health bar- Luna/Mojo bar/etc. - 180 to 200 calories

DINNER, 8:00 PM-
A frozen low fat/calorie meal- around 300-400 calories


Here is a great dinner as well, that is easy to make and low calorie!
Have a bowl of soup. You can get a large serving of soup for 200 calories.

Make a grilled cheese:
2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful Bread- 90 calories
"I can't believe it's butter" Spray - 0 calories
2 slices of FF American Cheese- 60 calories

TOTAL FOR THE MEAL: 350 calories and very filling!


The key to your healthy eating is picking the foods that stick with you. For example, I use to eat a bagel at 10:00 AM, but I would quickly get dizzy and hungry. So, it was a wasted 300 calories. I found that my 160 calorie bag of oatmeal filled me up more and stuck with me fine through my AM workout and until lunch.

Also try to drink a LARGE glass of water when you feel hungry. Oddly it helps with the hunger pains.

Try to only eat ONE cheat meal a week! Learn how many calories are in all the foods you eat.

It's so easy to eat too many calories, when you don't look up the calories. www.calorieking.com has the most comprehensive food list I have ever found.

You can easily look up food for just about all restaurants too. So, if you are going out to eat, you can plan your meal ahead of time. It's harder to cheat when you walk in with a plan.

This post is timely for me. Like you I love to cook, exercise a lot, am often hungry, and am continually frustrated by my weight. Not sure why I am posting because I'm not having much success in losing any weight. On the bright side, my weight is not increasing. I have even gone as far as giving up dark chocolate and peanuts!

My diet consists of a breakfast of grapenuts w/ soymilk with fruit and coffee. Lunch a salad and a slice of cheese. Dressing is oil and vinegar. Dinner is usually something I have cooked fish, chicken, and/or legumes. Usually no sides. Snacks are a couple tamari almonds or an apple. Cytomax and diet lipton tea and some water. And of course I cheat. For instance, we have a tomato glut so I make salsa. And with salsa those corn chips are hard to resist... Never eat fast food. Rarely eat prepared foods. Occassionally go out for dinner.

Exercise most days: Cycling 3-5 days, running 2 days,weird indoor team sport 1 day, yoga 2 days. Obviously, they overlap.

I find my biggest problem is portion control, portion control, portion control and beer. (I only drink beer 1 night per week, but might have 2 and they aren't lite beers.) I would prefer to give up volume than taste. I have downsized my spoons. My goal is to lose 10 pounds.

Best of luck. It is nice to know you are not alone.

sarah

Grog, I'm copying your pizza and burger recipes to a word document for future reference :D .

Lately I have been lazy about eating whatever I can get my hands on for dinner. I really am too busy to prepare stuff, but as others have said, a little more effort will go a long way. I'm good about what I eat during the day (during the week) as all my meals are scheduled and thought out in advance... gee, you'd think I could do that with dinner.

The problem (excuse :o ) with dinner is that by the time I get home, it's late and I'm tired and starving. That's if I can make it home without caving in and stopping for a fast food chicken sandwich or sometimes a burger. Although I need to loose weight, my problem with the fast food isn't the calories as much as the nutritional value, and lack of taste (and the thought of it lately is kinda gross). No reason I can't pre-make some of those yummy burgers instead. DH is supportive whenever I try to clean up dinner, but it's too easy for me to bail when he feels like "cheating" or I'm famished. I'm even the first to blow it alot of times.

My other, bigger, problem is portion control when we go out to eat. I swear, all control goes out the window and by the time I'm done eating, I can't remember enjoying any of it and I'm so full it hurts. That's when I remember that I was going to try to slow down when I eat. Funny how it doesn't occur to me before a meal.

Breakfast usually consists of whole cut oats mixed with either peanut butter or yogurt. Lunch is starting to get boring (packaged frozen meals), but it's easier to bring all my food to work at the beginning of the week so I can ride my bike. We have a cafeteria, but it's too easy to stray and I don't want to spend the money.

With all the excercise I get, if I could stop stuffing my face I'd be skinny in no time. I used to strictly watch what I ate and although I was at my lowest weight ever, I started to develop an eating disorder. Now, I refuse to deprive myself of eating whatever I want, it's that pesky portion control. I'm an all or nothing kind of person, so I can go weeks eating clean, but then once I stray that's it. For instance, I can go without eating chocolate and then once I do, say goodbye to the whole bag... oh, and since I did that, I may as well have a whole pint of ice cream for dinner. I've come a long way since having the eating disorder, so I do try not to beat myself up too much. I know I need to learn to eat just one piece and move on, but after 25 years of trying, it's not looking good. Makes me mental.

Wow, that got long. Guess I needed to vent.

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Originally Posted by Squeaky

With all the excercise I get, if I could stop stuffing my face I'd be skinny in no time. I'm an all or nothing kind of person, so I can go weeks eating clean, but then once I stray that's it.

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This is so me!!!!!!! I'm exercising 5-6 days a week (twice a day on swimming days) but I just love to eat and preparing food in advance is tough. Then I'm driving home from work or the gym or whatever, and I'm just SO hungry. Stomach is in full protest. It literally hurts. :( And I either stop and get junk or make waaay too much food because I feel so hungry, and end up eating it all.

I think, too, my mentality is that I exercised, so I deserve all the food. In fact, nutrition professor Brian Wansink is studying this mentality now. He has people go through an unlimited buffet, and those that exercised eat more and way overcompensate. (I read about it in the NY Times, but now it's marked as a Select article, so linking is kinda pointless.)

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Originally Posted by Offthegrid

I think, too, my mentality is that I exercised, so I deserve all the food.

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yep yep yep! That too. It seems like you should just be able to say to yourself not to do it and have some will power. I'd really love to learn how to stop doing this. I mean, I know I'm going to get to eat again and it's not like my previous meals were that unfulfilling. Granted, there is a difference between eating a Healthy Choice frozen meal and Chiptoles (um, how can you not pig out on that), and I know I can have Chiptoles another day, yet I must eat the whole thing right then.

Hey, Grog, I'm with you. another advantage of cooking from scratch is you are getting more exercise. When I start to cook, i am on my feet at least another 45 minutes. Chopping carrots, potatoes, etc, I use a knife!
I knead bread dough by hand. the only thing I have used a blender for in the last few years is to make a pesto..

I recently learned some of my grandmother's recipes (for desserts, actually) and they are HARD WORK!!

There are days (and days and days) when we don't have enough time to cook and instead go somewhere to eat, but at my house, we eat hotdogs maybe 2x a year. (hot summer day, picnic!! in the back yard)

I love food and now that i am in my 50's I am hungry a lot of the day too and I don't know why.

I eat chocolate every day. but only a little bit of it.

I've lost 25 pounds and will be thin when I lose another 15---I ditto every thing Grog said....take a look at this website: www. dietfacts.com . It will give you the calorie counts for food at your favorite restaurants. A super sized lunch at McDonalds is well over 2000 calories, more cals. that I should consume in one day!!!

When I'm in my weight loss mode I can usually lose a pound a week if I keep my calories at 1100-1200 per day. I have a food journal and I list every food and the calories for that food that I eat for the day. So if I have a big lunch I know that I have to go lighter at dinner. It keeps me accountable. I have a digital scale that weights the food, and when I punch in a food code that gives me calories for that portion. I think Salter makes it, I got mine at Linens and Things. Without that scale, I ALWAYS underestimate the true calorie count.

It sounds like alot of work, but when you get into the habit, it's really ok.

Well first off Grog thanks for making me hungry. I'm trying to follow my own advice I'm about to give.

Anyway what I usually do is just flat out and ignore the feeling of hunger after I know that eating has only been a short time ago. Us overweight people have a problem, our bodies really do not want to loose the extra weight, and they will do whatever it takes to keep it on. Sometimes it is to give us the feeling of hunger to make us eat because it worked in the past when we didn't care about loosing weight. Plus if you have significantly dropped calories from what you were eating before your body thinks that it is starving. So it tries to get you to eat more. In reality in a small way you are starving your body because you are not eating as much. You must take in few calories or expand more then you eat to loose weight thus the starving part. Not literally starving by eating nothing though, please no one even think about that.

For those of you driving while hungry, isn't there something you can keep in your car for those times, something that takes the edge off, but isn't something that you will feel like eating too much of?

Like carrots or apples?

Then you can get home without the screaming stomach and make a good dinner?

I think i'm too cheap to snack like that (go to fast food places) i would be feeling guilty about all the good stuff i have at home!

I usually try to be prepared, but yes, I need to make sure I have something with me at all times. The problem is, I eat one of these snacks before leaving work, then I go do one of my activities, which burn through that snack fast. I'm usually an hour away from home at that point, and another apple or pretzel is unappetizing. hmmm, what else besides apples, cereal, pretzels, and granola bars are easy and convenient snack foods that I can keep in the car even when it's hot out?

This is going to seem off-topic, but Offthegrid's story sounded so familiar. I have been 10-15 pounds overweight for years, and despite lots of exercising that never seemed to change. I was up for eating at any moment, and had all kinds of cravings, especially at night. The a few months ago, everything changed overnight - I stopped craving, I was less hungry in general, and my whole attitude toward food changed - despite the fact that I was exercising more than I have in my life, in preparation for my first Olympic tri. What was the change? I stopped taking birth control pills. (Didn't quit all the way, but switched to Nuvaring.) Seriously, the first day I was off the pill, my appetite went down, and it has never bounced back. I've lost 10 pounds without trying, even though I'm not training intensively anymore. I still love to cook and eat, but I don't crave snacks all the time, and when I am hungry I can choose good food with my brain, because it is not overpowered by hormonal cravings.

So, this may not apply to most people, but if you really are hungry all the time, it might be worth examining your medications. (Although I know there are not good substitutes for many other meds, like there are for the Pill).

The only thing that bugs me is - does this mean that I could have been thin for the last 8 years? (That's how long I was on the Pill). Darn it! Being thin in my early 20s would have been a lot of fun ;) .

I have had the worst luck losing weight. I did the South Beach diet and was successful, but I can't not eat carbs. I was hungry all the time and grouchy. And the minute I came off the diet, all the weight came back and it brought it's nasty little friends I don't know what to do. I eat whole wheat bread/pasta/etc. and have been cutting down on my red meat in take (well, my meat intake in general) and have been TRYING desperately to exercise regularly (I work for a law firm, so my hours are often long and late), but with no luck. HELP. I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life and I'm going to ride the MS150 in April and can't bring myself to be seen in bike shorts in front of 12,999 other people. I'd like to blame the birth control and the anti-depressants I'm on, however, I've never been a really small person. (Even when I was thinner, I've always be very curvy.) Does anyone have advice? I'd like to find some bike shorts that fit!!!

Squeaky asked what kinds of foods you can keep on hand even when it's hot. Well, there's always jerky (whether beef or turkey etc.) although you have the nitrates to deal with there. I mention jerky because protein and high fiber foods tend to keep you satisfied longer and...it's a scientific fact that proteins have a higher thermogetic factor which means it takes more calories to break down protein than it does to process simple carbohydrates like pretzels etc. The fiber in apples and pears are great but they tend to not be quite so satisfying.

I suggest that if you're really serious about having good food and snacks available you invest in a small container and some freezer gel packs. Then you can have meals and snacks that your control the caloric and nutritios value of.

Does this help at all?:confused:

You'll burn most of your calories at rest. It makes sense to increase your resting metabolic rate. Adding muscle will do that. Weight training must be a part of your plan.

Beef Jerkey, great idea Raindrop! Also, if I'm keeping a cooler in the car, then I could have boiled eggs on hand too.... and I could bring the cooler into the office during the day so it stays colder longer, and then freshen up the ice before I leave.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meaux

I have had the worst luck losing weight. I did the South Beach diet and was successful, but I can't not eat carbs. I was hungry all the time and grouchy. And the minute I came off the diet, all the weight came back and it brought it's nasty little friends I don't know what to do. I eat whole wheat bread/pasta/etc. and have been cutting down on my red meat in take (well, my meat intake in general) and have been TRYING desperately to exercise regularly (I work for a law firm, so my hours are often long and late), but with no luck. HELP. I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life and I'm going to ride the MS150 in April and can't bring myself to be seen in bike shorts in front of 12,999 other people. I'd like to blame the birth control and the anti-depressants I'm on, however, I've never been a really small person. (Even when I was thinner, I've always be very curvy.) Does anyone have advice? I'd like to find some bike shorts that fit!!!

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It's all about calories in and calories out.

1) Start tracking all the food you eat and the caloric content. www.calorieking.com
www.sparkpeople.com

2) Then try to drop your calorie count to 1600-1800 if you are exercising, and around 1200-1400 if you are not exercising.

Try to find foods that are low in calories and fill you up. That is the secret. Look at eating many small meals a day.

Have 1 cheat meal a week. ONLY ONE.

It's all about the calories... shoot, you could eat McD's all day long, if you only eat as many calories as you are alloted each day. It's all about choices... and picking what you know will keep you full.

Give it about 2 weeks for the weight loss to kick in. After that... you will start seeing some pounds come off. Good luck... with some will power and determination... you can do it.

Unfortunately, knowing what to do is not the problem. I know alot of what some people say sound like excuses, especially to those who've never had serious weight problems or eating disorders (with exceptions of course), but it really does help to voice things and know it's not just you. Sometimes you stumble on new ideas or inspiration.

We can sound like broken records saying things like, "why can't I stop stuffing my face?" It's a life long battle and the key is finding balance and learning to live with imperfection. I know many overweight people who are healthier than some skinny people, but that adds to the frustration. I can't count how many thin people do a fraction of the physical activity I do (and have had babies no less!), yet here I am with weight that just won't come off (and yes, for a reason). I'm currently at a weight I should be able to live with, but somehow I can't be content in my own skin.

The kicker is that I know how much better I feel, regardless of my weight, when I eat clean. ahhhhh!

I see this problem with a lot of my clients...i get the "i know what i SHOULD be doing - i just don't do it!"

I too was like that for a long time. Its all a matter of recognizing the self talk when it happens (many of us don't).

We talk ourselves out of our workout ("i'll go tomorrow", "what's the point?" etc etc).

when we start talking ourselves OUT of something you must ask yourself
1) will this decision affect my health or wellbeing?
2) Will i be proud of this decision, or will it be something i try and hide?
3) will this decision prevent me from reaching my goal?

you also have to think the following way (or start to) - HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO REACH YOUR GOAL?

My brother in law has skin problems and wants to get into this study that is testing some kind of cream to heal it. He was assessed and was told to lose some weight. One of his problems is red wine. He drinks a lot of it. and he eats a lot of fatty foods. He was complaining to me one day, about the size of servings and how he NEEDS a bigger class of wine (his wife serves him up 1/2 a cup instead of his usually 2-3). I tell him this - how important is it to him to make it into the study and potentially get help for his skin problem. Or is it more important to drink wine.

Some food for thought (pardon the pun) :rolleyes:

Smile

Hannah

Thanks Hannah, these are good questions that I'm going to start asking myself when I'm tempted to overindulge. And hopefully BEFORE I do it :p .

I like the idea of beef jerky, too! It's chewy and tastes good, as opposed to having rice cakes or yet another apple or granola bar. I think I'll get some for the car for those emergency times when I feel like I'm going to crack.

this is an interesting read:



Sports Nutrition: Sheila’s Nutrition Digest Vol. 9: Food Psychology - What is controlling your eating?

By Sheila Kealey

September 2005

In this new series, XC Ottawa (and OAC Racing Team) member Sheila Kealey will help athletes choose the best foods for performance and overall health. Sheila has a Masters in Public Health and works in the field of nutritional epidemiology as a Research Associate with the University of California, San Diego.


Have you finished a bag of chips when you only wanted a few? Do you eat only when you are hungry? If physiological cues were the sole determinants of our eating habits, the nation’s obesity and health statistics would look quite different! Ubiquitous food marketing and advertising make it obvious that many other factors have a huge impact on what we eat and how much we eat.

Brian Wansink, PhD, is a researcher who is passionate about figuring out how cues that aren’t related to hunger influence our eating habits. Dr. Wansink wants to use this information to help us control how much we eat and choose nutritious foods, which contrasts the food industry’s single minded goal of encouraging us to eat more of their product. As professor of Marketing and Nutritional Science, and the director of the University of Illinois' Food and Brand Lab, he has conducted over 100 studies looking at eating behavior.

Through lab experiments, hidden cameras, in-depth interviews, and consumer panels, his work has revealed some fascinating information about how environmental cues influence what we eat. Here’s what we can learn from some of his findings:

Beware of Package Size
BIG packages encourage us to eat more, even when the food isn’t great.
When Wansink gave moviegoers popcorn in large-sized buckets, they ate almost 50% more than those served popcorn in smaller buckets. Both groups estimated that they’d eaten the same amount of popcorn. Were they overeating because the popcorn tasted so good? Not likely – the test subjects were munching on stale, 14-day-old popcorn, showing how automatic some behaviors become, and how package size has a powerful influence over the amount we eat.

In another series of studies, Wansink looked at consumption of 47 different grocery store products and found that people generally poured more out of larger packages than smaller ones.

Make it work for you: If you’re concerned about reducing your caloric intake, opt for small plates and bowls at home, and be aware of the sizes of containers and plates when eating out. Select large packages of foods you want to eat more of (e.g., those big bags of salad greens), and small packages of foods that you are trying to limit.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Ease temptation by putting unhealthy foods out of sight
We’re likely to eat more candies if the candy bowl is on our desk rather than just 6 feet away. Wansink studied the behavior of secretaries, and found that they consumed 50% more Hershey’s kisses when they were within arm’s reach as opposed to a few steps away. The type of bowl influenced consumption too: people ate more candy if the bowl was clear and they could see the candy, than when an opaque bowl stored the candy. They found that the same applied to healthy foods – for example, people ate more carrots when they were directly in front of them than when they had to get up to eat them.

Make it work for you: Surround yourself with healthful foods. At parties, you’re better off within arm’s reach of the vegetable platter than the chip bowl. Keep unhealthy foods out of sight, or don’t bring them home from the supermarket in the first place. As nutrition expert Dr. Marion Nestle has said: “If you resist it at the grocery store, you only have to resist it once. If you take it home, you have to resist it every hour of every day.”

We Eat with Our Eyes
The more we see, the more we eat.
Wansink’s group designed a clever experiment to show the powerful influence visual clues exert on how much food we eat. They rigged up a self-refilling soup bowl (a “bottomless” bowl where soup refilled from a hidden hose at the bottom of the bowl connected to a pot of soup). Unsuspecting college students who ate their soup from the self-refilling bowls ate 73% more soup than those eating from normal bowls, but both groups reported the same degree of “fullness.” This study shows we often use visual cues, like the amount of food left in a bowl or on a plate, to figure out when to stop eating, rather than relying on feelings of fullness.

Make it work for you: Don’t feel you have to “clean your plate,” but try to become more aware of adequate portion sizes and feelings of fullness to figure out when to stop eating.

Optical Illusions
We perceive that tall, slender glasses hold more liquid than short, wide glasses.
Wansink conducted studies showing that visual illusions cause us to pour more and consequently drink more when we use short, fat glasses. Researchers gave people either tall, slender 22 oz. glasses or short, wide 22 oz. glasses. People poured about one third more liquid into the short, wide glasses than the tall, slender glasses, although they thought they poured less into the short glass. In another study, Wansink showed that even bartenders were susceptible to this vertical-horizontal illusion, pouring about 28% more alcohol into tumblers than highball glasses.

Make it work for you: Pay attention to the glass shape: since short, wide glasses encourage us to drink more, use these for beverages that you want to consume more of, and save tall, slender glasses for beverages that you want to limit.

Variety Makes Us Eat More
Many studies suggest that being presented with a variety of foods makes us eat more. Wansink examined this phenomenon with M&M’s. He compared eating patterns of bowls containing ten M&M colours vs. bowls containing seven M&M colours. People ate 25-30 percent more M&M’s out of the bowl with ten colours compared to the bowl with seven colours, even though all M&M’s taste the same.

Make it work for you. Look for variety in healthful foods, since a variety of nutrients is the foundation of a healthful diet. For example, you will likely eat more vegetables if you are presented with a combination of colourful options rather than one type of vegetable. Eating this variety ensures that you’ll benefit from more protective nutrients that are important for good health. Also, recent research has demonstrated that nutrients from different foods may interact to provide extra health benefits, suggesting that that your diet is more than the sum of its parts.

Our Expectations Influence Our Taste Buds
People eat more when a food has an enticing, creative description rather than a plain name.
Even when two foods are identical, people rate the food with the most descriptive name as tasting better. Descriptive menu-item labels can increase food sales and improve attitudes customers have towards the food and the restaurant, according to Wansink’s research. For example, “New York Style Cheesecake with Godiva Sauce” got better ratings than a simple “Cheesecake,” though both were identical. People even indicated they’d be willing to pay almost 10% more for a descriptive menu item. Wansink believes that associations that evoke positive memories or emotions like nostalgia, locations, or sensory descriptions will influence our perception. What would you choose: Grandma’s Famous Sugar Cookies or Sugar Cookies? Tuscan Sun-Kissed Breast of Chicken or Chicken Breast?

Make it Work For You: Don’t be fooled by descriptive labels at the supermarket – and you won’t have to look far to find many good examples creative and enticing names! At home, present your healthful dishes with great names, and your guests may find them more satisfying!

Be Aware!

Since most of us can feel hunger and already have a general idea of nutritious foods to eat, being more aware of other powerful influences on our food choices can go a long way to help us adopt a nutritious diet.