The General Diet & Emotional Support Thread

Fee82

Louise22 wrote: »

I have just demolished a full packet of bbq pringles so be kind to me too!!

OOOoooo... pringles :EasterBun
I'll be very kind, promise!

I went shopping today and discovered just how much I divide my food into 'good' and 'bad'. I never realised before that I have a particular route down the aisle for when I'm 'being good' and another for when I'm not . I am so used to being told what to buy by which ever diet I'm following that I actually felt overwhelmed by the choice and had no idea what to buy. I made my poor boys wander up and down the aisles and in the end just started putting in food that I wouldn't usually have allowed myself. BC advises you to buy a large amount of your favourite food (i.e 30 bars of choc) on the basis that having so much in your cupboard will help you to realise that you don't have to eat it all in one go so I bought two packets of cadbury choc digestives. Felt quite nervous really that I will end up eating the whole lot.

I wasn't hungry until late morning when I then had scrambled egg, smoked salmon and thick buttered (Butter?!??!) homemade white bread. Tried really hard to think about when I was full but I have actually no idea. I think I have overiden my bodies signals so much now that I have absolutely no idea what 'satisfied' feels like - I know 'bloated' very well though :rotfl:. I decided to just leave a small amount on my plate which is so very rarely done. A while later I realised that I had overeaten. Rather than feel bad about it I tried to think about how I will in time learn to recognise the signals and stop sooner.

Hungry again at 6pm when giving the kids their tea I ate a berry muffin that was lovely and then two biscuits. I enjoyed and stopped. Felt weird though eating them and not counting the calories or thinking about the points!

At 7.30pm I ate another two biscuits without really thinking. Afterwards I realised that I was bored and possibly a bit lonely - the kids were playing and my partner is working the evening. She'll be home soon and then we'll eat at about 10pm. Hungry now!

Fee xx

Dawning

I discovered BC about 3 years ago. Many of the principles are very helpful even if you aren't following BC itself.

One of the most useful tips I got from the book was the part about buying clothes that fit NOW. And removing the ones that dont. That made me accept my body a bit more, although I did have to buy another size up after a couple of months because I gained weight doing BC. I had two main problems, the first being that I was completely out of touch with my body's hunger signals, and the second that the more I ate certain foods the more I wanted them....sugar and wheat especially!

I'm back on the diet merry go round, and it's even harder than before.

Good luck with the BC. I was a member of the forum and some of the girls on there were doing great with it.

grey_lady

Well done for recognising that short-term fixes - diets etc
don't work and at least you've done that at a young age. All of the diets you mentioned and I'm afraid to say also the Beyond Chocolate intuitive eating principles very rarely work in the long-term, maybe for 1-2% of people. (afaik this applies to BC) Most people actually gain over the long term - check out for yourself what independant scientific proof there is for Beyond Chocolate / intuitive eating principles. In fact even people with gastric bands often gain back over the long term, (as well as facing
scary side effects) look at Sharon O for example.

So I'm going to suggest something else - a Cognitive behavioural therapy technique. (this comes from a book/workshop called Eating Less by Gillian Riley)

You don't have a 'weight' problem, you have an eating to much of the wrong kind of foods problem. In fact forget weight and size, if I was to say to you that the next muffin you eat would be the one that actually triggered lifelong diabetes/heart disease - you'd probably make a very conscious choice not to eat that muffin and choose to eat something healthier instead.

Choosing the muffin occasionally is fine - but consciously choosing healthier options most of the time would have the side effect of weight loss and the great benefit of being good for your long term health.

Just a suggestion of what personally has worked for me, good luck and I hope you succeed whatever path you choose to follow.

Fee82

Thank you both xx

To confirm... I find BC inspiring but I'm not looking to it as answer to all my problems. I've used CBT within my work (I'm qualified as a Life Coach) and like some of ideas along with others. I think the big thing for me now is to think more about what I'm doing and look for the answers within myself rather than following rules prescribed by someone else.

I plan to read around, use trial and error and see what works for me. For instance, I know that when Paul Mckenna talks about slowing down eating that is something that benfits me but I won't be using aversion therapy on chocolate :rotfl:.

If anyone know of any other good websites, books, resources etc along these lines please let me know. This really is a journey for me.

Anyway, last night was not a good night. My partner came home to tell me that she had found out by email that the department she works for in the council is going within the next two years. Not sure exactly when she will be made redundant but this is obviously worrying news for us. Immediate thought was about those biscuits I bought! Resisted though because I knew it would just be emotional eating. Instead we got into an argument and went to bed early - great for my waist but not really for my marriage .

Fee x

Fee82

Went out for breakfast this morning and enjoyed ordering exactly what I wanted. Even managed to stop before the plate was clear
I'm home alone now and keep wandering into the kitchen opening the fridge and staring into it. I'm not physcially hungry. I think I'm bored, possibly a bit lonely and keep thinking about what might happen if my wife loses her job sooner rather than later. I thought I would keep my fingers busy on here! Maybe need to do something proactive as when I feel out of control (like her bosses deciding our fate so to speak) that's when I seek food. God this isn't easy.

Fee xx

Dawning

grey_lady wrote: »

So I'm going to suggest something else - a Cognitive behavioural therapy technique. (this comes from a book/workshop called Eating Less by Gillian Riley)

You don't have a 'weight' problem, you have an eating to much of the wrong kind of foods problem. In fact forget weight and size, if I was to say to you that the next muffin you eat would be the one that actually triggered lifelong diabetes/heart disease - you'd probably make a very conscious choice not to eat that muffin and choose to eat something healthier instead.

Choosing the muffin occasionally is fine - but consciously choosing healthier options most of the time would have the side effect of weight loss and the great benefit of being good for your long term health.

Just a suggestion of what personally has worked for me, good luck and I hope you succeed whatever path you choose to follow.

I just came on here to suggest the book by Gillian Riley. I have just started to read it and so far, it is very very helpful indeed.
Grey_lady, thanks for mentioning it and I'm really happy to hear it's working for you. I'm even thinking of going on one of her seminars, if I can get the money together.

Good luck Fee, I'll keep reading your thread.

grey_lady

Dawning - her method is excellent, it was Gilian's technique that I used to quit smoking 5 years ago (without patches or anything else)

The eating less workshop I did back in January and it really made the book come alive for me - I still occasionally read through the notes I took. My BMI was 32 when I did it - so obese and within
a short space of time I was making healthy choices which had the bonus of losing 10 pounds and dropped into the overweight range - I then maintained that without effort or dieting for about 6 months before having a private telephone session with Gill to help me progress further - I knew where my biggest amount of unhealthy excess calories was coming from but needed some help with my motivations for cutting back in that area.

All very much as an ongoing thing though, although I do weigh less now there have been other (health) things that have contributed to that - I hope in future to be able say that yup I've lost/maintained weight for at least year soley relying on what I learnt from Gill.

Anyway - v.sorry for hijacking Fee's thread - promise not to do it again :-)

Fee82

Just added the book to my wish list on Amazon so hopefully someone nice will buy it for me at Christmas time

Rough day. I've eaten out of boredom today and annoyance with myself. Shouted at my son and immediately regretted it so medicated myself with a mince pie I'd just bake ready for the freezer... then another I don't even like them!

I'm telling myself that it's just a stressful time at the moment and not to be hard on myself. Two mince pies when I wasn't hungry isn't the end of the world.

I was thinking too about something Dawning said earlier about having fitting clothes in your wardrobe. I think I need to go through mine. I have so many different sizes in there and the majority doesn't fit at all. I hang on to them in the hope that one day they will but in the meantime surely I'm just reminding myself everyday that my body isn't what I want it to be? Don't have much money for new stuff at the moment but need to think about this some more.

Fee x

Fee82

p.s don't worry about the hijack GL... it all helps x

jem1276

Good luck with your journey, so many of us have been there and know how you are feeling.

I too have been on a yo yo journey most of my adult life but feel I am coming under control now.

Have done cambridge diet, cabbage soup, slim fast, slimming world, weight watchers etc...

I have lost 3 stone over the last 18 months and have another 2.5 to go.
I am not dieting for the first time in many years, I am just eating healthily and if I want a high fat/cal treat then I have it. I am working on remembering that I did not get fat overnight and will not lose it (and keep it off) overnight.

I have also developed a regular gym habit (wasn't easy, I have been a serial joiner and leaver of gyms for a few years) and am part of a pilot 12 week group of personal training for small groups.

Half way through and have lost 5 and 3 quarter inches all over.

Things I have learned that I have found helpful:

Weight training = weight loss. Don't be tempted to concentrate using weights on your arms as your biceps are tiny in comparison to you thighs and glutes. Lots of squats and lunges etc... no equipment needed.

Interval training is 9 times more effective for fat burning than regular cardio. IE if you are doing 10 mins on the treadmill or walking round the park, 1 min medium, 1 min fast, 1 min medium etc... will be 9 x more effective than 10 mins fast.

Try and avoid 'low fat' versions of foods/drinks. Massive amount of difference in sugar/artificial sweetners.

If the body has a big hit of artificial sweetners, it gets a sweet hit and then the brain tells the body to prepare for sugar and this upsets the whole GI type levels. The body cannot use empty calories in low fat stuff like 'go ahead' bars etc.. and would be better off having a small piece of the non low fat alternative, easier for the body to use and greater feeling of being satisfied for longer.

Stop weighing in every week (I know it is hard!) but it is not measuring fat loss but weight loss which is all affected by water and whether you have had a poo and stuff. Once a month is better and measurements are the best way, after all it is our measurements that go into clothes and not what the scales say.

Best piece of advice I had.....just because you smashed a cup, doesn't mean you need to take the whole dinner service out of the cupboard and smash that too.

Fee, I really do wish you all the luck in the world, along with anyone on the same journey. It is not easy but we can do it xxx