Simple yet complex: blood sugar. Insulin. The body chemistry of fat, hunger and appetite. Contrary to what you’ve probably believed your whole life, you are not some out of control mental case that can’t stop stuffing your face, your body was telling you to keep eating. Now that you aren’t triggering the flood of insulin into your blood with carbs, your body doesn’t need to tell you that anymore.
It’s a pretty delicate system to trip, too, I just had the experience yesterday. My orange tree has literally hundreds of pounds of oranges right now, and they are wonderful. I used to squeeze them for gallons of OJ at this time of year, which I’m obviously not going to do now. But I do love them, so over the past couple of days I’ve been cutting them into quarters having the juice in small portions that way. Which I can get away with if I do it after I’ve had a regular protein/fat meal, but yesterday I made the mistake of having an orange first thing in the morning, and that was definitely a mistake, because it set up cravings all day long. First for more oranges and then just the munchies. I didn’t go nuts but I was much more concerned with eating than I usually am these days.
It is so good to hear someone else say what I’ve been thinking lately Stoid!
The one time I binged, three days in, was because I thought I could just eat the toppings off a pizza (toppings included a sweet sauce with pineapple, ham and cheese). Then I thought “just the crust” and that was it. I ate half a large pizza, then figured I’d already screwed up so I ate everything in the house. That’s my usual trip. One wrong move and I’m doomed. I never really considered my binging anything physical but now I’m wondering. I’m having the same stresses I thought were triggers, but there’s just no desire to chew it out. So yeah, I’m thinking it’s not as much emotional as physical reactions.
I have two people in the house who aren’t trying to lose weight. They eat whatever they want so I get to see cupcakes and pop-tarts and chips and my favorite: WONDER BREAD, all day, junk I ate before every day but it’s not bothering me one bit.
I did have a dream about eating a pop-tart last night though.
Keep paying attention… the longer you’re at this, the more obvious it becomes, like me with the oranges yesterday. And it’s a huge relief, because you really start to understand and internalize the fact that you really can control your desire to overeat, and it doesn’t have to be miserable! All you have to do is hew to your low-carb life and the rest takes care of itself!
I have lost a steady 2 lb/month since last October. Not by following a diet or counting calories. Just by not eating between meals. I am now down to 217 (I am just about 6’) and was 281 about 10 years ago. After some ups and downs, I was about 235 in October when I stopped noshing cold turkey. I eat pretty much the same meals I always did, including splurges in restaurants, etc.
I plateaued for a couple of weeks, but I’m back to losing again. I’ve been laid up with a back injury and on prednisone (oral steroids) and still losing weight, which is pretty impressive. I’m down about six pounds from a month ago, and have gotten to over 40 total, 26 since January. People are starting to comment on my weight loss pretty frequently.
Someone posted awhile back about the 30 day Paleo diet challenge. Can’t find that particular thread, kinda crunched for time, but the Paleo diet is basically no dairy except butter, no bread/ grains, no legumes. It focuses on fruit, veggies, seeds, proteins and healthy fats.
On a whim, I decided to try it for 30 days and see what happens. well, 30 days ended today.
First of all, some people get the “carb flu” when they significantly cut back on carbs. For some reason, with this diet, it didn’t happen to me. I don’t know why, I’ve had it happen before, but not this time.
Once I got the hang of the diet and what to eat, it became much easier to shop each week since I only shopped in the produce and meat section. The first week I bought all my staples, oils, spices and such.
As I went along, I found my appetite wasn’t as ravenous as before and I had zero cravings. I felt satisfied after each meal and didn’t not feel deprived.
My job is very physically exhausting and by the weekend I’m usually pooped and have a hard time getting things done during the weekend, but all this month every weekend I had tons of energy and accomplished alot on my “To Do” list.
I never went on the scale until today and I ended up losing 13 pounds. Today was the first day I ate anything non-paleo and I didn’t really miss it.
I am officially off the diet, but I want to stick to it for the most part. I won’t deprive myself, but I’ve really enjoyed eating this way and have tried some really delicious recipes that I’ll continue making.
Terrible. I weighed myself yesterday for the first time since 20th May. Up three kilos. I think the amount of chocolate I’ve been eating could account for that. Lots and lots of chocolate.
I’m finally on the verge of dropping below 220. We’ll see tonight. The 220s have been a long haul for me, a few weeks of planned indulgences needed matching weeks to lose the slight gains. Then I think my body took it as a signal to maintain over even more weeks.
Happy I could maintain a 2-4 lb range since Easter without creeping back up seriously.
Yesterday’s weigh in was a happy surprise. I’ve lost an even 50 lbs, which means I hit my goal of 50 lbs. by my birthday, which is this Sunday. My next goal is to lose another 10 by the sprog’s birthday, which is August 1. I’m also within spitting distance of my halfway goal of 55 lbs. (Yes, I have to lose that much.)
The hot weather is helping, as is the local farmer’s market. Even though some of the stands have samples of baked goods, cheese and other yummies, I’ve started buying fruit or veggies and snacking on those as I shop for other food. The sweetness of the fruit/veggies keeps me happy and I don’t feel the need to snack on stuff I shouldn’t eat. And they’re zero-point foods, so I can eat them with relative abandon.
Congratulations Ms. R! I’m another one dieting without scales (gotta go get a set, but not my biggest priority right now.) Anyway, I have discovered that my pants are looser, and I’m currently wearing a pair of shorts I bought in 1989… a little snug, but they button and zip, so yay! Mr. M went to the doctor last week, and had lost 14 pounds from May 20 through June 14.
It’s been a bit of a challenge to cook/eat healthy in the midst of a move, but we’re managing okay. And I think we’ve decided to add a planned “cheat” every month or two: a dinner out would be nice, if only to relieve the tedium of cooking and meal planning now and again! Any thoughts from the Peanut Gallery on that idea?
Congratulations, MsRobyn, you are well on your way. And I agree with you wholeheartedly on the tasty fruits and veggies available this time of year.
Lacunae Matata, shorts that now fit when they didn’t fit formerly is always a great sign. Congrats to Mr. M too on his weight loss. A dinner out is always a good thing, IMHO. I have them every so often myself, it especially relieves me of the cleaning up after a meal.
nofloyd - best of luck to you on your WI.
Let’s just do the best we can, as often as we can, and enjoy the summertime. Woot!
I have been very bad - in as much as I have no discipline and have been weighing-in *every *day…
The good news is, it continues to be positive, with either no gains or a little loss.
Today I was down to 200.8. 201 when I round, but if I am good I should actually hit 200 by my official weigh-in on Sunday. (Just by posting I show my lack of discipline because I wasn’t going to post until I hit 200.)
Going below 200 will be such a huge milestone. I haven’t been below 200 in two decades. My size 36 pants are too loose, but 34s are too tight. I can wear 34 relaxed fits, but I am greedy and want to see a *real *34.
I have friends who think of me as the chubby one who now wear pants bigger than mine.
Got a bicycle Memorial Day weekend. On MD itself, I weight 231.9 pounds. I’ve been riding it 4-5 days on, 1 day off. Started off being able to go only 1/2 hour or so, now I can easily do 1 hour and I’m using far “harder” gears than I did originally.
This morning, I came in at 224.8, a loss of 7 pounds.
I have no real set goal in mind, other than to “lose weight before the doctor tells me to do so”. I’m eating less and keeping an eye on calories, but haven’t changed my diet in some radical “I’m going to hate the rest of my life if I continue this” way.
