I have a question for everyone who has managed to lose some weight, here. I have lost weight in the past when I got into a very strange, highly-motivated state of mind where I seemed to require much less food than usual. The last couple times I’ve tried, I may have failed because I didn’t stick with it long enough, or I may have failed because I was eating too much. I get a “sinking” feeling, as if I’m simply not getting the food-energy I need, and it makes me depressed and scared and I stop dieting.
Is this sinking, hungry feeling part of the weight loss process, or can I eat enough to make it go away but still lose weight?
SattuaI can only speak from my experience but when I’m eating less to lose weight I often feel hungry but I expect to since I’m eating less calories than it takes to maintain my body weight. I find that if I stay busy I barely notice it but if I’m not it bothers me more. Sometimes it’s what I call brain hunger - I just want to eat out of stress or boredom or because something looks good. I get that tired sluggish feeling too, especially in the morning but I find that working out early in the day gives me a big energy boost. I wish I were the kind of person that could lose weight by eating tiny amounts of delicious food but most of the time I go for things that I can eat more of so that I feel fuller.
Breakfast is usually a cup of whole grain cereal (which is more than it sounds like) with some fruit and a little nonfat milk, but it’s probably better to eat a protein breakfast. Two eggs, a slice of nonfat cheese and a slice of low fat ham on one piece of bread is under 350. I should be doing that but I don’t like to eat that way early in the day for some reason. I like breakfast food for dinner better. I do notice that the full feeling lasts longer from the protein breakfast, though. I eat big salads for lunch every day and I toss in all of the lettuce and fresh vegetables that I want and then add some kind of low fat protein like soy products or chicken to it. You can eat a bowl the size of your head for less than 300 calories. I used to skip the 2 snacks that virtually all healthy diets recommend just because I had the willpower to do it but I don’t anymore and it helps a lot. I aim for no more than 100 calories in each one. Dinner is usually protein and vegetables.
Once I made a rule that every time that I thought about eating between meals I had to drop and do 10 pushups. I stopped acknowledging that thought real fast.
Sigh. Scale reads 155 lbs today, which is progress backward by about 2 lbs. There’s a chance I might be bloated–it’s that time of month. Measurements are the same.
I went grocery shopping for the first time in forever yesterday. I tried to get a balance of foods, but I did end up buying cookies. Three packages of cookies, in fact. I’m not sure what came over me. It was one of the few times when I could definitively link feeling stressed out to craving junk food. My body and soul felt it needed those cookies. I’m not going overboard with them on a daily basis though. I am trying to make them last.
In terms of the other food, some of it is low-calorie and low-fat and ‘‘healthy’’ and some of it is just food. I’m really just trying to get into the habit of eating grocery store food again. Lately I’ve been eating in restaurants and fast food so it’s definitely an improvement over that.
I really haven’t gotten a respite from the stomach pain yet, so I don’t see vigorous exercise in my immediate future, but at least I’m walking a lot.
I can’t seem to get myself motivated to keep up on Sparkpeople. I want to. But I’ll track a day or two and then get sick of trying to figure out how to log my meals when I eat out, and guessing which of the salad dressings already in their database most closely matches the one I have which isn’t,and I don’t feel like transcribing the whole damn label…
I know it’s just laziness. But I can’t seem to get over my inner slug. I know I’m eating pretty well because I’m still doing the same stuff I was while I WAS taking the time to log my intake. I can thank Sparkpeople for that, it made me more aware of my choices. But the exercise has been pretty much nil lately, since my stationary bike crapped out on me. Maybe I’ll just bounce up and down for a half hour and pretend I have a jump rope.
184 today - so one more pound down. I found some yummy Thomas Light Multigrain english muffins (100 calories, 8 grams of fiber) that I’ve been using to make pizzas at work for lunch - with some provolone and pizza sauce, there’s protein and calcium and it fills me up nicely with some veggies on the side.
I’m heading to the grocery store later today - I’m looking forward to roasting some veggies this week, and making a big batch of lentil barley soup.
Lentil Barley Soup, 6 servings
1 medium onion, chopped
Several stalks celery, chopped (as much as you want, I usually do at least 3)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cans diced or stewed tomatoes, italian style
Frozen crinkle-cut carrots, as much as you want (fresh carrots cut into coins work well also)
3/4 cup lentils
3/4 barley (large, NOT quick barley)
2 cubes chicken or vegetable boullion
6 cups water
Spices to taste (I like oregano, basil, black pepper, and cayenne pepper)
In a large pot, cook the onions and celery in the olive oil until they are soft. Dump in everything else and stir. Bring to a boil, then let simmer / boil gently for one hour. Eat. It will get much thicker the next day and be more stew-like. Long ago when I calculated the nutrition info it came out to 170 calories, 5 g. fat and 6 g. fiber per serving - but I haven’t run it through the SparkPeople recipe calculator yet.
You can add any veggies you like, and it freezes really well. I actually like it better the day after I make it, because the flavors all blend together and most of the liquid gets soaked up. I think it really needs the cayenne for kick, but you can leave it out if you don’t like spicy-ness.
And it’s the weather too, for nice thick hot soups!
Antigen, it’s hard., I know. What you’re doing is a lifestyle change, and that can be very overwhelming. Try to do one thing at a time, like cut out sodas or drink eight glasses of water. You’ll get there.
I know what you mean, Jali. How I wish sometimes I could transfer my SDMB post count to my SP point count! Oh, the goodies I could buy!
203, another couple of pounds in the right direction. Not bad after having had pizza for tea Friday and scarfing down a few too many sweet biscuits yesterday. The Christmas cheese is all eaten up, at any rate.
Hmmm, I didn’t have that experience. I concentrated on eating foods with high nutritional value and avoiding food with little to no nutritional value. I don’t like the feeling of hunger, so I eat every 2-3 hours. I haven’t had any sinking or weak feelings!
I will say that some types of carbs can make me feel hungrier, so I avoid them, especially for breakfast which can really set me up for failure during the day. Oatmeal is okay, but cold breakfast cereal is not, for example. I know everyone is different and I might sound kinda crazy, but “empty” carbs can make me absolutely ravenous and trigger binges. Even simple stuff like half a big bagel - boom!
Isn’t a “sinking” feeling exactly it’s more like a hollow feeling. I feel like I MUST eat.
Glory, it’s not just your imagination. Blood glucose levels influence hunger signals. There’s evidence that foods which rank low on the glycemic index leave you feeling less hungry.
Even if you don’t buy into the whole Zone diet, which touts the “magic” of 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat, there’s a decent amount of clinical evidence that eating protein along with low-GI carbs (generally unprocessed or unrefined foods) leaves you feeling more satisfied than if you eat lots of high-GI foods and don’t eat protein along with them. A moderate amount of fat (20–30%) from a mix of nut/vegetable/animal sources also seems to help with satiety, and paradoxically is better than a strict low-fat diet for cholesterol levels and weight loss. Since that kind of diet also is good for counteracting insulin resistance your body’s response is favorable too. You’re less likely to store the calories as body fat when eaten in those proportions.
Eating every few hours also helps both with avoiding hunger and keeping your blood sugar at a relatively even level.
I agree. I know I sound like a shill for the South Beach plan (and believe me, I recognize its flaws as well), but I feel a lot better and am eating a lot smarter. I always thought that I would never, ever be able to give up flour-based carbs because I had predictable times at every day when my blood sugar would take a nosedive and I would feel shaky and exhausted, and it seemed like eating something like pretzels or a granola bar or some other carby snack along with a cup of coffee was the only thing that would help. And it would, temporarily.
But I do find now that I don’t get those dips like I used to, and I am drinking far less coffee, too.
In other news, I weighed myself at the gym yesterday and am finally down 2 pounds!!
I can haz celebratory cake?? OK, maybe not. Still about 10 or 15 more to go.
I’m still sitting at 88kg, so still on an even keel, just not losing any.
But, I finally got to clear out my wardrobe. I have been putting that particular job off for a while, but my wife got in to the local M&S superstore during a one day sale, and got me two pairs of work trousers for a total of £17 (normal price of well over £100). I even forgave her the pinstripes.
But having new trousers ( 36") made me get rid of the trousers that just do not fit - most of the 38"s, the 40"s and the 42"s :eek:.
Next, my wife wants me to replace some of my XL tee-shirts/polos, because they look too big on me as well.
I always give my clothes away as soon as they get too big. If I keep them mixed in with smaller sizes and I gain a bit of weight I still have them to wear so I can be in denial about it, and if I don’t have them then I either have to lose the weight or go buy a bigger size. The thought of having to go buy a bigger size is too disappointing so it motivates me to keep fitting in the clothes that I have. I also don’t allow myself to buy stretchy jeans. Besides not liking how they feel against my skin, they also leave room for a lot of weight gain before they don’t fit.
I didn’t want to buy new clothes until I had got closer to my goal weight - I don’t like spending money on clothes at the best of times. It was only the cheap sale that allowed the purchase to proceed. I ended up with one pair too long in the leg (my wife will turn them up) and another pair with pinstripes (not my favourite), but for the price, I won’t not wear them. But I agree with the “burning boats” approach.
When I first started losing a lot of weight it was so much fun to buy clothes that I was replacing my entire wardrobe every 2 sizes. I could afford it but it really was ridiculous to spend that kind of money on things that would only fit for a few weeks. If I had it to do again I would have worn the larger sizes for a bit longer and bought a lot of the replacement clothes on eBay instead of buying brand new ones that would only fit for a few weeks. Now I refuse to let myself buy anything larger than a size 8 so that going up isn’t an option.
OK, maybe not. Still about 10 or 15 more to go.