B!S!! If that works for you, fine, but it certainly does NOT work for me and many others.
Feeling deprived or hungry made me break my diet and binge like crazy for a day, or a weekend, or a holiday, or a…
I had a hard time adjusting my diet when I was diagnosed as diabetic - well over a year for it to ‘be’ ‘normal’ for me.
Now that I’ve gotten to that point, I am gradually making healthier choices and being vigilant on portion control. I’ve lost 10 lbs (possibly more, I didn’t weight myself for quite a while) because this is what works for me.
I also walk more and started hiking (a cpl miles) again.
I think QuickSilver has a point about feeling deprived, though. You have to make changes to your eating habits in order to lose weight, which means you are going to have to either give up something or have less of it. In either case, I would think that there would be some sense of deprivation for most people, at least at first. In addition, for the entire time you are losing, you have to eat less than your body requires to maintain its weight. It’s hard to feel like you are getting enough when, in a way (even if it’s a good way), you are not.
Maybe people respond to hunger in different ways, though? For me, I kind of like the feeling. I can tolerate it for awhile, even when it hurts. But for someone else, it could be an intolerable feeling. Maybe they can’t tune it out like I can. Maybe it makes them irritable and crazy, and they lose control.
So maybe a person needs to know what type of person they go with an approach.
I wasn’t married and had no living children (except for my son’s sister, whom I call my stepdaughter but who isn’t related to me by blood) when I began that mantra. My priorities were different. I keep the same mantra simply from inertia.
Oh, I’m sure it’s not the same for everyone. The intolerable part for me is having cravings, or “sugar lust.” That happens well before actual hunger sets in, and is much more powerful. When I try to eat everything in moderation, I am constantly getting little bits of things that set off that feeling of needing more, and so I feel deprived without necessarily even feeling hungry. I agree that actual hunger can be a good feeling sometimes.
I agree - I rather like the feeling of being hungry. Or at least, at times, I don’t mind it. But if I’ve missed a meal or two and my stomach has “shrunk” or whatever it does when you don’t eat for a while, I learned long ago to only eat a tiny amount. Like a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit or a glass of juice. Otherwise I feel as if I’ve swallowed a bowling ball, and it also makes me feel slowed-down and sleepy for a while afterwards. I do not enjoy that feeling.
Because for me, the feeling of being “too full” is extremely unpleasant. And if I haven’t eaten in many hours, even a small meal will make me feel stuffed and very uncomfortable. I think that people who regularly overeat do not experience this same over-satiety as uncomfortable, but as - normal, or satisfied, or comfortable? And as a corollary, the feeling of “hunger” is intolerable and something that must be corrected by eating.
I just figured out recently that when I am “starving” at work between breakfast and lunch, it only takes three almonds to make my stomach stop growling. Hooray for saving the rest of my snack for later!
Yep! I keep mixed nuts on hand at work for exactly this scenario. Or a banana. Bananas are great snacks. Enough mouth feel and bulk to stave off the burny-stomach and cranky thing in between meals, and much better than a doughnut or chips or a candy bar. Dried fruits work too.
Really?? Why? Ive never owned a scale in my life and i honestly cannot remember the last time i got on one ( ok, i actually do, it was over 5 years ago). Yet my health and fitness are absolute priorities in my life and I’ve been able to get into great shape without ever using a scale.
People often get sidetracked and obsessed with the number on the scale, at the expense of other, healthier fitness measures. People who weigh themselves every day, or even multiple times a day, are sabotaging any hope of reaching their ultimate goals because they will see natural fluctuations in weight (both up and down) and think what they are doing is ineffective. And then they quit.
For someone struggling to lose weight, it CAN be beneficial to have a scale in their home but it must be used appropriately and not everyday. Many people in situations like that cant seem to resist daily(or more) weigh-ins; which breeds hopelessness. IMHO, id say it’s better not to have a scale in the home but rather have access to one in a place you have regular access to (gym, job, doctor,etc.)
It seems to be a very individual thing. I am best motivated by weighing every day, and it is helpful to me to see the fluctuations. I know that makes some people crazy.
OTOH Ambi your scale free living is replaced by a hyperacute awareness of your percent body fat which you keep in certain moderate ranges during bulking parts of your cycle and in a very low range when cutting for competitions. Even if you do not ever officially measure it often, you know. I am sure that you can state with high accuracy what an official body fat percent measurement on yourself would read on any particular day.
My humble opinion is similar to yours, that many people find the lack of daily progress (or gains that actually represent statistical noise) to be frustrating, (and FWIW I would discourage too much scale focus let alone extremely frequent scale focus and believe that a focus on behaviors is more productive) but in fairness it must also be noted that many of those who not only lose weight but keep it off long term do weigh themselves frequently, some weekly but many daily.
Of course those who successfully keep weight off also share other features: they keep up with a nutrition plan (commonly low fat and low calorie); they exercise lots (typically the worth of an hour of moderate intensity each day); and tend to be breakfast eaters.
FWIW. Please note: what works for successful weight loss maintenance may or may not be the same as what works to lose in the first place and what works for one may be the wrong approach for another.
I quite agree. I wasn’t arguing the toss about whether people do or do not underestimate their intake; I was just surprised at the 2000 calorie/day mentioned. I would love to be able to eat that many calories and stay the same weight. Still, seems I’m stuck with the body I’ve got.
Thanks for your reply. I’m a Brit actually so biscuits it is (though I sometimes post in American English on this board to avoid confusing the majority). Unfortunately we both love chocolate, so although there are sweets she likes that I don’t, it’s a tall order not to have chocolate in the house at all. But to be honest, that’s not really the problem - I don’t think I’m so hopeless that I can’t lose weight with chocloate in the house, I think it’s more that I have more willpower than her but if she suggests a takeaway, I’ll go along with it even if I’m not hungry.
She wants to lose weight too, so like with all issues in relationships we should just have an adult discussion about it, make a plan, and stick to it. Easier said than done with a 2 month old baby to look after though!