I have dieted for so long, that I have mental lists of good and bad food. Good - any green vegetable, most lean protein. Bad - sugar, anything white. Foods flip from one list to the other depending on the plan I'm doing, mostly fruit! Sometimes eating an orange is cheating and sometimes it is a healthy nutritious addition to a meal.
Sometimes, it is good to eat snacks. Some plans advocate three meals and two snacks spaced evenly throughout the day. Some plans are strict three meals, no snacks. Some plans are eat every x hours. Some plans just give an allotment of calories or carbs and leave the dieter to choose when to eat and how much.
Add to this my own upbringing in relationship to food: clean your plate, eat what you are served and be thankful, if you don't eat, you'll be hungry later and you can't have a snack. (I should probably do a whole post about my childhood & food.) These ideas are deeply ingrained. It still kills me to leave food on my plate!
I'm still on the No S plan, but I'm struggling. I still have a good/bad mentality when it comes to various foods. After all, alcoholics don't have a sip of wine on weekends or special days. Addicts, don't have a hit of heroin on their birthdays. I've not studied the definition of addiction, so don't know if I can say that I'm addicted to sugar, bread, or anything else. I don't believe that I am. I think somehow I live in fear of hunger.
I can't have sugar. OK. I won't eat sugar, but I can eat all of the red meat I want. No problem. I'll eat that. No red meat, but I can eat fruit. Sure thing! It is like I am always looking for the loophole. What can I eat that is unlimited. I'll just pile that in. I've called it 'on plan cheating' in previous posts. I don't think it matters what plan I'm doing. There are a lot of good ones out there. Most of them will probably even work for me. But not until I get over this fear of hunger.
Now, how to make that happen? I don't know. My first thought in my 'all or nothing' mentality is to fast for a time period. I mean like three days, no food. I'm not sure first, how to make that happen because 65MD would squawk And two, I don't think it would help with the idea of normalizing food. It would make it all bad for that time period.
Ideas? Has anyone else battled this? I could use some success stories here.
I read a lot of my own thoughts and feelings in your post. "On plan cheating" is an excellent term.
ReplyDelete"After all, alcoholics don't have a sip of wine on weekends or special days. Addicts, don't have a hit of heroin on their birthdays." This just totally hit me over the head and started me thinking. Ha!
It is a maze and it is frustrating sometimes. The only thing I can tell you is you have to find ONE way that will be suitable and successful for you.
ReplyDeleteIt might not be a drop quick scheme as feasting is or as I read about someone with milkshakes. The biggest problem with the quick one, it doesn't do nothing to your brain but send a wrong message. That's my view point, but I still have to read anyone successful with a quick dropping scheme.
You are over half way with your goals, how did you do it? I can't wait to be where you are but I know that the second half is so much more a going uphill battle.
One of my favorite blog: chrislivessimple.blogspot.com If you read from her start she did some amazing growing up...
One more great story:
http://losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com
I would say if you feel that your eating is a spiritual problem/hinderance, talk with your husband about fasting for a time period. Cook ahead of time for him or something so he will have food for then. Other than that, I don't know that banning ALL food for a certain amount of time will really do anything but make you resentful somehow and cause a loss with a quick gain to follow. Then again, I could be totally wrong. :) I like what you said about the addicts, but food is NOT a forbidden drug. Just remember that part. Manna was sweet. Honey is often mentioned in the Bible. Even carb-laden milk. Ha! So while I do see your point, I think your S plan has a really good balance to it, in my opinion. You've seemed to do good with it. Don't let the recent overeating of Easter candy mentally ruin what is working for you more consistently and easily than anything else youv'e tried lately!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Staci! Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it totally depends on the food. What as worked the best for a lot of foods is that I don't bring them in the house unless I am making something that will be entirely eaten by a group of people. Example: Cookies. I find it hard to limit how many I eat, but I can occasionally eat one away from home (like if I go to Subway). I find that I eat them a few times a year and that is fine. But, I know if I bought them for the house I would be in trouble.
ReplyDeleteSome foods, I can modify and limit what I eat and have them in the house. Years ago, I used to eat a Snickers bar every day. Now, I eat dark chocolate (at least 72% cacao) and eat a small piece (100 calories or less) several days a week. It takes me 4 or 5 days to finish a single bar. I'm not sure why I can do that with chocolate and not with cookies...but it works for me.
Then there are things that it is just easier for me to eliminate entirely. I recently gave up diet soft drinks entirely. I had tried off and on and to give them up at home, but still have them at restaurants or when out and about. It never worked. I always started buying extras to have at home. This time I just gave them up entirely. I drink green tea and sparkling water (no sweetener) at home. At restaurants, I drink water or tea (no sweetener). I have gotten to a point where I don't even really think about the soft drinks any more.
So -- I think it has to be looked at individually for each food to figure out what works best.