Food Addiction, Discipline, and Diet

It sounds like you have the great luxury of taking time out of your weight loss times to splurge occassionally.   Unfortunately for me, if I was cheating, I was gaining, so it was a matter of eat at McD's and gain, or talk myself dowm from a bad situation and be able to face the scale the next day.  I lied to myself a lot and told myself, if you get passed this one time, you can eat whatever you want when we get to goal.  Damn!  Turns out maintenance is just as hard!  But well worth all of time I spent making it happen. Mary

I totally understand the instinct to avoid certain "bad" foods BUT it's not realistic and it's not going to make or break your weight loss in the end. What will make or break WL is portions, not just size but number. I mean I can eating a serving size once and be alright but if I eat that same serving size 3-4 times in a day, I might as well have eaten it all to begin with, right?  I don't call any foods "off limits". I try to make conscious decisions and if I want something not so WL, I rate it. How badly do I want this food and is there another option available?  I think the key is to become like minded with average weight individuals. The eat healthy. They have treats. Yes, from time to time, they even OVERindulge. We have to shift our minds from food being our main thought every waking moment of the day to being the thought that comes to mind when we are truly hungry and then train it to eat normal portions. Beth

Beth, here's where my metabolism done me in.  From the time I got my brain to shift my way of thinking...fat girl done gained fifty pounds.  Obviously MY thinker was a stinker!  That's when I realized that for ME, changing my eating to portion control was not the answer.  It was a hard cold fact that certain foods made me fat or made my weight loss stop.  So for me to lose weight, there had to be some deprivation or stay fat.  I had come to the point in my journey to be able to face that cold hard fact.  And after practicing for a while, I was more addicted to seeing a number on a scale, than eating junk.  After a while, it just wasn't worth the stall. You should feel so blessed that you can lose weight and not be deprived.  I'm so jealous! Mary

and Mary, you know by now that the closer to goal, the more "deprivation" has to occur! THAT is when it comes home that limiting calories is the only way to do it. Not many normal persons have the time to burn off more than a few hundred cals every day with exercise. My body is exactly to that point - on my last 20-30# and it ain't pretty. I SHOULD walk the line more often, but I am struggling with how bad do i want this...how likely is it that I will then do what it takes to keep it off.  My body is pretty darn happy at this weight (185ish) and the amount of food I eat pleases me.

Someone who has a hundred pounds plus to lose will have a bit more forgiving cirm****tance. That body needs more calories to operate. 

Coming in loud and clear, Neecee!  The end of the journey is ALL uphill.  And at our age it's even steeper.   And I don't see what's wrong with your weight.  If your happy with it, your eating healthy, and you workout enough to maintain your health, I say you've reached YOUR goal.  So I say you should declare maintenance, victory, and GOAL!   Which comes with it's own set of cir****tances, no?  If we never see the end in sight, it's hard to finish the race.  I think you've done an amazing job, and it's left you with the heart to encourage others.  So take it easy on yourself cuz if you get too thin, it will make you look older!   Mary

Point taken, Neecee. I agree that heavier people lose more readily than lighter and the close one gets to goal, the more difficult losing becomes. I totally agree.  For me, all of this is a learning process. Right now, at 323 pounds, yeah, I do have some leeway because my body is naturally going to burn more calories just to operate. I also know in time this may have to be adjusted to reflect a lower natural calorie burn. It has changed for me just in the time I have started this journey. In the beginning, pounds fell off like crazy and now it's 1/4-3 pounds loss a week. Matter of fact, last week was my first gain since I began in January. I'll grant you, it was only a pound BUT it was still a pound and it was a gain and not a loss. Something is changing and adjusting so now I must adjust to put the scale back in my favor. It may be overall calorie intake, portion sizes, number of portions, amount of exercise or any mix thereof. Thing is: I have to figure it out and work with it until my body starts changing yet again causing me to have to adjust yet again.  Staying one step ahead of our bodies and knowing what it is our body needs is different for each of us based on age, current weight, metabolism, life style and time. That's why it's so bloody hard to do the one thing that seems as if it should be so simple. Beth