Help ............ I'm a sensible person apart from with this healthy eating thing. :o((((

I am, I’ve always been “the sensible one”, I have a good full time job that I worked my ass off for, I earn a decent wage, rent my own nice sized place with my boyfriend and am soon to be engaged.  I know that I don’t have too many numbers on the scale to drop, I don’t want to be “skinny”, I just want to tone up the body that god gave me and the large ass that my mom gave me!!  :O)  I’m not asking questions like “Do I have an eating disorder?” I understand the 1200 rule, eating back calories and the 3500 = 1lb maths, I like “healthy” food and cooking……….. 

So why am I continually failing at this?  Why when I have plenty of reasons to be motivated, holidays booked for the summer, a plan to go snowboarding in the winter, a boyfriend who loves me and wants me to be his wife, do I always let myself down.  Why do I prioritise biscuits and sweets above all of these things? 

This is driving me crazy, I’m a sensible person feeling like I’m losing my mind.  I know it’s only me that opens my mouth, chews, and swallows this crap but I finding myself losing more and more control.  I can eat 6 – 10 biscuits when I get in from work, I’m not hungry I just want them because they are there.  When I go shopping I buy a chocolate bar or biscuits and eat them in the car on the way home and don’t tell anyone.  

I can make myself go home, tidy up, clean and iron, but can I regularly make myself get to the gym…………no. T his isn’t normal, not in my opinion anyway. 

BTW, F/26/152lbs, SW 160, GW 145 (ish –  being toned and dropping 1 dress size would make me happier regardless of the number on the scales).

Target calories 1400 + exercise.  Usual calories 1700 and 30% fat. :o(

Hey there Sunnybra

I think you just need to give yourself a little push to get yourself in the gym and you'll be good from there. Once I get myself there I feel so much better and actually think well that was'nt too bad. As for the biscuits why not have an apple or some other fruit and hide the biscuits and don't have them in the house. 

I must admit my motivation comes from the fact that I am getting married in October and if I feel like I can't be bothered going to the gym I just keep thinking about my flabby arms in a wedding dress lol

You'll get there x

p.s we have similar stats Female/26/155lbs SW161, GW 140-145. what height are you?

 

Hi Lainey, I'm 5'6, 5'7 if I stand tall. Uk size 12 top, 14 bottom.  :o)  How about you?

You're right about the gym, I don't hate it, I feel pretty good when I've been there.  My gripe at the minute is reading about all of the people that burn 700, 800, 900 calories in one gym session, I strugge to hit 300-400.  but I do like excercising more than I like cutting out food!!

Been talking about getting married for a while with my OH, have only been together 18 months but we grow stronger every day.  Now we've seriously started thinking about it, I've given him pictures of nice engagement rings so when he's ready he has a chance of buying one that I really love.  :o)

I have a wedding to go to in March, a beach wedding to go to in June, and need toned legs for my first time snowboarding next January.

I'm in denial about being a binger.  Disordered eating for me conjours up images of 90lb 16 year olds but I know that's really what I'm struggling with every time I eat in secret.

 

I'm 5'5 so you are a little taller than me (therefore I really could afford to lose more hehe) I'm also the opposite of you in clothes UK size 14 on top and 12 on bottom. I want to be a perfect 10 on bottom and 12 on top.

I so can not burn 900 kcals at the gym in one session so I am with you on that one. Anything burned is better than nothing right??

The eating in secret, are you hidding food? eating 5 chocolate bars in one go? If not I don't think you have a eating disorder your just like everyone else. I used to do that too, get a bar of chocolate or a bag of crisps when I got petrol, they are just so in your face when your at the counter.

If I was you i'd just keep thinking flabby legs on a beach, flabby legs on the beach when you go to pick one up.

Also if you like hot chocolate options do a reall nice one for 40 kcals a drink and its really nice (I love the mint yummmy?) Pick one of them up at the shops and when you get home have that instead.

You can do it! 

Lainey, you are the on paper (computer screen) version of the voices in my head.  :o)  This food thing is really getting to me because I am so (overly) sensible in all other areas and I don't understand why I can't apply the same mindset.

I have minor trouble with my gallbladder, if I eat too much fat over a day I get sore and it's really quite painful - again, the biscuits appear to mean more to me than not getting this pain.

I don't hide food, but I do "sneak" it, like when I'm doing the ironing, I'll go into the kitchen to get some water but I'll sneak a biscuit, opening the tin really quietly then eating it quickly so my BF doesn't know I've had it.  That is........... wierd?  I know I shoudn't be doing it, it's more about the embarrasment of being caught being hypocritical, of compaining about my weight and then eating the biscuit.  Even if i'm not hungry, I know it would be the greatest taste in the world but I still do it.

Yes, anything burned is better than nothing!!

I'll never be a 10 on the bottom, I think I was created upside down, if I could have my ass cheeks inside my bra and just this little fat on the top on the bottom instead I'd be happy!!  :o)  Oh well, these things I am sensible about, am never going to be "skinny" and nor do I want to be.

What about you?  How much do you work out?  How long have you been with your OH?

 

Right the biscuit's must go..........................................

I don't keep anything like that in the house. Since the 4th of Jan I have working out 4 times a week, twice a week at the gym and twice a week a class. (I find someone in front of me showing me what to do, much easier.)

Me and my other half have been together for years (eight this summer) so its a long time coming lol, no we met really young. He asked me to marry him dec 06. It's came around really fast.

Hey I will never be a 10 on top, we all want what we cant have...

Am probably just having a depressed day today, may even get to the gym if I can get home to get my clothes and leave again without finding something “more important” that needs doing at home.  Of course I can control my eating, I control everything else and money etc is much harder than food!!  (I’m sure it is…………. Really).

Am on my third pint of water for the day, am planning on a load of veggies for tea with some chicken sausages, also MollyMouser had a great suggestion of adding a lemongrass flavour to spinach, I bet that would be pretty nice.

Had peanut butter on toast for breakfast, a cereal bar, some crisps (you should try those new walkers sunbites – lovely) and a ham salad for lunch.  Have run out of fruit at home so will overload on the veggies tonight.

 

You sound like me but I'm a little heavier than you and I think my whole life has been too sensible except for maybe my bad-boy boyfriend but oh well opposite attract.  I'm 5'6 at 185 trying to get down to 155 by June 30th.  you got get the biscuits out of the house.  Seriously.  If your boyfriend is supportive, ask him to be the food police like mine is.  He gently reminds me of my goals and always eats my leftovers and extra portions.  don't be embarrassed by eating things you aren't supposed to eat.  Maybe because you are so sensible, eating things that you know you shouldn't is your rebellious side coming out.  I say let that rebellious side get a better avenue wink wink!!!

You sound a lot like me, other than actually housecleaning (that is the last thing I do and then usually only when I have company coming).

I'm 5'5", low 150s trying to get down to 145, just to get to that blinking healthy BMI with an extra few pounds for variance.

I hate the gym, once I get there I'm fine, but I don't like making myself go.  I'd rather curl up and read a book, or eat, or sit on my butt.  What works for me in the way of work outs is to take dance lessons and martial arts.  The group activities work much better for me as people miss me and if I work hard, then I can get better at them and it's obvious to me that I'm better.  The martial arts provides a lot of the strength training in addition to a bit of cardio, the dancing is primarly cardio, except for the latin movements that I'm just beginning to learn.

hey there

this dieting thing was very, very difficult for me at first for similar reasons, a food is pleasure motto combined with binging and you've pretty much got the same situation. And you know how you can use your sensibilty? You have to pre-make choices for yourself constantly.

Without your own cooperation, planning and skills involved you can't make anything happen five minutes before you get to the kitchen beyond 'I'm hungry but there are biscuits.' 

The only way I started making this work is doing special grocery shopping and making a pre-set schedule. I picked out every 3 hour block of time I had empty in which I wasn't supposed to be doing anything more important (school, work and boyfriend) for going to the gym and not leaving until my 2-3 hour block is done, even if I am in the hot tub. Then I go grocery shopping after I have eaten dinner so that I don't buy things I want to eat and go crazy. I research general healthy foods that can be replacers--healthy cereals in place of not so healthy ones (all bran and kashi are great) granola bars instead of snack machines, fresh fruit and veggies wherever possible and I stopped buying things like cheese and found herbs that taste as good as butter or olive oil to add to my cooking. I stopped buying almost all boxed or frozen foods. If you are buying these things you are setting yourself up for failure...how can you succeed if you are always tempted to hurt your self? When there is no bad option, obviously you choose at least a medium if not great one. If you have to plan on eating dinner with your fiance then plan for it early in the day like I do----I leave at least 800 calories for when we get together because I can't sacrifice our love of food and eating it/cooking it together just to be on a diet!

It's all in helping yourself before it comes down to crunch time. Don't think about going to the gym, make it part of your schedule, just like going to work. I promise it will help, I know I have changed drastically this month and I feel amazing! 

Keep at it and it will come in time. I started CC for my husband who was recently diagnosed a diabetic. He is about 160 lbs overweight and as a result the first sensible thing to do after getting the equipment to check sugars and finding out more about diabetes was obviously for him to lose weight. He had always felt he just had to look at food to gain weight and the only diets that had worked before was ones like Atkins which for other reasons just not practical as a life style change. so I started him on CC and 4 weeks later he felt it was working and is now committed to using CC to help him lose the weight over the course of a year or two.  Fine and good, and I really did not mind the work (cooking the right recipes and entering data for him.) we got a Food scale, it as wonderful since it allowed him treats like Ice cream with CC allowing him to maximize the ice cream without going over the calorie limit for the day.

 

 How does it relate- I am (for my height) as overweight as him, and like him have family members that have had medical problems compounded by overweight. So I should lose too. I started him end of August . Said I would start after Christmas. So in Jan I started logging my food. Needless to say I got rebellious- I HATE being regimented.  The log was full of unhealthy stuff, and I found my self buying too much with weird justifications-this is the last cookie, last cake ,etc. (and they were not!). I did not gain weight( amazingly enough) , but it was clear it was very unhealthy - got d ratins some days. this month though I'm doing better-  healthier and averaging within the burn meter amount. In the last week I actually got A ratings on some days. so gradually it's working.  Two more months and I will achieve eat meter limits? It did take my husband about three months before the feeling starved lessened when he kept to the eat meter limit. Silly to be so slow but I do not have the push of knowing I do not want diabetes complications.  I feel less rebellious now and no longer have to eat the whole package of cookies. I've done that sufficently enough to have it out of my system. I'm not saying the impulse is gone, but I'm looking at the package and trying to decide if something else will give me better satisfaction with lower calories. Chocolate chip cookies are nice, but that small package of yummier  lower calorie cookies may be more appealing. or that delicious looking first peach of the season,etc. Or I do not feel like cooking so the lean cuisine with some extra vegges is more apealing "waste" of money than a package of cookies.

So my suggestion. If you know you are going to eat, do not hide it - log it so you have a reference. Next time you grocery shop plan to spend extra time looking around and comparing labels. if you know you are going to eat chocolate bars buy in bulk-money saved - at least you have the satisfaction of doing something sensible ( can always give the difference to charity - a worthy deed). Take what you are likely to eat, log it as eaten. If you in the end consume 2 but entered 3 , you will have the satisfaction that you had some control -not eating it because you really do not really want it - its mindless eating by the time you get to the third. Two was enough and you can happily delete it at the end of the day. keep on doing that and substituting lower calorie, healthier choices if it strikes your fancy.  You will NOT be doing any worse than now. Overtime as you read labels and log in the candy bars, you might start to put in reserch on CC on the foods you noticed at the grocery store you like but do not quite remember the nutrition labels. you may find a chocolat bar a day is not worth it - they are boringly the same - you get no great trill and satisfaction - its becoming more intresting to try something lower calorie.  a yummie smoothie maybe. Or a deliciously chrisp apple or a fresh peach when in season.  take your time. It's a lifetime change you are after since you know the convenience of chocolate bars on a daily basis is not working out for you.  You know you are to prone to have more weight than you like, so you are doing something about it.  That IS been sensible.  Some things come easier to some than other things. With my husband the complications of diabeties was a great motivater. He was always consider the "sensible one" too. Yet till the convenience of using CC came about, he had been too overweight too long.