| Forum | Topic | Date | Replies |
| Weight Loss | Friends who claim they dont eat | Feb 08 2010 19:32 (UTC) |
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Yep, I used to be one of the "crazies" as someone most delicately put it, who routinely waited until after work to eat. I did it partially because I genuinely wasn't hungry in the morning, I had a hard time getting myself to stop working once I was on a roll, and most importantly because I absolutely hated having to eat in front of other people. And the primary reason was exactly the sort of judgment that is being meted out on this thread. And, I can say with absolute certainty, no amount of condescension or teasing ever prompted me to make a positive change for my health. Blocking out the voices of the kinds of people who would make a comment like "well you're hardly going to fade away, are you?" was what was ultimately necessary for me to make a decision to live better. And, thankfully, I've learned that the assumptions that others make about others say more about themselves than anything else. So, assume away! |
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| Motivation | 28 and overweight | Feb 08 2010 18:42 (UTC) |
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Just wanted to pop in to give you a bit of encouragement from the "other side". I completely relate to the place you are at now: I'm 27 and started out at 235. In the last year and a half, though, I have lost about 105 pounds, mostly through counting calories and walking more. I am still not very comfortable talking about weight loss in my real life, but CC does provide a great venue for being open about what you are going through. I hope it gives you the opportunity to be forthcoming without embarrassment, as it has for me. |
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| Vegetarian | No Mindless Babble | Feb 08 2010 02:12 (UTC) |
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Assuming compassion, the environment, health, and religion are out of the picture, some remaining reasons for being vegetarian or vegan might include: 1) personal taste: one might not enjoy the experience of consuming animal products 2) tradition: beyond religious considerations, one might have been raised by vegetarians or vegans or come from a society that eats no meat 3) economics: depending on where one lives, animal products may be more expensive than a vegetarian diet 4) quality control: again, depending on where one lives, the animal products available may not be of high quality 5) domestic tranquility: one might become vegetarian or vegan because of the influence (coercive or otherwise) of a significant other 6) concern about procedure: even if one believes that there is nothing inherently wrong with raising animals to be eaten, one might disapprove of particular practices used by the meat industry in one's society |
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| Health & Support | I'm having a hard time consuming enough calories =( | Feb 06 2010 06:04 (UTC) |
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Whether or not you feel full on 1200 kcal, it is not enough for your body. Especially if you have been undereating for a while, you cannot necessary trust your hunger signals either. You mention guilt about eating in several previous threads and it seems to have a negative effect on your appetite and willingness to give yourself an adequate amount of fuel. If you can't bring yourself to add more food (or more calorie dense foods) to your diet and you are physically healthy, then you probably need to confront whatever feelings are preventing you from doing what your body needs. Do you have or could you seek out a counselor or therapist with which to discuss your guilt regarding food? |
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| Foods | People's grocery carts at Wal-Mart! | Feb 06 2010 05:47 (UTC) |
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Original Post by carmenxox: Stereotypical thinking, confirmation bias, and judgement -- a classic combo. |
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| Foods | People's grocery carts at Wal-Mart! | Feb 06 2010 05:40 (UTC) |
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Original Post by izzyy23: IMO, that wasn't 'politically correct'; just a masked insult. Unless people are now wearing copies of their medical histories to the grocery store, you don't really have any way of judging the health of fellow shoppers that isn't based on generalization. There are, after all, people of low or normal weight who eat junk food excessively, just as there are overweight people who became so while eating healthy, whole foods. |
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| The Lounge | RIP Charlie | Feb 04 2010 20:24 (UTC) |
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I am so sorry for your loss. From what I can tell, you did absolutely everything possible to give him a great life, and one that ended with peace and dignity. So, as low as you feel right now, I hope you have the small comfort of knowing that all the pain you are suffering and have suffered in his illness has been so that he would not have to. He couldn't have asked for a better family :) |
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| Motivation | "Attitude is Everything": diagnosis of a rebound | Feb 03 2010 22:19 (UTC) |
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I think I am in a very similar place. I've been losing weight for about a year and a half now (down 105 pounds!), but my anxiety about food has only grown as my body has shrunk. The mental space that I use on playing the "if you eat that, you will only have XXX calories left" game has increasingly left precious little space for productive, affirming self-talk -- and I know that this needs to change. Fear of hunger, fear of sudden weight gain, fear of running out of calories even when I'm not actually hungry -- these are all becoming regular parts of my experience too. In part because of this increased anxiety, I've been getting some external pressure from my doctors to stop restricting and to start trying to just maintain, so I've been (grudgingly) shifting my calorie goals upwards. Paradoxically, it is only recently that I have also found myself overeating -- not enough to gain weight, but enough that I don't feel good about it. Your line about a combination of self-sabotage and self-love particularly speaks to me, because my recent 'overages' have often started with a sort of "you can't keep restricting yourself forever; it isn't healthy" mindset, but my the time I'm done eating I feel as though I have just tricked myself into a mini-binge. In all honesty, earlier this month I was actually vetted for/invited to join a support group for women recovering from eating disorders, but declined because I would have been the only member who had never been treated for an eating disorder. Maybe that was a bad excuse; I'm still not quite sure. But I have definitely been mulling over a comment by one of the doctors who interviewed me that I am just dancing the line between weight loss success and disordered eater. I just need to find a balance -- to feel, as you put it "as natural and normal (and pleasurable and calming) as my previous large life felt." So, thank you for this post -- it has definitely helped strengthen my resolve to find that natural, normal place. |
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| Foods | Heading to Trader Joe's! | Feb 03 2010 21:46 (UTC) |
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assorted TJ's favorites: - mini mint ice cream sandwiches - pumpkin or apple-cranberry butter - frozen channa masala entree (serves 2) - dried chile mango - canned vegetarian chili - belgian waffle cookies - chocolate covered, um, anything - ultra-premium coffee ice cream - frozen spanakopita appetizers - organic corn flakes (I actually prefer them to kelloggs) - pretty much every frozen dessert item - meyer lemons (in season now!) - gold label balsamic vinegar |
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| Motivation | Almost in tears | Feb 01 2010 21:30 (UTC) |
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Original Post by pinzywinzy: ^This I always have more trouble with moderation when I am understimulated. When my life is busy and full of challenges that I am enthusiastic about overcoming, I am unlikely to go occupy myself with a bag of chocolates or even think about doing so. But when my life and its responsibilities feel tedious and worth procrastinating, food comes as an easy form of entertainment. In other words -- at least this is the case for me -- junk food isn't the problem, lack of interest in my life is the problem. If you feel like this might be the case for you, then the first step is working on making your (non-food) life more enriching. |
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| The Lounge | Love advice for a former fattette. | Jan 31 2010 02:33 (UTC) |
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Original Post by minuseighty: ^This Knowing that someone's interest in you is contingent on your having changed physically is a perfectly legitimate dealbreaker, not a form of punishment. Just as people (men AND women) shouldn't refrain from being honest about what is attractive to them, people also shouldn't refrain from declining a relationship with someone because of an incompatibility in their conceptions of attractiveness. Everyone gets to have their preferences -- it is fair for your preferences to involve wanting to be with someone who would have approached you regardless of your size. |
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| Weight Loss | Big Calves :( | Jan 30 2010 20:59 (UTC) |
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I have big calves too and I remember feeling exactly the same way at your age. Remember that many of the people you are going to school with are not very mature yet, so their opinions shouldn't mean much to you. Anyone who is pathetic enough to comment unfavorably on your legs really doesn't deserve even a second glance. Don't let those people have power over you. You should be eating MUCH MORE than 1000 calories per day, though. If you want to have a body that looks good in a skirt (although there is SO MUCH more to life than that!) you can't be starving yourself -- being hot takes fuel! I hope that your last comment was meant as a throwaway and that you don't mean it seriously at all. Even if you don't, PLEASE consider a visit with a therapist or doctor. You don't have to feel this way and your calves are not the reason that you do. You deserve to love yourself and your life regardless of how you look in a skirt.
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| Weight Loss | Stressed out graduate students!? | Jan 30 2010 07:02 (UTC) |
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I definitely gained weight the first couple years I was in graduate school and was also skeptical that I could fit weight loss into my schedule. I have found, however, that counting calories can become a routine that takes less time as you get used to it. The tools on CC (food database, recipe analyzer, food tags, etc.) should help make it manageable to track your caloric intake. I don't think that 'going to the gym' could ever work for me, so I stick with exercises that I can either do at home or exercises that are a sort of multi-tasking, like speed-walking a couple of miles to the store and back or taking a long walk while I would otherwise be waiting around for a bus. The crucial thing for me was just resolving to maintain my momentum and keep going no matter what. Knowing that I had to log every bite of food also made it much harder to justify stress or boredom eating. Portion control is key. I've lost about 105 pounds (down from the 230s!), so please believe me when I say that it is possible to lose weight in graduate school. You can do it! |
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| Health & Support | delet eme | Jan 30 2010 06:06 (UTC) |
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What you are describing sounds very much like an issue I had when I was younger (14-15). I would recommend that you see a doctor and describe the symptoms you are experiencing - both the anxiety that you feel about food and the 'acid reflux' type reaction you are having. There can be both psychological and physiological components to this, so you might consider seeing a psychiatrist or therapist as well. I overcame a similar issue with the help of both a therapist and a gastroenterologist, so my recommendation would definitely be to seek out the advice of some pros. |
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| Motivation | Lady's 5'6''--what's your stats? | Jan 30 2010 01:38 (UTC) |
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My starting weight was 230 and my current weight is 125. I am already transitioning to maintenance but might go as far as 120. I have a small frame and very narrow hips, so my pants are currently size 2 or 4, down from an all-time high of 18. |
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| Weight Loss | Can I do it?? | Jan 24 2010 05:18 (UTC) |
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Our stats are pretty similar - I'm 5'6" and 125 pounds. If I alternated eating 1200 kcal per day and fasting I would literally keel over. That does not sound like an effective plan. My goal weight is 120 and I'm eating 1450 on average, sometimes as high as 1900, never lower than 1250. |
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| The Lounge | Islamic law | Jan 24 2010 00:24 (UTC) |
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Original Post by 2tellthetruth: Muslim countries are not homogeneous. Some, like Turkey, are highly secular. Others, like Iran, have strict religious law. Of course, there are non-Muslim countries that place religious restrictions on their populations as well (rightly or wrongly) -- Israel and France are two examples. Certainly some Muslims countries abuse the human rights of their citizens. The same is true of non-Muslim countries. I share your concern about religion and government, but no religion has a monopoly on the corruption of power. |
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| The Lounge | Islamic law | Jan 24 2010 00:03 (UTC) |
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Ooooh, nothing more fun than a religious intolerance free-for-all! Wait, wait... lemme pull up some nasty stuff about women from Leviticus and use it as a blanket criticism of all of Judaeo-Christendom while we're at it! Or we could read Old Testament stories -- although, I dunno, those Canaanities probably deserved whatever they got! Or we could go for a more academic-historical route: Spanish Inquisition! Witch trials! Plural marriage! The crusades! Conquistadores! I've got great stuff on atrocities committed by Buddhist armies, too, if you're interested!! /sarcasm Seriously, though, the interpretation of Shari'a that you are decrying is largely a modern one that has little bearing on the moral status of Islam as a world religion. It wasn't all that long ago that Jews in Europe fled to Muslim countries for protection against persecution, so you should be careful before making generalizations based on the teachings of a small fringe of Muslim extremists. Religious extremism -- whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. -- is certainly worthy of attention, but it is not at all fair to let such extremism color your entire impression of a religion or its people. |
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| Weight Loss | 100 pounds lost club? | Jan 23 2010 06:19 (UTC) |
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Congrats richiejo and jdbest! I went from 235 to 125 (at 5' 6") over a year and a half by counting calories diligently. I am now debating whether or not to lose another 5 pounds. I'd love to know how other people who have lost ~100 lbs manage the decision of when to switch to maintenance. I have been getting some external pressure to stop losing weight, but I still feel like I have at least another 5 lbs. of flab to spare...
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| Motivation | When it rains, it pours. Literally and figuratively. | Jan 13 2010 16:56 (UTC) |
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I like gijane's point about focusing your energy on the parts of your life that you have some control over. Anyway, December was rough for me too -- work crises, deaths, family politics, financial issues, housing issues, etc. Sometimes it helps, though, to try and step back and assess what you still have to be thankful for. Or at least watch some Monty Python ;) I hope things get better! **hug** |
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