Need your advice! Topic

Jetty45 01/06/13
Hi everyone! I'm so ready to shed this weight, I can barely stand it! I've tried several diets in my adult lifetime, have had success and failure and at the end of the journey realize this is a battle of an addiction to food that I hope to bring under control and manage using the MyNetDiary tool. Any tips on how not to constantly think about eating or cooking? I could use some new tricks! Thanks!

SusaninBelize 01/06/13
It is a battle isn't it! There are a few things that I do to keep myself on track but the biggest one for me is to pre-plan everything. Plan, plan plan so I'm never standing there saying "what do I feel like eating" because the answer will be chips. On Sunday I create my "itineray" for the week. For example under Monday I outline what I am having for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and also what I'm going to do for exercise. I do this for the whole week, including weekends then put the sheet on the kitchen counter for quick reference. Yes, I occasionally go off course but when I do I can quickly see how to get back on course again. Also pre-making some foods helps, cut up those vegetables as soon as I get home from the grocerey store so they are already done etc. I also have a self hypnosis CD that I listen to when I'm feeling weak - this helps to pull me back on course. I find with these tools I can plan and prep my food for the week on Sunday, then forget about what to eat and just follow the itinerary for the rest of the week. Its not perfect but it helps me fight my battle with food addiction. Hope you find some of this helpful.

Jetty45 01/06/13 replied to SusaninBelize
Thanks so much for the words of wisdom! I am a huge planner myself and agree that it is essential to survival. :-) I find I can't plan too far out though because I get bored easily and like to change things up. I was particularly interested in your hypnosis CD. I have contemplated trying that for several months, but wondered if it works. Would love to learn a bit more. Thanks again for your input!

A.Broad.Abroad 01/09/13 replied to Jetty45
@Jetty, if you're not already doing it, have you considered trying a high-fat/low-carb (HFLC) eating plan instead of following one of the more common low-fat/low-calorie diets?

Fats and proteins are far more satiating -- they can make you feel fuller sooner, and suppress your appetite longer so you're less likely to obsess about the next thing you're going to put into your mouth :-) This also tends to lead to eating fewer calories overall. It's really difficult to gorge on fat/protein foods compared to high-carb foods.

I personally find that carbs are a vicious cycle -- the more carbs I eat (whether "good" ones or "bad"ones), the more carbs I want, and I find myself feeling hungrier more often throughout the day. In fact, within only a few days of eating HFLC, I find that I don't even crave the carb-rich foods anymore. I also have absolutely no need to snack, whatsoever!

Another huge benefit of HFLC is how easy it is to identify the macronutrients you're avoiding. It takes very little skill or effort to accurately recognize most of the starches (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread) and sugars (soda, juice, dessert) that turn up throughout the day. Fats and calories, on the other hand, can be quite sneaky, and are often difficult to see, especially if you're not the one preparing the food.

Good luck!

Jetty45 01/10/13 replied to A.Broad.Abroad
It's interesting that you mention trying the HFLC plan because I did that several years ago and successfully lost almost 40 lbs. What I found was that it was not sustainable for my lifestyle and eventually I reverted back to my "regular" way of eating. To your point though, the more carbs consumed, the more the carbs seem to consume me! Carbs are my version of crack!

What I've been doing so far is trying to be more intentional about consuming carbs that are high in fiber so replacing bread with things like Ryvita crackers or instead of a baked potato I will make a bulgar salad with vegies.

It's a bit of a catch-22 because I want to get to the point where my every waking thought isn't related to food or when/what I'm going to eat. Before that can happen though I think I will need to very intentionally think about food CHANGES until they become automatic. That may take a long time for me. As I go about my days, I'm trying to pay attention to those things that make me tend to want to eat more- the other day I had 1C of clam chowder. It was like giving a shot of alcohol to an alcoholic! I craved the whole container and eventually ANY food. I just wanted to eat! I don't know what was in the chowder that brought that on, but I got up and left the house so that I wouldn't fall from my plan- it was that bad. The other huge thing for me seems to be the hand-to-mouth automatic action- much like a smoker I guess. I have found by bringing several small things to "snack" on for my lunch instead of 1 big salad, I can snack on my lunch for a good hour while working and it seems to satisfy my need for hand-to-mouth action.

Thanks for writing back and for reminding me of the HFLC eating plan. I know it works and need to remember to use it as another tool!

FibretesMom 01/10/13 replied to Jetty45
Jetty45 I don't know if my diet plan qualifies as a HFLC diet, but because I am diabetic I need to keep a tight handle on my carbs. For the first 3 weeks of tracking everything, I completely cut out all refined sugar and only got carbs from fruits and vegetables. While I lost 10 lbs doing that, I knew it was not going to be sustainable for me and so I met with a dietitian to get some good input on exactly how many carbs I should eat (I had no idea and was close to 0 carbs in many meals). She recommend that I shoot for 130 carbs a day, or 45 carbs per meal period. For me I break those 45 carbs down into two smaller chunks eating no more than 30 carbs in any meal or snack, and trying to have 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. With that goal in mind, I have been adding carbs back into my eating plan (I was going to say diet, but this is a life style change for me and not a diet) and although I feel like I am eating all the time, I am happier having carbs in my diet and I even ate for one snack a sugarfree candy with 25 carbs and it curbed my over zealous sweet tooth that has been threatening to send me off plan. My dietitian also said that although choosing healthier carbs (whole grains, fruits, etc) is obviously the best choice, if I feel like a dessert I should go ahead and have it just making sure I keep within my 30 carb limit per meal and factor it into my total calories for the day and so limit them somewhere else. This was very freeing to me and actually made me feel more in control of what I eat and took the power away from food that it has when something is forbidden.

Good luck

A.Broad.Abroad 01/10/13
@Jetty, i know what you mean about wanting to reach a point where you dont have to constantly think about food. On the one hand, eating thoughtfully is the goal. On the other hand, trying to stop obsessing about food is also the goal. Seemingly contradicting objectives, no? My #1 rule is to keep all foods out of the house that I ought not to eat. My #2 rule is to prepare a lot of easy to grab foods that fit my plan -- no brainers, if you will. Those two steps seem to reduce the need to constantly think about what to eat next.

re the clam chowder effect, depending on the recipe, a serving can contain up to 35 net grams of carbohydrate. That may be what stimulated your appetite, especially since it is a roux based soup (white flour), and chock full of potatoes (starch), meaning it's high in simple carbs that are immediately converted to glucose. GREAT JOB ON JUST LEAVING THE HOUSE!!! Where's my hand-clapping smiley?

Totally agree about the crack or alcoholic comparison, too! I always say carbs are like heroin :-D

Another technique I use to make the HFLC better fit my lifestyle is to substitute intermittent fasting for restricted carbs. If I know I'm going to be in a situation where a relatively high carb dinner is likely, for example, then I fast throughout the day leading up to that dinner. This helps keep the total daily calories low, and makes my tummy "shrink" so I feel full faster. If I run into an unexpected carb-loading situation that I couldn't plan for, I fast throughout the next day. I limit this to no more than once every week or so, primarily when on the road. It allows me a bit of flexibility (important with business entertaining and frequent international travel), and reduces the chances of feeling deprived.

If you've never considered intermittent fasting, there are a few well designed scientific studies showing that it is a safe and viable option for some people to help restrict calories and trigger mild ketosis. Worth looking into.

Jetty45 01/10/13 replied to A.Broad.Abroad
You guys are awesome! Thanks for the great tips and suggestions. :-) Working on all of this "stuff" is never easy, but it's great to have support from others who can relate. I appreciate it!

JDnewme 01/11/13
I'd recomend also looking at the new book The Sugar Blockers diet by Rob Thompson. He makes a lot of sense and relates totally to the comments above. While it's HFLC, he gives advice on how to temper blood sugar spikes even when you do eat carbs. I have enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Teresaburchett 01/15/13 replied to JDnewme
As I look at my vitamins on my diary, I'm wondering if I should take a multivitamin. Do you guys take one and what is a good one to take?

Need your advice!