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Into the bottom end of day 6 of IF experiment. Adding pecan's (30 halfs) for my 'lunch' worked well. A bit of a slip when carb wise after encountering some homemade green chili elk stew. There was no way I was going to say no to the taste of elk. It had onions, carrots and big chunks of potatoes. I avoided all the potatoes but enjoyed the rest, about a cup full. Had a few sips of orange juice. I recorded it all as best as I could. I think I overestimated things but that is fine.
Thinking today while on the bike heading home… I feel many people don’t fully grasp the mental/emotional connection they may have to food. I myself have always been a stress eater. Using food as a comfort item when stressed by the crap life allways is ready to through at one. Before I could make progress the first serious time around I had to address that mental/emotional connection head on. I had to change the idea that eating/food would make me feel good when I was feeling bad. When I tackled that head on (not easy to do at all) and shifted that idea to one that said food is fuel and nothing more, I was able to stick to an eating plan without breaking away from it when ‘things got to much’.
I had allowed myself to slip into those old thought patterns during my climb back up the scale and it wasn’t until I had redone all the mental work to get back to the point of seeing food as simply fuel again that I could get back to a much better way of eating. I still love tastes and will allow myself to indulge that pleasure but I don’t have to fight to stay on plan day to stressful day because food is not there to fix it. Food is there to fuel me so I can fix it (or survive it as the case may be).
Anyway… the purpose behind my babbling (sorry for the length) is to perhaps to encourage someone that is struggling to say on track to step back and seriously examine that mental/emotional connection one might have with food. Its more important and more powerful that many people think IMLTHO
Have a good one all. Remember to do something that pushing you even a little bit closer to your goals.
Diet Calendar Entries for 05 April 2018:
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1081 kcal
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Fat: 54.12g | Prot: 97.10g | Carb: 56.74g.
Breakfast: Nescafe Taster's Choice Original Gourmet Instant Coffee, Gold Peak Unsweetened Iced Tea. Lunch: Baby Spinach, Pecans, Great Value 97% Fat Free Smoked Ham. Dinner: Viva Naturals Organic Psyllium Husk Powder, Nature's Best Perfect Zero Carb Isopure Whey Protein Isolate - Pineapple Orange Banana, Egg. Snacks/Other: Orange Juice, Mexican Style Beef Stew with Chili Peppers (Carne Guisada Con Chile). more...
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5603 kcal
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Activities & Exercise:
Sleeping - 6 hours, Watching TV/Computer - 6 hours, Desk Work - 8 hours, Resting - 2 hours and 40 minutes, Motorbike Riding - 1 hour and 20 minutes. more...
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 Comments
thanks for this! it is truly a battle every day with food.. but I keep on at it... new way of life for health reason gotta live for my babies :) how do you go about hitting the mental issues with food head on? like professional or just yourself figuring it out the reason?
05 Apr 18 by member: Knjs4
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@Knjs4... I attacked the mental side of things myself. I spent a lot of time inside my own head (a very scary place but easy to do as I am an off the scale introvert) asking the questions of myself every time found myself stress eating. Why? What does eating that entire pizza do for you? What are you trying to accomplish? Is this bag of chips fixing the thing that has you pissed/down/etc? A lot of time challenging the excuses and rationalizations I was making. Whether one attacks it themselves or with a professional, its hella tough facing ones core motivations and the reasons behind them and harder still to come to peace with them in order to really effect change. And even when you do, that doesn't mean those things are 'fixed' and gone for good. I just means that they have lost their power for the time being and lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to take it back so one has to stay on top of the mental side to keep it that way. I didn't do that and paid the price, but lesson learned for myself. You have the best reason in the world the greatest pool of strength to fight the battle... your kids. Use that as a touchstone when things get hard and keep moving forward. I'll be cheering for you! :)
05 Apr 18 by member: JLente
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You're working hard and putting all the pieces together, mental/physical/communicating, keep it up!
05 Apr 18 by member: dekot70
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elk stew sounds amazing
I'm a stress eater too :/ acknowledging it is half the battle
05 Apr 18 by member: Vmartens14
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Thank you @dekot70. Truedat @Vmartens14, weight loss, or rather striving to be healthier not just about the physical (diet, exercise, etc) its also as much about the beating down the inner bull<bleep> that drives ones actions. More so for me. Bottom line is one has to acknowledge it to find it, find it to face it, face it to beat it and never forget it in order to keep the bull<bleep> in its place.
05 Apr 18 by member: JLente
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Biker and mental/emotional battler with food here! I hear ya man. I really do. Interestingly, when I'm out riding I tend to feel little to no compulsion to eat. The free feeling while riding supersedes my emotional connection to food. The thing is...when doing a group ride the MEAL seems to take precedence over the RIDE. As a result, I tend to do more solo riding than group riding. (On more than one occasion I've walked around outside while the rest of the group ate inside. I take a lot of chit over that.) LOL
05 Apr 18 by member: sam1955
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My mental connection to food is so strong and one of the hardest things for me to deal with I feel like in my quest to live a healthy and mindful life. I find that when I restrict the things I really want (mostly sweets and alcohol) for weeks on end that later when I let myself cheat a little, then I'll end up binging. So now I'm just trying to coach myself through positive self-talk when I think about food, and let myself have the things I really want but in moderation.
Recently, I've really enjoyed learning how to cook from scratch. Home cooking takes time and energy, and my hope is that the care I put into preparing tasty meals for myself can help change my mindset and feelings about food. I also refuse to assign morality to food, weight, or numbers!
Just a few of my thoughts. Thanks for sharing some of your story @JLente. Elk and green chile stew sounds delicious :)
06 Apr 18 by member: KagoshimaDreamin17
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Hi. Thanks for the advice. I to am struggling with emotional eating. Will take Ur advice. Thanks
06 Apr 18 by member: Lillianmb
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@Draglist… Great job being able to stick to your plan like that! For me, before making the connection between what I was doing and why I was doing it, I’d try to position myself to do the same just to find that once out of the office I’d mindlessly pulling into some fastfood joint to stuff a burger or 3 into my face before I even consciously what was going on.
@sam1955… I hear you bro. Being up on the scoot puts me in sort of a zen place of ‘no mind’ and shuts down much of the BS in my head. I had been away from riding for years and getting back to it when I was 40 played a big part in my first journey down the scale. On the bike was the place I did much of my original hard looks at self. I’m much more of a solo rider as well and have taken much of the same chit when I choose to skip out on the inevitable meal and simply chill outside and enjoy a cigar. :D
@KagoshimaDreamin17… That positive self talk is very important. The world around us spends a lot of time tearing us down that there is no need to help it along by bashing ourselves. It sounds like you have develops some great strategies for yourself. Keep at it!
@Lillianmb… Your welcome, I’m glad you found some value in my random babbling of thoughts. Its a hard thing to do, digging in side for those connections. Remember when it gets overwhelming that you are not alone, There are many fighting the same battle right beside you.
06 Apr 18 by member: JLente
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Food as fuel and not Reward !!!But I know I can be a emotional eater !!
06 Apr 18 by member: DO N OK
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I was going to say it's a "Zen" thing, but I didn't know how that would sound. But that's what it is for me without a doubt. Clearing my head; losing myself in the movement and the rhythm and the scenery, especially on the back roads. I noticed my weight sort of naturally coming down because I enjoyed the experience so much I really didn't feel the compulsive need to eat. But here, on the East Coast, when the weather makes riding more problematic I usually gain weight. This winter, I finally said: "Enough". And have lost 43 pounds so far, since Nov 27th. Now that the weather is getting better, I plan to literally hit the road running this spring, summer, and fall. It's not unrealistic to hit my goal by Nov 27 2018.
06 Apr 18 by member: sam1955
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Spot on @sam1955. <tosses you a virtual fist bump> When I'm on the bike, even just for the commute to the office, I feel as I am part of the world around me, not just watching it go by as when in a cage... erm... car. I'm out in the southwest and now that its warming up those back roads are calling. :D Great job on your progress so far. That goal is totally achievable. I'll be striving for mine right along side of you bro.
06 Apr 18 by member: JLente
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Thanks man. Here's to great riding and even greater health!!
06 Apr 18 by member: sam1955
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JLente, I think it's wonderful. Food teaches us a great deal. I like how you processed the connection to the pitfalls of reward. I'm sharing with my husband that calories are the fuel or energy but the quality of fuel is more important. I told him if you count calories, you must may sure you get the most bang for the energy. Food is fuel and quality of the calorie is too.
06 Apr 18 by member: BeingSuccessful
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@BeingSuccessful: Excellent point(s). I (sadly) realized at the start of this most recent weight loss journey of mine that while I was (and still am) obese, I was ALSO malnourished, because all I was eating was junk. Somewhat like the old Seinfeld schtick where Elaine judged potential lovers on a "sponge worthy" (birth control device) scale, because she had a limited number of sponges and had to make sure each use was worth it. I now look at calorie intake similarly. "Is this food I'm about to ingest really calorie-worthy"?!!! (It's another reason I'm not a big fan of the rigid, simplistic "calorie in/calorie out model. It's quantitative, but not qualitative, in that it takes the number of calories into account, but not the quality of said calories into account.)
06 Apr 18 by member: sam1955
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Hubby lost 25lbs in the past two months and has a way to go. He was doing that 1500 calorie a diet thing at first and I said, on no no nooooo. He was 300lbs and I told him, lets shoot for being fifty pounds less for now. I make sure he gets around 2400 calories and dig this, he's been up and doing chores, fixed a door, built a box, chopped branches off trees. lololz Yessssssssssss Energy! Woot. I'll be watching Jlente.
06 Apr 18 by member: BeingSuccessful
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@BeingSuccessful. Thank you. Counting calories is only part of things I see it. you have to find what the rights sort of foods (fuel) to go into the bod. I feel there is no magic combination that is right for everyone. Gathering knowledge and experimenting while cataloging not our the physical results but how it makes the bod feel. One can lose as much as they want on any diet. But it takes finding the right combo for you that will ensure lasting change because of the mental/emotional aspect to things. Tell the hubby he is doing a great job and to keep it up!
06 Apr 18 by member: JLente
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