Still in limbo

[Living]

I’m still working on adapting a healthy diet. I’m trying to force myself to eat breakfast which is tough. I did lose 2 pounds last week, so yay me. However, I know I have to get better at not skipping meals.

I used to go on diets with my XW and we would yoyo back and forth on weight. Then she hit on a diet (I can't remember the name of it, it's been 7 or 8 years ago now) and it was all about relearning how to eat rather than trying to deprive yourself. One of the important points was this:

There are 4 phases of hunger- A) I'm not hungry B) I could eat but I'm not really hungry C) I'm really hungry I should eat and D) I am starving and will devour anything remotely edible as soon as it's in front of me. Your body starts burning fat stores during C but not during A or B. So if you force yourself to eat during A or B then your body converts it to fat stores because it doesn't need energy. You don't want to eat during D because you will overeat due to being overly hungry. So you eat during C. Not right away because you want to take advantage of the fact that your body is burning fat stores, but you do want to eat before you get to D.

With the above in mind, do not eat if you're not hungry! If you're at A or B in the mornings then don't eat breakfast! Some people need to eat in the mornings and others don't. I am in the latter group, I never eat breakfast even though I am up at 5 am every day.

Also don't eat fast. People typically eat too fast, the body will send you "full" signals when it's had enough but if you eat too fast the signal comes after you have overeaten. And all that excess food just goes into fat stores.

Drink lots of water! Your body will send you hunger feelings if it's dehydrated. Sometimes you'll feel hungry and drink water and feel OK again. That's not because your body feels "full" from the water (which is what a lot of people believe), it is because your body was just trying to tell you that you were dehydrated. Also your body will tend to hold water if you don't drink enough, so ironically drinking plenty of water helps you lose water weight.

There were a lot of other cool tips and tricks like always leaving something on the plate, eat the foods you like best first off the plate, pushing the plate away as a signal to yourself that you are done, etc.

Another tip I learned elsewhere is fasting helps you to burn fat as well. I don't eat after 11 pm at night, don't eat breakfast and have lunch at 11:30. So basically I fast 12 hours every day. I do start getting hungry around 9:30 or 10:00 but it's B or C above and I eat before I get to D.

Since implementing these things years ago, I have been able to maintain my bodyweight within about a 5 pound +/- range for years and years and I pretty much eat whatever I want. I do eat salads but I also have a burger now and then, or Tex-Mex food or a chocolate malt If you don't deprive yourself then you don't feel the need the binge on whatever it is you've been depriving yourself of.

Thanks for all the tips Ready2Change, these are brilliant. I’ve only been eating small things in the morning, normally a piece of fruit or a hard-boiled egg. This has been off and on for the last couple of weeks.

I’ve been fasting like that for forever. Lol! Who knew that was a thing? Lol! I don’t eat after 8 pm and normally don’t have my first meal until around 12ish noon. So I guess that’s not tough for me to do.

Next up is to incorporate more exercise. I joined a gym but my schedule is nuts. So haven’t really been going. I’m hoping to change that here shortly. I also love getting out and walking the beautiful trails that we have here.

Overall I’m happy with the progress I am making!