I've been struggling to lose and maintain healthy weight for YEARS. I can't stop thinking about food, constantly falling into binge eating episodes. I've recently stumbled upon this youtube vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xFLux8FfE and it made me wonder - why am I out here counting macros, calories, tracking my steps, forcing myself to go the gym, constantly depriving myself of treats, planning every single meeting in a restaurant waay ahead of time ("will I cut my calories the day before? do extra cardio? or maybe order the lowest calorie option?") etc and still being nowhere near my goal weight meanwhile my slim friends just dont care about food?
Then I realized.
I've been struggling with eating for years not because I'm unlucky or I lack will power. It's just that I will never be able to change my body and maintain as long as my mind isn't in the right place. I won't lose weight because my fat mindset will keep trying to hold me back lol. I have a lot of knowledge about food and nutrition but I'm secretly mentally fat. I will give you some examples of my habits:
- We all have that one skinny friend that can open a pack of cookies, take one or two, close the pack and move on with life. Well, obviously my fat ass wouldn't be able to do that but the thing is, I wouldn't even buy the pack of cookies. Why? Because I always instantly look at the calorie label and do the math how much calories is in the ENTIRE pack. Like, I don't even consider something like portion size - I count how much is in the entire thing and if I don't feel like it's worth it then I won't buy it.
- I can easily down a pound or two of low-kcal high volume things like strawberries, veggies, low fat yoghurt, melon etc. It sounds healthy, filling yourself on low kcal but it's actually a binge-eater habit. Because VOLUME VOLUME VOLUME. I have to eat eat eat. Stuff my face. If I can't portion control these types of food then how am I supposed to control the portions of high calorie/junk food? Whenever I cut up strawberries I'm always like "it's low calorie, why won't I add more and more, it won't do harm...?". And yeah, it doesn't affect my body or my health but just the mindset and the urge to have as much food as possible - that's not good.
- It's not that much of a "fat habit" but it kinda counts - whenever I make a meal I have to make the most out of it. Like, for example - I can't just take an apple and bite into it. No, I will slice it, put it on a nice plate, dip it in peanut butter, sprinkle chocolate chips and drizzle over some honey. Oatmeal with banana? No, I have to top it with every single type of nuts and seeds I have, add the honey, flax seeds, granola etc. And when I allow myself to have a treat then I won't just have a cookie - I'm going to "offset it" by crumbling the cookie on a yogurt, adding fruits and every single topping option I own making a 100 kcal treat into a 400 kcal meal where I can't even taste the cookie anymore lol. It's not a bad thing to make your healthy meals pleasant and spice them up but sometimes it adds up so many calories and just the habit of having to enjoy every single bite of food and having to add up as much volume as possible is not something that I feel like person who eats to live not lives to eat would do.
- Overdosing on aspartame. Lol. Obviously a lot of people consume diet soda and coffee but I can't sit on my ass just sipping on water - I always need a diet soda, coffee or tea next to me. I need to have the flavor. I'm constantly thinking about food so I need to curb it with calorie-free flavors all day long.
After realizing these things I started to work on creating new habits (obviously this will take a while since I've been developing this "fat mindset" for years but I'm pretty sure it's doable!) and I feel so much better and more positive on my weight loss journey. If I'm craving a toast with pb then I will get a toast, put the pb on it and eat. Not putting the banana, nuts and a side of giant fruit salad with it just because "gotta make it filling". I guess this does conflict with the overall idea of eating for weight loss but I do feel like for someone with unhealthy relationship with food and struggles with binge eating realizing those habits and trying to remove them might help. By fulfilling my cravings and working on my satisfaction cues, eating slower, embracing every bite of food instead of stuffing my face with tasteless VOLUME VOLUME VOLUME etc I do end up eating less calories throughout the day! That's my "small" rant.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/32ChisB
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