3 Things I've Learned while Losing 40 Pounds (not done yet, though!)

Some tips I've learned during my weight loss journey that I wanted to share with the world (down 40 pounds, but the goal is 65. Regardless, I want to help anyone I can):

1. There are no shortcuts to success. I learned this one the hard way. You probably hear this phrase all the time, and it probably means very little to you. It didn't mean much to me, just an empty motivational quote that you hear from football coaches. I still thought that there was some way I could lose my weight without hitting the gym and changing my life choices. There had to be a quick fix. I spent a large majority of my teen years believing some magic pill could drop my fat. I was not willing or ready to put in the work. Then, I thought as long as I went to the gym 4-5 times a week, I'd drop weight. I did, but I quickly hit a plateau, and felt like I was back to square one. Only after making an effort to go to the gym every day, as well as a drastic change in my eating habits, did I start seeing results again. In the end, there isn't, and if you are not willing to put in the work every. single. day to better yourself, then in my opinion, you're lying to yourself about your hopes and dreams for weight loss. You can't do this thing quickly, and I believe that to be true for fad diets as well.

2. "There are a million reasons not to do something." - Jan Levinson-Gould... There really are. Think about the gym, for example. "I can't go today because..." you don't feel that great today, that there's something else you need to do... In the end, if you want to make something happen, you have to make an effort to push excuses aside. Go to the gym when you don't feel 100% (I'm not saying go to the gym while you're sick with the flu or something, but "I'm tired" is not an excuse), or change your plans so you can get in a workout. You'll feel much better if you make it there and have even just an okay workout as opposed to not going at all. Eating and dieting is another one. "I'll start tomorrow" is just as big of an excuse as any in my eyes! What is going to change from today to tomorrow if the importance of your goal is so flimsy? If losing weight is important to you, it's time to stop making excuses.

3. I love the Serenity Prayer. For the purpose of this, I will remove religious elements, but it goes, "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I think this quote can be applied to many different aspects of life, but especially in terms of weight loss. Focus on the things you can control, like working out, making good food choices, and not your appearance, or the number on the scale. Those things are up to your body functioning the way it's intended to. You need to do your part, and realize that things will come in time.

These are just three things I've learned... Feel like I can go on for days. I just want to help people (it's just in my nature given my profession) reach and achieve their goals. Anyone needing additional guidance and advice, please feel free to message me. I'll do my best to help in any way I can.

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How can I (31F) help my husband (30M) understand the difference between eating till he’s no longer hungry and eating till he’s stuffed?

My husband (and I) have gained a lot of weight in the 8 years we’ve been together. We have 2 children now and want to not only lose weight for ourselves, but we want to set a good example for our children. I’ve been on the weight loss journey before and was doing well until a series of health problems set me back into old bad habits, but I know and understand how to eat so I’m satisfied and no longer hungry, and don’t overeat. My husband played football in high school, so he could eat as much as he wanted and whatever he wanted and never had to worry about gaining because he was working out constantly. Once he was done with football, his eating habits didn’t change even though he came to a dead stop working out. So he gained weight and pretty quickly. He thinks that in order to no longer be hungry, he has to feel stuffed to the brim. I tried explaining to him that that’s not how it works but he doesn’t seem to get it. His idea of a filling meal is 2-3 servings worth of food on his plate, and sometimes he wants seconds because he’s still “hungry”. Then he can’t move because he’s so full. He just can’t seem to understand that that’s not normal.

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Water weight or weight gain?

I just (re)started a weight loss and fitness regimen, which is basically just eating healthfully, trying not to binge, and getting back in shape. After my recent birthday (36!) it's now or never.

It's now been about a week since I took baby steps into working out again (short/slow runs a couple of times, a restorative yoga class), but I have also gained like 5 lbs. How much water weight (approximately) should I expect to hold onto starting a new, gentle, gradual fitness practice? How long does it generally take to normalize? I'm ok with scale fluctuations but I don't want to just blame water weight when I'm really gradually gaining or not losing.

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Favorite Loseit Related Audiobooks

When I undertake a project (writing, improving my organization, becoming a better parent, etc.) I like to listen to audiobooks when I do mindless tasks like chores, driving, etc. I'd like to purchase an audiobook on the topic of either losing weight or becoming fitter. I feel when I do this it helps keep me motivated in my projects and keeps me on track.

What I like most about loseit is the sub is generally nononsense, very positive, very supportive and generally against bullshit weight loss schemes that some other weight loss subs and programs subscribe to. In this vein I'd like to know if you've listened to any audiobooks (or read any books) on the general topic of nutrition, exercise or weight loss that you found particularly helpful in your journey.

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Is this food addiction? How can you beat this?

TL;DR - I love food so much that I've only been able to lose weight with the help of diet pills (I AM NOT CONDONING THE USE OF DIET PILLS). Without them I feverishly consume. How do you break the addiction?

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*This might be long but hopefully it'll entertain you at the very least. I doubt many normal people have these habits. I'm going to try to explain it without sounding like a complete psycho. I am not exaggerating in any way and am 100% serious about this.*

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In the past I've joked about having food addiction but now that some of my habits have been pointed out, I don't think it's much of a joke anymore. I struggle with losing weight because I love food so much and have some arguably disturbing habits when it comes to consuming. Habits I've never been able to break. Food is basically a sacred/ritualistic thing that gives me such pleasure I can't get away from it. I want to give you examples of what I do so you can determine if I have an addiction (or some kind of mental illness) or not. Or if you've gone through the a similar situation, how you got past it.

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FLAVOR COMBOS AND SIDES

One thing that has been the foundation of my food consumption is flavor combos. My favorite flavor profiles are savory, salty, meaty, cheesy. Foods with these flavors are probably the most damaging to your waist line. But I love them so much that I will always try to incorporate all of these flavors into one dish or meal. ALWAYS. If I have one single flavor profile in a meal then it just wont work. It will in fact make me even more hungry.

For example, if I just have a steak on my plate, I will eat it (reluctantly) but it will in no way satisfy me. Keep in mind that I love steak. The problem is there NEEDS to be sides to complete the flavor combo. Mashed potatoes and mac and cheese on the side and maybe some vegetables to balance it out. Otherwise the steak, no matter how massive or delicious, won't satisfy me. And lets say I eat the steak and then am presented with all the sides. Well that won't work either. If I eat them all separately then I will still be hungry. They all need to be consumed at once for that perfect flavor combo. Which brings us to our next section...

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THE ORDER OF CONSUMPTION

This part is kind of gross now that I see it typed out.

So we have our flavor combo meal ready. Steak, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and broccoli. Well now I need to take a bite of each and a drink and chew that all together. Every time. Every bite is a collection of everything on the plate plus my drink. It's always been like that and it gives me the most pleasure while eating. It's a cycle. Steak, potatoes, mac and cheese, broccoli, drink, chew, swallow, repeat. If I run out of one of those foods I just pile on more. Otherwise, the flavor combo won't be complete and I'll slowly get more hungry as I eat.

This causes an issue with late night snacking with me. Say I open a box of crackers and start eating them. I'll just have a few crackers before bed. Well wait... that goes good with cheese. Break out the cheese. Well hold on...I need pepperoni with cheese and crackers. Add that on. Wait now I need something sweet because I just overloaded on cheesy/meaty/savory. But not too sweet. Okay lets have some cereal. Well I can't eat just cereal because that's only sweet. Let me have a peanut butter sandwich on the side...

So basically it leads to me standing in front of an open fridge for an hour, feverishly ripping food out of it and eating it on the counter.

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TEASING

Alright so we've gotten past that. Now what about when I order food to take home? You better believe I'm not touching that shit while I'm the car driving back. Even thinking of that pisses me off (more on that in the next section). Instead I'll wait until I get home. Then maybe I'll let it sit just a little more before tearing into it.

What I begin to do is "tease" myself with the food. I know it's going to be so fucking good but the longer I wait, the better it will taste. Sometimes I might wait an hour before eating it.

I remember telling one of my friends that I do this to which he responded, "...that's the most fucked up thing I've ever heard."

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SETUP AND LOCATION

Remember how I said that eating in the car pisses me off? I rage pretty hard just thinking about it. I have to be comfortable and clean when I eat my food. Not in a disgusting car getting crumbs everywhere and drinks sitting in disgusting ass cup holders with sticky shit in them. My heart rate is actually rising as I type this. It actively grosses me out and turns me off to eating which is probably why I get so mad about it.

I NEED to be sitting down in a comfortable and clean environment with my eating station set up. Eating station? You're probably asking, "What in the fuck is that?". That's what I call the table and set up I have when I sit down to eat. Let me explain.

Say I ordered pizza. I will get 2 dips, usually wing sauce and blue cheese (flavor balance). Then I will also have a cheese steak hoagie. Top it all off with chips. All of this is laid in front of me in an order where I can easily perform my order of consumption. Essentially it's like an efficient lineup so I can stuff it all into my mouth to get that flavor combo I'm after. It would be (from left to right), cheese steak, chips, pizza, wing dip, blue cheese dip, drink. Then I take a bite of each and finish off with the drink.

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CUTTING DOWN

The silver lining to all of this is that I'm not over 300lbs...yet. I try to stay active because I know if I don't then I will eventually become a bed-ridden obese monster. The amount of food I can consume because of the need for flavor combos is pretty immense. I can sit and feed for hours on end, continuously combining flavors and moving back and forth between flavor combos. So all of this has led to me being stuck at 235lbs for a while. My weight slowly creeps up as my metabolism deteriorates further.

If I try to eat healthy foods or foods with one flavor profile I will literally get headaches. I remember one of the hundreds of times I've tried to eat a salad with chicken for lunch instead a hoagie/chip/mac salad/soda combo. It will make me hungrier and crave other foods even more. Once I'm done eating the salad I usually get headaches until I eat whatever it was that I was craving at the time.

The one and only time I've been successful at weight loss is with the use of diet pills (I AM NOT CONDONING THE USE OF DIET PILLS). I don't want to use them anymore. While it killed my appetite it also gave me heart palpitations. Scary shit.

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So what do you think? Do I have an addiction? Can you beat a food addiction? Or do I just like food a lot? Or maybe OCD? I'm not asking fro a professional diagnosis. Just some idea of what I have or how I can beat it. Thanks.

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The Facts About Food Addiction

You won’t find “food addiction” listed alongside other disorders in any psych textbook, but an increasing number of scientists believe it’s a real thing. That’s because a number of them have looked at your brain on food.

They used high-tech scanning devices that measure blood flow to look at what was going on in the brains of people eating highly palatable foods such as chocolate or those high in fat. They found that the same areas that light up in the brains of drug addicts—the regions linked with pleasure and reward—are also most active in people eating something tasty. A 2007 University of Oxford study found the effect is more pronounced in people who “crave” chocolate or other foods. “Craving” is the same powerful drive that makes substance abusers anxious to score their next hit.

Animal research suggests just how strong the desire for intense sweetness may be. In one study done at the University of Bordeaux in France, 94 percent of rats given the choice between intravenous cocaine and water sweetened with saccharin (which is sweeter than sugar), chose the saccharin drink over the drug. University of Washington studies found that naloxone, a drug that blocks the effects of opiates, also quells human cravings for cookies, candy and other sweets—more evidence that food and drug addiction occur in the same place in the brain

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Some scientists propose that there is an evolutionary reason why our sweet-seeking senses are so powerful: Our inborn desire for sweet and palatable foods kept us alive by motivating us to hunt for food when getting something to eat was more taxing and dangerous than heading to the fridge.

But like drug addicts, food cravers aren’t satisfied with just one, just this once. Repeatedly stimulating your brain’s rewards centers—with drugs or food—keeps you coming back for more. Sometimes much much more, leading to loss of control and, in the case of food addiction, bingeing, according to researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Alcoholism, who have turned their attention to food addiction as well.

Binge-eating disorder, or BED, was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders, in 2013. The DSM is the “rule book” that establishes diagnostic criteria for all psychological conditions. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), BED is characterized by chronic overeating of large amounts of food, usually until uncomfortably full. People with BED eat when they’re not physically hungry and usually eat alone because they’re embarrassed by how much they eat. They feel out of control, unable to stop.

How to Stop Emotional Eating… for Good

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Unlike bulimics, people with BED usually don’t purge after eating. But, like bulimics, they do experience enormous guilt, shame and self-loathing—negative emotions that can lead to more bingeing. It’s emotional eating taking to the nth degree, according to the NEDA.

If you’re someone who is trying to lose weight—or who has tried multiple times before—you’re at higher risk of BED than other people. experts say. Repeated dieting, a history of significant weight changes, emotional problems such as depression and anxiety, feeling stigmatized because of your weight, trauma, loss or emotional or physical abuse can all predispose you to binge eating. Genes may also play a role.

According to a review of studies by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), research has found that both interpersonal therapy, which focuses on improving the ways in which you communicate with and relate to the people in your life, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a short-term form of psychotherapy that helps you change the thinking and behavior that are behind the problems you’re having, can be effective in treating BED. CBT was particularly effective in decreasing the frequency of binge episodes, the report found.

How to Beat a Binge

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Some drugs, including antidepressants, may also help, says the AHRQ report, In fact, antidepressants were 1.67 times more likely than placebo-a fake drug used in testing—to help people stop bingeing. Drugs also helped some people stop thinking about food and curbed the drive to binge eat.

One drug approved for BED treatment, lisdexamfetamine, which was originally developed to treat attention deficit disorder, was 2.61 times more effective than a placebo in curbing binges. An anti-seizure drug, topiramate, also reduced bingeing abut was associated with more side effects than other medications, the report says.

If you think you have BED or are addicted to food, your best bet is to talk to a professional—a psychologist or counselor who treats eating disorders. He or she will be able to help you decide on a plan that will work best for you.

The post The Facts About Food Addiction appeared first on The Leaf.

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3 months ago I was 150 pounds and now I'm 133

I'm aiming for 115 and I've never been happier! The thrill of sculpting your body and gradually seeing it become better no matter how incrementally is indescribable. I believe in all of you and it feels great to have a community like this where you can just celebrate some good news! If you guys have any more weight loss tips please feel free to leave them in the comments. I've been playing football and volleyball twice a week, going to the gym once a week, and waking up at 4:30 am for a short morning workout. Lately, I haven't been watching my diet, but starting tomorrow we are back on intermittent fasting! Have a good day everyone, much love!

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