Wanting to binge
Hi Heather! Six years ago I lost 30 pounds bringing me to a healthy weight range, and have kept it off since then (except briefly during my pregnancies) eating approximately 1800 to 2000 calories daily. I have a very all or nothing mindset but am usually in the “all” category and find I can happily restrict “unhealthy” foods most of the time without a second thought. However I have occasionally over these years (maybe once every couple of months typically and up to once a week in more stressful times) found myself binging them. I’ve been listening to your podcast for awhile and have wanted to try bringing in “binge foods” once a day in normal portions to see if it reduces the urge. However when I think about just eating three Oreos or a single pop-tart or whatever it is I have no interest in it. It’s not the food I really want it’s the experience of a binge. There’s no particular food that triggers a binge for me. If anything, I am triggered by feeling like the day wasn’t perfect so I might as well just go crazy to make it worth the guilt I’m going to feel already that it wasn’t perfect 😅 (surprise, it’s never worth the guilt) an example might be if I grabbed a handful of my kids goldfish snacks I’ll feel like I might as well eat the whole bag since it didn’t fit my plan anyway and now todays shot so let’s just order pizza etc etc (or even if I just ate more of whatever food I always eat then I had planned it can lead to the same pattern). I’m a really disciplined person so this experience is on the rare side hence why my weight is probably unaffected for now, but I hate that it happens and don’t want to model that for my kids, and don’t want to see it increase On days when I talk myself out of going overboard after one “slip up” I still feel just as bad about the slip up the next day as I would have felt about a full binge, so it just reinforces that “might as well” feeling Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to help work on this mentality and behavior? Do you think bringing in a “less than perfect” food daily would still help with this problem? Thanks in advance! Your podcast is a gift!
Snacks
Hi Heather! I found you about a month ago and have been listening to your podcasts and watching your YouTube videos. I journaled my food for a month, found my maintenance calories and then I found my calorie deficit. I also walk almost every day. I’m so happy with these new habits, thank you so much for your common sense, easy to follow steps. To treat myself for my successes so far, I just became a podcast premium member! My question is about snacking, my weight loss calories are set at 2100. Typically, my 3 daily meals are around 350-400 calories. But my snacks end up being 700-800 daily and I’m still within my calorie goal. Is this bad? Is that messing with my metabolism? I just can’t eat high calorie meals, I love my snacks!
rewarding yourself and celebrating you achievements.... but how?
Hi Heather! First of all, thanks so much for all that you do. I am so grateful I found your podcast earlier this year. I started my latest weight loss journey in January and lost about 15 pounds by the end of March (just over a pound a week – just like I had hoped). I knew April was going to be difficult because I would be travelling for almost 4 weeks straight. It really made me nervous. I was afraid to gain weight and I was afraid to not enjoy my trip because of eating and weight worries. Thanks to your podcast I found the courage to take a maintenance break rather than “quit” for a month and just hope for the best. It made my trip so much better!! I simply changed my app settings in “Lose It” to “Maintenance” and tried to estimate my way through 4 weeks of restaurant meals without measuring anything. I was able to enjoy the trip that much more because I knew I was still following my plan (tracking my food and walking lots every day and having a daily calorie allotment). It really gave me the confidence to enjoy lots of indulgent meals and treats and hold back on just some meals and treats as needed to stay within my calories. I didn’t feel I like I was holding back much as the calorie allowance was so much higher than the previous 3 months anyways (about 600 calories more a day). Long story short, here is the amazing result…. I weighed myself this morning and am up only about half a pound after 3 weeks of maintenance and taking a deficit of about 1200 calories in the 4th week. I really almost can’t believe it worked! I feel like I now know my current maintenance calories (2200 a day) and more importantly, I now for the first time in a long time, believe I can actually lose weight and keep it off. Now here’s my question….. I feel like I never figured out how to reward myself for making progress on my goals and celebrate my achievements. I know this is something you talked about in a newsletter as being important a few month back. I just honestly don’t quite know how. I know this is so silly, but any suggestions? I feel like in order to keep motivated (to keep losing weight and to maintain in the long run) I have to build better habits around celebrating achieving what I set out to do. But how? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! Best, Sabrina
Should I make any changes going into Menopause?
I have about 10 lbs left to lose and I am entering menopause (I was on birth control until a few months ago and I think that masked the signs of peri-menopause). I am wondering if some cravings and weight fluctuations I have are due to hormonal changes. Are there any changes I should make in my weight loss program due to menopause (currently using the Lose-it app and have lost 25 lbs in the past year, I attribute much of that to finding your podcast 9 months ago). Thank you so much for all you do. I am a therapist and I am recommending your podcast to all clients trying to lose weight. Best, Jess