Food...The Great Enemy

Most eating issues are not worthy of any sympathy, but possibly some empathy. You'll get neither from me though because neither will help you--what you need is a solution.

There are two simultaneous paths to pursue to fix this long term:
1. Reactive. This involves things like keeping a food log and doing analysis after fact. If you have long-established habits, monitoring what you've shoveled in and when will help you or a nutitionist to identify destructive trends.

Realize though that food logs as well as training logs are purely reactive. An airliner's flight data recorder also gives lots of great information, but that doesn't help the 300 people who didn't make their destination.

2. Proactive. "I'd rather have a detailed training/eating plan than a detailed log." I'm a project manager by trade and planning wins everytime over logging data afterwards in terms of success. The best thing you can do is very simple with pencil and paper. Answer the following questions in order:
a. do you really know what and how much you should eat? This doesn't mean knowing exact nutritional information of everything you eat, but on your paper, list down what you think you should eat each meal of the day to be healthy and have enough content. Start simple and eliminate extra intake due to training. Did your list include Mountain Dew, salsa and sour cream pork rinds, or a six-pack of PBR? What did you schedule for lunch?--is this something you'll have to prepare at home or have access to quickly? what about when you get hungry at 4:00 and have a run scheduled after work? Work these things out on your sheet of paper. If you have trouble coming up with what you should eat, then stop the questions here, pickup some basic or sports-related nutrition books, Eating For Life, or Body For Life. Very sensible, simple information in these last 2 books. As a last resort, hire a nutritionist to prepare a meal plan for you. I say last resort because while a nutritionist can give you excellent information, you can get to 90% of that effectiveness on your own with a little leg work. This list may take you a couple hours solid, but that's the point.

b. extend your list in a. to about 3 days of meals. These three days should have a small variety of meals of foods that you enjoy. Now make out your grocery list based on these 3 days, but buy enough of this food to make these meals all week. How does this list look like compared to what you brought home from Costco last week?

Now that you've done these 2 questions it's time for implementation. Most likely you'll have to do some habit changing. Until you're fully 'converted,' take a 3x5 card each evening and write down what you are going to eat the next day. This is the proactive part again. Now if you follow this exactly, great, there's nothing else to do. If not, write down any changes on the card. You'll probably take up to a month to fully develop new habits. If you have no problem sticking to that, then forget the cards, otherwise analyze the changes (logging=reactive) on the cards and use that information further change your shopping/eating habits.

Good planning,
Scott

I too have been trying to loose weight, and I've tried many times to go on a diet. This time I've finally lost 20 lbs (25 more to go), and it feels completely different. I've finally decided that I refuse to diet. Whatever I change I make in my diet has got to be something I can live with forever. Therefore, I haven't completely cut out my favorite foods (we had pizza tonight!). I just eat it in moderation and not late at night (the "not late at night" part seems to make the most difference).

I have also found that if I'm craving something, I tend to keep snacking and eating until I actually eat what I crave. So if I'm craving chocolate but am forcing myself to not eat it, I will eat just about everything in the house instead. It ends up a lot more calories than if I would have just eaten a reasonable portion of chocolate!!

I also have been taking a multi-vitamin every day, and I'm trying to decide if that is making a difference. In my very unscientific experimenting with this, I really think the vitamins curb my cravings. I seem to have more cravings if I skip my vitamins for a few days in a row.

Good luck with it!

Everytime I want to eat a big plate of food or candy, I just repeat this in my mind:

"Food is a temporary pleasssure with permanent consecuenses"
- Well is in spanish, sorry for the translation. - :-O

What I mean is, you need/want/desire the food before eating, after you eat it, you feel guilty and bad. I picture myself how I feel after eating, before I take one bite.

My 2 cents.

This is just making me hungry (and ashamed) !!!!

I'm ashamed to tell you that there is a LARGE bag of potato chips on my desk right at this very moment.  My wife told me to bring them to work to share so they would be out of the house.  Somehow they only made it to my desk....

I am a weak, pathetic loser.  Those chips are the original Lays Classics (my favorite).  I am having trouble parting with them.  I know I should not eat them, but I am having trouble getting past that. 

I am starting to wonder if I should consider appetite suppressants.  Last time I tried them, I felt sluggish in my workouts and hated it.  But the extra 30 lbs I should drop aren't doing wonders for my performance either....

Danny

Edited by dhyte 2004-06-01 2:41 PM

The problem is not eating -- the problem is what you're eating.

It sounds like your wife doesn't want junk food in the house either. You two should go through your pantries together and pull out all the food you don't want and donate it to a food bank or something. Go shopping together and be each other's support so that you don't come home with food you shouldn't eat.

Don't bother with appetite suppresants. You should eat -- just not the junk food. There is no quick fix for weight loss. It's going to take time and a lifestyle change. You will slip up occasionally, but don't beat yourself up! Just get back on the wagon the next day.

Good luck.

Dan,First of all you are not alone. Secondly, you are not a "bad," person because you eat potato chips and other junk food. Thirdly, you can overcome this issue if you want. Food is not the enemy! Don't think of food in terms of "good" and "bad." Think of food in terms of necessary. But each food has either a positive or negative reaction on your body. The key is to eat more of the food that has the positive reaction and less of the food that has the negative reaction. It's not so much that potato chips are "bad," it's that strawberries are better for what your body needs. I mean if you had to hit a nail into a wall a wrench wouldn't be a "bad," tool but a hammer would be better to use. Get away from thinking that food is the enemy because it is not. You need food. No matter what diet, exercise training plan or whatever you're on you need food. But you need the right food for the right reaction which is optimum performance. I'm a purist so anything unnatural ie., appetite suppressants etc., just seems wrong to me and potentially dangerous esepcially coupled with an out of whack relationship to food and dieting. Dan your battle isn't about diet logs, potato chips, cookies it's about your mind. You have to be willing to make the decision in your mind that I will eat what's good for me. You have to make the conscious decision about every piece of food that goes in your mouth to ask the question "What reaction will this have on my body." And be able to live with the answer.Win the battle of the bulge in your mind not your mouth! And soon you'll find that when you and your wife come home from the grocery store you will have zucchini instead of potato chips. You won't have potato chips at work because you just won't buy them any more. Believe me my motto is if I don't buy it I don't eat it. I've totally changed my cupboards because in my mind I'm constantly thinking "What reaction will this food have on my body." And I'm able to live with the answer. Good luck Dan. And know we're here for you!

Cool Dan. Good Luck. And remember we're all here for you. Besides, I just had a 9-ounce prime rib but I also had veggies instead of potato!