How do you control what you eat?

[EastWind]

The biggest obstacle for me when it comes to getting in shape is what I eat. I EAT and I EAT and I EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT. Since I decided to get in shape, they have been ordering free food at work, I lose a pound, I gain two back. I lose a pound, I gain two back. Everyone in my family is cooking, everytime I go visit them, they already have food backed for me. The worst thing is that I'm not saying. I've tried and I have tried, and I have tried, but once I see free food, something triggers in my brain. It's like crack, for the first time in my life I understand what addiction is like. I feel totally powerless and must have it. The worst thing is that I then eat and eat and over eat. Last week, I ate a large pizza, 10 slices with 6 toppings in one sitting, in probably 20 minutes. My weight went up 9lbs in 2 days from just eating. It's ridiculous. Prior to this free food fiasco, I was on the right track. Just eating well. If there's no free food, I'm fine, so long as it's free. I'm a mess. A newborn baby has a stronger will power than me when it comes to food. I have tried eating breakfast, lots of fiber. The day I ate the pizza, when I saw it, I went and had one cup of oat meal. That's HUGE! Hoping it would fill me up. No dice, my stomach is like an aircraft carrier, it's willing to receive and can carry any amount of load. Aaaaaah. Enough of my rant.

How do you control what you eat?

 

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[Lights]

To be honest,
if it's out of sight, it takes half the problem away. You would then have to go out of your way to someone's else house, restaurant, grocery store to eat food. And then you pretty much deserve it lol

Just throw away all the junk food, carb, and anything that isn't on your diet.

That should be the first step.

Also, even if it's free you're paying that with calories.

Chew gum.

Fill yourself with low caloric foods like lettuce, tomatoes, pickles.

Never drink your calories!!!

"procrastinate it, tell yourself you'll eat it another hour" and repeat.

"burn the calories you eat"

"fill yourself with warm water"

A moment on the lips forever on the hips.

Nothing is better than being thin.

Sleep the weight off.

Keep yourself busy so you don't have to eat. clean the house, wash the dishes, do anything to keep yourself going.

well that's on top of my head.... on tips

 

[Gsuz]

What I'do, is using Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com. Especially for the US, they have a lot of food already in their database, apps are available too. You then track what you eat over the course of several days. You may discover that you put too many carbs in your body, especially processed ones. I did this too and it left me hungry all the time. Like eating a pizza, 30 minutes later I could eat another one again. I suggest increasing your protein intake. You might also want to check out the Paleo thread on this forum, has a lot of good information in it.

 

[Bigguns50]

Lights has some great points.

You've got it tough my friend, for sure. I've been into bodybuilding and physical fitness for 30 yrs so I know a couple things about dieting. Actually, I hate the word 'dieting'. I use the word 'diet' and it simply refers to what someone eats. You adjust accordingly to add or drop weight.

First, how overweight are you ? Like obese ? Which is over 30 percent body fat. And second, maybe just go see your Doctor. I mean, if it truly feels like an addiction, there are drugs that will curb that feeling. Eventually, you have to drop the prescriptions though.

If not....well....it's truly self-discipline. It's tough. But like starting your own business, you have to have the right drivers to motivate you. You have to have a plan. You have to WANT IT !

 

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[santa]

It might be worth checking out other forums that specialise in this better.

Couple of random thoughts;

If there's no free food, I'm fine, so long as it's free.

Might be psychological. Were you trained as a kid to finish everything off your plate (or do you do that when you eat.). One - weight loss retraining technique is to always LEAVE food on your plate at the end of a meal

I have tried eating breakfast, lots of fiber. The day I ate the pizza, when I saw it, I went and had one cup of oat meal. That's HUGE!

I suggest increasing your protein intake.

Protein is known to be more satiating and used by many with great success (and I like myfitnesspal too)
Pizza? - That's one of the most hyperpalatable foods around with its combination of wheat,cheese and tomato. And oatmeal- well thats a ton of carbohydrates. Are you aware what has been suggested if you eat to much carb/sugar? What it can do to you appetite and blood sugar?


you said this in another thread;

I made myself fat by eating too much. No one made me fat.

For most people, just relying on willpower won't work. I can say "oh, no one else made me poor, I made myself poor"- and of course there is a ring of truth to that. But unless I educate myself on the "why's"- what do you rate my chances of becoming very wealthy? What if I save 10% of my paycheck and rely on 401ks?
One of the reasons we love book's like MJ DeMarco's is because he contextualises things with his financial roadmaps. He discusses mainstream advice and thinking and the BS behind it. You got to do the same with food/health in my opinion and stop taking it so personally. Find the patterns and leverage them

A newborn baby has a stronger will power than me when it comes to food.

And stop being so hard on yourself. Is it willpower? Or habits?
The newborn baby hasn't had the chance yet to be trained, advised and indoctrinated with all the BS health advice you have. Give it 20, 30, 40years and see what you think of it's "willpower".

 

[EastWind]

santa, you are right. i always finished food as a kid, i think it has to do with growing up in a 3rd world country.

bug guns, i'm 5'11, 207lbs right now. very little muscle.

 

[Jonleehacker]

You are half way towards winning the battle to see it is an addiction, it is.

The way to move forward is to only focus on what you can control. What you can't control is eating all that food.

What you can control, is eating some healthy foods. For me I started eating raw foods, lots of greens and raw organic vegetables and juices. What will happen is that these foods, over time, will begin to truly nourish your body and you will stop craving all the addictive foods.

It's a process, it took me 2 years to overcome food addictions, but focusing on what you can control and letting go of what you cannot control, then you can make it.

 

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[socaldude]

You are half way towards winning the battle to see it is an addiction, it is.

This is exactly what it is. Its an ADDICTION to Fats and Sugars. Many do not like admitting this because addiction is a very loaded word that is accompanied by many negative ideas.

The only way to ever have lasting change is to change your cognitive structure regarding food and its pleasures. Food AFFECTS you or you interpret food(same thing) in such a fashion that is different from people who do not over eat or do not think about food every 2 hours.

Face it we human beings are pleasure seekers. Its basically impossible to remove our desires to achieve pleasure or a greater attainment of some kind.

My recommendation for you is to get started in Personal Development.

You need to develop Self Awareness and Self Knowledge. You need to become more aware of yourself to CONTROL yourself.

In order to control something you need to KNOW it and UNDERSTAND it. You can't control something if you are passive and mindless.

Think about that for a moment. Think about someone who has a bad temper AKA cannot control their anger. You will find that they lack self awareness therefore they lack self control.

 

[socaldude]

Heres another tip:

Associate as much PAIN as possible to the act or behavior of over eating and eating junk food.

For example as you walk into your friends house and you see a bunch of pizza and your mouth starts watering, think about all the PAIN you are gonna have to go through: your gonna have to burn it off, your gonna get fatter, your gonna feel guilty, your gonna deviate in your diet, etc.

 

[Captain Scarlet]

I control what I eat by learning about food and health. I've learnt so much about how bad most food (boxed food) is for you so I don't really touch it. I pretty much follow a Paleo lifestyle (I don't like to use the word diet as I'm not trying to lose weight and that's what most people associate with the word) and occasionally break this with chocolate. I teach my kids the same thing. It still amazes me that people know how bad smoking is for them, yet they still do it. Just can't figure that out.

 

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[socaldude]

"Eat to live not live to eat" - Socrates

 

[The-J]

I use cheat days. It's helped me keep on my current diet, which consists only of the basics (yogurt, granola and almonds for breakfast; starch, meat, veggie for next 3 meals of the day). No snacks, no sugary drinks.

On cheat days, I eat whatever the hell I want without worrying about it (although I have a carb/sugar cap so I don't get insulin rushes).

I have two cheat days per week, since 5 days of healthy eating outweighs two days of unhealthy eating.

Also, weight is misleading. You can gain ten pounds by drinking a gallon of water following by eating a large pizza, in four hours. I wouldn't worry about the numbers on the scale too much.

 

[vtlambo]

"Eat to live not live to eat" - Socrates

I'm almost positive that it was you, socaldude, who posted a few months back about the mindset of a think and overweight person, can you post that again? I bookmarked it but can't seem to find it anywhere. I read that post about 10 times that and since then, have lost about 15 pounds. Use food as fuel to keep you going throughout the day. Actively learn what is good for you and what isn't. You have to treat your body the same way you would treat your other belongings. I've seen some people pump premium fuel into the cars yet dump potato chips and pizza's into their bodies everyday.

 

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[Texan]

Ill second the My Fitness Pal app. It 's working so far for me.

 

[anddreww]

I cannot control myself from eating fast food.I love to eat the.But my weight is increasing rapidly and now I am thinking about it.Anyhow here are some interesting sharing from all of you.Thanks to all for nice stuff.



patent attorneys

 

[RobynM]

@Eastwind

Have you read Awaken the Giant Within? I think it's a great self mastery book for any area you want to control in your life.

 

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[AbbottMary]

First i would quit worrying about calories. This is just the conclusion i have come to with help from many many many sources much smarter than me. First i would join a gym that holds you accountable to your diet, any good BJJ gym or crossfit (be careful with selecting one though, if you have questions just ask and ill write more) will help tremendously. Second, I would do some research on the Paleo diet as it has a very healthy view on food (no GMO, organic, grassfed, ALL NATURAL), whether you like the diet or not, you certainly can learn from it. Lastly, what i do is try to kill my sense of taste. Think about it like this, if you couldn't taste anything and you had a choice between a salad with good nutrient value vs a pizza with bad nutrient value, you would eat the salad. View food as fuel that you put into a vehicle (your body). I guarantee that if you can truly understand that your body is just a vehicle to drive you through this life then you will make the conscious, lifetime decision to put the right fuel into it. Best of luck man!! i know you can do it

 

[DeletedUser11]

Personally I keep my eye on the horizon, the satisfaction you get from food is short lived, the satisfaction of looking good lasts forever.

I wanna be lean as hell like this guy.

[video=youtube;Yl3NGvna2KA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl3NGvna2KA[/video]

[video=youtube;wkszOOjTPJY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkszOOjTPJY[/video]

 

[Roberteking78]

You have to count your calories.
Calories are what provide your body with energy. It's a measurement, you see. If all you do in one day makes you burn 3000 calories and you do not replace those calories your body will burn fat and muscle to make up for the deficit.

In order to lose weight you need to stay below a daily calorie intake that is within 500 calories of your daily requirement. Too much of a deficit and your body will stop using fat stores as efficiently because it believes it's starving and will ration fat reserves.
Obviously too many calories and your body will store the fat, usually in a place where it's easiest to carry on your body like your thighs, hips, stomach. That's also why these are the last places to lose fat no matter how many sit ups you do.

So what most people who are successful do is get a bunch of plastic containers and they portion out their weekly meals to meet their daily caloric requirements.

For example every morning I have a bagel, oatmeal, and yogurt.
Lunch I have a burger or chicken & salad.
Pre workout I have chicken breast and rice with broccoli.
Post workout I have a protein bar or shake.
For dinner I usually have something like roast beef with veggies.

But the key here is that I make this a week, or at least a few days, in advance otherwise I would never stick to it cooking whenever I needed more. It's just too time consuming.

4 or 5 meals a day helps you stay satisfied and fight cravings more easily since you eat more frequently and your body always has energy to work with.

 

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[tj1979x]

I drink a lot of water between the meals. That fills my stomach and I don't eat as much.

 

[Roberteking78]

I drink a lot of water between the meals. That fills my stomach and I don't eat as much.

Definitely one of the most underrated yet extremely important things you can do is drink enough water to keep your urine clear

 

[angelique]

Set up a system so you can forget about it.

The more you think about food, calories, fats, carbohydrates, glycemic index, fasting, water intake...blah, blah, blah.. it'll drive you nuts!

Find out what you need to know. Create a system and rotate a simple meal plan until it sticks, including your water intake.

Destroy your bad habits with accountability - put your money where your mouth is. Would you still be eating that 'free food' if you offered to pay someone $10 every time you indulged? If so, ante up until it stings your wallet.

Put yourself on autopilot and create some non-negotiables in your system. Your problem is in your 'eating system', not food. Eliminate the gaps for failure.


-- That mentality is what works for me (when I use it..lol)! Hope this helps!

 

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[theag]

 

[AbbottMary]

You have to count your calories.
Calories are what provide your body with energy. It's a measurement, you see. If all you do in one day makes you burn 3000 calories and you do not replace those calories your body will burn fat and muscle to make up for the deficit.

In order to lose weight you need to stay below a daily calorie intake that is within 500 calories of your daily requirement. Too much of a deficit and your body will stop using fat stores as efficiently because it believes it's starving and will ration fat reserves.
Obviously too many calories and your body will store the fat, usually in a place where it's easiest to carry on your body like your thighs, hips, stomach. That's also why these are the last places to lose fat no matter how many sit ups you do.

This is certainly what conventional science says about the subject, and in essence you're correct. But its becoming a more and more popular belief that calorie intake is not the foremost reason for weight loss/gain. Ill try to find some sources for you but off the top of my head i know guys like tim ferris and dave asprey have disputed it. It's obviously flawed science though, if you can calculate the amount of calories it takes to maintain on one diet, then switch to another with the same amount of calories and gain or lose weight, its obvious that something else is at play. Asprey did this, and went further to eat something insane like 6,000 calories a day from extremely healthy sources and ended up losing weight. Again, im basically just being semantic with the whole do calories matter subject, but i think its important to note that calories from High fructose corn syrup products should count a lot more than from things like non GMO avacado, so to advocate calories and calories alone as your diet is very fundamentally flawed in my opinion.

I am not an expert, i just have done many hours of research on the topic, and several years of dieting to form my own opinions.

 

[Vigilante]

I usually just kill my food before I eat it… Solves all control issues.

 

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[AbbottMary]

I usually just kill my food before I eat it… Solves all control issues.

Don't know if this is what he meant... but this is actually awesome advice!! Go hunting, kill 200 lbs of meat during the season, get a freezer and that will be your meat for the year. Its what i plan on doing next year during hunting season AND is the most humane/healthy way to eat meat.

 

[Clayton]

I'm not a hardcore dieter, but I know I have to stop the junk food from getting to my house. Once it's in my house, I'll for sure eat it. Most likely late at night when I don't have any will power left.

 

[Milkanic]

Read the paleo thread.

Eat like a caveman (no processed carbs) and lift heavy things. No need to count calories.

I eat mostly meat/vegetables and do 5/3/1 workout. Works like a charm and I don't think about it.
T NATION | The Boring But Big 3-Month Challenge

 

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[Roberteking78]

This is certainly what conventional science says about the subject, and in essence you're correct. But its becoming a more and more popular belief that calorie intake is not the foremost reason for weight loss/gain. Ill try to find some sources for you but off the top of my head i know guys like tim ferris and dave asprey have disputed it. It's obviously flawed science though, if you can calculate the amount of calories it takes to maintain on one diet, then switch to another with the same amount of calories and gain or lose weight, its obvious that something else is at play. Asprey did this, and went further to eat something insane like 6,000 calories a day from extremely healthy sources and ended up losing weight. Again, im basically just being semantic with the whole do calories matter subject, but i think its important to note that calories from High fructose corn syrup products should count a lot more than from things like non GMO avacado, so to advocate calories and calories alone as your diet is very fundamentally flawed in my opinion.

I am not an expert, i just have done many hours of research on the topic, and several years of dieting to form my own opinions.

Haven't found any studies supporting that guys claims, so far. The ones that his supporters use do not really support their claims. They don't understand what a calorie is or how it all works.
I'm all for new stuff, but I have to be straight forward and say that the entire health industry from bodybuilders to models have used calories in vs out to gain and lose weight with pinpoint accuracy. I use it as well, it works

 

[Sheldon]

The paleo diet. If you do nothing else but cut out grains and supplement those lost carbs with fruits and vegetables, you will be able to better control your appetite. Even if you do cheat (hopefully not too often), you should lose weight and get into better shape. Screw all of that calorie counting and willpower crap. What you've got to think about is WHY is your body craving these things? It's because you're getting incomplete nutrition and even ANTI nutrition from grains and a bunch of the other processed foods you eat. They've got plenty of calories but a tiny fraction of the nutrition of whole foods and organic/grass-fed foods we evolved to eat. Because you're getting calories but no nutrition, your body is telling you to keep eating so that it can get all of the nutrients it needs to run most effectively. We didn't evolve on processed, high caloric foods, so they are hijacking our evolutionarily adapted mechanisms of hunger and taste and totaling confusing our body.

Also, I recommend juicing to everybody. That is, fresh fruit and vegetable juice, not steroids. It's a nutrient blast. After that first juice, you'll be hooked