Phantom Pains

An appetite suppressant hormone was found, which may be good news to some. My problems is not that I get hungry too much, my problem is that I often eat when I am not hungry, so I don't know how this would help me. I suspect that there are many overweight people like me out there, eating when they are not hungry, or over eating if they even feel a bit of a hunger twinge.

I have made a few good choices since I "began" again, but also many not so good. The not so good ones don't bother me except for the fact that I tend to overeat the chips and chocolate, and skimp on the fruits and vegetables. I am still learning and working on the "listen to my body" part. After so many years of being deaf to it, or yelling "la la la, I want chips and you want carrots, la la la", it can be difficult. I am convinced this is the key to lasting weight loss though, I need to work harder at it.

I have started putting little codes in next to some of my food items in the journal, like (TF), which means "too full"! I was thinking that I might find this info useful at some point when looking at habits, how many calories it takes to make me full, how long it takes me to get full, if I am even hungry. It is a lot, but if I can do it for some length of time, maybe it might be helpful.

The hardest thing to get over is realizing that I am not on a diet anymore. It is like a phantom pain from an amputated leg. I have to actually think it first or the urge is constantly there to choose crappy foods in mass quantities to beat the "diet deadline". I am amazed at how strong the habit is, and I am now understanding how easy it was for me to gain weight simply because of a knee jerk reaction to a "diet" and the notion that certain foods were going to be "taboo". I have decided I need to make better choices, mostly because of my 250+ cholesterol level, so I guess I am still thinking the same way, "you can't eat that", which is not rally any better than a diet. I am trying hard to tell myself that no food is bad, and nothing is off limits as far as what I can eat, just try to choose something better more often. But for the moment, it is still feeling like a "diet". Is there any difference? Yes, but it does not feel that way. Damn phantom pains.

Comments

[Margaret]

It will take a while to reprogram your thinking. You are used to the denying,sneaking,feeling guilty vicious circle. Give yourself time!

[Denise]

The indicators next to your food, like (TF), are good but what about going a little deeper and putting more about how you're feeling - emotionally and physically. I know you do a great job of that in your blog but having meal time specifics right next to the food intake journal (or next to the exercise data) is going to help you learn more about your trends - and yourself.

You're doing fine - stick with it!

:-)

[Felicity]

hmmm. I eat when I'm not hungry, too--I'm sorely lacking i self-soothing skills and though I've cast about a bit, have been unable to come up with a satisfactory way to soothe myself.
I've been thinking recently how hard it is to stoop thinking of oneself as a fat person--maybe if we can change our own perceptions, then we'll eat to match? Just an idea.