[llladynasti]

I ate a mid-size but healthy breakfast and i feel so full. I hate the feeling after just eating, unless Im just going to be sitting around. Any food, even a light snack, CHANGES me. I become irritable, uncomfortable. I know it will pass if I give it half an hour but life doesn't really stop for digestion.

Look at the laundry- this morning i went up & down 3 flights of stairs 2 times (once with the soap and once with the laundry) like it was nothing - no pause, no shortness of breath, no racing heart. I went up & down again a half hour later, no problem. But now that I've had breakfast, Im dreading it. It is so embarrassing to have to stop halfway up the second flight.

I am torn between wanting to eat more (I don't know why I have no STOP mechanism) and wanting to never eat again. I obviously give food too much power: I hate it and wish it didn't exist at all. This is how I quit smoking, but I can't quit eating altogether. There has to be a healthy balanced place in my life for food as nourishment.

But why do its effects have to be so wicked?!

[Underwater]

I know I have an unhealthy relationship with food and I worry about it sometimes. If I feel full after a meal, I feel guilty, even if it was healthy. If I feel hungry at night, I feel happy. If I gain, I feel terrible about myself until the scale shows a loss. If I lose, I feel happy and sometimes feel like I can treat myself to junk food- trying to avoid that today!

If this wasn't such a struggle, everyone would be thin and healthy. Luckily, we have this forum for support and knowing we're all in it together can give us the power to overcome.

Thanks for writing this post. Writing this response makes me feel good to admit the stuggles I face out loud.

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

Now you see, that may be the biggest problem of all -- that you see food as an enemy. Somehow we need a shift in our thinking: to think of food as a friend instead -- one that nourishes our bodies and makes us healthy. I think we confuse the garbage junk foods with the good, healthy foods. Fruits and vegetables are good for us, and fruit actually taste really good too.

I don't consider food my enemy. I realized that it was my emotions and those that I attached to food that was the real culprit. Now that I am learning how to manage my emotions better, I see food in a different light. I am in control now, not the food. Food is just fuel for my body, period.

Plus, I can enjoy eating without feeling guilty -- that is an emotion ladies. You are more powerful than a cookie; you are worth more than a donut. Your well-being is more important than a few chippies. We have to put food in the proper perspective again. It takes practice, but it can be done.

I would suggest you eat a little lighter, if you are feeling too full; but I'd bet it was the first 3 trips up all those stairs that tired you out, not a little food. I see no co-relation between the two. Aren't you just being a little precocious with us here? I think so ...

[linJber]

Well said, Justwant2Bhealthy. This whole process is about 95% attitude. If we get our heads on straight, the rest will fall into place. No duh - I guess that might be obvious. But I think we are what we think we are. If we think we are successful, we will be. If we see food as an enemy, it will be one.

to the OP - try to build on the positive feeling you got when you went up and down the stairs without difficulty and let that set your attitude. I'm not sure how eating a healthy breakfast makes it harder to go up and down stairs, but if that happens every time you eat, perhaps you could divide your meals into smaller sections. Maybe 5 small ones instead of 3 "normal" meals.

Lin

[erh12275]

I told my trainer after the first few weeks that if I could just find a dr that would wire my jaw shut I would lose this weight a lot faster...but, it has now been 2months and food is not my enemy anymore. It does get better.

[erh12275]

Originally Posted by Underwater

If I lose, I feel happy and sometimes feel like I can treat myself to junk food- trying to avoid that today!

I used to treat myself with food. Before I started this 2 months ago, if I won an award, it was my b-day, anniversary, etc...we went out to eat. Now, I treat myself with different things. For example, after 20lbs I had my nails done. When I got on the Dean's list I got myself a coffee maker(VERY nice one.) We just have to change what has been instilled in us(at least for me it was.) Good luck today.

[ValRock]

Have you had your blood sugar monitored?

I ask this because I used to be the same way... and I found out that eating anything swings my blood sugar wildly and I feel just like you described.

I do IF now. Blood sugar stays stable during the day and I can focus on life without distraction.

Also take a look at WHAT you're eating. Some of us are more sensitive to certain things. I've had to cut out grains, processed sugars, and processed food in general to get the results I want, emotionally and physically... Weight loss IS about calories in/calories out... but the type of fuel we give our bodies can make a huge difference for some of us.

Hang in there, it'll be ok!!!

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by llladynasti

I ate a mid-size but healthy breakfast and i feel so full. I hate the feeling after just eating, unless Im just going to be sitting around. ....

I obviously give food too much power: I hate it and wish it didn't exist at all. This is how I quit smoking, but I can't quit eating altogether. There has to be a healthy balanced place in my life for food as nourishment.

But why do its effects have to be so wicked?!

The effects of eating do not have to be unpleasant, nor do you have to view food as ONLY nourishment in order lose weight and have a healthier and more pleasant relationship with food.

I used to believe that eating had to be uncomfortable. I didn't recognize "full" until I felt unpleasantly stuffed. I thought that "full" meant being at least slightly uncofortable. If I didn't feel unpleasantly full, I thought I was still hungry.

I've learned that if I've eaten to the point that I'm eveb a little bit uncomfortable (or I would be uncomfortable doing anything more active than just sitting) that means I ate too much.

I also learned that what I eat contributes to discomfort. Carbohydrate foods with little or no protein and fat tend to make me feel sluggish and uncomfortable or they give quick energy which then drops just as suddenly. On an empty stomach, carb-only foods (even fruit, but especially sugary/starchy carbs) make me nauseous after eating. This has been true since I was a small child. Even as a young child when I couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 I remember being unable to eat sweet breakfasts. Sometimes my parents would take us for donuts after church and I would just drink my milk, and I'd take my donut(s) home to eat later in the day because I couldn't eat sweets on an empty stomach or I'd feel nauseated.

Probably a sign that I had blood sugar issues even then.

I didn't learn to eat "comfortably" until I learned to eat much smaller portions of less carb-rich foods.

I had to break myself of the habit of associating only discomfort with being satisfied. That happened by accident. I'd read a magazine article suggesting that one could mimic the effects of weight loss surgery by "shrinking" your stomach. The strategy was to never eat more than 1 cup of food at any time and to space meal/snacks far enough apart to allow the stomach to empty before eating again (I forget how long that was supposed to be. I think somewhere between one hour and three).

I decided to give it a try, and I was absolutely shocked. At first it was miserable, because I missed being "full," but over time, I started realizing how much better I felt (usually I noticed it most after eating a "regular" meal and then feeling miserably sick). The longer I went without overfilling myself, the more uncomfortable it became to eat until "full." And my stomach did shrink.

I knew I'd really made a change when I noticed that 10 ounce frozen dinners were just about the right size (when for most of my life, even when I was a young teenager, I had always thought frozen dinners were "ridiculously small).

I still celebrate with food. I still love food, but I do look at it differently. I decided I was going to "pamper myself" with healthy, tasty food rather than "punish myself" by depriving myself of food. I also stopped looking at healthy food as punishment food (which wasn't too hard, because I'd always loved pretty much ALL food), but I started looking at fruit like I used to look at high-calorie treats. Instead of looking at high-calorie food as "special treat" food, I looked at healthy food that way - I started "splurging" on exotic fruits and vegetables rather than on high-calorie treats.

It was hard to break old habits, and I still find some bad habits are harder to break than others. And some that I think are gone will sometimes resurface, but for the most part I feel really good about most of my choices.

I used to hate the person I became when I dieted. I was sad, angry, miserable, with extreme moodswings. Now I've found a way to incorporate habits into a wonderful life, rather than desperately hoping I could tolerate the misery long enough to get the weight off. Now I never feel like quitting because I've made weight loss fun, interesting, and exciting so there's absolutely no temptation to quit. Giving up unpleasant stuff is easy, but who voluntarily gives up the good stuff in their lives. I've made dieting and exercise "good stuff" so there's nothing to quit.

[astrophe]

I was going to say the same thing as others. Food isn't the enemy... but what food are you eating? Is there hidden blood sugar wigginz afoot? Because that whole "feel ugh and cranky" thing for me is tied to blood sugar not being in balance. Took a long time to discover I was IR (prediabetic) and for me things like that matter a lot.

Trigger foods like bread -- I have NO stop button! It swings me out of bounds and when the blood sugar roller coaster ride freaks out it's hard to bring it back down and step off.

GL!
A.

[llladynasti]

Valrock, what is IF?
Wow, thank you all for your prompt and encouraging responses!
For those of you who were asking about what I ate and how much: Part of my current food plan is to try and get more than half my calories for the day done in my first two meals. Because of my work schedule, I have breakfast at 7, lunch at 11, snack around 3, and dinner around 6:30. It used to be I ate bigger and bigger portions as the day wore on but I find that if I eat more in my first two meals, I am not feeling 'starved' or like binging later on. Somehow that fuel lasts longer than the stuff I put in later. However, I rarely succeed in getting enough calories these days since I have gotten very good at making breakfast a high-protein low-carb low-cal meal. Two tbsp of Skinny B (a sort of cereal made with hemp seeds and a whole bunch of seeds), a cup of plain greek yogurt, a scoop of vegan proteins+ in water, coffee with half a cup of unsweetened almond milk, a cup of organic ground beef (from friends farm) with dried cut chilis cooked in, half an orange, half a cup of alfalfa sprouts, and 8 snow peas. This was my 'breakfast' on a sunday morning at 10am (actually meant to serve as brunch and it sure did... I only ended up eating twice today although I could have eaten once more before bed but my little girl came home sick so we went to bed to watch a movie early and I have a rule about the kitchen being off-limits after Ive put my pjs on).
But it doesnt seem to matter if Ive only popped a piece of salami in my mouth... I have to really watch myself that I don't bite someone's head off, so maybe it does have somethinh to do with blood sugar levels.

[llladynasti]

oh yeah and the reason i checked in tonight was i wanted to tell you that immediately after writing that post I felt better. Physically, it only takes half an hour. But getting through that half hour is another story. Sometimes all I need is to aknowledge what Im going through and know that Im not alone. I did a lot of walking this afternoon too... which I wouldn't have done if I had either flopped on the couch or gone looking for more food rather than checking into 3fc so thank you!

[ValRock]

IF is Intermittent Fasting.

I have an eating window between 5 and 10pm and I only eat during those times. There are a lot of variations on the theme, but this cuts out the blood sugar roller coaster for me.

I hope you are able to find a plan that works for you. Your body needs nourishment. Sometimes it takes a lot of tweaking to get it to work right, though!