Food and Weight Loss Obsessed?
 

Does anyone else have this problem??

I am CONSTANTLY thinking about food. I go to sleep thinking about eating, I wake up thinking about it. The first thing I think of it when I am awake is "I wonder what I weigh today?" and the first thing I think of before I take a bite is "I wonder if this will make me gain weight...??"

All I want for dinner is some papa johns pizza, or chinese food... or this place around the corner that hollows out a 12" roll of italian bread, bastes the inside with garlic butter and then stuffs it with pasta... See??? I am SO food obsessed, that I am carrying a water bottle everywhere with me so when I get the urge to pig out on something, I drink that instead.

Is anyone else having these issues?? Who else is completely consumed by losing weight and equally consumed with all of the food that you want to be eating? Is this part of breaking a food addiction or is it OK to give into these things every now and then? When or how often is every now and then?

Insight? Personal experiences that you've overcome? Anyone else dealing with this?

How long have you been on your plan? If it's under a week, that's normal, it's the pain of new habits, you just have to push through. If it's been weeks and weeks and weeks, you're actually deeply hungry and you need to eat more--not the junk you are craving, but huge salads and cups and cups of broccoli and carrots and strawberries and whatever other healthy, bulky foods you enjoy. Once you aren't starving for any food, you won't be as fixated on the bad ones.

Ive been "casually" losing weight for almost year, but really focused - twice daily gym, food monitoring like a crazy woman, etc... for about a week and a half.

I don't know if it'll help you... but what I do when I feel myself thinking thoughts I don't want (anything from a nightmare to something like this), I think of something pleasant that I want to think about.

Like... for me... I think about a boy... a cute boy. Me being thin, beautiful... but not perfect... and him being kind of like my night in shining armor, saving me from the horrible nightmare. :p

Kind of cheesy... but it helps me. I also think of owning a horse, a beautiful horse. Me competing with the horse... well... pretty much I think about any dream or fantasy that might or might not come true... but something I wish would... and it usually takes my mind off of what I don't want to think about. It does take a while though. :p

How much are you eating?

I feel like that almost everyday and I've been losing weight over a year and have lost over 100lbs. I've just learned to ignore those thoughts by distracting myself with a other things...walks, getting in an extra workout video, even just something as simple as watching a movie. Drinking water, like you had mentioned, helps a little too. I think its been harder for me lately to avoid thinking like this simply because my boyfriend and I stay up pretty late. I stop eating after 9-10pm and he eats around 12-1am so I'm sitting there watching him eat "thinking" I should be eating too! I used to eat out of boredom also so even now when I'm bored the first thing on my mind is what can I eat. Its all about self control and the choice you make. I'm eating healthy and getting my calories in, I try to just eat the most filling foods I can. I know I'm not STARVING when I'm craving food during the day, I just keep reminding myself that.

I try to find substitutes that I can enjoy. For instance, tonight I had a pita pizza made with a Western Alternative Pita (110 calories and lots of fiber), some tomato sauce with no added sugar (25 calories) and a generous portion of 2% mozzarella (210 calories).

Yummy pizza to enjoy guilt free for 345 calories. I'm sure you can find a healthy version of your favorite chinese food too. Probably not for that pasta sandwich though! lol! Although I will admit it doesn't sound too appealing to me anyway but if you really, really, really want it, you could probably figure out a healthier version to make yourself with whole wheat pasta and bread and have just a small portion.

I'm obsessed, but in a different way,
I'm always thinking about food but like this:
"If I eat X for breakfast, then I'll have X for a snack, and X for lunch, and that will be XXX calories for the day, so XXX calories left, leaving me with a defecit of XXX"
I log everything I eat, how many calories I eat and weigh myself at least twice each day.... I also log in if I went to the gym or not that day, and if I did (I usually do) which aerobic exercise I did

Now that I'm switching to maintenance, I'm getting better though...
but I used to plan out my entire day's meals, sometimes even for the next couple of days too

I feel like my life revolves around food. Around eating it, not eating it, what should I eat, how much should I eat, how long has it been since I've eaten, did I have too much or not enough? It's exhausting.

I believe that eventually it must sort of balance out. Going from no drive to overdrive has done a number on my mentality, but hopefully we will become accustomed do it once we near maintenance. Until then, I think this is normal. Especially once you've seen results, you don't want to lose ground and every day is so full of decisions and opportunities to either slip up or make more progress.

Right at the beginning of my diet I was thinking about food a lot. You will eventually learn to think about other things other than food. The more it become a habit to eat good, I think the less you think about the bad foods.

I'm eating about every 4 hours and trying to keep my calories between 1200-and 1450.

Thanks everyone for the awesome support! I'm glad I'm not the only one in this boat!! I did end up slipping last night. I ordered the papa johns and said "well, 1 piece can't hurt and if i'm going to make this a whole life style change, its not reasonable to think i'll NEVER have a single slice of pizza!" (rationalization much?) 1800 calories later and bloated from all the sodium today - it was not such a hot decision. Guess I need more self control and need to stay awake from pizza until I actually *am* able to eat just 1.

I think your feelings are perfectly normal. I am sorry you caved on the pizza. Usually when I want something bad for me and I get it, my tummy immediately regrets it since I've been doing so well with whole foods. I can definitely tell the difference when I eat the wrong things.

I have found planning meals for my family around the healthy foods takes a lot more planning and thinking about food than before we started eating healthy. There is finding what is in season so I am not spending too much. Finding recipes that are yummy requires reading through many cook books (okay, I love cook books, so that is not hard, but does mean I am thinking of food). I spend more time around food in the kitchen, chopping, peeling, and making from scratch instead of just opening a box. All this extra prep and clean up time in the kitchen makes me feel like my life revolves around food. However, I feel much better with my healthy food choices, my kids are eating better and my husband loves the new recipes I have been trying.

I have also lost 35lbs so far. I still have 100 left to go, but I just try to make my food thoughts about healthy foods. I now crave Fage 0% plain Greek yogurt with a touch of agave nectar instead of the Ben and Jerry's I use to love. I know it is hard not to give in to cravings- my favorite foods are pizza and a good old-fashioned hamburger. I make my own whole wheat pizza dough and top it with my own veggies and have perfected it to the point where my own sisters thought it was take out. Don't be afraid to play with recipes and make them work for your meal plan. Spices are my new best friend. I can't believe how something as simple as adding coriander and cumin to Greek yogurt can make a dip 10 times better than any store bought one.
(((hugs))) Congratulations on your weight loss so far!

lol, that's so cute. i think about something similar while jogging. having some really cute guy next to me and me in some really cute outfit. very motivational to keep calorie counting and exercising

I'm one of the obsessive food journalers. Throughout the day I'm constantly calculating and adding to see what I can eat, and I weigh in the morning and at night. I wish I didn't weigh so obsessively, but I think the journaling helps.

Honestly, I used to be like that. What I finally did was just planned out my meals for one week. Then, I'd take those meals and mix and match, so basically I had 21 meals to work with. I also made them BORING, to say the least. It took about 2 months, but I stopped thinking about food and just ate what I was used to eating -- the healthy, yet "boring" meals. It became mindless and something I didn't even think about anymore, which got food off of my mind. I don't eat like that anymore, I try to mix it up a bit, but the constant food obsession and cravings never came back. It wasn't easy, but if you get enough calories it's not exactly unpleasant either. You're definitely not alone, though!