Do we over analyze?
 

After having been here for awhile and reading tons of posts, I'm just wondering if maybe we over analyze the whole weight loss/healthy lifestyle/exercise process.

It just seems that sometimes we make it harder than it needs to be.

Any thoughts?

This isn't coming out exactly like what I'm wondering, so bear with me.

Personally, for me only, I over-analyzed when I was still trying to find a reason not to do it. Like, I felt that I couldn't eat well because I couldn't cook at home. Not true at all, I just didn't want to cook at home, I wasn't making my health a priority and it was just easier to go to a restaurant or order out.

When I finally committed to doing this the right way, I JUST DID IT. I cooked at home. I planned my meals. I exercised. It was easy, because I knew what I had to do and I was WILLING to do it...

Just my thoughts...

Thanks!

I don't exactly know what you're wondering about from your post, but I'll try to answer. ;)

I think my problem before (when I kept failing to lose weight) was that I over analyzed it and pushed myself too much. This time, I made a decision to just do it and start that second to be healthier. It's worked great so far.

I don't set hard and fast goals, and I don't put pressure on myself to advance in exercise or losing weight. I let myself do it because I want to, not because I tell myself I have to.

And I let myself change things as needed. If I want a free day on Sunday, I do it and just not go overboard (or I do if I want and get on plan the next day). If I loathe the idea of exercise one week, I take a break and just make sure to go back next week. If something feels too hard, I change things. I make sure I'm still losing weight, though.

This has kept me from quitting. I don't challenge myself to be better just so I can beat someone else, I don't push too hard - I just let myself live. I like routine, but I like knowing I can break the routine when I want and how I want. That actually keeps me on task with being healthy and losing weight.

UH...... Yes. And that goes for LOTS of stuff, not just food and exercise.

Well, when I don't come here and read about other people's stuff or post my own obsessive thoughts, then I tend to do worse. As long as I come here and make this an important part of my day, I tend to do better. Is that obsessive of me? Yes. Do I wish this was simple and came naturally? Absolutely. However, I need to be realistic. Also, I do find tons of great advice and ideas, not to mention the endless support. :) Not sure if that made any sense or even answered your question. ; )

I was wondering the same thing earlier today. I think I know what you're talking about. I think for any of us who have been obese, once or several times, we do need to get a bit obsessive. I think the key is finding a happy medium. I was always the all or nothing type person. I was either eating right and exercising like crazy or mindlessly eating and laying on the couch.

I am trying to take it a little easier on myself right now and so far it's working. I have seen several times where members are advising others to count sugar free gum calories. I'll be honest, that seems a little obsessive. ;)

While I agree that some people overanalyze, I believe that I'm analyzing just the right amount, for me. I count calories, try to limit my carbs, go walking 6 times a week, and that's about it.

If I were trying to practice intuitive eating, I think I'd spend much more time obsessing and it would be much more difficult, and I tend to believe that my results wouldn't be as good. As it is, I spend relatively little time thinking about food and eating, except when I take time to notice how cool it is that my current way of eating is so successful yet untraumatic.

Lianna and Milmin got the drift what I was trying to wrap my brain around. :hug:

Thanks.

I think this is the key right here. I think many people who are or have been obese are all-or-nothing types. It's the same with clutter in a person's home. Often times the most perfectionistic types are the ones with the messiest homes. How is this possible? Because if they can't do it perfectly why bother starting at all? There is no doing a little at a time. It needs to get done now, all of it. But in many cases that's literally impossible. So it doesn't get done at all and just gets worse.

Many of us have the same problem with our bodies. We get disgusted with ourselves and want the weight off now and all of it. A little bit isn't good enough. And if it's slower than anticipated then that's cause for giving up.

And those of us who think like that also tend to be the type to over-analyze. So yeah, I'm not at all surprised we are a group over-analyzers. I'll raise my hand high! :D

Eliana's post resonates with me. (In fact I just apologized to her in another section of the forum for over-analyzing one of her posts! :o) I am very much an over-thinker, and very much that perfectionist type who would rather abandon a project entirely than do a less than flawless job at it. I struggle with it in every aspect of my life!

You know the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results? And how it applies to those of us who have tried to lose weight in the past is that we have to think of ways to make this attempt different. Well the things I am trying to do differently with my weight loss this time around are (1) be okay with not being flawless and still carry on with my plan after I slip up; and (2) keep it simple, stupid. Don't be a lazy pig, carter, just eat less and exercise more. I am trying not to fret about precision measurement of my daily calories, not to fret about nailing exact distributions of fat, carbs, protein. I know what wholesome healthy foods are and I like them; I just have to exercise a little discipline and planning to make sure I always have them and eat them in reasonable amounts.

I know some people enjoy the precise tracking of every calorie, macro- and micro-nutrient, that it helps them keep their heads in the game. I understand that - it's been true for me, in the past, but only up to a point. About 4-6 months into that sort of behavior, I tend to burn out on it and move on to other enthusiasms and obsessions. So this time around, I had to make my weight loss plan not depend on that sort of precise thinking and tracking.

Knock on pixels, but so far, so good. My weight loss hasn't been blindingly fast but I've stuck to the plan longer, so far, than I've ever managed to stick to one before. And that, to me, is the most important part.

Carter, no worries! :D You're fine! LOL!

Now your post resonates with me! Yes! This is why I do not journal. I know that if I did, I would do it with precision accuracy while fretting that it can't be because we can't measure to the micronutrient. After driving myself nuts with it, eventually it would become too hard, not sustainable, and I'd throw the entire effort out with the journal. So no journalling. I started out being precise and have evolved into a method that works for me as far as calorie counting.

It's also why I developed a "baseline" of must-do exercise. In the past I worked out too hard, then woke up one day, threw up my hands and said, "No more!" And that was it. So now I have something easy to fall back on. There IS middle ground. But it's so hard for some of us to find.

I analyze my inner self all the time. Sometimes it drives me batty. But mostly it helps to understand these little quirks of mine and helps me find strategies to move beyond them.

Shcirerf, are you feeling inferior sometimes to the posters who measure every taste, exercise the perfect way and are basically perfect nutritional eaters? ;) I feel that way sometimes. I see what someone else is doing and sometimes think, gosh, I could not do that. There must be something wrong with my method. But there isn't. And I'm sure someone is looking at YOU and thinking YOU are prefect and they could never measure up to your standards.

In the end, it's all about finding what works for us as individuals, quirks and all. :)

I think the fact that we are even discussing this shows we are overanalyzing things :lol:

The actual weight loss process is very simple. Consume less energy (calories) than the body needs to maintain the current weight at the current activity level. No matter what diet plan you follow, what your exercise routine is, age, size, etc. It's a simple physiological fact.

That being said, it's not the physical act of eating less and moving more that so many of us have such a hard time with. It's the emotions behind it all. It's having to change the poor eating habits that we may have been taught since childhood. Completely altering the behavior patterns of something as basic as eating can be a challenging, stressful, and emotional process. Talking about it with others who are going through the same thing helps us work through those emotions. Physiologically, do I need to discuss my emotions about weight loss in order to lose/maintain weight? No, it's not a physical necessity. However, to address the human element of the whole process, my thoughts and emotions, discussion and support is important to me to stick with it.

Also, and I speak for myself when I say this, I *have* to overanalyze my food consumption in order for it to stay at the required calorie level to maintain my weight. My fiance has an amazing "full" signal. He eats absolutely whatever he wants, but he quits the moment he's full no matter how yummy it is. Thus, he never gains weight. He watches me weigh and measure and record and analyze recipes and special order food at restaurants, and he sees that as obsessive overanalyzing. But I do not have a functional "full" signal. If I didn't obsess over it, I'd eat my way right back up to 180+lbs.

To an extent, obsessing and overanalyzing a bit is normal and probably even required for some along this journey. The physical process is simple, but the emotions and behaviors are not necessarily. It is equally important, however, that we don't cross the line to disordered behavior.

I think I over analyze. Actually I do but I find it helps me to stay uber aware of where I am at and where I am going. By doing it I think I have better come to terms with some pitfalls I have hit in prior weight loss attempts. Also I'd rather analyze something to death than just not give it one iota of thought.