Hi Ladies,
I have been doing a lot of reading about IE. I found this forum and really need advice. Will this really work? I am so tired of being fat and trying all kinds of diets but I am so afraid of the "freedom" this plan allows. Does that make sense? Who is ever afraid of freedom?
I am so afraid that instead of having the twice-a-week binge on desserts I'll have a binge everyday. What if I only desire sweets or bread?
I just want to lose weight and feel normal again without obsessing about food and carbs and calories and nutrients.
Any words of wisdom?
~Jay
Last edited by jaycee1275; 01-12-2012 at 11:08 AM.
Thanks Carol but I'm not sure I can read another book. I've read so many! I am just plain worn out. I've read so many that I jump from plan to plan in my head daily trying to decide what is best. I'm just tired.
It's really unfortunate that The Overfed Head is not available on Kindle. We have a huge space problem and went entirely to e-books to try to resolve it. (We had shelves and shelves of books we donated, so we could downsize to a smaller and cheaper apartment.) Not sure I can break my rule for that book. I will look in the library maybe.
Jaycee: I am learning if this will work or not. I have a LOT to lose, but as I have read in these threads before... you're considering this for one reason: It's because traditional diets have failed you in the past. Don't keep spending your energy on diets that have failed you.
Yes, you will have some days when you come here and fess up to a binge like I did yesterday. But I got right back at eating right the next meal, and it wasn't WILLPOWER that did it. It was that I feel good listening to my body, and the realization that I have been trained for the past nearly 30 years to overeat and force-feed myself. I'm a recovering "clean plate club" member, and man, it feels good.
But I got right back at eating right the next meal, and it wasn't WILLPOWER that did it. It was that I feel good listening to my body, and the realization that I have been trained for the past nearly 30 years to overeat and force-feed myself. I'm a recovering "clean plate club" member, and man, it feels good.
Thanks for the encouragement Telorida. You know it's funny how I feel guilty while eating pasta with my meal but then I can binge on cookies or candy and not feel guilty until afterward. I just feel like something else has control of me sometimes. Does that make sense?
Carol: I tried to check my library's catalog for the book but they are down until Tuesday for maintenance. But I'll give it a try when I can get a copy.
Edit:
I was thinking just now about a hypothetical situation.
What if I let go and gave up diets and all the restrictions that come along with them?
What if I truly gave IE a good wholehearted try for one year?
What if during that year I committed to eating mostly real foods and finally enjoyed my meals without worry or guilt, even having things that people consider unhealthy from time to time?
What if I never had another binge in that year?
What if I was even able to exercise a few times a week consistently without the woe-is-me attitude?
What if at the end of the year I had a clean bill of health from my doc, felt energetic and never once obsessed about food or weight?
What if my husband was happy with the way I looked?
But what if at the end of that year I didn't lose the weight I wanted to lose?
What if instead of losing 40lbs I only lost 5 or 10 lbs?
How would I feel? Would I see myself as a failure? Would I still be unhappy? Would I still feel unattractive? Would I still compare myself to other women?
Does this scenario sound crazy at all? Could I really live an entire year free of the diet mentality, enjoying food and life and then get to the end and be disappointed because I didn't make it to a size 6?
I've got a lot to think about.
Last edited by jaycee1275; 01-13-2012 at 07:56 AM.
Could I really live an entire year free of the diet mentality, enjoying food and life and then get to the end and be disappointed because I didn't make it to a size 6?
You can do it. I've lonly lost 45 of the 70 lb I needed to lose and I feel so much better that only occasionally do I think there is something better out there.
Cookies for Breakfast!
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 08:00AM
You know by now that we don't label foods as "good" or "bad" in our household. You know that I let my daughter choose to eat a cupcake for dinner a few months ago, which resulted in her eating two+ servings of broccoli instead. Well, I thought I'd report in on another similar story.
We made chocolate and peanut-butter chip cookies a few weeks ago (Santa needed something to eat while delivering our gifts!). Our daughter enjoyed dumping flour into the bowl and helping us mix all the ingredients together. When it came time to sample the cookies, she ate about a half of a cookie and then wanted to play.
The next morning, when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast, she said, "Cheerios." When she saw the tupperware filled with homemade cookies a moment later, she said, "and a small cookie." (No idea why she wanted a small one.)
"Okay, Cheerios and a cookie it is," I said.
I got out the cookie for her as I poured Cheerios and milk in a bowl, and she took a bite immediately. A teeny-tiny bite. She then sat down at the table and took another bite. A teeny-tiny-nother-bite. Then she began eating Cheerios and milk. She kept her cookie by her side throughout breakfast, and eventually declared "All done," with her entire cookie-minus-two-teeny-tiny-bites still intact. That was the end of her interest in cookies for the rest of the week.
Don't get me wrong -- my daughter has her fair share of toddler-inspired "preferences" with food, and while most of the time she doesn't want to try new foods, sometimes the excitement of a new and yummy food gets the best of her, especially when it's wrapped in a shiny gold package such as Hanukkah gelt wrappers!
At a Hanukkah dinner last month at which my daughter ate next to nothing at the actual dinner table, she discovered gelt with the older kids after the meal. She ate probably 8+ pieces of it, which resulted in a tummy-ache at bedtime. The next morning we had a conversation about how eating a lot of chocolate all at once can give us tummy-aches, especially when we have nothing else in our tummies. About a week later, at another Hanukkah party, she ate one bite of one piece of gelt and that was it. I sense that she learned--by listening to her body--that too much gelt gave her a tummy-ache, though she did want to at least unwrap one of those shiny coins.
My daughter is also in a phase of declaring all foods unfamiliar to her as "YUCKY!" Like many parents, I find these preferences highly frustrating at times, mainly due to the unpredictability of them.
And while I'm grappling with how I might help her discover the joys of trying new foods, I do firmly believe that allowing her to choose her own foods--even if that means Hanukkah gelt for dinner--is sort of a game-changer. Sometimes she wants only bread for dinner, sometimes she wants broccoli for dinner, or cantaloupe and yogurt for lunch. That's what toddlers do.
And while I can't predict what my child will want to eat at any given meal, I can tell quite clearly that she views a homemade cookie and Cheerios with exactly the same emotional pull. Why did she choose the Cheerios over the cookie for breakfast (when given both)? I have no idea, but I do think it's probably because her two-year-old intuition told her that Cheerios would be most satisfying to her body first thing in the morning.
Toddlers really do know a thing or two. Can you imagine taking these two teeny-tiny bites out of a cookie and leaving the rest on your plate? How come?
For every man who transforms himself this year, there will be countless others who will stall, relapse, or never actually begin to change. What makes the difference? And how can you be among the group whose January 1 resolutions see the other side of April intact? The answer may be a mantra as simple as "Focus on February."
How so? Researchers from Sheffield University in England found that sticking with something for five weeks is more likely to turn it into a habit, a lifestyle change. They monitored 94 people at a gym for 12 weeks, and found that those who showed up and sweated for five weeks straight had a much better chance of lasting the study's duration. "During the 5-week period, there seems to be a shift from initial voluntary control to repeated habitual behavior," says Christopher J. Armitage, Ph.D., the lead author.
The implications are huge: In a little more than a month, you can overcome your worst habits. Five weeks. Count ’em on one hand. Could it be any easier?
7:30 AM
Exercise for 11 Minutes
Believe it or not, an 11-minute workout can help you burn more fat all day long, say researchers from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. In the study, people who lifted weights for that duration three times a week increased their metabolic rate even as they slept. "The process of breaking down and repairing your muscles increases your metabolism," says study author Erik Kirk, Ph.D. What's more, the participants were able to fit their workouts into their schedules 96 percent of the time.
And don’t forget your legs. In a new Syracuse University study, people burned more calories the day after they did lower-body resistance training than the day after they worked their upper body. "Leg muscles like your quads and glutes generally have more mass than the muscles in your chest and arms," says study author Kyle Hackney, Ph.D.
Our advice: Hit every muscle each workout. 8:00 AM
Skip the Super Bowl
Warning: Your breakfast may be larger than it appears. Cornell University scientists found that people ate more cereal from bigger bowls than from smaller ones, even though they thought the opposite to be true. "It's called the size-contrast illusion," says researcher Brian Wansink, Ph.D. "Because food takes up a smaller percentage of space in larger dishes, it seems like you're eating less." Use a measuring cup to portion out your cereal; in a few days, you'll be able to eyeball servings accurately.
10:00 AM
Stand and Deliver (Your PowerPoint)
Your La-Z-Boy of an office chair is making you fat. That's because sitting all day shuts down your fat burners, say scientists at the University of Missouri. After examining the muscle tissue of people being active and of those kicking back, the researchers concluded that parking your butt switches off an enzyme that prevents fat storage. "The enzyme is mostly found in the muscles that keep you standing up, so if they aren't active, the enzyme doesn't function," says study author Marc Hamilton, Ph.D.
One way to spend more time on your feet: Stand at your desk for part of the day by installing a computer monitor arm, like one of those at lcdarms.com. It anchors to your desk or wall, allowing you to raise and lower your screen easily. As for the keyboard, give it a boost by placing a few heavy books under it. Your spine should remain tall while typing, keeping your arms extended.
1:00 PM
Eat Less at Lunch (There’s an App for That!)
Ordering soup as an appetizer will cut your calorie intake by 20 percent, according to a Penn State study. After serving men pasta lunches for a month, the researchers found that the participants ate an average of 135 fewer calories when they started their meals with a 150-calorie serving (1.5 cups) of a broth-based vegetable soup. "Eating soup forces you to slow down, allowing your body to recognize that it's becoming full before moving to the second course," say the researchers. What's more, the same held true in a University of Texas study of fatty soups like chowder—men consumed 227 fewer calories when a pizza meal was preceded by the soup.
2:00 PM
Chew the Fat . . . Away
British researchers found that chewing gum may help curb your cravings. When people chomped on sugarless gum for at least 15 minutes one hour after eating and then again at the two-hour mark, their desire for sweets decreased by 11 percent compared with that of study participants who didn't work their jaws. The gum chewers also downed, on average, 36 fewer calories when they were turned loose on a buffet of sweet and salty snacks three hours after lunch.
Although the researchers aren't sure why chewing sugarless gum helps, they suggest that because it exposes your tastebuds to sweetness, it could send a hunger-reducing signal to your brain. Interestingly, those who were the most calorie-conscious experienced an even greater effect from the gum, says study author Marion Hetherington, Ph.D.
6:00 PM
Set the Dinner Table, Part 1
Using real dinnerware makes you feel like you've eaten a full meal, so you snack less before bedtime. In a Cornell study, people who ate from paper plates with plastic utensils tended to consider their food just a snack. Though they took in 116 fewer calories than the "real plate" group did, the scientists said they'd probably eat another meal later. "The environment tremendously influences how much we eat," says study coauthor Collin Payne, Ph.D.
Set the Dinner Table, Part 2
University of Massachusetts scientists found that people who watch TV during a meal consume, on average, 288 more calories than those who don't chew while changing channels. In the study, researchers had groups of people eat pizza or macaroni and cheese while either watching Seinfeld or listening to music. When intakes were tallied, the scientists determined that the television viewers downed 36 percent more calories from the pizza and 71 percent more from the mac and cheese. "When you're distracted by a TV show, your brain may not recognize that you're full as fast," says study author Elliott Blass, Ph.D.
6:30 PM
Yes, Enjoy That Dessert
Eating frequent, low-sugar desserts can help keep the weight off. Dieters in a Greek study who ate a low-sugar dessert four times a week lost nine more pounds after 12 weeks than those who ate any dessert they wanted just once a week. Eating dessert more frequently can keep you from feeling deprived, the researchers say. But limit desserts to around 10 percent of your daily calories.
11:00 PM
Snooze—and Lose
In a 16-year study at Harvard, scientists found that people who slept for five hours or less a night were 32 percent more likely to pack on major pounds than those who dozed a full seven hours. Although "major" was defined as 33 pounds, the average increase was 2 pounds a year, a gain that's easy to miss from month to month. "Due to accumulating fatigue, those who get the least shuteye may also move around the least during the day," says study author Sanjay Patel, M.D.
Well, it looks like this thread isn't particularly active but that's okay.
I have decided to give IE a go and see what happens. I know this isn't the Christian section of the forum but I'd like to say that with the help of God I know I can follow IE and release this excess weight. His grace is sufficient for each day so I will take each day as it comes. Instead of looking at the rest of the year and how many days are left, I will do my best to make it through each day.
I actually don't know what I weigh right now. I think I will not use the scale but use my clothing and the mirror to watch my progress. Right now I just want to focus on listening to my body and trying to quiet the "diet demons"
I hope to keep posting here and maybe the traffic will pick up.
Going to be scarce this weekend; my sister is coming to visit tonight. Getting a heck of a workout cleaning house before her flight arrives tonight. We have plans to go to a really yummy restaurant I've never been to before. They're known for fries made in duck fat. Not diet food, but I'm not on a "diet". If it looks and sounds good, I'll split a basket with the table and enjoy in moderation.
Down another 1.4 lbs, not quite to my normal weigh-day, but nice to see numerical reinforcement.
Jaycee: You raised a lot of very good "food for thought" questions. It shows that you're thinking about this carefully. I will admit to being obsessed with the scale, but I think I need to break that. If, as you ask... I eat this way for a year, and I lose some, but not as much as I want to... well, if I feel healthier every day, then I think I will be okay.
This is definitely the LONG road to the finish line, and a lot of the other diets on 3FC might get you father in a shorter amount of time, but I have started to think that restrictive diets are another form of disordered eating. If it's something that can't be maintained long term, then the chances of putting it all back on "and then some" is huge.
But this? I can honestly say "Yes", I can eat this way all my life. It takes just a minute, to stop and think before I put something in my mouth. Am I hungry? Am I hungry for this? If I'm not hungry, why am I eating? What am I trying to soothe?
I am considering coupling this with counseling, because I suspect I'm going to uncover things about myself that I've buried with food for 30 years.
But this? I can honestly say "Yes", I can eat this way all my life. It takes just a minute, to stop and think before I put something in my mouth. Am I hungry? Am I hungry for this? If I'm not hungry, why am I eating? What am I trying to soothe?
Great questions. I notice that when I overeat I get nauseous but not until 2 hr. after a meal. This is rare but it should be a good lesson to eat better.
Last edited by carolr3639; 01-16-2012 at 02:13 PM.
