An interesting thought. I wonder if there if been any studies.

Yes, that IS interesting. It makes me think really hard about what I consider my own years of dieting.

I consider that I was VERY THIN during most of my teens & early 20's... 103 lbs in hi-school, 115 in college (lotsssss of weight lifting & swimming really added that "carved muscle" look!) and around 123-128 in my 20's. Then I hit my 30's... and wham-o! The weight just piled on & on & on... I dieted/exercised back down to the upper 120's/lower 130's about 5 or 6 times since then. I am now 46. Starting the pause (this was the 1st month I have had NO period :( ) noticing the ohmygod changes in my body (more fat around the midsection as opposed to just my hips/thighs) and clumps of hair falling out each time I shower, hot flashes, night sweats, difficulty sleeping, blahblahblah.

So I figure - wow! - for over 2 decades now, I've been battling weight gain! - sometimes I succeed! - only to gain it back, & then MORE. Ugh. :mad:

But when I REALLY scrutinize my past, I realize that I have been battling my weight all my life. ALL MY LIFE. Since I was a pudgy toddler (extremely pudgy... rolls of fat on my arms & legs!) to my chubby puberty years, and then when the "baby fat" finally left, I became OBSESSED with dieting. I was even anorexic during my 18th year - NOT a pretty picture, with my collar bones & hip bones protruding... :rolleyes: but I remember the EUPHORIA when I hit a "Size 0" in jeans... OHMYGOD.. .you'd have thunk I won the lottery or something. :^:

Of course, a couple months later, I was down to 92 lbs & eating about 1 meal a week (you read that right... A WEEK) ... and passing out on a regular basis, and finally got diagnosed with hypoglycemia and anemia... I had to give up every single food I'd grown up eating! No more fried chicken, no coconut cake or chocolate pie, no fried squash or fried okra... No peanut butter and jelly (just peanut butter was fine, but without jelly? ICK!) .... I literally had to RELEARN how to eat. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

Skip forward a year... It took ONE YEAR for me to GAIN 10 pounds! - I was 102 and still the skinniest little thing you ever saw.

But the years passed, and my health got better... and then it took a turn to the OTHER side of unhealthy... fat. Not just a few extra pounds... but 135 from 123... lost back to 128... then up to 142... lost back to 132... then up to 152! ... lost back to 128... then up to 165!!! OMG!!!!... lost back to 138... then hit 170.. then 178... then 184... and finally, my top weight of 192. I'm back at around 180 now. I was 170 earlier in the year. Lost from 192 to 170 with MediFast...(and that was during T'giving & Christmas!!!) then couldn't afford it any longer... and all year I was gaining & losing 10 pounds.

When I cut carbs I DO LOSE WEIGHT. But I can never keep it up for long. I LIKE BREAD, dagnabit! Sure, I eat whole grain bread... but I also like to have a biscuit with breakfast from time to time! - not every day... not even once a week... but just SOMETIMES. Macaroni & Cheese... not every day... not even once a week... but maybe a couple times a month. I don't eat a lot of cookies, but when I want one, dammit I WANT ONE. :shrug:

I've tried SO MANY DIETS thru the years. Some of them have worked wonderfully, others not so much. But regardless, I have always gained back the weight I lost & MORE on top of it. I can't seem to grasp that whole "maintaining" thing. And of course I get very disappointed in myself, and then angry with myself, and then the frustration piles on... and ACK! - what a vicious circle.

My fear - aside of heart disease, stroke, adult on-set diabetes, hip & knee surgery and other health issues.... my fear is that I'll eventually get out of "onederland" and then there will be no turning back. :yikes: :sorry:

Hey BeachPatrol! :wave:

I have to say, there is nothing wrong with the foods you have listed there. And, nothing is wrong with how often you say you have one of those foods.

You can correct me if I'm wrong-- maybe once you start eating ONE of those things, like a serving of mac & cheese, you are deciding that you've "ruined everything." This may even be unconscious! Then, since you have "failed," you eat more--of the mac & cheese, or you add in the biscuit, the cookies, etc. as though there is no tomorrow. Is this what's happening? Because plenty of people have those foods as often as you do, without suddenly gaining weight.

Jay

OK, I don't want to derail this very interesting conversation, but....seriously? I would have put you in late 20's or early 30's based on your picture. I just had to say that. You look so young!

hmmm I agree but...
your body does better with healthy foods, 1200 calories of veggies, meats and fruits as you said is healthier than 1200 calories you ate at Mcdonalds. Your body will feel better, you will be healthier and if you are working out I bet your performance would be better when your eating healthy

Also, there is sodium to take into account. If you eat 1200 calories and it is high sodium you may have lost fat but will gain on the scale if you retain water

All in all, I try to aim for 80%/20%. I aim for 80% of my food to be healthy and let myself have some kind of treat which is 20% as long as it fits into my calories. I avoid trans fat and I try to be conscious that my food is nutritional (not too much sodium or fat, plenty of protein & fiber ect)

I thought the same thing!

(Sorry nothing to add to the convo, just lurking and had to put in that)

:hug:
I agree with the majority above. It IS about the calories, but where those calories come from DOES matter.

Your story is similar to mine. I yo-yo dieted all the way up to 215 lbs. I FINALLY broke the cycle and changed my lifestyle instead.

What works for me:
Calorie counting (because it IS about the calories)
40/30/30
Mostly whole-foods diet (as much as possible)
MUFAs (healthy fats)
Adequate water
6 small meals
Moderate exercise (yes - this is a KEY when you reach a certain age/stage of life)
Meditation/prayer/yoga - I was a stress eater and had to find other ways to de-stress

In addition accountability and community are important. Logging calories, weight, and exercise works for me.
Coming here to 3FC also helps :D

You absolutely CAN overcome the changes that your hormones are causing. This was the most pleasant surprise of all on my journey. By adopting this new lifestyle, my hot flashes were greatly decreased, my apple shape disappeared, my sleep returned to normal, my mood stabilized, and my energy level soared :D

Hey JayEll!!!!! :D

I have to say, that "NO".. I don't have that "I've ruined everything" problem & go on a crazy binge & just keep eating more. I do, however, seem to have the problem of REALLY LIKING FOOD :^: ... seriously, I love the taste of food. Veggies as well as cake! - Salmon as well as steak! - hey, I rhymed, heh. But yeah, that's true for me. I can eat very healthy - and usually do! - and when I eat "junk", I don't go overboard... well, yeah, sometimes I do! - when it's "that time" of the month :o but I make allowances for that because I know it's coming.

I really do not understand my appetite. Unless it really IS just a clear-cut case of "loving food". :hun:

You are very kind! - thank you! The ONE really good thing about fat? It really plumps out the wrinkles! :cbg:

You have done a WONDERFUL job! Congrats on your success!!! :carrot:

Before "this time," I never gave low-carb dieting much of a chance (and probably still wouldn't have, if I hadn't had two doctors recommending that I do so).

In 35+ years of dieting, I tried thousands of diets (existing diets, and diets I created), but only a handful have been low-carb, and I rarely lasted beyond the initial phase (induction, phase, level, stage... each diet had their own label for the "kick-start, super low-carb portion of the diet."

I never gave low-carb diets much of a chance because I "knew" (or thought I did) that they were unhealthy, and that I'd just regain the weight when I returned to eating large amounts of carbohydrates (and I never really considered controlling carbohydrates as a lifetime option).

Now I look at it this way. I love bread, pasta, and other grain-based foods. I also like fruit (to the point that I could eat 10 servings a day if I allowed myself to - I have gained weight on fresh fruit before). But for me to say that I won't choose a low-carb plan for life because I like carby foods, is a bit like a heroine addict refusing to choose a narcotic-free lifestyle, because they love opiates.

I think the addiction model for overeating, is sometimes overused, but for many, including myself, the parallels are pretty compelling. Almost all food addictions are carbohydrate addictions (it's rare for compulsive overeaters to binge on low-carb foods. A green bean binge isn't very likely. Nor even a bacon binge, it just is much more likely to be carby foods - because it's the carb-rich foods that produce the "eater's high," triggering endorphin and serotonin release).

It may not be realistic, or appealing to consider, but I may never be able to include carb-rich foods in my diet on a regular basis. Grains may be a food I always have problems controlling, and elimination may be more doable than portion-control.

Food addiction is a bit different than drug addiction. I can say that I probably should never eat bread or baked goods (unless my body's reaction to them change at some point), but it's likely that I will slip at times. If alcohol or drugs were as omnipresent and were pushed as aggressively by virtually everyone in our lives, I think drug addiction would look much the same - and in fact I know it does. Having worked in substance abuse treatment, I know that if an addict goes back to an environment in which drugs are always present and their family and peers are always encouraging them to use, their rate of success is far below those who choose to find a "new" environment where that doesn't happen.

It's pretty hard to find or create an entirely low-carbohydrate environment (unless you live alone, do not work outside of the home, never allow carbohydrated into your home, and basically never leave your house). You will encounter carb-rich foods, and you will be encouraged to eat them (sometimes even bullied).

I have to learn to give up high-carb foods, perhaps indefinitely. Quite frankly, I'm not doing so well, because I still say all the things to myself that I always have (you can have anything as long as you count the calories), in order to justify indulging in my addiction. I've proven to myself that bread really is my opium. I can't eat one slice and be done with it. I don't know if I ever will.

I used calories/points counting for years and would lose weight and maintain the loss very well as long as I stayed on plan. The problem was I couldn't or wouldn't view it as a lifestyle change I could live with. After getting older, I found I couldn't rely on the calorie counting anymore to lose weight. Even when I stayed within my points, I was not losing. I felt stuck and frustrated. My cholesterol was also creeping up. It was only after changing what I was eating that I was able to get the scale moving again. I eat South Beach now and don't count calories. This WOE was like turning on the light bulb for me, so I think it was all about eliminating processed foods, bad fats and simple carbs. Another plus about this WOE is I no longer feel hungry all the time. I am extremely satisfied with my meals and don't crave the "bad" stuff anymore. I eat way more fruits and veggies, my skin looks great for 52, my cholesterol and BP are perfect. I have been maintaining for well over a year now at a weight I was in junior high. I am not struggling to maintain anymore and couldn't be happier. :D

If you think it is better to get your calories from these sources, then do you really think that (to the first bolded) it doesn't matter HOW you get your calories?

I'm not trying to pick apart your post, but I see this frequently around here as a minor contradiction. "Sure, 1200 cals are 1200 cals, but it's better to get your cals from those sources."

I know for me, 1200 cals is NOT 1200 cals. I could it 1200 cals of pasta and feel ravenous, cranky, tired, and bloated. I could eat 1200 cals of a protein on a bed of leafy greens with a side of hummus and feel energetic, full, and definitely not bloated.

I not only don't lose weight on a high carb diet, it wreaks havoc on my body in several ways. I think people are more carb sensitive than they realize (mostly because SO much of the SAD is high in processed carbs).

So no, I guess I don't believe that :^:

When you say your appetite, do you mean that you're hungry or just "feel like eating" because you LOVE food? Big difference.

I also really LOVE food. Did before I lost the weight and do so even more now.

BUT I no longer settle for foods that simply JUST taste good. They do indeed have to taste good, but they must ALSO be good for me. While I'm eating them and long after I'm done chewing. That's the difference. I became choosier, more selective. I now want to be healthy, slim, fit and trim just as much as I want to eat tasty foods.

Wanting to eat just for the sake of eating I finally realized was irresponsible on my part. AND it was abuse. OVEReating is a form of abuse.

And here's another thing, though those "other foods" taste good, though your cravings for them will diminish greatly upon doing without them, they never provided TRUE HAPPINESS. I wasn't happy when I was overweight. I was , lethargic, worried, full of aches and pains, under-productive and just plain old MISERABLE. So now the foods that I eat taste good, are good for me and produce that slim, fit, trim and healthy person that I always longed to be.