About food consumption and losing weight

[JoeP]

I know this isn't a health site, but in the spirit of financial health, I wanted to bounce a few ideas off you all.

I'm trying to lose a little weight to be healthier. Saving a little money in the process is a nice side-effect. I am also working out and walking on a treadmill. A couple thoughts crossed my mind:

1. When I'm hungry, I'll typically eat all of whatever is put in front of me, until either it is all gone, or the hunger feeling goes away, or I feel stuffed.

2. If the first helping didn't give me that full feeling yet, or the flavor was very good, I'll reload with seconds.

3. After feeling stuffed, I will feel bad physically, and also mentally because I gorged. Kind of guilt and also disappointment/shame.

4. If I pace myself and limit portions, I eventually feel sated. However, I resent the amount of time it takes for my body to register being full. I also know that I will feel hungry a couple hours later, so the temptation to overfill to avoid that is always nagging at me. I hate going to bed hungry, but also hate going to bed after eating.

So I've taken to forcing myself to drink more water to delay the hunger pangs and moderate their intensity, to limit portions, and to eat more slowly. I'm not (yet) changing up the foods I eat too much, just eating less of them.

I've stopped drinking alcohol (beer) during the week, and limit consumption to Friday-Sunday only, and only a couple a day (or none!). This has been our policy for at least 10 months now.

Any other tips to keep me motivated and on course? Thanks!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Here's one I never hear: When I stand up after a meal, I notice I feel much fuller than I could sense while sitting. So maybe stand up to go get a refill on your water and perhaps you will notice that you already feel full.

[krantcents]

I lost about 40 lbs. about 36 years ago and have kept it off. I learned to substitute better choices for some of my foods to lose and maintain my weight. My downfall was eating candy bars mid afternoon when I was stressed out at work. I made sure I had better choices such as vegetables (celery, carrots etc) for those stressful times. Losing weight or changing bad habits is never easy, but doable. Good luck.

[JoeP]

I appreciate the advice and encouragement!

Looking for options to minimize the discomfort of being hungry. I eat a decent breakfast (like steel cut oats or grape nuts with skim or 2%) and get hungry around 10am. Should I be looking into some sort of low calorie protein shake? I normally pop a prune or two, but that's not cutting it.

[sblatner]

Have you tried quinoa and chia seeds? We mix chia seeds with almond milk and quinoa and fruit. Both chia and quinoa are high in protein which might fill you up.

[disneysteve]

I learned to substitute better choices

I eat a decent breakfast (like steel cut oats or grape nuts with skim or 2%) and get hungry around 10am.

You need to eat more complete meals. Oatmeal is good but it alone is not a meal, which is why you get hungry a couple hours later.

Aim to have all 4 food groups at every meal: a protein, a whole grain, a dairy, and a fruit/veggie. So along with that oatmeal, have a piece of fruit and some cheese. Or put some chopped nuts and berries in your oatmeal. Or add some flax meal to your oatmeal.

Make sure you keep healthy snacks on hand for when you do get hungry. On my desk, there is always a container of almonds and a container of pumpkin seeds. In my desk drawer, there is a bag of Ghiardelli 72% cacao dark chocolate squares. I use those for dessert after lunch or an afternoon pick me up. In the office fridge, I keep yogurt, fruit cups, and cheese sticks.

Do your best to eliminate empty calories (like alcohol, soda, processed carbs, candy, etc.) from your diet and you'll find that you get hungry a lot less often.

[JoeP]

Right, complete meals is something I need to work on. I can add flax meal, cranberries and maybe even chopped almonds to my oatmeal, and possibly make a scrambled egg on the side.

Also, for what it's worth, I lost about 6 pounds since Christmas 2014!

Last night, I had a bowl of pasta, which I would normally polish off. About halfway in, while eating slowly, I dumped the uneaten half into a storage container and put it into the fridge for another meal. It was difficult but rewarding at the same time.

[krantcents]

I appreciate the advice and encouragement!

Looking for options to minimize the discomfort of being hungry. I eat a decent breakfast (like steel cut oats or grape nuts with skim or 2%) and get hungry around 10am. Should I be looking into some sort of low calorie protein shake? I normally pop a prune or two, but that's not cutting it.

I use Bodylogix (vanilla) protein powder with a little frozen fruit as my breakfast to get more (clean) protein in my diet. My formula is 4 oz. of almond milk, half frozen banana & 3 frozen strawberries. I found I am less hungry and I am losing fat. I want to add muscle and stay firm. I am 68 years old and very fit. I bicycle (2-6 times a week) and lift weights.

[LeannMerletta]

I am definitely on the same boat as you. I have always been very conscious on how much my weight is. Even thought that when I do not eat anything, I would lose all the excess weight. I used to starve myself only taking so little when I feel hungry. Worse, I would just drink water to get over the hunger.

So much of it took a toll on my health. I became weak and worse I had a lot of hair strands falling because of lack of nutrition. That became a turning point. I soon realized, this should be stopped.

Living healthily was not an easy transition. Aside from that, I was undergoing some procedure on how to regrow my hair.

Everything is well now. Still trying my best to live as healthy as possible.

Good luck to your weight loss journey and always be healthy.

[hamchan]

I've found it to be easier to sustain changes over the long term if I ease into them slowly. If it feels like a huge struggle then it's too easy to just go back to prior bad habits. That said, these are the things I have found to help.

I have a large breakfast and large lunch. I am rarely starving by the time I get home, and that means I eat a reasonable amount at dinner and don't feel like snacking all night.

The more whole foods I eat the better. I make my own granola and granola bars. I eat lots of whole grains like quinoa, millet, and brown rice. Lots of beans and lentils. Eggs, unprocessed meats, plain yogurt (I add fruit, nuts, and a little honey myself), and some cheese. Nuts and seeds. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Some of these things are an acquired taste if you are not used to them, but the more you can get the better.

Here is why: the first reason has to do with the thermic effect of food. Your body burns calories digesting everything you eat. The number of calories you burn digesting whole foods is often significantly higher than highly processed foods. Over time this can make a significant difference in a person's weight.

The second reason is because your body will often absorb fewer calories from whole foods. For instance, in nuts the fat is bound up inside the cell walls. Your digestive system has to work harder to get to it, and not all of it can be gotten to. So, not to be gross, but a lot of it comes back out the other end. Whereas if you ate the same weight in nut butter you would absorb nearly all of the fat from it. Not that you shouldn't eat nut butter, as that is healthy too, but generally the less processed a food is, the fewer calories will be absorbed from it. Sometimes the difference is as much as 25-30%.

The third reason is satiety. Whole foods take longer to digest, stay in your digestive system longer, and are heavier and denser in many cases. I can't eat as much lentils and brown rice as I can macaroni and cheese, an and I don't burn through it as quickly.

Also, I would make sure you are getting a good amount of protein and healthy fats as these also help with satiety. Avocados, nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, salmon, are all good sources of fat. Saturated fats from dairy, meat, eggs, and coconut oil are also something your body needs, but you do have to watch the amounts a bit more.

Lastly, cut down on added sugars as much as you can, especially refined sugars. Taper down if it helps. Most processed foods have way too much added sugar. You will acclimate to things tasting less sweet over time.

[Claudia Bob]

I am definitely on the same boat as you. I have always been very conscious on how much my weight is. Even thought that when I do not eat anything, I would lose all the excess weight. I used to starve myself only taking so little when I feel hungry. Worse, I would just drink water to get over the hunger.

So much of it took a toll on my health. I became weak and worse I had a lot of hair strands falling because of lack of nutrition. That became a turning point. I soon realized, this should be stopped.

Living healthily was not an easy transition. Aside from that, I was undergoing some procedure on how to regrow my hair.

Everything is well now. Still trying my best to live as healthy as possible.

Good luck to your weight loss journey and always be healthy.

Hello, LeannMerletta. I could relate with you about losing weight. I have been struggling also to find ways. I am now engaged into dancing over a computer dance video but I think, it would not be enough. I easily get stressed out and really wanting to enroll myself to any fitness program out there. I just hope, that my condition would not worsen and worried about any hair fall. But I hope, you could soon recover from that case also.

[LeannMerletta]

Hi Claudia. Thanks for taking the time to reach out. Well, dancing is really a good form of exercise however, I can't dance. LOL. I am now into cycling and this has been a good form of work out for me. When it comes to food in take, I eat the healthy food instead of eating nothing.

Anyway, about the hair fall, I do not fret about it that much. For me, it is just second to my over all health.

[LeannMerletta]

Just so about my hairfall, well I am looking into this. But as I said, definitely not my priority.

[Kasey Del Bosque]

I suggest you go to a doctor to be able to determine the real reason of your hair fall so that appropriate medication could be given to you as early as possible.

[spider]

Moderation

Losing weight is easy, just eat every meal in moderation do NOT go back for seconds.