Emotional Eating (Article)

A basic article on the causes of emotional (over) eating and strategies to combat it. I'm sure we're all aware of the general points in this article, but sometimes it is helpful to remind ourselves why we stress eat or binge and how we can avoid doing it.

Emotional Eating

How to Recognize and Stop Emotional Eating

 

Emotional hunger vs. Physical hunger
Emotional hunger comes on suddenly.	Physical hunger comes on gradually.
Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly.	Physical hunger can wait.
Emotional hunger craves specific comfort foods.	Physical hunger is open to options–lots of things sound good.
Emotional hunger isn't satisfied with a full stomach.	Physical hunger stops when you're full.
Emotional eating triggers feelings of guilt, powerlessness, and shame.	Eating to satisfy physical hunger doesn't make you feel bad about yourself.

How sleep affects cravings and weight gain Alternatives to emotional eating

Ever noticed how when you’re short on sleep you crave foods that give you a quick energy boost? There’s a good reason for that. Lack of sleep has a direct link to stress, overeating, and weight gain.
There are two hormones in your body that regulate normal feelings of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin stimulates appetite, while leptin sends signals to the brain when you are full. However, when don’t get the sleep you need, your ghrelin levels go up, stimulating your appetite so you want more food than normal, and your leptin levels go down, meaning you don’t feel satisfied and want to keep eating. So, the more sleep you skip, the more food your body will crave.
As well as making it harder to fight food cravings, feeling tired can also increase your stress levels, leading to yet more emotional eating.
To control your appetite and reduce food cravings, try to get plenty of rest—about eight hours of quality sleep every night.

Week 8 Check-In

Start weight: 146 lbs

Before cruise weigh in:  138.6 lbs

This week's weigh in: 141.4 lbs

Jillians: 25/35

Climbs: 10/15

Jeans that do up again! ?/5 Probably 1 :(

So I am still angry at food and not super motivated to eat healthy. But I have gotten back to exercising regularly! I'm trying some new workout videos to mix it up, and I figure counting those towards "Jillians" is fair.

If anyone is interested, the Leah Sarago BalletBody videos are really hard-core for toning (think supersets of static contractions and pulses for 3-5 min with no rest between positions) but don't have a cardio element :(

Week... um... 6 1/2? Check-In

I don't want to talk about it.

But, I'm forcing myself to, because having support is what the blog is all about.

The vacation was great, the weight gain was not. Breanna, I am so jealous you only gained two pounds on your trip. I am not surprised at myself, every time I go on vacation half way through I get so sick of trying to eat healthy and just start eating whatever tastes good. I'm much happier that way, until I get home.

I am having so much trouble getting back into the eating healthy/workout routine. My sleep schedule is still messed up from vacation so I am exhausted and semi-depressed all day with no motivation to work out.

My biggest mental road block is that I hate taking time out of my day to do meal planning, grocery shopping, and most of all, cooking. I really HATE cooking. I am a picky eater, so very few foods actually taste GOOD to me (except desserts, of course). And the more variety you want, the more time it takes to find and test recipes, and log the nutritional info. Hours of work I don't enjoy - not even a little bit - for ten minutes of eating "meh"? So not worth it. There are so many other things I'd rather do with my time! But I don't know how to eat healthy if it's not homemade meals. Sure there's canned soup and Lean Cuisine, but low calorie does not mean a balanced diet - or tasty, blech.

Sigh. I probably can't make the end of the challenge even if I try. I know from experience starting is the hardest part and after a few days the routine will start to feel normal and positive feedback from results will help with motivation. But I am having trouble caring enough to do it. I spent at least ten hours sitting in front of my computer yesterday - no interruptions from cooking or working out - and it was the best day I've had since getting back from vacation.

I miss focusing on and prioritizing things I care about in my life outside of diet and exercise. There must be a balance somewhere but I have yet to find it…

Week 3 Check-In

Start weight: 146 lbs

Last week's weigh in:  141.0 lbs

This week's weigh in: 138.6 lbs

Jillians: 13/35

Climbs: 5/15

Jeans that do up again! 3/4

Goodbye bloating! I'm really happy to be farther along than I expected before leaving for vacation, although it is a little disheartening that I am currently around the same place I was AFTER I gained a bunch of weight on our last cruise :( No one's fault but my own for letting myself slide so far past my max threshold. I am going to TRY to not stress about it, eat reasonable portions, be active, and plan to pick up right where I left off when I get back! It helps knowing I only have about seven weeks to meet my goal once I'm home.

Jillian quote of the day: When referencing her workout minions' bodies - "This is not genetics. Don't be fooled. There are no genetics happening in this room. You know what this is? This is Hard. Ass. Work!"

1200 Calories (Article)

Jenny recently posted this on Facebook and I thought it was definitely worth re-posting here.

The main point is that marketing to women only focuses on counting calories and gives no mention of quality of food or that you must eat more if you are exercising (or else enter starvation mode and completely set yourself up for failure).

She makes some good points about how women who have nice bodies work out with weights, not just endless cardio, and are heavier (but look slimmer) than their counterparts who don't exercise or only do cardio.

*Warning - it does get a little ranty by the end!

1200 Calories - Why is this the magic weight loss number?

Week 2 Check-In

Start weight: 146 lbs

Last week's weigh in: 140.0 lbs

This week's weigh in: 141.0 lbs

Boo bloating! I will have to wait until next week before I believe the scale :S

Jillians: 8/35

Climbs: 3/15

Jeans that do up again! 3/4

Last Cheat Friday turned into Cheat Weekend, and I'm behind in my Jillians, so hopefully this next week will be better! One last push before the cruise!

Jillian quote of the day: "We are going to beat you into a paste. But, a really sexy paste!"

Week 1 Check-In

Jillian quote of the day: "Today we're going to beat you like you owe us money!"

Start weight: 146 lbs

Last week's weigh in: 142.4 lbs

This week's weigh in: 140.0 lbs

Jillians: 5/35

Climbs: 1/15

Jeans that do up again! 3/4

I'm sure none of the following is new to you ladies, but I am feeling fairly successful so far and thought I would post on what has been working for me:

1. Tracking my food and exercise.

My first week of dieting I went UP 2 pounds (probably some bloating associated, to be fair). The second week I lost nothing. The third week I started tracking my food and workout calories burned and… the diet took off! Maybe this is partly coincidence, but it is way less stressful knowing exactly what I have eaten and how much I have left, and I am really enjoying seeing the breakdown of cal/carbs/fat/protein/fiber by using an online counter. 

2. Frequent small cheats instead of one big cheat day.

I used to swear up and down I am all-or-nothing with food. I tend to binge, and having ANYTHING unhealthy in the house means I will binge on that, even if I don't like it that much. But this time I have been sipping Moose's booze, having a Werther's or two after dinner if I'm really craving dessert, eating bacon on the weekends. I count it all, and it really hasn't been hurting me, and my binge cravings have gone way down. I also haven't had a lot of temptation (by staying home and eating homemade meals), so we will see how it goes with a big party and Girls' Night coming up!

3. Reduced (not low) carbs.

I notice a big difference in the weigh-ins the morning after eating 120g of carbs vs. the 165g allotted to me by My Fitness Pal. And reducing carbs a little bit is WAY easier than a low carb diet (Atkins is about 20g of carbs a day). I am at the highest end of reduced carb diets (in The Zone), and I still feel healthy and like I am not sacrificing much food-wise because of carbs.

4. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (even weekends!).

This is what any sleep doctor will recommend, and not only has it helped my sleeping issues, it helps fight off those late-night cravings and the late-morning so-hungry-going-to-die-must-eat-two-meals-of-food desperation after sleeping in.

5. Being excited about something that has nothing to do with diet or exercise.

I have a couple new sewing/art projects getting started and it has really improved my grumpy wah-I'm-dieting! mood. I feel like all I've done lately is think about and track food, so it is REALLY refreshing to focus on something else that is fun. I'm also really looking forward to my trip, focusing on the weather, activities, and socializing, and trying to ignore the weight/clothing/food issues associated with it!

Goals and Guidelines

Hello Everyone! Here are my goals for this challenge!

Start Date: January 6th
End Date: May 1st

Start weight: 146 lbs
Goal weight: 135 lbs
Today's weight: 142.4 lbs

Maintenance Goal:
If I meet my weight goal before the end of the challenge, remain within 2 lbs of my goal weight until the end of the challenge.

Workout Goals (starting today):
1) Jillian at least 35 times
2) Climb at least 15 times

Guidelines:
- Jillian 4 days a week
- Climb 2 days a week
- Track ALL food and exercise (including cheat days) on My Fitness Pal

Setbacks/Biggest Challenge/Thing I need support for:
I have a two week vacation coming up, half of which is a cruise. While SUPER excited, the last cruise I went on I gained 7 lbs :(
I really don't know how to approach this. Don't worry about it and enjoy the vacation? Try to keep up and deal with the sad when everyone else is eating/tanning while I'm not eating/working out? Try to find the balance in between? Help!