exercise great/eat terrible?

S

smurfette

Cathlete
I wonder if there is anyone else like me out there. I have been an avid,(4-6 times a week), exerciser for almost seven years now. I've had some periods of non exercise but nothing lasting longer than a month or two. I have enjoyed running, BFL, The Firm, and now I'm addicted to Cathe.

I grew up lean. I didn't gain any weight until the last six months of highschool when we moved to another state. I stayed in pretty good shape but ended up being 135 when I got married. Pregnant six months later I went all the way up to 170 after my third and last child. IT was a very difficult dark time and I certainly used food to medicate myself through a tough depression. I was dealing with an insanely difficult time in my life. Husband was gone working full time and graduate night school. One boy with autism and a baby just diagnosed. It was horrible. Exercise, counseling and meds helped me pull out of it all.

I'm so glad i did all that because I'm very happy now. I'm enjoying life, my family, my husband and just everything. Now I'm to the point where I feel just resigned to being a fit, strong athletic but chubby gal for the rest of my life.

I'm very strong and have a natural ability to grow muscle. I'm a mesomorph. I know that I have some beautiful muscle hiding under my skin.

Now the difficult part. I have never been able to master good eating habits for longer than a week. I'm carrying these 40 extra pounds around. It used to be 50. I've been able to keep steady at 160 pounds for a few years now. The lowest I have ever gotten was 148 and I only stayed there for a day or two. That was last year.

I wear a size a 12 and last year I was wearing 10's. I'm 5'2" and wear a 38 DD.

I've read tons of books on overeating and diets and most recently the Dr Phil book wich I really enjoyed. I've learned that I'm an emotional, bored eater and if food were alcohol, I would most certainly be an alcoholic!! I've been trying to destress and take some of the emotional burden off myself, but it is difficult to maintain. Food is still soothing.

Has anyone had an experience similar to mine? Have you been able to break free?

I'm very curious to know. Thanks for the input.

Danna

p.s. I wanted to add that Im' very grateful for how far I have come. I do give myself full credit for what I have accomplished. I love what my body can do and How good it feels when I'm exercising. Didn't want to sound ungrateful because that would be untrue. I'm very pleased with surviving my ordeal so far. it is still very stressful but we are all making it through this together.
 
Hello Danna,

I live in the UK and recently there was a programme on T.V. called 'You Are What You Eat'. It profiled some v. fat people in Britain and their eating habits. I have been following this programme and taken an interest in the nutritionist who is assigned to clean up their eating habits.

Dr. Gillian McKeith is an internationally aclaimed clinical nutritionist. She has helped all sorts of people cure themselves of food addiction and transform their eating habits. The thing with her that really appeals to me is that she doesn't advocate any pills, diet food or no carb diet. She advises eating lots of vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts - in other words, a natural diet as much as possible. This is the most realistic of all the diets I have ever read.

The people on the programme were put on her eating plan for 8 weeks and they couldn't believe the transformation. They lost weight, got rid of flatulence, water retention, vitamin deficiency and other physical problems all related to diet.

I have just ordered her book, which you might be interested in for yourself. The book is called 'You Are What You Eat'. I don't know if you can get the book over there but you can order it from a UK book site called www.bol.com (cheapest I have found) for £9.00 ($12). It is worth buying the book and reading about food and nutrition.

I have to point out that I have never believed in all these diet books and never bought any diet book myself but when I saw this lady I knew what she was doing was right. She is a fully qualified nutritionist and has worked with Jennifer Anniston, Demi Moore and Olympic athletes. You can't go wrong with a list like that.


Yen
 
Hi Danna,

I have the same problem as you, I can exercise but eating is still a problem for me. I wish I knew of a good solution to this but unfortunately I don't. I know if I would clean up my eating, I would probably have a body to kill for (maybe that is what I am secretly afraid of). Looking forward to some good suggestions.

Rhonda
 
In simple terms, you use food as a coping mechanism. The fact that you are aware of this helps. If you are a fan of Dr. Phil, then you've heard him say, "If you really WANT to lose weight, you can and will".

It's really going to have to be up to you to obtain a healthy eating mindset and have your actions follow accordingly. Maybe you're just not ready for that yet....

I know this probably didn't help much but wanted to share the thoughts I had after I read your post. Hope it gives you food for thought.
 
thanks for you input everyone. I think that a large part of the problem is that I'm waiting for my thoughts and feelings to change so that I'll "feel" like I've turned a corner. I'm waiting for the food issue to stop being so difficult first, then i can fully participate.

When the switch doesn't materialize, that becomes more evidence of how impossible it is for me to change. what's the use when I can see that it is going to be such a long, unrewarding journey.

I believe that this is a faith issue. A complicated one at that.

Good things to think about and consider. I'll keep at it.

Danna
 
This is a constant battle for me...no words of wisdom...just know that I'm right there with ya.
Angela:-(
 
Hi Dana

I can certainly relate to what you are going thru. My husband works full time and then some. We have 2 small boys and the oldest one (6)has just been diagnosed with bipolar. Explains alot of what was going on but does not make it go away. Often it feels like I shoulder the entire ordeal by myself. I have been turning to food for comfort myself and have packed on 20 lbs since December. Before this I had only 10 lbs to lose, now I have 30.

I have started keeping a food diary on how I am feeling when I eat. I am making better choices where food is concerned but for me it is not as simple as putting the fork down. Which by the way I know I have to do. I also have to deal with protecting my "normal" child, help my bipolar child, fight depression on top of everyday activities. I am not there yet but I am working on it. I think when you have a child with "a special need" you have to most times take "snatches of time" for working out. I do so love my Cathe DVD's but also have others that lets me fit in 10 to 30 min. when there is no way I can fit in an hour.

You can email me if you ever need to "talk"

Take care and I am praying for you

Kim

[email protected]
 
I really relate to your response Kim. Food is such a soothing great thing in my life. I have so many other difficult things to deal with. It makes no sense to take away one thing that gives me so much temporary pleasure. It gives me a high like nothing else. I need that high too. It makes the rest my day tolerable. Logically it is clear that the food is harming me. DUh! But I sure live for that fix.

Now, I know that the ultimate win would be to find something useful to replace the food that would give me the same high. In my fantasy world, doing housework would put me in ecstasy! I wouldn't need one single extra calorie to feel good and my house would be immaculate! (I'm laughing my head off while I write this, by the way).

Sigh. i agree with Dr Phil when he says that we are typically motivated by how we think we are going to feel once we reach our target weight. I realize that. I will feel exactly the same way then as I do now. There isn't a reason to change. I will feel desperate for a fix and I won't be able to indulge myself. I see weight loss as giving up feeling good.

I'm going to keep thinking about this today.

Danna
 
Hi Danna,m I understand where you are coming from. I have the exact same problem... I am an emotional eater ... and you know some of the emotion can be bottled up from a long time ago. I'm currently reading The Solutionm a book about overcoming your emotions and realizing that its ok to be sad or mad- as long as we can deal with it and not resort to other things (food, alcohol, etc) to cope. I just try with all my might to remember that it is one day at a time. Its hard, how in 10 minutes you can ruin a day with eating bad or having a binge... but I have faith that if we try hard enough, we can control most of our emotions and learn to deal with them within ourselves. Good luck to you, and I'm here with you if you need me! -Tina :)
 
I can sure relate! I am finally (at age 45) really seeing my issues with food. I'm not doing so great with controlling them... but I can see them clearly now anyway. That's a start I guess. I never met a carb I didn't like, and if you put some sugar with that carb it's a full blown addiction for me. I know I need to stay away from the *evil* food (sweets!), and sometimes I muster up the control to do that. Most of the time though it's like I'm watching myself from the outside, refusing to take any responsibility for what I'm eating. It is all tied up with moods and emotions and brain chemistry. Bad mood = bad food.

I'm a big help huh? :) I guess I'm just posting to say I hear you and know exactly what it's like. For me it's a matter of seeing it as a problem and trying to identify the triggers. I find I do best when I stay away from high processed carb food completely. I can't have just one bite. Or even if it is just one bite now it will be the whole box later. Keep workin on it.. I'm with ya.
 
When you said in your post "I would probably have a body to kill for (maybe that is what I am secretly afraid of)" it really hit me because that's how I feel.

I do great when it comes to exercising and have lost 25 pounds over the past year. I would like to lose 8 more but everytime I get close I sabotage myself and I think that I may be secretly afraid of losing those last pounds. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why.

The only thing I can think of is that I don't want anyone to find me remotely attractive because being in close proximity to men, other than my husband, makes me very nervous. And with these last 8 pounds to lose I still feel a bit heavy and don't feel threatened. If anyone else feels this way please let me know because I am really bothered by this.

Didn't mean to get that in depth but it just came out.
 
I relate to wendybdh completely! I was dating someone and had almost achieved my goal weight when we broke up last week. Since then I have been eating uncontrollable amounts of sweets. It's not because I'm sad (although I certainly am..) it's because I don't want to be attractive to anyone new because that holds the threat of getting hurt again. If I feel bad about myself, I won't date and if I don't date, I'm "safe."

Dr. Phil's got nuthin' on my ability to psychoanalyze myself! Just not sure how to let go of the fear and change it..

Kickie
 
I too, am only 5-8 pounds away from my goal. I exercise and eat cleanly for 75% of the day and then blow it once I'm home. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, trying to figure out why I can't lose those last couple of pounds.

In my opinion, it is a comfort/reward thing. I work full-time, clean the house, mow the lawn, take care of the kids - hey, I am DUE that cookie! Problem is, I'm only sabotaging myself.

I think the thing to do, is find that message you can give to yourself that stops you in your tracks before you eat something you shouldn't. Lately, it has been helpful to me to remind myself that since I'm getting up at 5:30 am to workout for an hour (which, frankly, I would rather sleep in), why am I going and blowing it by eating 4 cookies at 8 p.m.? It is very self-defeating.

I am trying the BFL method again after having fantastic results 4 years ago. With the free day, I'm hoping if I can stave off my cravings to one day a week, I can retrain my eating.

Good luck. This certainly is not easy, but we're all there with you.
Shopgirl :)
 
Thanks Shopgirl,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I need to recognize when i'm starting to lose control and then find an evasive activity.

I think Dr. Phil says that there are only a limited amount of times that that happens in a day. Something around 3 or 4.

Got to find my triggers. I think that if I can master those triggers, we may be able to turn this ship around.

Thanks for your input.

Danna
 
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