Help Me Find Some Food Balance.

My sister went to counseling for it. Seriously. She struggled similarly to you. All or nothing. She had such unhealthy relationships with food. Counseling changed her life. She has such a healthy perspective of food now, and looks dang good!

Having once been 304 lbs, I completely understand. For me, the difference came when I made a few changes to my thinking. First, I started looking at food as fuel for my body. I considered every bite that went in and stopped eating processed food. So no more fast food, nothing in a box, etc. I can eat anything I want as long as I make it myself and the ingredients come from organic and/or local sources. What this did for me, was stop my cravings for constant junk and over-eating because my body was now nourished with healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. So instead of eating a few thousand calories at McDonald's and my body still feeling starved and wanting more, I can eat a few hundred calories and feel very satisfied and my body feels better and stronger. I do not count calories and I don't watch my fat intake. I just make sure my food is the healthiest possible. I buy grassfed beef from farmers, raw milk, bought a bunch of chickens and collect eggs everyday, etc. It's been a difficult transition, especially when it comes to the cost, but with fewer doctor's visits, no diet programs, pills, or exercise tapes, I figure I am breaking even.

I also started incorporating exercise. I never have and never will be a go to the gym person or hop on the exercise bike type. I found that I needed to find active things that were fun. So, I hike, horseback ride, scuba dive, dance, etc. Anything that is fun and requires some exertion I don't have to think about is great. For the winter time, I do use my Fluidity Bar and I am considering getting an Air Balancer as it looks like a fun exercise I can do while focusing on something else - like meal planning.

The biggest thing that has helped me stay on track is planning all my meals in advance, shopping out of my pantry first and then making a grocery list. I save time and money by shopping strictly off my list and I don't slip up and end up needing to prepare a boxed or frozen meal last minute. I utilize my slow cooker a lot! And have learned to soak my beans and grains the night before to save time.

A book that helped me was Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck.

BTW - I now weigh 135 pounds

I hope you find something that works for you!

I am looking forward to your answers. I weigh 40lbs more than I should and my struggle is ice cream with depression. Even if I do good during the day I will eat a tone of ice cream once the kids are in bed. I'm sure that is not helping my weight issues.

I don't really count calories. I probably should. I mostly look at the food type and eat accordingly. I like to eat a lot of fruit through out the day. For example, grapefruit with salt on it for breakfast. Gives a nice bit of energy. Then I'll follow up with some form of protein 15-20 minutes later (if I could have eggs, I'd eat that). Then I'll have a snack of a fruit/veggie - like an apple or a banana with peanut butter. Or an avocado. Then lunch I'll eat a meal with protein. I watch portion size. Then eat a snack later on - healthy kind of some sort. Then a dinner w/protein. I don't overeat.

I don't buy candy or desserts. We'll have desserts VERY rarely. Otherwise, I don't have it in the house.

But I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm the person to be answering your question. On one hand I think I am because I'm successful at always keeping my weight normal. And on the other hand, I don't think I am because I can't relate to your exact question and give you advice for it...

Except I did have a friend that weighed 400 lbs. He decided to lose it all, and the way he did it was with healthy eating/exercises...and giving himself ONE day a week to eat whatever bad food he wanted to eat. He didnt' keep it in his house through out the week - he only bought it on Saturday and ate it on Saturday. He didn't watch his portion sizes or anything on that day. It allowed him to give in to his cravings and be more successful the other days. All the other days, he stuck strictly to his diet. He went from 400 lbs to 190 lbs of muscle:-) So, it worked for him.

Counseling might be really helpful. It can help you change your thought process and find a middle ground better.

Good luck!

Have you tried joining a community support group?
that is very helpful for some people.

Maybe you're overthinking it all. I would try to follow a specific diet and go from there. I really like the 17 Day Diet because you don't get bored on it (my problem with diets). Also, it's healthy eating and you're not counting calories (something I hate). This diet also kick-started my metabolism. Usually I go off a diet and gain, but I have been off for a couple of months and have maintained my weight. I have good eating days and bad eating days, of course. But I liked the doctor who wrote this diet's rule in that if you must eat poorly, do it over the weekend and get back on track on Monday morning, eating properly all week long. That way you can afford to indulge a little come Friday! Also, try exercising when you feel like eating emotionally. I feel like I could eat pounds of chocolate some days, but I make myself go to the gym to at least burn some calories so I can justify the chocolate - by the time I'm done I usually feel so much better emotionally that I end up eating healthily anyway! Good look - it's a battle, but worth it!

This is what works for me and it came from a personal trainer:
Eat 6 small meals a day. Each of those meals should be about 250 calories if you are excercising, fewer if not. (This is based on my personal weight and weight-loss goal. I was at 145 and wanted to lose 20 lbs.) I know this seems like a pain in the butt to count calories, but it becomes easier. I actually stopped counting after a couple months. By then I could estimate pretty closely, especially if I eat a lot of the same foods. The calories should be approximately 40-30-30, which means 40% carbs, 30% fat, and 30% protein. I love this diet because nothing is off the table. Of course, if you eat only high calorie food it won't fill you up and you'll be hungry. There are several calorie counters available online and a couple apps too that have common foods preloaded. You just tell it your food quantities or volume. You may need to buy a little kitchen scale for portion size.

Even though this might seem like a lot more work than some other plans, it is fool proof because you know exactly what you are putting in your body. Tracking what you are consuming each meal on one of those programs makes you accountable to yourself. I don't know if the 1200-1500 calorie alotment would be enough for a person at 250 lbs, though. Calorie requirements vary by age, and it is my understanding that too few calories sends a body into starvation mode and you won't build muscle. Muscle will raise your metabolism, too, and will help with weight loss. I'm sure there's reliable info on calorie requirements for maintaining and suggestions for weight loss.

The brilliance of the plan is the frequent meals. It takes some planning but I rarely find myself hungry. If all of this seems overwhelming, I have a friend who has lost a lot of weight by eating frequently (healthy foods) without all the calorie counting. I think she eats tons of veggies. She says she never lets herself get hungry, because then she'll eat anything!

Good luck!

J.,
You might want to read Brad Lamm's book, Just Ten Pounds. He was on Oprah and is a guest on Dr. Oz's show. I will be going to a meeting he is doing here in TX on Wednesday.
Dr. Oz also has lots of weight loss/management info on his website.
I try to eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
I hope you find what works for you.

You sound just like me. I have tried just about everything there is to try.

Right now I am losing some and it's coming off without much effort. I gave up monster sodas because I feel guilty consuming that much sugar when the Bible says I should be a living sacrifice. For the last year I have been trying to put God first and apparently it's taken this long to sink in. I've not had any soda or energy drinks or chocolate in the last few weeks. I've ate otherwise normally. But I have been avoiding eating "just because". I've still had some fast food and pancakes. I'm not making any food evil other than the truly bad for me monster drinks that only keep me going back for more and the same for soda.