[ChuppyGirl]

Hey Gals since I'm having trouble these days to put myself on track again, I thought of sharing this article with you. I hope you find it useful.

Cheers,
Hanadi

Weight Loss Psychology - Tips For Easier Dieting

One of the main reasons we find dieting so difficult is because we underestimate the psychological difficulties it entails. To improve your chances of losing weight, Anne Collins identifies three key emotional problems and offers practical solutions to overcome them and reach your goals.

Introduction

Losing weight is 100 times easier if you are mentally prepared for it. This may sound elementary, but in my experience most dieters quit their weight loss plan not because they feel hungry or have difficulty with the menus, but because of psychological reasons. Either, they become bored, or dissatisfied with their rate of weight loss, or suffer a momentary lapse and become overwhelmed by guilt, or feel too "deprived" to continue. And then, in an attempt to explain their failure, many of them blame their diet-plan, their domestic situation, or their congenital inability to lose weight. This process often repeats itself, as a result, some dieters can spend years unsuccessfully trying to lose weight, without ever realizing the true cause of their difficulty. Here are three common psychological problems we encounter when trying to reduce weight, along with some tips for how to overcome them.

Problem 1. Not Knowing How Weight Loss Will Benefit You

Whether we want to lose 20 or 220 pounds, we need to change our eating habits and perhaps several other lifestyle habits as well. Making these changes may not be difficult on Day 1 or Week 1 of our weight loss diet, because our initial enthusiasm usually gives us sufficient motivation. But, typically within 2-3 weeks, our "new" eating pattern starts to interfere with our regular lifestyle and, unless we are prepared for this, our desire to continue dieting will start to fade. Instead of seeing our diet as a passport to a better weight and shape, we see it as an obstacle and a burden. It becomes something we are doing because we "must" rather than because we "want to". This is the first big emotional problem we encounter when dieting.

To overcome this problem, we need to know exactly why we are trying to lose weight. We need a clear idea of how it will benefit us. Because only if we have a clear benefit to look forward to, will we be able to resist the temptation to revert to our previous bad habits. General benefits from having a leaner, lighter shape aren't powerful enough. We need a selfish, specific benefit - something we can visualize - that commands our attention. Maybe a beach holiday, or a dream outfit to wear for a specific occasion, or a new shape to show off at Thanksgiving. Whatever we choose, it must make a noise inside our head! Remember, the moment we start to feel that we "have to" do something, it becomes the enemy - like paying taxes, or cleaning out the basement - and our motivation flies out the window. In order to achieve lasting weight loss, we need to "want it".

Problem 2. Trying To Be Perfect

During my 24 years or so as a weight loss consultant and nutritionist, I've met perhaps 10,000 dieters in person, and communicated personally with another 100,000 over the Internet. But so far I haven't met one single successful dieter who was perfect. On the contrary, most of my successful clients made tons of mistakes. They had bad days, bad weeks - even whole months - during which they went completely off the rails. But none of this stopped them from succeeding in the end. Why not? Because they learned from their mistakes. And let's not forget: most of our self-knowledge comes from the mistakes we make, not our successes.

Unfortunately, many dieters insist on trying to be perfect. As a result, when they do fall off the wagon (as they always do), they find it impossible to tolerate their "failure", and become overwhelmed by guilt. So even though their lapse might have been relatively trivial (a weekend binge), they go to pieces. Because, as usual, it's the guilt that does the real damage, not the bingeing.

The lesson is this. When dieting, don't waste time trying to be perfect. It only leads to increased guilt and failure. Instead, accept that you are going to make mistakes, and don't let them distract you when they happen. See them as a learning experience. For example, if you drink too much alcohol when dining out, and massively overeat as a result, don't wake up the next morning in a fit of depression. Instead, savor your experience, and appreciate that you have made an important discovery: that too much alcohol makes weight loss more difficult. By reacting like this, you will avoid guilt and find it much easier to return to your diet.

Problem 3. Treating Your Diet As Race

Another common problem concerns speed of weight reduction. Many dieters expect to lose weight very fast, and are psychologically unprepared when their body refuses to behave in this fashion. If a week passes without any weight reduction, they become dispirited and start to lose interest. Unfortunately, like it or not, the human body is designed for survival not "appearance". Therefore it has no interest in shedding body fat, which it sees as an important source of energy during times of famine. As a result, the maximum amount of fat we can lose in a week is about 3 pounds, while someone who is less than 30 pounds overweight may lose about 1 pound. Anything extra is likely to be a combination of water and muscle weight.

To overcome your impatience and maintain steady weight loss, stop thinking of your diet as a race. Instead, see it as a journey. This reduces anxiety and gives you more "breathing space" to settle into your new eating habits. I explain this in more detail on my wonderful weight loss forum, and most people find it a very beneficial approach. At the same time, avoid jumping on your bathroom scales every day - limit yourself to once a week. Checking your weight more often only encourages you to take a short-term view of things, which is not helpful.

I realize that "steady" weight loss may not sound terribly attractive, but in my experience the slower the weight loss, the longer it stays off. Furthermore, as stated above, if you lose more than 3 pounds a week it won't be fat - it will be muscle or water. And while losing water is only temporary - and thus pointless - losing muscle will slow your metabolism and increase the risk of future weight gain.

So when you start your next diet journey, just remember: there's no rush. Set yourself a realistic weight loss goal and let Nature take its course. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and are aiming for 150 pounds, allow yourself 6 months to reach your destination. And if it takes a little longer, so what? I mean, what do you lose?

These three psychological problems account for a huge number of diet failures. Mastering them will definitely enhance your chances of losing weight. So before you embark with all your customary enthusiasm on yet another "new" diet, set aside some time to think through these issues and then watch the pounds disappear!

By Anne Collins
Published: 6/27/2006

[ChuppyGirl]

Question: Why do I eat although I don't feel hungry?

Answer:
You can get the best answer to your question if some time you avoid eating when you are not hungry, but want to eat all the same. You will then discover what the unpleasant feelings are which you try to avoid by eating. Those who eat despite a lack of physical hunger often do it in order to reduce anxiety or other unpleasant feelings. It is also common to eat when you are exposed to temptations by delicious food within reach.

Question: How do you learn to recognize your hidden real human emotions? What is the best treatment for anxiety and panic attacks?

Answer:
When you are young, you learn to identify feelings aided by other people. If people in the environment does not give good help, you may become confused in understanding your inner world.
A psychotherapist teaches patients to begin listening introspectively and search for what they feel and want. They become increasingly sincere and true to themselves, but can also be more troublesome for those in their surroundings as they no longer try to be accommodating.
If you do not have a therapist you can try to identify your feelings as follows:

1. Take the opportunity when you feel physically bad.
2. Lie down in a quiet room and close your eyes.
3. You will probably get a most unpleasant feeling.
4. This feeling of unpleasantness may become almost unbearable but concentrate on your real feeling in spite of this. You will gradually become more and more aware of of your real feelings.
5. Worry, loathing, shame, anger, fear and grief are examples of suppressed feelings.
6. The unpleasantness feels dangerous but it is in reality the suppressed feelings which are dangerous, not those you aware of.
7. Let the feeling of unpleasantness spread and make intensive contact with it. Allow yourself to express these feelings by making sounds and movements.
8. Within a quarter of an hour the feeling of unpleasantness will have probably disappeared

Question: Why do people with eating disorders mix up feelings and hunger? Why do they feel a constant craving for food?

Answer:
Recognizing different feelings and being able to distinguish them from feeling hungry or satisfied are things usually learned in early childhood. Those with eating disorders may have learned, during childhood, to console themselves by eating or avoiding food when feeling various kinds of unpleasantness. This may cause them difficulties in recognizing their real feelings. They get the wrong information from their inner-personal region and as a consequence can't clearly distinguish between feelings and physical sensations.

[ChuppyGirl]

Question: In what way are people with eating disorders different from other people? Are these differences the causes of eating disorders? Do they get comfort by eating, even when they do not need more nutrition?

Answer:
People with eating disorders experience that they are not in control of their needs and impulses. Rather they feel controlled by forces outside themselves. If you look at the story of their lives, certain phenomena recur. When they were children, the surrounding people have not responded in an adequate way to the signals which expresses needs or feelings. If the surrounding environment does not understand the child's true needs and take proper action, the child is inhibited in learning to be more conscious of its needs.
Either people with eating disorders don't feel the body signals for hunger and satisfaction, or they don't listen to these signals. They eat for reasons other than physical hunger, for example, they are tired, stressed or feel melancholy. Their relation to food makes them unhappy and they are not being able to cope with food in a proper way.
People without eating disorders are in contact with their physical feelings of hunger and satisfaction, and use those feelings when they decide when and how much to eat. They generally eat for no other reasons than hunger, and need food to be satisfied. Eating is satisfying and works smoothly like breathing and sleeping.

Disturbed Eating -----------------Normal Eating



What controls eating?
For a healthy person, eating is controlled by feelings of true hunger, appetite and satisfaction. You eat when you need nourishment and stop eating when you are satisfied.
A person with eating disorders lacks the normal connection between the nutritional need of the body and the hunger signals. Eating is determined by will, planned diet, counting calories and if you are tempted by delicious food.
Why a person eats.
A healthy person eats for nourishment, health and energy, but sometimes also for pleasure or as an part of a social event. You feel content when you eat.
For people with eating disorders, eating is governed by the will to change the appearance of the body, or to reduce pain, stress, anxiety, loneliness, monotony, etc. After completing the meal, they feel discomfort and remorse, guilt and shame.
When a person eats.
The healthy person eats regularly, for example, three main courses and snacks according to what the body craves.
A person with an eating disorder eats irregularly and chaotic - sometimes too much, sometimes too little. Sometimes you skip a meal, sometimes you fast, sometimes you overeat and sometimes you diet. It's common to either eat too much or too little.
Normal eating: You have contact with your body's physical sensations of hunger and satisfaction, and use it to decide when and how much to eat. You normally do not eat for other reasons than that you are hungry and need nourishment. You get satisfied with eating and eating works by itself like breathing and sleeping.
Disturbed eating: Either you cannot feel your body's signals for hunger and satisfaction, or you can feel them, but you disregard them. In both cases, you eat for other reasons than need of nourishment, such as stress or sadness. You are unhappy with your relation to food and cannot resolve it in a sensible way.

Question:How often should one eat? Give me advice about eating disorder management.

Answer:
How often one should eat is an individual matter, but here are some guidelines.
Note the times of the day when you usually feel hungry and have time to eat and try to arrange your meals then if possible.
In many occupations, mealtimes are set at a fixed time and you are forced to have your meals at that time.
Most people are satisfied with two or three main meals and a few snacks. Many people with eating disorders go without food during the day and guzzle down food later in the evening. This increases the risk of compulsive eating, but the risk can be avoided by not going without food for more than four hours. Eat some fruit if meals are delayed.
Eating a proper lunch and dinner every day reduces the risk of eating any kind of food without caring about its nutritional value.
A problem for school children is that they sometimes are compelled to have lunch too early in the day, and as a result they eat almost nothing because most of them are not hungry. Later, when they are hungry, there is no food for them, so they satisfy their hunger by eating sweets and buns. It would be better if school lunch were scheduled at a later time.
Some people enjoy a big breakfast and others cannot stand to eat in the morning. One scientific study showed that children do better in school if they eat a proper breakfast, but a later study showed that this only applies to undernourished children.
A question which is often discussed is whether it is better to have fixed mealtimes or to eat only when hungry. A solution which usually works is to have fixed mealtimes, but adjust the times and amounts to one's own hunger and satisfaction.
To eat well is an art. The body must be well nourished and furthermore one should feel content but not overstuffed after eating.

[ChuppyGirl]

Brainwashing diet

[Becca]

Good info girl.... .....I know how you feel about falling off the wagon........I havent as to junk, but water, i think i drink to much water..............

But i am hungry about every 3 to 4 hrs though, I do eat popcorn, sometime when i'm hungry........I have those 100 cal snaks, and i eat alot of nanners, crackers.......I have been eatting those oatmeal bars, with 90 cals,
And i need to ask how many carbs in bad, i forgot.........I swear my dr told me 10 or 12 carbs, is the max.....And i can have no more than 10 grams of sugar....

I have been able to drink milk now with out getting very sick, so i have cereal, Honey bunches of oats ......I have that for the Am and Lunch, then i have my protien shake sometime in the day, if i get hungry........

I dont eat at McDonalds, like i use to when i was over weight..I have tried the snack wraps, i can eat a little over 1/2 of it, (well most of the top is just wrap, so i tear it off.) i had a backon egg, cheese bagle the other morning, i was able to eat almost 1/2 of it and saved the rest for lunch.
(my daughter is a manger there so we get everything free LOL) ...I have been eatting salds, from Wendys i like the chili salds.........I pick some lettce, maters, cheese, out of the bowl put it in the lid and pour some chili on it, put the chips on it and there ya go..........

I dont know, but i am worried i might have streched my pouch to much..........So i'm working on srinking it down,,,,I can drink 9oz of protien shake, (well its 9 by the time i add the powder.) the dr said my pouch is to hold 8oz of protien shake........I get confused, 3 or 4 oz, of food is less than, 8oz of shake,water,milk.......and the food, feels you up FAST. And if our pouch is to be 4 to 5 oz, in size, how do we hold 8oz of shake? I dont understand.. ..........The dr says i'm fine not to worry, but i dont understand...........

Maybe Doc can help me on that.........

Sorry thats what is on my mind today.........

[DocSanae]

Liquids empty out of your pouch much faster than solid food. That's why you can keep down 8oz protein shake while with solid food, it's about half that.

Remember the pouch rule, no liquids 30 minutes before, and 1 hour after your meals? That's because the stoma--the opening of your pouch to the small intestines is always open, as opposed to the fact that with the normal stomach, the pyorus, the end opening closes completely. Since your stoma is always open, liquids taken with your meals will let the food through the pouch faster, you won't get the full feeling, and you'll be eating more than you should. So, you also need to be careful not to get into a grazing habit.

As for water, there isn't any "too much water", the problem is, the timing you drink water. Stick to the pouch rule there.

[ChuppyGirl]

Dear Becca,

I'm totally i the same shoe!! I used to eat have the sandwich and keep the rest for another meal, but now I can go over the 1/2 and still feel hungry. I'm so scared! and same here I have to much every 2-3 hours!

to eat protein all of the day is not convenient all of the day, I wish if the food business people invent fast protein snack and they taste good as the corn puffs or the potato chips. I hate the protein bars they have that yucki smell which I don't tolerate. The only good protein fast snack I guess the cheese strings, or maybe backed or fried hotdogs I used to put them in small topper ware in my bag or as my breakfast in the office. any other nice ideas?

please don't say boiled eggs I hate them when they get cold, they made me I don't know how some people have them pickled as well yuck!

I can't wait to get back home I know for sure that I won't get back on the right food track seriously until I workout. I miss so much my treadmill and the orbitrick and the bike. Ohhh I'm dieing to get back to the pool.

Ladies watch out next month's pics will be astonishing I'm warning ya!

[howietam]

Hanadi,
What timely info! I haven't read through it all yet, but I did have an "aha" moment reading the first article re: not being perfect. What struck me was when the author said "the guilt is what does the damage, not the bingeing".
How true, how true.

[Becca]

I swear i forget, about the carbs, how much is to much..............I had it writen about the sugar, it said 10 is the max they want me to have..And what they said about suagr flavoring they told me thats just a flavor, not to worry.

So if anyone can give me a ballpark, i would love it.........Those 90/100 cal snacks i have been trying have 12 carbs...........And I eat about 1.5 a pk, Cameron eats the other 1.5 LOL I guess its good to have a growing young boy in the house LOL He eats everything i do..........And he even drinks my protien shake, and he goes good for you mamal? I say, yes and good for you too.............

[ChuppyGirl]

Becca I think according to DocSanea's recommendation that we can go upto 120gm carb/day. what I'm trying hard to do these days is to minimize my carb to have it just in the morning and try to have proteins and vegis and fruits water coffee tea all of the day.
I'm good all of the day except at night, the snacking daemon comes and control me! I'd better buy sleeping pills I should shut down if I can't control this bad habit! sheesh!

And that lil Cameron is so funny God bless him. hmmm I dunno if the protein shakes are good for the kids or not but you'd better ask!

Love,
Hanadi