The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Don't feel like there is something wrong with you--like Leigh often says, if you undereat and you get hungry, it means your body is healthy and doing it's job. I would want half a jar of pb after a day eating so little! Don't give up--it sounds like you have come a long way, and progress isn't always linear.
Don't feel like there is something wrong with you--like Leigh often says, if you undereat and you get hungry, it means your body is healthy and doing it's job. I would want half a jar of pb after a day eating so little! Don't give up--it sounds like you have come a long way, and progress isn't always linear.
I know it's somewhat positive progress .. given that 6 months ago .. I'd have no issues with going to bed with 400 calories in me .. but by the same token, I'm probably over 120 now (haven't weighed myself .. I'm too afraid to!), and at this rate .. I'm terrified that I'm going to cross over that "threshold" and end up overweight! I spent the first 17 years of my life heavy .. so that thought scares me .. but apparently not enough to put the stupid jar of PB down! It's self-sabotaging .. but I can't figure out how to stop it! case in point .. started off fine today food wise (at least in terms of eating b-fast, then a morning snack, post-workout snack .. and then got to dinner) .. had half of my dinner, didn't appeal taste-wise, pitched it .. and went back to the darn PB .. I'm just beyond frustrated right now. I need to figure out how to flip OFF the internal Peanut Butter "switch"!!
If you want to try the old behavior modification tricks for the PB there are lots of things.
1) Don't have it in the house.
2) Slow down your response time. Don't eat it out of the jar or over the sink - make a production out of it. Take a spoonful, put it on a plate, go to your eating location and eat it with a fork. Wait 15 minutes. If you still want seconds, repeat the process.
3) Use the old timing trick - one day or hour or minute at a time. You can have it but not after 3PM or only on Sundays. If you can trick yourself to follow arbitrary rules like this and not feel deprived but rather that you are making a choice it can help.
4) Brush your teeth instead. Drink a glass of water. Have a pickle. Anything incompatible with eating the craved food (PB in this case).
5) Go for a walk. Or do 1 minute of jumping jacks. Or take a shower.
6) Just say no. Seriously. You are in charge of you.
It sounds like you didn't like the taste of your dinner so you ditched it and ate peanut butter. What would you tell a six-year old who tried to pull that? At least make a real PB&J sandwich with some carrots and celery and eat that instead.
If you want to try the old behavior modification tricks for the PB there are lots of things.
1) Don't have it in the house.
2) Slow down your response time. Don't eat it out of the jar or over the sink - make a production out of it. Take a spoonful, put it on a plate, go to your eating location and eat it with a fork. Wait 15 minutes. If you still want seconds, repeat the process.
3) Use the old timing trick - one day or hour or minute at a time. You can have it but not after 3PM or only on Sundays. If you can trick yourself to follow arbitrary rules like this and not feel deprived but rather that you are making a choice it can help.
4) Brush your teeth instead. Drink a glass of water. Have a pickle. Anything incompatible with eating the craved food (PB in this case).
5) Go for a walk. Or do 1 minute of jumping jacks. Or take a shower.
6) Just say no. Seriously. You are in charge of you.
It sounds like you didn't like the taste of your dinner so you ditched it and ate peanut butter. What would you tell a six-year old who tried to pull that? At least make a real PB&J sandwich with some carrots and celery and eat that instead.
Lisa .. your suggestions are all excellent .. but they're ones that I've tried, and I seriously just am at a loss as to how to get a handle on this! I think part of my caving tonight .. was because I'm out of PB2 .. I find that when I have that in the house .. it really diminishes my need for "real" PB .. Like it's a good substitute and a fine stand-in .. I have an order of PB2 landing tomorrow .. so that should hopefully be part of the solution.
My old rules .. were that I allowed myself PB on Friday nights only .. but that was when I was in the depth of my eating disorder and I had decided initially .. that thinking that way in terms of allowing it so restrictively wasn't healthy .. Now I don't know what to think in terms of how often (if ever) I should allow it. It's twisted ..because it's the one food I enjoy the most .. but also my biggest dietary nemesis ..
Pickles .. heck yeah ... that's the polar opposite of PB! I think my game plan is going to be to only allow PB2 in the house .. I'm about to call my grocery store and tell them to put me on a "do-not-sell to" list for PB! I feel like a junkie
I wonder if hypnosis would work? Stupid thing to get hypnosis for .. but I'm wondering if in general .. if it's effective for most anything?
Man .. what a lame one I am eh??
You guys have got to be close to taking away my rights to post on JP!!
..because it's the one food I enjoy the most .. but also my biggest dietary nemesis ..
Pickles .. heck yeah ... that's the polar opposite of PB! I think my game plan is going to be to only allow PB2 in the house .. I'm about to call my grocery store and tell them to put me on a "do-not-sell to" list for PB! I feel like a junkie
substitute chocolate, for PB, it's the one food I enjoy the most.. I keep it out of the house when I'm out of control. When I feel I can, i like to keep it in the house and have 50 cal. If I abuse the 50 cal rule beyond 100cal, oops it's not in the house again for months. When I adhere to the 50-100cal rule, I feel extremely proud of myself, normal, healthy.
I am a junkie to chocolate; it is my heroin.
Once you just accept that it is your heroin, you can decide whether you want to continue being a junkie or not.
substitute chocolate, for PB, it's the one food I enjoy the most.. I keep it out of the house when I'm out of control. When I feel I can, i like to keep it in the house and have 50 cal. If I abuse the 50 cal rule beyond 100cal, oops it's not in the house again for months. When I adhere to the 50-100cal rule, I feel extremely proud of myself, normal, healthy.
I am a junkie to chocolate; it is my heroin.
Once you just accept that it is your heroin, you can decide whether you want to continue being a junkie or not.
I feel like a total retard when i say .... I really don't like chocolate! I swear .. I'm missing some female gene! My mom can have chocolate in the house all the time .. me .. doesn't do a thing for me. PB is most definitely me heroin! My grave mistake was letting my PB2 stash run out before placing a new order .. I think I need to have them put me on auto-ship! If I have that .. I can go without the Skippy!!
How many jars of PB2 did you go thru in how little time? Just because it has no fat does not necessarily mean to eat without restriction.
I would say if it is this much of an issue, don't have it in the house and to heck if it brings back a little restriction mentality. If you don't want to eat it every night - don't bring it in the house. Period. As missjane said, we're adults, adults quit things that give them trouble all the time - whether permanently or just for a time.
I know you know the behavioral things but really - did you do them yesterday (or whenever it was)? Did you eat the jar one spoon full at a time, on a plate in your dining room using a fork. Did you say no and go brush your teeth. More than once? did you eat a pickle? Did you have just a sandwich first so you weren't starving hungry? Have you chosen a day to allow PB and stuck to it - this time around??
Did you just say no, fill the jar with salt and throw it away - even in someone else's trash if need be?
How many jars of PB2 did you go thru in how little time? Just because it has no fat does not necessarily mean to eat without restriction.
I know you know the behavioral things but really - did you do them yesterday (or whenever it was)? Did you eat the jar one spoon full at a time, on a plate in your dining room using a fork. Did you say no and go brush your teeth. More than once? did you eat a pickle? Did you have just a sandwich first so you weren't starving hungry? Have you chosen a day to allow PB and stuck to it - this time around??
Did you just say no, fill the jar with salt and throw it away - even in someone else's trash if need be?
Oh yeah ..I know PB2 definitely isn't calorie free .. but I figure it's a step in the right direction. I was hard core hooked on PB last year .. got sick of it and didn't touch it for months .. so i'm kind of using the PB2 as a buffer until I get tired of it again .. at least it's not as caloric .. tastes decent .. but not SO decent that I eat the entire jar at once .. I ordered a couple jars from Netrition when I ordered some vitamins.. and I just placed an order with bellplantation once I decided it was good enough to sub for the real thing.
And yes .. I've pitched lots of PB .. Hot sauce works better than salt .. I never want to go near it!
My "method" .. PB and pretzel sticks .. for some reason .. I've never been a PB sandwich kind of girl. I'm contemplating maybe incorporating it somehow into breakfast .. maybe if I know I can have it every day .. i won't be so tempted to inhale it at night. I think part of the issue I suspect .. is that I'm still in that "mentality" that it's a "no-no" food .. oddly .. French fries are allowed .. but I don't crave those because I know I can have them, I just don't want them. I think I need to allow the PB2 .. have it at breakfast only on a piece of toast .. then maybe the problem will take care of itself?
Otherwise .. I'll have to put my Sheltie in charge of eating my peanut butter so I can't .. he inhales it almost as much as I do!
What do you think is at the bottom of not just doing what you need to do? Something from childhood related to PB? Why are you giving a food so much power over your mood and your life? What is so scary to you about putting it on the "no" list for the next six months or 12 or 24 that you'd rather set yourself up for the possibility to not achieve your goals of relearning how to eat healthy one meal at a time.
What do you think is at the bottom of not just doing what you need to do? Something from childhood related to PB? Why are you giving a food so much power over your mood and your life? What is so scary to you about putting it on the "no" list for the next six months or 12 or 24 that you'd rather set yourself up for the possibility to not achieve your goals of relearning how to eat healthy one meal at a time.
I have absolutely no idea what's at the core of it .. I've been racking my brains for days trying to figure it out.
What's odd .. is all the other "not allowed" foods lost their appeal. I've had fries, pizza, desserts, donuts, ice cream .. and couldn't care less if I ever had them again .. it's not that they didn't taste good when I had them .. I was on a donut kick for weeks .. now, it just doesn't appeal. PB is the only thing that never lost it's appeal (actually .. that's not true .. there's lots of foods that I love, fruits, veggies, tuna, eggs ..) but for some reason .. I don't eat that stuff the way I can PB .. I feel like a total headcase with it!
I don't know what to tell you except to reiterate what missjane said: get off the stuff like it was cigarettes. Not switch to cigars. Just stop eating it, stop buying it, stop obsessing over it. Adults can say no to stuff, it's part of being a grown-up. So what if you feel deprived, you can get over that too.
One thing that has worked for me is, instead of mentally restricting certain foods, mentally allowing myself to have trigger foods any time I want them. For me, ice cream was a big one, so I would tell myself, "I can have ice cream any time I choose to." Then I would ask myself, "Am I physically hungry or is this just a psychological craving?" If the answer was yes, physically hungry, then I would ask myself "What food does my body really want right now?" If the answer truly was ice cream, then I would serve myself a reasonable portion, eat with mindfulness, and enjoy. It's not automatic, but after a few months of stopping and mentally going through those steps every time I had the urge to binge, things got better. But you truly have to allow yourself to have the trigger food, if you choose to.
If you don't want to keep the PB in the house at first, mentally give yourself permission to drive to the store and buy some peanut butter any time you want to, and if it comes to that, get in the car and do it. Also, if you can, eat the PB in front of someone. Announce that you're going to have a little PB and then sit down and eat it in front of whoever's there. If you go to the store for PB, only buy the PB; don't buy "decoy foods" to fool the cashier or the people behind you in line. (Or am I the only one who's done that?) For me, there was something about taking the secrecy and "badness" away, and feeding myself with pride, that helped me regain control.
LisaS wrote:
Quote:
It sounds like you didn't like the taste of your dinner so you ditched it and ate peanut butter. What would you tell a six-year old who tried to pull that? At least make a real PB&J sandwich with some carrots and celery and eat that instead
.
This is a great point. After I had kids and started to think about how to feed them, it gave me new perspective on my own eating. I try to give my kids balanced meals (usually ends up being balanced more over the course of a day than at each meal); plenty of fruits and veggies; enough food, but not too much; and treats, in normal portions and not so frequently that they become "the usual" instead of real treats. I realized that, with respect to food, I needed to mother myself in the same way.
I still don't see why it is weird to crave pb after restricting for so long. It is perfectly natural. I would personally rather indulge a bit and gain a little weight, to balance mental sanity (versus banning it completely and berating myself for wanting it--or following the craving 100% and gaining a lot of weight).
A lot of people have given suggestions for balancing eating during the day. How has working with that gone? I think as long you undereat in the day, there will be pb cravings at night. Even if it's better than you used to eat, I don't see how they would go away at such a low calorie level. The body needs what it needs.
I still don't see why it is weird to crave pb after restricting for so long. It is perfectly natural. I would personally rather indulge a bit and gain a little weight, to balance mental sanity (versus banning it completely and berating myself for wanting it--or following the craving 100% and gaining a lot of weight).
A lot of people have given suggestions for balancing eating during the day. How has working with that gone? I think as long you undereat in the day, there will be pb cravings at night. Even if it's better than you used to eat, I don't see how they would go away at such a low calorie level. The body needs what it needs.
Yeah .. I can only assume that's it's a result of restricting fats and calories .. and protein for a decade .. three things that pretty much make up the composition of peanut butter .. but I also think it's because it's a "taboo" food in my head on some level.
I'm working with a JP member who is now taking in her hands my nutrition and putting together a game plan for me .. that will allow my body to get the ratios of nutrients and calories it needs, and will hopefully allow me to lose some of the "flab" that I'm now sporting from being a little too lose with my diet. I'm just struggling tremendously with figuring out how to banish the craving for it .. or at least manage it a little better. This morning started with a total meltdown on the phone with her bawling my eyes out. A long bikeride cured me of the pity party for the most part .. I'm just frustrated that I've gone from what feels like .. one extreme to another (undereating to overeating) .. It's just not healthy mentally to keep going at this. LisaS might be right .. it may have to come down to just flat out deciding that I canNOT allow myself to have it .. I'm hoping to work it into my nutrition in some aspect .. I need to experiment I guess. I'm contemplating either using PB2 to make a daily smoothie for maybe nighttime .. but drinks typically don't satisfy me .. or maybe stirring some into yogurt at night ..
Linear Mode
