Obesity

[battered]

I've always struggled with my weight. I am a lot lighter than I used to be but have put on weight this year.

There is definitely an emotional aspect for me because when I am stressed or feeling down I tend to over-eat.

Also, I really struggle with self control. I never (or at least very rarely) buy things like multipack bars of chocolate from the supermarket as I'd eat the lot.

At times I've worked on it and got to a point where my diet could be described as really healthy but over a period of time unhealthy foods creep back in again until I'm back to where I started.

I have no idea what the answers are. I know what a healthy diet should be but despite best endeavours I always fall of the wagon sooner or later and have to start again. I am always amazed by the way some of my work colleagues might have a big bag of sweets or a packet of biscuits on their desk and only dip into it occasionally because I couldn't do that. They'd all have to be eaten at one sitting.

The thing that I find helps my psychology is to keep a food diary, so that I know when I've fallen off the wagon, and I can identify patterns, in my case when I have a couple of drinks I say "wahey! Party time!" and stuff myself , and the other winner is to have one night a week when anything goes. However I only get the night off if I have behaved myself all week. Then if I want to eat a family pack of jelly babies, or crisps, or ice cream, or 4 pints, I can. I just have to wait, and stay on track. Of course, on arrival at Friday night, there's a limit to what I can eat. I can't do the family bag of crisps, ice cream, beer, e tc all in one go. Even if I could, I'm back on the wagon tomorrow. This might work for you, or a similar strategy.

Edit - I also add how I'm feeling now and again. It's worth knowing that hunger often gets you at about 4pm, so set aside an apple or a bowl of salad. I make up a low fat version of Marie Rose sauce (and variants thereof) with yogurt, and I dip carrot batons or celery in it as a snack. The mood diary tells you when these points are for you. I've also learned that if I go mad on Friday, as I'm allowed to, I can feel rough on Saturday. This helps me question whether it's worth it, bearing in mind that the rest of the week I wake up feeling fine.

 

[Edwardoka]

I've always struggled with my weight. I am a lot lighter than I used to be but have put on weight this year.

There is definitely an emotional aspect for me because when I am stressed or feeling down I tend to over-eat.

Also, I really struggle with self control. I never (or at least very rarely) buy things like multipack bars of chocolate from the supermarket as I'd eat the lot.

At times I've worked on it and got to a point where my diet could be described as really healthy but over a period of time unhealthy foods creep back in again until I'm back to where I started.

I have no idea what the answers are. I know what a healthy diet should be but despite best endeavours I always fall of the wagon sooner or later and have to start again. I am always amazed by the way some of my work colleagues might have a big bag of sweets or a packet of biscuits on their desk and only dip into it occasionally because I couldn't do that. They'd all have to be eaten at one sitting.

I'm exactly the same way. If I go to the supermarket or order food online I am the very model of temperance.
If crisps or chocolate are in the house, they're gone before I've even noticed myself opening the wrapper.

When I was down to my lowest weight I was physically incapable of doing a "big shop" - reliant on either the bike or the bus to carry it home.
I would usually get a takeaway once a week and would sometimes go to the chip van on a Saturday, but because I couldn't keep much food in the house, binging wasn't an option.

The thing that I find helps my psychology is to keep a food diary, so that I know when I've fallen off the wagon, and I can identify patterns, in my case when I have a couple of drinks I say "wahey! Party time!" and stuff myself , and the other winner is to have one night a week when anything goes. However I only get the night off if I have behaved myself all week. Then if I want to eat a family pack of jelly babies, or crisps, or ice cream, or 4 pints, I can. I just have to wait, and stay on track. Of course, on arrival at Friday night, there's a limit to what I can eat. I can't do the family bag of crisps, ice cream, beer, e tc all in one go. Even if I could, I'm back on the wagon tomorrow. This might work for you, or a similar strategy.

Interesting! I've been recently thinking about starting a food diary because I'm a grazer and have simply no idea how much I eat.
Do you use an app for this? It needs to be something trivially easy to use, because something that requires more than a few seconds to log an entry would inevitably fall by the wayside.

 

[battered]

I'm exactly the same way. If I go to the supermarket or order food online I am the very model of temperance.
If crisps or chocolate are in the house, they're gone before I've even noticed myself opening the wrapper.

When I was down to my lowest weight I was physically incapable of doing a "big shop" - reliant on either the bike or the bus to carry it home.
I would usually get a takeaway once a week and would sometimes go to the chip van on a Saturday, but because I couldn't keep much food in the house, binging wasn't an option.


Interesting! I've been recently thinking about starting a food diary because I'm a grazer and have simply no idea how much I eat.
Do you use an app for this? It needs to be something trivially easy to use, because something that requires more than a few seconds to log an entry would inevitably fall by the wayside.

An app? Bugger off! I use an A5 notepad and a pen. An app. I ask you.

 

[Deleted User]

I just don't get it, this is a cycling forum so I guess people ride bikes?

Even a modest amount of cycling should blow 500 to a 1000 calories off, Men are meant to have around 2500 per day to maintain their weight so how can people end up 5 stone overweight?

What are you eating!

 

[Edwardoka]

I just don't get it, this is a cycling forum so I guess people ride bikes?

Even a modest amount of cycling should blow 500 to a 1000 calories off, Men are meant to have around 2500 per day to maintain their weight so how can people end up 5 stone overweight?

What are you eating!

It is not possible to outride a bad diet. Trust me, I've tried, several times.
Feeling hungry after a ride? What better way to celebrate your "I'm improving myself" effort than to have a nice post-ride treat?
After all, you need to replenish your glycogen stores! - Oh go on then, just one. It is waffer theen, after all.
Don't forget about the salt lost to sweat! - Well, crisps are salty!

 

[Reynard]

Or drinking...

Alcohol, fizzy pop, fruit juice and smoothies are all pretty well much empty calories. And yet it's the one a lot of people don't think about. Quite a few of my cat fancy friends are always on about how they struggle with their weight, and then say ooooh look, I've got 50 different kinds of gin in the house...

Anyways, I'm sloping off for a nice

 

[battered]

I just don't get it, this is a cycling forum so I guess people ride bikes?

Even a modest amount of cycling should blow 500 to a 1000 calories off, Men are meant to have around 2500 per day to maintain their weight so how can people end up 5 stone overweight?

What are you eating!

You can't outrun a bad diet. Left to my own devices I'd eat 3000 calories a day with ease. I don't easily gain weight, but if I did that's a pound a week. 4 stone in a year. My current regime has me on 2/3 rations and losing about 1 lb a week, or 20lb since Jan 6th. I'll let you do the arithmetic.

 

[Deleted User]

I understand it's not easy, my missus isn't the thinnest of people, but I've never been able to understand 'comfort eating' or stress eating to be honest.

Bad food tastes the best, we all know that, but surely you haven't got to eat bad stuff all the time?

Self control has to play a part here, I'm no racing snake but I've been 14 stone in the past, I'm only 5'8" but realised too much booze and crap food isn't the best so had to take stock.
I'm 11 stone 4 now but if I sneak up to 11 and half I cut back and keep myself in check.

 

[neil_merseyside]

I'm terrible at portion control (greedy!) So if I've been bad I eat carefully all week apart from cycling lunches[1] (Wednesday and Sunday) and the weekend - Friday dinner to Sunday Dinner when it is eat anything - when I say anything it is actually all home made food and so it's healthy as it's made from decent stuff and not a ready meal, oh and not much portion control either, and we will (always) have a drink if we want.
My diet as such is a lunch of a bag of defrosted cauliflower/broccoli/carrot/mixed veg that's just warmed through with homemade soup on top, dinner is ~300g boiled spuds again with homemade food on top - spuds is to reduce water load on my bladder overnight. Spuds and soup twice a day is a bit much, soups are 'posh' from the Covent Garden book batch cooked and many flavours to give choice. Fruit is always on hand, as well as tomatoes as 'sweets'. Breakfast is porridge and dried fruit on a diet day.
This diet will take 3-6lbs off me a week, 6lbs if I follow it exactly, or 2lbs if I cheat during the week (and that's eating dried fruit mostly).
I can do this week in and week out as it takes no thinking about and not really boring as it's only for 4 days total in a quite broken up week.

[1] Mostly a bacon butty or perhaps a cake, never both unless I've been really good. [2]
I do have beans on toast in those places that have decent bread (sourdough) but I'm not afraid of eating cheese on plain white toast.
[2] I reckon 2 x 60 mile rides a week helps a good bit, though if I get to 70+ I will often fall off the wagon and eat biscuits

 

[Edwardoka]

I understand it's not easy, my missus isn't the thinnest of people, but I've never been able to understand 'comfort eating' or stress eating to be honest.

Bad food tastes the best, we all know that, but surely you haven't got to eat bad stuff all the time?

Self control has to play a part here, I'm no racing snake but I've been 14 stone in the past, I'm only 5'8" but realised too much booze and crap food isn't the best so had to take stock.
I'm 11 stone 4 now but if I sneak up to 11 and half I cut back and keep myself in check.

The ability to exert self-control is not a universal human trait, unfortunately. Different people are affected by impulsivity and compulsive behaviours to differing degrees, which is why some people are susceptible to addiction whereas others are not. Some can enjoy a few social pints, for some a nice refreshing glass of beer invariably ends up with them blackout drunk, others need alcohol daily to function, and others have to become strict tee-totallers because they know how susceptible they are to it.

Unfortunately, unlike other forms of addiction, food is a necessity to live, and complete abstention isn't an option.

 

[tyred]

Or drinking...

Alcohol, fizzy pop, fruit juice and smoothies are all pretty well much empty calories. And yet it's the one a lot of people don't think about. Quite a few of my cat fancy friends are always on about how they struggle with their weight, and then say ooooh look, I've got 50 different kinds of gin in the house...

Anyways, I'm sloping off for a nice

As someone who could happily have drank a two litre bottle of Coke a day in my teens or twenties, it is the one thing I am genuinely pleased about that I no longer drink soft drinks. Giving Coke up was not easy but so worth it.

 

[tyred]

I just don't get it, this is a cycling forum so I guess people ride bikes?

Even a modest amount of cycling should blow 500 to a 1000 calories off, Men are meant to have around 2500 per day to maintain their weight so how can people end up 5 stone overweight?

What are you eating!

I've ridden in excess of 300 miles in a week on plenty of occasions. I can comfortably ride my '90s mountain bike 100 miles in a day (and I live in a hilly and windswept area). I power walked the 2 miles to the office and back every day when I was based there. Yet I've overweight. Calories mount up, especially if you eat a packet of Jaffa cakes in one go! A couple of bottles of Guinness and a bag of crisps is a nice post ride treat.

Interestingly, the times I've lost weight is the times I've not been cycling much as I tend to eat less. Exercise a lot and you need to eat more and I get carried away...

 

[Reynard]

As someone who could happily have drank a two litre bottle of Coke a day in my teens or twenties, it is the one thing I am genuinely pleased about that I no longer drink soft drinks. Giving Coke up was not easy but so worth it.

Maybe I'm in a fortunate place because I don't actually like fizzy drinks.

Edited to say that I'm teetotal as well.

 

[tyred]

Maybe I'm in a fortunate place because I don't actually like fizzy drinks.

Edited to say that I'm teetotal as well.

I used to. I can still enjoy an occasional Coke but generally I have no desire to drink anything like that. I used to love Lucozade but I would feel sick if I tried to drink it now.

I've never been a big drinker, I don't like being drunk but I definitely do enjoy the relaxing effect of one or two beers or whiskies.

 

[Reynard]

I used to. I can still enjoy an occasional Come but generally I have no desire to drink anything like that. I used to love Lucozade but I would feel sick if I tried to drink it now.

I've never been a big drinker, I don't like being drunk but I definitely do enjoy the relaxing effect of one or two beers or whiskies.

I find fizzy pop just much too sweet. As for alcohol, I never drank that much when I did - I was the sort of person who could make half a pint last all night, but I just fell out of the habit really and I don't miss it. Plus both my dad and uncle were alcoholics, and I've seen first hand the effect that drinking to excess has on people's health.