Hunger tip (RL)

[thistlechaser]

I went to the doctor earlier this week, and for the first time in years, everything was worse. Weight was up (UGH!) which unsurprisingly made everything else worse. While my weight loss had been slow nearly to the point of standstill, at least I hadn't been gaining, so this was a seriously unhappy thing.

My doctor is the best doctor ever, and she offered me lots of resources and options. Most of them aren't necessary though -- I'm not lacking in information (anyone who has net access has boundless information), I'm lacking in the willpower to act on it.

So, back to trying to adjust my eating. Yet again. Paying attention to what/how/when I eat, I found that I don't eat junk food because I'm craving it, I eat it because I'm hungry. I knew that years back I used to eat cookies/candy/whatever in place of a meal, but I thought I was passed that. Turns out, it just adjusted: I'd eat a "meal", but still be hungry so finish filling up on bad stuff. I put meal in quotes, and it doesn't fill me up, because of the lack of fruit/veggies. Last night's dinner was three small bites of potato and two small bites of meat (the part of the frozen dinner I was willing to eat), so it's no wonder I finished dinner still hungry!

But anyway, I'm semi-off the track here. I did a lot of reading, and I picked up a trick that works for me: Rating hunger on a scale of one to ten (ten being willing to eat your least favorite food). When hunger stops being binary, I feel less I'M HUNGRY SO I MUST EAT NOW NOW NOW.

Also, I made a discovery that everyone else probably knows: When in a salad covered with dressing, things basically taste alike. I don't like cucumbers, but I ate a few pieces just fine in a salad.

And lastly, the lesson of greek yogurt will continue on: I learned to like it, so who knows what other things I can learn to like. It takes people, what was it, eight or nine tries before food becomes "normal" to them? So maybe I can learn to like vegetables, too. (It's so depressing that I need to learn to like them. I envy people who were taught as kids to eat them.)

Comments

[giftofarthas.livejournal.com]

I have found that eating a good breakfast breaks the hunger cycle early in the day. After that, I snack all day on good things every 1-2 hours. (Small proportions, obviously.) Like a few carrot sticks, or a bit of greek yogurt or some cottage cheese. If I do that, I'm not as hungry through the day. That and my medicine = 37 lbs lost so far. :D

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, breakfast is a weak area for me. I don't like eating it, and I eat it at work. I need to work on better options!

And WOOO! 37 pounds is outstanding! :D

[liedra.livejournal.com]

Beware with dressing though - it contains many hidden calories which won't help you get the weight off :) A lot of the calories you end up eating are "hidden" like that - mayonnaises, dressings, sauces. They're the first thing I cut out now that I'm on a calorie-restricted diet, those and sugary drinks. (Mind you, I don't have the eating vegetables problem so I wouldn't go that far if it meant you didn't eat vegetables as a result - get those veggies in ya! :-)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. Depressing but true!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

one thing I have found true for myself. I eat better when I harness the power of laziness.

Laziness works against me when I fail to plan and don't have a clue what I'm going to eat until after I am already hungry. Then laziness steps in (well, it was already active) and says "Grab what's easy, now". So I eat something I shouldn't because it is easy.

But, with a small amount of planning (for example, making a pot of brown rice on a Sunday and putting it into 10 little bags of 1 cup each) then when I get hungry, laziness activates and says "Hey that looks easy" and boom, rice and steamed vegetables instead of getting take-out.

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

also, you don't have to have breakfast foods for breakfast. A baked potato would work fine too, or brown rice and cottage cheese. An apple and a slice of cheese maybe.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Mm, apple and cheese could be a good option! And I just got apples today, too.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea! I remember your comment (post?) about making stuff ahead of time. I think I'll put some time into that this weekend.

[fealubryne.livejournal.com]

(It's so depressing that I need to learn to like them. I envy people who were taught as kids to eat them.)

One thing I learned about veggies - a lot depends on how they're cooked. A lot of people are forced to eat veggies as kids, but they're "gross" veggies, overcooked and under seasoned. Nothing like bland, soggy masses to turn a kid off. Now that I can cook my own food I've come to love a lot of veggies I hated (except broccoli, I still loathe broccoli in most forms unless it's coated with cheese... awful, I know).

I totally plan on doing veggies up right for my kid, when she's old enough, so hopefully she grows up liking them more than I do even now. I'm not a picky eater, but there's definitely stuff I had to really learn to like, as you said. Hopefully she'll be even less picky...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

The texture of broccoli must be scary. All those little thingies on top? I bet it's like eating bugs. D:

Good luck! I hope she's one of those kids who love veggies more than anything else!

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I like broccoli raw but really don't like it when it's cooked. I eat it raw dipped in mayonnaise. The flavor is completely different to when it's cooked.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I love mayonnaise! I've never tried dipping anything into it straight though.

[fealubryne.livejournal.com]

I can mostly get over the texture, it's just... something about the taste of broccoli that I can't stand. I dunno why! It's just, like, skunky or something.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

I have a really horrible gag reflex, but the texture of broccoli doesn't bother me at all.

I can't eat oranges, though. It's sad. I love orange juice, and I love the taste of fresh oranges, but the pulpiness just gets to me. I can't drink orange juice with pulp in it, either.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Eeek, that's too bad! I enjoy oranges. (Though I fully agree on pulp in juice -- eww!)

[mark356.livejournal.com]

I am in the process of learning to like vegetables too! I can't quite take a spear of raw broccoli and eat it as is, unadorned. I have a limited number of vegetable recipes I turn to, and most of them involve strong flavors of some kind, like lime juice or hot pepper. Many of them involve some sort of processing, too: grating, mincing, marinating, or roasting. You have to do something to make them good. Plain raw veggies are just kind of a lot of vegetable, you know? But I'm getting there!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Flavors and processing seem to be the way to go, even of doing those things can make them somewhat less good for you.