The End of Overeating

I am overweight. I struggle with excess girth. I pretty much always have. I am not morbidly obese or what even a doctor would term obese but I carry about 25 extra pounds with me everywhere I go. That is more than Molly weighs.  I look at her and think I am lugging around that much extra? and MORE?

So I need to loose her plus a little, for me to be at an ideal weight for my height. That doesn't sound that bad, but it bothers me. I don't like seeing pictures of me because I look so round. I look in the mirror and can't even suck it in anymore. (I know I have had 4 kids but that isn't a good excuse) I am not totally weight obsessed. I just want to look better in my clothes and not worry about how thick I look.

I exercise vigorously at least 4 times a week, weight train a bit, do yoga occasionally and take lots of walks and hikes with my kids. I don't live a sedentary lifestyle. Over the years I have made modifications to our diets to where now I feel like we are doing really well. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, protein from legumes rather than just meat. When we do eat meat it is lean and not usually the main focus of the meal. We also almost never eat out. I read labels and am very careful about the foods I buy. My kids even read labels and keep me to the list of items we avoid altogether. I am sure I will continue find ways to improve our diet but right now I feel like we are eating very healthfully.

So where is my problem? Why can't I get down to my ideal weight. Why are those 25 pounds so hard to loose? I really hate being plump.

Over the past year I have read a number of really good books about healthy food and healthy lifestyle.

Real Food: What to eat and Why
In Defense of Food
Eat to Live

I am sure I have read more than that but I just can't think of them off the top of my head.

But I just finished reading the best one yet. The End of Overeating.

 I think this book explained my issue. Or maybe it just did it in a way I understood. I just plain eat too much. I eat out of habit rather than actual hunger. I eat because food is available. I also fall into traps when there are yummy treats around. We don't make cookies often but when we do I eat them off and on until they are gone. I used to just get mad at myself because I don't have any will power. Now I understand that I just don't have any rules or habits that stop me from eating.

"The shift form wanting to behave differently to actually doing so requires setting rules and practicing them until they become programmed behavior".

The first part of the book talked a lot about why people get addicted to food and keep eating despite not being hungry anymore. I can't say this section did a lot for me. It was interesting but it said much of what I already knew. The food industry creates food designed to make us want more. Once we get started we can't stop. It isn't their fault completely, people just easily fall under the marketing powers of these loaded foods.  I think I am doing alright with my choices of food. We do have goodies once in awhile but the majority of our food choices are good. My issue is just that I consume too much of them.

I need to set very specific rules around my eating so I can create habits that going to help me eat less.  Rules about when I am allowed to eat and how much. So I need to be very aware of portion sizes and need to stop grazing throughout the day. I quickly loose track of how much I have eaten when I just nibble all day long.

"Rules give us an alternative to a conditioned response"

So a few rules I have come up with for now... I am sure to come up with more.
1. No eating after 8:00 p.m.
2. 7:30, 11:30, 2:30 and 6:00 are meal/ snack times.
3. Don't graze between meals.
4. Don't finish the kids unfinished meals.  I would rather it be waste then be on my waist.
5. Bake cookies/or other treats only twice a month (My kids would go crazy if we didn't have sweets once in awhile.
6. Never eat out of the bag or box. Take out a serving and put the rest away.
7.
8.
I was sure I had more until I started to write them down. So I will have to add to my list as I think of them.

"A rule makes explicit the negative consequences of giving into your impulses and the possitive consequences of not giving in"

There is a whole lot more that the book describes or outlines for "eating habits reversal". I think I need to reread that section again. A lot of the reversal requires mental changes. It is much like a drug addict trying to quit drugs.

"Learn to view the pursuit of sugar, fat, and salt in a negative light, and to imbue with equal emotional significance behavior that encourages us to turn away from it"

 I can see how this works. Once I choose to get rid of all High Fructose Corn Syrup in our diet and made it a rule that we wouldn't eat or buy anything with that stuff in it. I haven't had any desire for items with it. Once I find out that HFCS is in an item it looses all appeal. 

So my goal is to set and live by some new eating rules. It would be good to keep us all to these rules. It would be easier to keep to the no grazing rule if the kids didn't raid the fridge anytime they feel like it. I already enforce the rule of no snacking after 4:30 so they will be hungry for dinner. I will just have to set up a few new rules about other snacking times. They aren't eating bad things it is just that they are eating and therefore I end up eating.

I think this book is worth a read if you are like me and just need a little more insight in my food issues.