This is one of the best responses I have read in this thread. You bring up a very good point. I think the big problem with people who can’t seem to lose weight is how they approach eating and the need for food. Often times we eat poorly because of stress, or because we think of food as something that gives us pleasure. It is not a bad idea for someone struggling with weight loss to speak with a psychologist or someone who can help them understand their relationship with food.
I have struggled with my weight since I turned 45. I am 5’11" and weigh 175 lbs. I am 52. At age 42 I weighed 157 lbs. Back then I was running 50-60 mpw, no bike or swim, just running. Since starting triathlon and cutting back on the running, my weight has slowly crept up over 160 and the last few years over 170. I currently ride 6-7 hours a week, very little running and no swimming. The bike is almost all high intensity intervals. I really want to drop 10 lbs and get back to at least 165, but I can’t seem to do it. I know what I need to do, but getting my brain to cooperate is not that easy. If it was that easy, then there would not be an obesity epidemic in the U.S. Every time I make a commitment to eat better and cut out the processed crap, I fall back into lazy, bad eating habits. It is extremely frustrating, so I can sympathize with the OP and anyone else who struggles with this problem.
I used to work with a crossfit coach, and he told me something about food that makes a lot of sense. He said to try and think about food as a drug, not a treat that gives you pleasure and something you are entitled to. When you are able to do that, figure out how many calories you need to maintain or lose weight, and stick to a plan.
I’d like to piggyback on your comment about seeing a psychiatrist as I recently started seeing a therapist and it’s been an interesting experience. I’m not much of a talker and I didn’t expect to get much out of it, but a buddy with some addiction issues told me it had changed his life so I thought “what the hell?â€
I’m not the type of person who has any underlying trauma, I’m not eating to suppress feelings, etc… I simply don’t seem to be able to control myself around food. We are treating it like a compulsive disorder and some of the coping mechanisms she has given me have helped. The first is to play a movie when I’m about to make a decision. It sounds weird, but it’s basically a decision tree:
What happens if I eat this donut? I am happy b/c I had a fricking donut
How will I feel in an hour? Probably bad b/c I ate a donut that I know isn’t healthy for me.
How will this make me feel long term? Bad b/c it does nothing to further my goals.
On the flip side I would make another decision tree about not eating the donut… initially I would be bummed b/c I don’t have a donut. In an hour I will be proud of myself for not eating the donut, and long term I will look, feel, and perform better.
That’s a simplistic example but hopefully it gets the point across.
Another coping mechanism she has me working on is delaying a compulsive behavior. For example, last night I got home from work and felt like crap, didn’t want to ride, and was bored. My first thought was to grab one of the special cookies I have for long rides. I set a timer on my phone for 10 minutes and tried to distract myself. After 10 minutes I still wanted the damn cookie so I set another timer… this time it went off and at first I had even forgotten why I had set it.
A book I would recommend is Brain over Binge. I believe someone mentioned a similar idea earlier. Her theory is that we have two brains… call them animal brain and human brain. Your animal brain is the one demanding cookies, bad food, etc but it is not capable of actually acting on those urges without the consent of the human brain. It sounds crazy, but I have actually had a mental conversation with myself when I wanted to binge, treating the animal brain as a separate entity and it has helped.
I thought I’d toss those out there in case they could help anyone else. I’m sure I didn’t do the techniques justice typing them up on my phone, but hopefully it was enough to get the idea across.