Post Secret & Eating Habits
I found this quote on the Post Secret Blog…
“I know it means I’m going to be alone forever, but I can’t stop eating.”
To me, this is a strong and rather shocking reminder of how messed up our relationships with food can become.
Many of us use food for much more than just fuel for our bodies.
We use food as something to stress and obsess ABOUT. We use it to define ourselves and our life choices.
We can also use our food to COPE with our life-stress and obsessions, as a defense mechanism and as a security blanket.
Either way, with the wrong relationships food alone can be a damaging obsession in our lives.
My advice? Avoid viewing food as a cure-all, and see it for what it is ==> A fuel for your body, and a reason to get together with other people.
Food is nourishment and food is celebration.
Eat less while enjoying the foods you eat and don’t let your foods control you. My opinion is that this is the key to having a healthy relationship with food, AND a healthy, lean body.
BP
I recently, finally lost 10 pounds, to which my dearest friend replied, “well losing weight is easy keeping it off is hard. You are fighting your body’s natural desire to weigh a set weight.” Do you believe in this set weight theory? I thought maybe, so I asked around, and it’s a popular idea. But here’s the rub, people with 30% body fat are telling me that are at their set weight. A woman 5′3″ weighing 210 lbs told me she has lost 30 lbs, and this was what her body really wanted to weigh. Is this true? I figured if there was a “set point” it was at least a healthy one with 20-ish% fat or less?
There are two set points you need to be concerned with-
A genetic set point for your lean body mass, and an environmental set point for your body fat levels.
Genetics determine how much muscle and lean body mass you are capable of carrying.
Your Environment determines how much body fat you carry. How you were brought up, the friends you have, where you live, you economic and social status..these are the things that determine how much body fat you have.
Both set points are breakable.
To change your body fat set point you need to change your environment. You need to change your habits, specifically the amount of food you eat. You need these changes to permeate through your friends and family. Everyone needs to except your changes.
For lean mass you need to weight train. If you stop weight training you will lose the muscle mass you built.
Hope this helps.
B
“Just eat less.” “Don’t obsess about food.” Both are easier said than done for most people (like me) with serious weight problems.
I finally found, for me, that eliminating gluten from my diet has made it POSSIBLE to eat less and not obsess about food. I’ve lost nearly a pant size (scales mess with my head, so I avoid them) in three weeks, without feeling like I’m on a diet – I just eat a lot less. What do you think about the addictive nature of certain proteins, like gluten, for certain people?
Brad,
I have been wanting to try ESE for a couple weeks now because of the success and the convincing data that you have displayed and I followed up on the research. Hard to argue with facts, huh. Well, my question/concern lies in I was just “diagnosed” with hypoglycemia. And I am not real sure how this will work. Because from experience if I dont eat and busy doing something it doesn’t bother me but as soon as I eat something I’m ravinis (sp?)and cannot seem to get full which is annoyingamd can be mentally damaging. But not to worry I am a 26 yr.old male ht 5′11” weight is around 160-165lbs. Doing CB 6-month BW w/o and really enjoying it. But I am wanting to see more definition in my mid section and I know that 80% of results come from the diet. So be as sciencitic as you need to be. I have a BS with a concentration in Dietetics (so it shouldn’t be over my head, too much) and a lot of what you say and what we practice is probably doesn’t compute with the medical field. So just wanted to pick your brain a bit.
Thanks.
I am very skeptical of the diagnosis of hypoglycemia in general.
I think I would test this myself, you can get a really good glucometer for less than 100 bucks, then monitor your blood glucose during fasts, during workouts, in the morning, at night, etc…
This was one of the things that really made me realize how stable my blood sugar was…so it might be something you want to experiment with.
B
Becky,
We all do what works for us, but it has to be sustainable. I found that the ESE has been incredibly effective for me to identify the difference between psychological/behavioral hunger and physical hunger. Also, what appeared to help incredibly has been the removal of processed foods from my diet. Although Brad doesn’t recommend this, I have taken it upon myself to exclude grain-based processed foods (which also removes gluten) to see what kind of effect I derive. What I’ve found is that the fasting is much more comfortable and the post-fast feeding is easily controlled. My hunger is never extreme. My body fat has been ~5% and my energy level is always high. Mental clarity also has been sharp.
I also believe that ESE offers many health benefits beyond weight loss.
So which one is it: eat clean foods most of time (good FEUL) or just eat less of the foods i love? I just can not eat clean food (fruits, veggies, oatmeal, egg whites, chicken breats, etc..) for a long periods of time and stick with that diet for the rest of my LIFE. I want to be lean and i feel that most lean people eat clean all of the time. Your picture you posted (“abs are just there” post) inspired me and i want that. Please help me.
Al,
I never said anything about eating clean. And I certainly don’t expect anyone to eat only “clean” foods for the rest of the lives.
I want you to eat less, and eat with variety, but Enjoy the foods you eat.
I also do not agree that most lean people eat clean..I think that is a misrepresentation developed by the fitness industry.
B
Al,
As I said in my post, Brad doesn’t necessarily recommend that you must eat clean food to be lean. I hope I was clear when I said “I have taken it upon myself to exclude grain-based processed foods…” It works for me, but certainly is not a prerequisite to the success of a great program like ESE.
Great point… define healthy eating by what fits your lifestyle best…exactly what Ogg did.
To be honest, this is all just a theory swimming around in my head, but it seems to make great sense, especially to someone like me, who has a chronic stress/fatigue issue. (btw, no I’m not lazy and trying to find excuses for being out of shape; I have recently been at 7 percent body fat at 170 lbs, benching 300lbs, and able to do a standing back flip…These things seem to be fading away as my adrenal fatigue has worsened though, seemingly exacerbated by fasting and exercise.)
I’ll admit, I’m most jealous of the standing back flip. Maybe it’s time you toned down the exercise? Could be worth a shot.
@Al
hi AI
before, i believed that people just can get a lean body with eat “clean”food everyday. This “believe” was stop after i readed ESE. I enjoy my food now, i eat what i love to eat, n still have my “sixpack”. This is good, where everyone in my gym eat low fat chicken, vegies, hueekk……
i just eat my favorite meal, hangout with my friends “without chicken & brown rice in my lunch box”…
guess what? i still lean n the most important thing is i still enjoy my life……..
sorry for my english
@Al
Al,
I’m in the middle of a cut down right now. I’ve gone from 217 lbs down to 193 lbs and I eat donuts, chicken wings, nacho’s, burgers, pizza you name it. I don’t eat these things EVERY day, but I certainly consume some fun food every week for sure.
I actually start almost every day with a coffee and a donut or a tea biscuit. So I do consume something sweet that is considered ‘not clean’ every single day.
Last weekend I crushed a huge thanksgiving dinner, and the weekend before that was chicken wings, pizza and nacho’s for the gators football game.
So some quick math: as of today I am down 24lbs eating in this style.
The point is that you don’t have to give up the foods you like, you just gotta eat less of them.
John
John, that’s very refreshing!
Thank you all for your comments. I think I understand now. And i am truly sorry Brad. I did not mean to put words in your mouth. It is so hard when you hear the same crap all time. Sooner or later you start to accept them as fact. That is the same with me and the whole clean food thing. Again thanks!