Compulsive Over-eater

My forever-hated double chin is hereditary. Every woman on my mother's side of the family has it. Weight gain makes it worse, but even thin, it's still there.

I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of it. VERY Seriously. Going to ask the doctor for recommendations for plastic surgeons next week. I've looked at it long enough. I don't want to see it in the mirror for the rest of my life. Wrinkles I can handle, but the chin thing has always bothered me.

Maybe yuo need to find yuor BMI(body mass index)Im sure their must be a site somewhere.
Just type in your height and weight and it will say if you are under/over weight and give you your ideal weight for your height.

Being within your weight range does not mean you are happy with your body. At the top of the healthy range, I look quite chubby. I know I will never look like I did when I was 18. But I don't want to be chubby either. Nothing wrong with it if you are happy with yourself. But I am not. I guess I am too vain.

like beth, i try to have stuff around - right now it's grapes, other times it's raw almonds, walnuts, low fat cheese (or no fat, but it's hard to find an edible one), tomatoes and mozarella cheese. i have a potted fresh basil in the office, so it's easy to have a tasty tomatoe-mozarella salad with fresh basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar at any time. highly recommended. that way i don't get so hungry that i go out and buy half the supermarket and eat it on the spot, but actually can get through the day till i get home and have something sensible...

eh, bmi online won't work. it also depends on how often you work out, what's the muscle mass (muscle being heavier than fat), how thick your bones are, etc... best to have it done by someone who knows... slappy would know more on that topic.

Last week I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon trapped with A Spectacular Bore from the Fringes of Mr. Noddy's family.

This woman is overweight. She cannot drive and has to ride in the middle of the back seat of the family car. Getting her in and out of the car is a project. She's very coy about her poundage--one of her first "reasons" for her weight was that the scales in the doctors' offices weigh heavy.

For nearly three hours I listened to her rationalizatons. Her metabolism lacks the ingredients for burning fat. Exercise speeds up her heart beat. She inherited a terrible sweet tooth from her parents. Chocolate is soooo good, she can't resist it. She doesn't have time for exercise.

My new mantra for weight loss it to avoid being in a peer group with this woman. Since this means summoning willpower, sobeit.

Strange..
I have an aunt who tips the scales at 520.
Funny, she says alot of the same things.. almost to the exact lettering Noddy.
She has an excuse for every pound and i her mind, they are all valid.
She stops in her weight story every.. err.. 50 lbs or more to eat that ice cream before it melts.
BUT- her metabolisim cant help it..

I should count my blessings that I do have good genes. Not everyone does. I just needed to complain and see if there were any others out there who do as I do...and if there were any tricks to make myself stop. It's a bad habit and one that could cause serious problems in the future.

Most diet experts recommend against weighing yourself daily, but I need the data. It's what keeps me in check. I have a range that I will not let myself get beyond and if I don't check it daily I eat with abandon and can easily put on 10 lbs in two weeks or less.

Bella, try some behavior modification techniques. You can eat only at the table, with plate, silverware and napkin (even for your crackers). You can't do anything else while eating other than converse with the people at your table - no books, no tv, etc. You can eat whatever you want but you have to eat one bite at a time, putting your fork (or fingers) down between bites. It forces you to slow down, allowing your 'full' trigger to be met. My aunt used these techniques and lost over 100 lbs. It's amazing how boring eating becomes when you force yourself to eat with structure.

Find some alternatives to mindless eating. Do something with your hands such as needlework or journaling. Keep a journal and write what you're feeling and why you feel like eating. What are you looking for from the food? Are you hungry, bored, angry, sad? Writing about it might help define what the issue truly is about. If you determine it's from hunger go set the table and have something to eat.

Other ideas: check out a book called, "The Pathway" by Laurel Mellin. It's about excessive habits such as emotional eating, drinking, shopping, people pleasing, saving others, etc. It's an excellent book that literally turned my life around.

Keep in mind what time of year this is. It's human (all animal, actually) nature to try to bulk up for the coming winter. We started out in caves and needed to add a layer of fat in the fall to survive the winter. We still have the urges even though we no longer have the caves. Knowing that your cravings might be seasonally related can help you fend them off.

Eat small meals/snacks throughout the day. Include protein with every meal in combination with some quality carbs. If you need a snack, try to have fruit or yogurt or nuts instead of candy, crackers, or chips.

Go for a walk. If your hungry when you get back, have a snack.

Drink plenty of water throughout the day. If you think you might be hungry, drink a glass of water. If you're still hungry 15 minutes later, have a snack.

I've got a lot more thoughts and tips, but I need to put them together. I'll be back....

J_B, you are a cornucopia of information.

Thanks!

Here are some more:

Eat filling foods. All calories are not created equal from a satisfaction standpoint. Try to eat foods that fill you up on fewer calories. Some good examples are protein/berry smoothies for breakfast, large leafy salads with added tuna, turkey or chopped eggs for lunch, beans and rice (preferable brown rice) along side a lean protein such as chicken, pork or lean beef for dinner. They fill you faster and keep you full longer.

Don't go fat free. Fats are satisfying. That's why we like chips and crackers and dips. Eat for greater satisfaction by including some fats in your diet. Use quality fats such as olive oil or canola oil for cooking. If you can eat dairy, go low-fat, not fat-free. This is where snacking on nuts comes in. A handful of nuts in the late afternoon will let you avoid the Snickers Bar.

Eat berries. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries are all excellent foods that help with the sweet urges and are some of the best sources of antioxidants.

Unless you've been told by your Dr to avoid eggs, they are a great source of protein and iron. Take care in how you prepare them to avoid too much fat, but don't avoid them.

If it's white, don't eat it :wink: This means white bread, white rice, white sugar, etc. All of these things trigger sugar cravings and will make you eat more.

Try flax oil. It's a natural appetite suppressant. Don't cook with it because it denatures at high heat and will go rancid.

Reduce sodium. This one step can drop 5 lbs of water weight in the first week. Salty foods taste better so experiment with fresh herbs and lemon juice on your foods to get the taste factor up.

Two tips for before dinner: First, drink a small glass of low-sodium V8 about 15 minutes before dinner. It lets your system know dinner is on the way and will help trigger the 'full' signal before you overeat. Second, try a first course of a broth based soup. Again, it's a high volume food that helps fill you up before you dive into the mashed potatoes.

DON'T EAT AFTER 8:00 pm. This is a cardinal rule. Even if you have to send yourself to bed to avoid the pantry, this one step can also make a huge difference.

Bella--

Unfortunately people who are talented at multi-tasking are also talented at eating while doing practically anything else.

You have to focus on being aware of every single bite that slides down your throat. Enhancing taste through concentration is a trade-off here, but if you nibble-gobble like I nibble-gobble you may not even notice what you're doing.

Thanks! I love fresh fruit, I will definitly try the flax oil (do you just take it?). I love eggs and eat them a lot for breakfast so that's a good thing. I have to avoid iodine so to my dismay, I need to avoid many salty foods from now on. I love white bread, sugar and white rice. What options for sugar do I have? Is the sugar in the raw better for you?

I love potatoes. Eat them a lot. I grew up a meat and potato girl. I love soup but am very particular about them as my grandma made the very best soup ever.

JB, you rock.

that was my whole idea behind the food timer.
I would take out what ever ' treat' i wanted. or THOUGHT i wanted .. then waited.
Most of the time i wasnt really hungry at all.. just bored, or anxious, or thirsty..

it worked.
now i dont have as many Chins as China..

You can get flax oil in gel caps and take them with your meals. It's better if you take them with meals that don't already have a lot of fat in them. It also comes in liquid that you keep in the fridge, but the gel caps are easier and can be stored in a cupboard.

The best sugar source is fruit. Try not to drink a lot of fruit juice, just eat the whole fruit. You'll get the natural sugars as well as the fiber from the fruit. I've finally weaned myself off of sugar substitutes but I was using Splenda for a long time. Stevia is a natural sweetener that is twenty times sweeter than table sugar. It's calorie free and an approved sugar substitute on most diet plans. I've seen it at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. A little goes a long ways.

Potatoes are white and full of simple sugars so the current recommendations are to use sweet potatoes instead. If you still want white mashed potatoes try using low-fat broth in place of the butter and milk. You can start by going 50/50 or even 75/25. Every little bit helps and eventually you get used to the taste and can make a further adjustment.

Obviously you can pick and choose which ideas will work for you and there's no such thing as never. Make some easy changes and see how it goes. Make a couple more and assess. If you turn your eating habits upside down overnight you won't be able to stick with it for the long term.

you are motivating me more

on the picture thing - something to remember in the future you got to put them someplace where you have control to remove them on your own

Re: Compulsive Over-eater

Bella, are you on Synthroid for dealing with your thyroid?

I had the opposite problem from you. I was eating, but couldn't keep the weight on. I'm now 123 pounds (5'6"). Most of my life my weight was stable, but after radiation therapy, it seemed like I couldn't maintain my weight.

After the doctor put me on Synthroid, it still required adjusting the dosage so it was just right.

Could this be at least a small part of your problem? Perhaps your dosage needs adjusting?

Here's somthing that will make you fell better Bella. I quit my job and i'm broke for a month. I can't afford to do or go anywhere for a month so I'm depressed (not serious) and food is a vice for me.

I ate 3 gallons of Ice cream in 4 days. One night I cooked a half a pack of that cheap ass Farmer John sausage And ate them like they were carrot stix. In the middle it I said to myself "What am I doing this is bad for me" then I said "F**k it" and stuffed another sausage in my mouth.

Can you picture my fat ass in front of my lap top on A2K while shoveling scoops of chunky monkey into my mouth then topping it off with a mouth full of sausage (I'm making myself sick). I find myself opening the fridge without even realizing it. I bought a case of top ramen to save money. Now I'm eating top ramen every hour. . I don't know why I thought this might make you fell better. Just to let you know your not alone. You can't be worse than this. I gained ten pounds.

now I'm eating a damn donut.