Current Weight: 69.5 kgs
Weightloss is a journey, we go off track, learn things we never knew about ourselves, and about food!
I've referred to myself as a binge eater before, but its not until now that I truly understand what that means, and can distinguish between "binge- eating" and "binge eating disorder", but a little back story here might help...
By Day 10, I was 68.1 kgs, very exciting, but oddly enough I actually felt sick and weak, like I had lost weight too fast, but 2 kgs isn't actually all that much weight. I was sticking to my low-carb diet well, and exercising for an hour or two everyday as always, so naturally getting some results should be good, but I soon discovered that there is such a thing as too low-carb, especially when you workout the way I do. By Day 11 I couldn't stop myself from eating normal food, I just felt unhealthy, not malnourished as in low in vitamins and minerals, but just very low in sugars and fat. I tried not to overeat, but in the end, causing an energy deficit like that forces our bodies to act out in a survival related panic. The damage wasn't too severe, but from this I can easily see how "binge eating disorder" occurs, sufferers diet hard for as long as they can, then binge like crazy because they have over deprived themselves, then diet hard to compensate, leading to yet another binge, and this continues in a constant loop which takes over their lives.
I only got a taste of this, but that was enough for me! I've always encourage determination, thats what it takes to achieve something like this, but not if it causes unhealthy behavior which inevitably destroys any progress. For a diet to work long term, meaning not just a small loss here and there, but to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off, it must be sustainable.
I am still determined to lose weight, but for my health's sake, I'll have to change my diet plan slightly.
For those first few days, I lost weight rather quickly, however I only made my "balanced meal" dinner once, and chose to have breakfast most days instead. In my new plan I will have a balanced dinner every 3rd day. I am also bringing my breakfast cereal back instead of the low-carb cereal and yoghurt. I will still have low-carb snacks, however I am going to change over to having one traditional and one low-carb shake/bar per day, instead of all low-carb. I'm hoping that this in conjunction with exercise will still lead to weight loss, it will just take longer since obviously the weight will come off at a more steady rate. I am thinking further down the track though, I don't just want to lose small amounts fast, I want to lose a larger amount that I will then be able to keep off, and essentially starving my body of the energy it requires will do nothing but cause my weight to bounce back and forth through weightloss purgatory.
Tips from today
* Listen to your body: starvation, deprivation, dieting too hard, these things will not help with weight loss in the long run because honestly, you'll just end up eating copious amounts of food in a few days to compensate- Survival instincts will always win, don't make your body feel endangered.
* Experimenting with exercise versus diet plans is imperative to finding a healthy balance.
* Don't be afraid to allow your diet to take longer, Slow and Steady.
Weightloss is a journey, we go off track, learn things we never knew about ourselves, and about food!
I've referred to myself as a binge eater before, but its not until now that I truly understand what that means, and can distinguish between "binge- eating" and "binge eating disorder", but a little back story here might help...
By Day 10, I was 68.1 kgs, very exciting, but oddly enough I actually felt sick and weak, like I had lost weight too fast, but 2 kgs isn't actually all that much weight. I was sticking to my low-carb diet well, and exercising for an hour or two everyday as always, so naturally getting some results should be good, but I soon discovered that there is such a thing as too low-carb, especially when you workout the way I do. By Day 11 I couldn't stop myself from eating normal food, I just felt unhealthy, not malnourished as in low in vitamins and minerals, but just very low in sugars and fat. I tried not to overeat, but in the end, causing an energy deficit like that forces our bodies to act out in a survival related panic. The damage wasn't too severe, but from this I can easily see how "binge eating disorder" occurs, sufferers diet hard for as long as they can, then binge like crazy because they have over deprived themselves, then diet hard to compensate, leading to yet another binge, and this continues in a constant loop which takes over their lives.
I only got a taste of this, but that was enough for me! I've always encourage determination, thats what it takes to achieve something like this, but not if it causes unhealthy behavior which inevitably destroys any progress. For a diet to work long term, meaning not just a small loss here and there, but to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off, it must be sustainable.
I am still determined to lose weight, but for my health's sake, I'll have to change my diet plan slightly.
For those first few days, I lost weight rather quickly, however I only made my "balanced meal" dinner once, and chose to have breakfast most days instead. In my new plan I will have a balanced dinner every 3rd day. I am also bringing my breakfast cereal back instead of the low-carb cereal and yoghurt. I will still have low-carb snacks, however I am going to change over to having one traditional and one low-carb shake/bar per day, instead of all low-carb. I'm hoping that this in conjunction with exercise will still lead to weight loss, it will just take longer since obviously the weight will come off at a more steady rate. I am thinking further down the track though, I don't just want to lose small amounts fast, I want to lose a larger amount that I will then be able to keep off, and essentially starving my body of the energy it requires will do nothing but cause my weight to bounce back and forth through weightloss purgatory.
Tips from today
* Listen to your body: starvation, deprivation, dieting too hard, these things will not help with weight loss in the long run because honestly, you'll just end up eating copious amounts of food in a few days to compensate- Survival instincts will always win, don't make your body feel endangered.
* Experimenting with exercise versus diet plans is imperative to finding a healthy balance.
* Don't be afraid to allow your diet to take longer, Slow and Steady.
That's great advises ever. I'm going to print this out and paste on my wall to remind and motivate me. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Honeybee
http://healthybeautifulblog.blogspot.com