My Life In Abstinence

[FatIsAHedonistIssue]

This is a nom de guerre, specifically for this thread.

The time has come. Due to the stress of an ongoing house renovation and extension, I have gained a stone and a half in the last 18 months (and I needed to lose half a stone then). So two stone to lose. I know what I need to do, as I've done it before, but for some reason this time I am really struggling to make it stick, psychologically.

My partner and I can't get out of the rut of take-aways and large portions. I take an adequate amount of exercise and am fit enough, the problem is I just eat far too much. It's not bad food, I don't snack much and I don't eat much junk. I am a good cook and just love to eat. A lot. I am also a secret eater, and so is my partner. We both know it, we just won't admit it to each other.

I really like the feeling of being stuffed full, of feasting. There's definitely a comfort-eating element. When I'm really stressed and there's a problem to be solved, I stop eating, but the everyday anxiety of project managing this renovation has led to us turning to the plate (and the bottle) most evenings, just to brighten up the day. It's a brief moment of pleasure to distract from living among the dust and the plaster and the bare floorboards and damp walls.

What I want to do is change the way I eat, not go on a diet as such. I want to continue to eat delicious food, but in much smaller portions. I am inspired by Julia Child. I recently read My Life In France and she and her husband had the same problem we do - just loving food. They deliberately ate very small amounts of the good stuff, though I'm sure that was easier to do in post-war France. We can afford to feast, but we really need to stop doing it.

The problem is, I come unstuck every day. What I need is a supportive thread that I can pop into whenever I feel tempted, so that I can be reminded of the objective.

Does anyone have a similar ambition? Would anyone like to join me in battle?

[OohOohMrPeevly]

Have you thought about low carbing - you can eat loads and feel really full and still lose weight. I am a very greedy person and this works so well for me. For instance you can still have takeaways every night so say you had indian food, you would have chicken curry (not a very sweet one like korma though - a balti is much better) and vegetable side dishes and no rice or naan or popadoms. You still eat lots of delicious food but none of the nasty carbs that bloat you up and add weight. If it's a chinese takeaway you can have chicken and cashew nuts and stir fried mixed veg and some chicken wings too.

[FatIsAHedonistIssue]

Well now that our kitchen is done we can get back to cooking every night, but it's more that we've got used to the extravagance (and portion sizes) of takeaways, than that we want to have them every night (we definitely couldn't afford that!).

Yes low carbs, low GI has worked for us before very successfully. Our problem is psychological, so this is more about popping in here to say, "talk me down! I want a bagel!".

Any other gluttons out there are welcome to come on board of course.