How do I stop eating (took a break from diet for Christmas).

[MellowNewt]

Have managed to lost 50 pounds through diet and exercise (no jabs). I had developed a really bad relationship with food. I wfh most days so just had an absolute obsession with Deliveroo as a way to stimulate myself. Coffee and pastry for breakfast, pasta for lunch etc.

I actually was surprised with how this food obsessing actually went away quite naturally when I started being more mindful with eating.

I have been maintaining since June. I don’t really follow a diet plan but make sure to make good choices without too much hardship- ie eggs for breakfast.

However, I told myself if I could be good until Dec 20th I would allow myself to indulge over Christmas. And indulge I did. Mostly on cheese and sweet treats (loads of bakers in the family). Plus wine.

It’s somewhat concerning because I genuinely had come to prefer healthier choices. But now I feel like I’m back to my old ways. Two days in a row I’ve said I’ll be good and straight away I’ve got up and had Yule log for breakfast.

How can I get back to normal?

I know I haven’t completely fallen off the wagon as we have a fair amount of Xmas chocolate left and I’m not bothered. Old me would have demolished the lot. I just don’t fancy it.

I definitely have gained weight as my ribs are no longer so prominent. But I still fit into my jeans. For now.

Any advice?

Look to win before you begin.

Get rid of the temptations (Festive unhealthy food) in the house, leave it easier to make good choices and less convenient to make bad ones.

How did you start last time?

Hmm I just went cold turkey. I was so sick of how I looked.

That compulsive shove food in the gov seems to be back a little and it’s so scary. I genuinely had come to a place where I was choosing to eat soups and salads out of actual preference. But all that’s gone. I’m worried the slippery slope is about to take hold

Remove the unhealthy options and batch cook and pre prep all your meals for the next couple of days so you only go into the kitchen to grab your pre prepped food.

When your stocks of prep prepped options are running down prep the next batch straight after your evening meal when you are not hungry.

Set yourself up to succeed as willpower is overrated.

My appetite has definitely increased. I became used to filling up on coffee/tea and now it doesn’t touch the sides. I’m starving again with mins

If you're anything like me, once the fuck-it button has been pressed it could take me years to recover the right mindset to get back on track. This is why the jabs have been a godsend. I'm perfectly ok with people calling it cheating. It's that or nothing for me, but big admiration who can do it the hard way.

This is something I struggle with especially with so much Christmas food still left in the house. Im waiting until its gone to start but if you're wanting to start now I find looking at a photo of myself at my heaviest helps.

I bought a lot of festive foods for the Christmas & new year period. Chocolates, biscuits, cream, smoked salmon, xmas pud, mince pies I was gifted a lot of cheeses in wax.

I have one box of chocs and some cheese left. I'll eat the chocs in January, the cheese gradually over the next few months.

My weekly shop has reverted to meat, fish, veg, fruit and rice. I don't buy anything else. We'll just switch back to our normal diet and any weight gained will soon disappear with a bit of exercise.

I absolutely would do jabs but now I have a healthy bmi (while it lasts). I have had serious issues with my gallbladder (coincided with pregnancy) in the past so that’s why I decided not to go on the jabs. It took me years to get back to normal and it’s just not something I could gamble and health truly is wealth I’ve come to learn.

Obviously gallbladder side effects are rare but I just can’t risk it!

Glad you found something that worked. I really can’t get myself worked up about people doing what is best for them x

Can you go cold turkey for 36/48 hours and cut out refined carbs, wheat and sugar. Eat clean for a couple of days to stop the spikes.

I definitely feel heavier which is freaking me out a little. I feel less comfortable in my skin.

There is just so much food left. I bought a lot of treats but we all feel ill with a cold so a lot of chocolate coins, shortbread is still around. I’m weirdly able to resist those.

But I can’t turn down a stodgy meal and pudding right now. I was happily eating soups and salads before Christmas 😩

I think you need to start with a bin bag and ditch all the temptation. Once it’s gone you can’t eat it. Do you have healthy alternatives in that you’d usual snack on? For me, a good reset is a a decent fast of 18 hours or more. Have a healthy breakfast and lunch then fast. Nice bath before bed and I wake up feeling less gross and ready to be kind to my body again.

You can do this!

I do think something is out of whack. I remember when I first started dieting I would get headaches, light headedness and hunger pangs constantly. After the first week or so that pretty much went.

I became obsessed with pickled veg and pineapple. Or mustard and chicken/ham. And Greek yoghurt with fruit and honey. It just seems so unappetising to me now 😩

Stop telling yourself you'll be "good". Take charge of your eating and stop telling yourself you can't have something. It just makes you want it even more

I get you! I put on half a stone in December and I’ve found it hard to go back to the new eating habits I’d created. I cut carbs almost completely and eating them again has made me starving all the time. I have to power through the hunger and fill up on protein and veg.

I set myself the deadline of restarting on the 2nd January which I did. The food noise is a lot quieter today than it was yesterday.

I find that once I pick up my exercise I also stop the over eating. Got a kettlebell class tomorrow so that will do the trick, plus I got my husband to hide the rest of the Christmas cake. He made me make such a massive cake and I knew it would tempt me beyond my will! Next year I will only make a tiny one.

I ate NO UPF this Christmas but there was still a lot of food left to eat too much of!

Yes, your stomach will have expanded from eating more over Christmas.
It's ok to feel hungry and not act on it. You can feel hungry and sit with that, and know that it will pass.

It partially sounds like you've reactivated a sugar addiction. Think of it like this: when you were eating healthier, the gut bacteria that love refined sugars were starving. And as they died off, you stopped craving it, and wanted the food that nourish the other microbes that live on proteins etc. Now you reactivated it, so the sugar ones multiplied & are now sending you lots of signals to keep going and feed them. You can know that, feel that and not listen, knowing it'll change back again presently.

Protein keeps you feeling fuller for longer, so eggs, salmon, prawns, things which are high protein but low fat are good here in the transition phase.

Agree about throwing out (or preferably giving away) the unhealthy stuff.

I think there's also a strong psychological angle here. You lost the weight, and maintained for months, so you know you can do it, but now after 2 days of not being disciplined when you decided to, your words are all "start of a slippery slope" and "back to my old ways" and "compulsive".
So is there something for which food is a substitute and filling the void? And if so, what else, as a healthier choice, could you use to satisfy that urge instead? Being outside and in nature can be really helpful in resetting, and walking/gentle exercise can often switch off that kind of false hunger (for me at least). What would work for you?

Stop avoiding the scales.

You may not have gained anything, your weight may have shifted.

Stop the yule logs for breakfast and go for scrambled eggs to fill you up.

And delete the Deliveroo app.

The fatness comes back quickly with Christmas indulging.
Try to stop tomorrow by preparing your usual nice foods.

I also cut carbs. As someone who has PCOS and a ridiculous amount of diabetes in the family I just found it really adversely affected my efforts. Weight loss and maintenance was truly twice as easy without carbs. Even if my calories were the same which is a real head scratcher.

Count calories! There’s an NHS app where you log everything. I did this and OMG was so shocked by how much was going into my gob that I soon swapped food choices!

Edited to add:I had to get rid of the Christmas food first. Also meal prep and moving more (away from the food!) has been helpful.

Sugar, salt and fat are all addictive. You need to go through detox again. Bin all the processed food and once you are through detox you will appreciate real nutrition again.

Get rid of the fatty sugary food. These can be addictive. No one in your house needs them. DF-i-L brough home baked food and loads of sweets with him. I sent what was left home with him today. I don't want to be slobbed out on the sofa, eating fudge or cookies just because he made them.

Bin the lot today. Don't feel guilty at throwing it out - it is causing you to backtrack on your health and fitness. Getting rid of it is a good thing, not waste. If you have unopened boxes of anything, they can go to the food bank. If any of it can be given to wildlife safely, dispose of some that way. If there are things that never tempt you (like chocolate coins) you could keep them as an occasional treat for DC but no one in your family needs to fill up on processed sugar and fat while getting over illnesses. They need nutritious food. Otherwise just chuck it away. Then meal plan breakfast, lunch and tea, some delicious very healthy recipes.

I've been having toasted rye bread (because unlike other bread it doesn't seem to cause a craving for more carbs) with marmite and a boiled or poached egg, or sugar free porridge with blueberries or banana.

Home made veggie soup for lunch, eating up clementines and a couple of walnuts that I have to crack open myself to slow down the rate of consumption.

Dinners of baked or poached fish with lemon, ginger, soy, brown rice or soba noodles and steamed greens. Chicken casserole with barley and cavolo tonight. I can't wait. I'm sick of the rich food.