Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 4

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Hi to all regulars and lurkers!

Here's the 4th thread, based on the ideas in Dr Andrew Jenkinson's book. We've seen some amazing losses on these threads, and the benefits for me can be summed up as 'no counting, no starving'.
We don't count calories, and if we're hungry we eat. We're focused on quality.

General eating principles:

No sugar
No wheat (which reduces unhealthy carbs)
No ultra processed foods, and in particular no processed/ultra refined oils
Honourable mention to tipping the balance of omega 3 and 6, but that’s mostly achieved by doing the above.

His principles also include trying to sleep more and reduce stress, and take regular (moderate) exercise.

If any of this sounds promising, please feel free to ask questions and come and join in!

@Chunkymonkey123

☹️ I get the same issue with sweet drinks. Lethal stuff fruit juice, and the syrups are worse!

Just checking in. Been a steady few days. Sunday I broke and had a lemon drizzle bun thing and a mini sausage roll. Tbf it was 2pm and and I hadn't had anything at all and felt a bit ropey post 4 hours at the stables. Yesterday for lunch I had leftover roast dinner, then fry up for dinner. Today I had suishi for lunch the beef stew and roast potatoes for dinner. So not horrendously bad but not perfect but it could be a lot worse.

Not weighed myself this week, A f due at any time so ignoring the scales.

Hi all, I've been doing this for a few weeks too. Feel a lot better for cutting out wheat. Like PP, I broke a bit yesterday and binged on crisps (olive oil ones though) and some chocolate :-( This is because of where I am in my cycle. Are you all finding it harder to keep going just before your period? My hormonal desire to binge doesn't seem to have got better, even after sticking to this woe religiously!

You know the way women's cycles tend to coincide when they live together...

I think that might have happened on this thread!

I'm also due on soon now, so no point weighing myself until I get the bloating, water retention and general mardiness done with for another month.

May I jump on board - I really need to lose weight (BMI is 39) but I've been losing and gaining all my life, and I'm so sick of failure that I'm almost defeated before I start. I'm also menopausal, and losing just a few lbs over 6 weeks by calorie counting and fasting is torturous and then stalls anyway.

I did have a thread asking for some insights into low carbing and was directed here - I haven't been back to thread 1 yet to read from the start, but I did download the WWETM book last night and started reading it.

I have read several similar things before - The Obesity Code, Delay Don't Deny, Fast 800 etc - and I thought I'd probably already read it and forgotten it and put on another stone. I've tried em all.

But it wasn't on my Kindle or on Audible so I guess not. And as I've started it I definitely haven't read it before - I'm still in the depths of the science and experiments, and I'm still at the stage of understanding that I've made my "weight set-point" higher by restricting calories so much over the years.

I haven't got to the good part yet about how you trick your body back to a lower set point, I'm still hoping for that revelation.

But in the meantime I have made a good start - weighed myself on Monday (oh shit a brick that wasn't good) and have cut all sugar and processed carbs. It's day 3 and the sugar withdrawal headache hasn't hit yet, surprisingly. I don't miss bread and cake while I'm enjoying chicken and cheese.

I've been a little disheartened by my DB, who has been in the grip of weight obsession for years - he weighs daily and either exists on coffee and cauliflower rice, OR goes mad on sugar. He is super-skinny but has liver issues and high cholesterol, and went on at length about CICO which we all know. Says the man who runs 12k and eats only 400 cals the same day...I worry for him but he can't change.

My DH, big like me and fond of food and beer (I don't drink) is also a staunch CICO believer and I can't convince him that it's more complicated than that for some people. But it's not my job to convince him, hopefully I'll just prove it by losing weight via this WOE.

I would like to hear some success stories though, I'll root out the earlier threads. Is there a FB group or page do we know?

Hi @ravenswig I have only been doing this WOE for a few weeks but I can tell you that the big difference for me is that I'm not having massive cravings and I think that's because I'm eating three meals a day and plenty of fat and protein. It's so much more manageable than 5:2 or keto which were my previous diets.
I'm on HRT currently in the utrogestan phase and I wonder if anyone has experience of how this will affect weight loss/gains? Will there be a big drop once I'm just on the oestrogel? I do hope so. Either way though I'm expecting a steady loss, probably non linear and I've resolved not to do anything drastic if progress is slow. I think we are all paying the price for brutally cutting calories.

@Cakey46 can I ask if you put on weight with HRT? I started it in the summer then stopped after putting on 2kgs in as many months. I've just gone back to it as it has many good effects and I'm being really careful about what I eat and drink now. Was disappointed to see 1lb on already after just 2 weeks œstrogène, haven't even started the progesterone yet!

Hi @samthebordercollie tbh I just don't know. I started HRT during lockdown and so I was doing pandemic eating but decided to get a grip by doing 5:2 (but in addition to low carb so quite brutal) and couch25k and the weight came off quite nicely. Unfortunately like so many times before it has crept back on plus more besides.
What I think is that, for me, I don't feel like HRT was the cause of weight gain but it might have slowed down the loss. On the plus side I sleep better and have less anxiety which seems to be key for this WOE. When you get to the progesterone bit you will sleep like a log!!!

Hello All. Sorry for long absence and I haven't yet had time to catch up on thread.

Just to say, following several really stressful events in quick succession, including hospitalisation of elderly relative, and some very bad news, my whole woe and healthy routine I have been following for the last year went completely out of the window for about three weeks.

I've eaten mountains of really grim rubbish, , not exercised - no gym, no Pilates, no hiking. Also slept really badly. Stress levels were through the roof. Sleep routine to pot. Meno symptoms back with a vengeance. They had all but disappeared.

I have gained a fair amount of weight ( not yet sure how much but could be half a stone or more) and I feel bloated, uncomfortable 'scattered' and unfocused. It's been really really horrible. I also think I smell strange but that could just be my imagination.

Why, why did I do this to myself? :

Anyway, I want to pull this back and this week have a great opportunity to do so as am away in a remote place and can focus on cooking good things for myself and walking my dog in the hills.

I am already feeling better and slipping back into the familiar good routine.

Just going to cook myself an omelette for lunch then off out into the hills. The sky is clearing, literally as well as metaphorically. I am finding myself again.

Catch you all later.

Hi @RavensWig !

I guess CICO remains true, it's just that your body has a lot more power over the 'O' than you do, and fighting it makes it cranky!

@Words sorry you're having a bad time. This is a fairly forgiving WOE at least. I hope you get back to your set point quickly. As far as I can remember it only took me a week or two after our summer trip.

Fingers crossed my set point may be going down another lb. two days in a row at the new point so a bit early to be sure.

@Words I'm so sorry you are having a tough time, I was wondering how you were as you hadn't posted for a while. Don't worry and just enjoy your time walking with your BC. The weight will soon come off and you'll feel better mentally as well as physically. Eating rubbish definitely has mental as well as physical consequences xx

I'm 2 weeks into my 'no sugar October' and coping ok with no withdrawal symptoms but not much weight loss either. Probably too much snacking & certainly a lot of cheese!

Please can someone explain again why I should cut out wheat? I only eat homemade bread rolls. Would trying spelt flour be any better?
Thanks

Thank you @samthebordercollie and @aria99.

Currently curled up in front of a log fire with a tired BC - yes there is such a thing, apparently !

I've got duck breast for dinner, with greens and mashed potato, which may or may not have cheese on top.

@Words
Sounds lovely! I would personally go with the cheese!

Can I join you please? I currently weigh 123kg, which gives me a bmi of 39 I already have health problems related to my weight and really don’t want anymore added to the list! I’ve got a copy of the book and am slowly working through it. I yo yo dieted for years and am currently in recovery from binge eating disorder, so have a complicated relationship with food. Hopefully this way of eating is the way forward for me.

Hi @manicmom , welcome! I hope you find this works for you.

I think it's wonderful. I wish I had known about it years ago especially when i was bulimic in my late teens. I have never really yo-yo dieted properly as I don't have the staying power but I would always make an effort for a bit and then gradually slide back to being fatter than I was before.

Some people on here have had amazing and dramatic weight losses. I have only lost half a stone but that took me from from noticeably overweight to slim enough to feel good and I still seem to be gradually losing.

It will depend on you finding some on plan things you really like and eating them till you are full. (Unlimited cheese!)

Let us know if you have questions and we will try to help.

@PC20 I can't actually remember why no wheat.

It seemed to make sense at the time but in retrospect is the only thing that doesn't seem to follow logically from the theory.

I seem to have have lost my copy of the book or I would go and check!

If I remember correctly it's because of the refined flour made from wheat. The way wheat is cultivated these days is very unhealthy, high GI and therefore spikes insulin. There is no problem with ancient un modified grains like spelt and buckwheat.

Hello everyone!

I am already feeling so much better it's unbelievable. It's absolutely clear that for me personally this woe is optimal for my body and mind. Modern processed food really, really disagrees with me- yet is so easy to fall back into.

I'm optimistic that I can pick up largely where I left off, and continue with the slow weight loss despite the blip.

The important thing is not to allow the blip to become a full on roller coaster experience as it has done many times before- and I am hopeful that won't happen, given this woe is so enjoyable.

So dinner tonight - chick and mushroom risotto with crispy chicken skin served with broccoli and spinach.

It's very tasty. I think I am back on track

@words you had me at crispy chicken skin 😋. Well done for getting back on track. You are a reminder that blips happen but don't necessarily mean the end of our WOE. Plus its often very tasty and satisfying.

Thank you @Cakey46 ! I started doing the crispy skin thing a while ago as I live alone so always have lots of leftovers from a roast chick, and crisping up the skin really makes the leftovers tasty. I detach it and put in a cold frying pan on full heat with salt. No oil or butter. Works a dream

Just checking in to see how everyone is getting on. I've been hovering around the same weight for a couple of weeks now, but am anticipating a further loss once my period finishes. I 'feel' lighter (I know, not very scientific!) and am assuming I'm retaining water at the minute (as I usually do when I come on) which is why I'll not see it on the scales for a few days yet.

I've stuck to this way of eating for 80-90% of the time and have not felt guilty when I have eaten something off-plan. This has been a revelation to me as I've always struggled on previous diets - if I went off-plan on those I just went off the rails entirely. With this WoE I don't mind having some pasta occasionally or a dessert if I'm out for dinner, it doesn't throw me off track and I don't get cravings for more and more.

Hello again @Tiredandbored . I know exactly what you mean about 'feeling lighter'. When I feel that, it's hardly ever wrong. For me it's not so much clothes feeling looser or anything, just a general feeling - normally, weirdly happening at the same place as I walk down my road. I will suddenly think Aha!

I did go off the rails for several weeks unfortunately, but I am finding it very easy to slip back into the good routine. Before that, I was away and cheated a little, but not extensively. Did this prime me for a longer period off plan I wonder?

I've been musing a little about the psychological roots of 'why we eat too much' - which to be honest was what I thought these threads were about when I first saw the title, having not heard of the book at that point.

Maybe there is some sort of set point - our own personal 'leeway' with eating off plan? What turns a brief trot down the wrong track , to a full on out of control gallop over the horizon? I would put my recent 'excursion' somewhere between the two, by the way.

Perhaps if it had occurred earlier in the journey, rather than almost 12 months in, it would have taken even longer to correct? What do people think?

I do know that any form of ultra strict rules will not work for me in the long term, and are always counter productive. I am still exploring that happy medium of a few treats now and again whilst maintaining my snails pace weight loss.

I get to weigh myself on Monday so will know what the damage has been, although I have had a good week of eating well, fresh air and exercise which I am sure will have tackled some of the gain.

By the way @samthebordercollie, great to hear you are able to run again - it's been a long while hasn't it.

That's a really interesting thought @Words! I have been on that gallop (on more occasions than I care to admit) and I'm not always sure what the trigger point was.

For me, I'm a very 'rules and discipline' driven person and when I've dieted in the past I've stuck rigidly to the requirements - counting points, weighing portions etc. Fine in the short-term, unrealistic forever.

Therefore if I slipped it was like a dam bursting and I rebelled against some sort of pent up frustration at the limitations of the diet. Usually by that point I had been quite successful in losing weight and there was also a little bit of 'I've earned a treat' creeping in.

I think the difference for me is I don't have any of that pent up resentment against this way of eating because it's not a burden on terms of having to count and weigh anything. It's easy to do, so I'm not getting fed up or frustrated.

Also, I allow myself the occasional treats and don't feel bad about them (because I'm not worried about them using up my allowance for that day perhaps) so I can have one and then stop.

Interesting thoughts though, our eating is so tied up with psychological aspects, isn't it?