Then DON'T restrict your calories..

Do you feel ALL over the place with your eating?

Perfect meal to HECK with it!

Monday–Friday afternoon =Gold star BUT let’s NOT even talk about the weekend.

I used to ride on this roller coaster SEVERAL times a week. I had very BLACK and WHITE thinking. Perfect or total crap. Tons of veggies and lean protein to diving into as many refined carbs as I could get my paws on.

With my eating disorder history, any thought of “restricting” calories sends me into a TOTAL tail spin. I don’t think you have to have had an eating disorder to have a similar cycle. Years of yo-yo dieting can have the similar effects.

I HAD to change my mindset about how I was eating and tracking my food if I stood a chance at getting control over this ugly pattern that TOTALLY drained me and left me feeling hopeless, weak and defeated.

If restricting your calories causes more binges…THEN DON’T RESTRICT YOUR CALORIES and focus on cutting down on the binges.

What is a binge? The nationaleatingdisorders.org defines it as –“recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food (often very quickly and to the point of discomfort); a feeling of a loss of control during the binge; experiencing shame, distress or guilt afterwards; and not regularly using unhealthy compensatory measures (e.g., purging) to counter the binge eating.”


I needed to give my mind and body a break of trying to constantly lose weight.

I wanted to know what nourishing my body felt like. I did this by using our on-line nutrition program (vitabot) and it calculated how many calories I needed to maintain weight. Then I planned meals that were balanced with protein, lots of veggies, a healthy fat and I also DAILY planned in a treat. Yes, a real live full fat/sugar whatever I wanted treat as long as it was in my calorie maintenance range. This was also mentally helpful for me to see. Sometimes I get confused on huger and fullness so to know what a balanced day actually felt like was VERY insightful.

For about one month I stayed within my calorie range (which was much higher because I wasn’t trying to lose weight). During that time, I could almost feel my metabolism restoring. The prior pattern of eating KILLS your metabolism. My body could trust it was going to be fed in a consistent way and it relaxed. Towards the end of a month of nourishing my body I had shed some pounds of inflammation and I was feeling much more confident. The stomach bloat was almost gone, I felt control over food and secure with enough food for each day. The desire to binge was almost completely GONE.

Because I wanted to lose pounds as well, I knew I needed to take a much slower approach to weight loss and be very delicate with myself. I also knew in my heart this was the ONLY way to actually KEEP the weight off.

I did this in small steps. I cut my calories by 100/day. Looking at my past weeks I found a few little tweaks of things I could live without. These were so small you could hardly notice a change in my diet. I ate with the 100 calories less per day for 2 weeks and then I tweaked it again.

During that month, I had shed 4 more pounds and it wasn’t painful or scary. I wasn’t all over the place with my eating and really felt like that mystical word “balance” with food.

I reduced the calories by 100 one more time and that was the level I was able to maintain until I reached my goal weight. Reducing my calories by 300 a day in this approach was not hard and my energy was not impacted. I tried reducing it one more time but it started to create the desire to binge again and I felt off my “A” game. So, for ME my magic number was 300. This may be different for you.

I had reached my goal weight in a restrictive cycle 16 plus years ago but it was painful and I constantly felt out of control. I would have 20 pound swings up in weight and fight tooth and nail to get it back to a place I felt comfortable. This was so defeating and robed me of MANY moments of peace and joy in my life.

My last 20-pound swing up happened over 8 years ago and this is the approach to food I took to get that weight off. And guess what, it has stayed off. I do still swing up from time to time but only 5-6 pounds. THAT’S CALLED MAINTENANCE! At the 5 pounds up mark I check in with myself. Is this muscle? Am I comfortable here or am I feeling a little “soft”? Has my nutrition slacked off? Usually this is after a holiday, or winter and I have let more sugar back into my diet. Then I revisit this approach and able to get back to my sweet spot.

I think if we can get off the “I need to lose 20 pounds yesterday” and take a gentle, steady approach to weight loss, that is where the magic is. That is where life style can slowly change and able to be maintained. That is where LASTING weight loss and maintenance can happen.

I believe you can do this! One small change at a time.

So how about you focus on more balanced eating for a while and not restricting?

~Blessings
Sarah

*For those of you who don't know how many calories you would need to maintain and don't have our vitabot (nutrition logging program) go to https://tdeecalculator.net to get your estimate. I have worn many trackers and devices and the calculations are pretty spot on. If you notice you are starting to gain weight then it may have estimated a little high. BUT, give it a few weeks before you decide because our weight fluctuates daily! (mine does 3ish pounds from day to day)