It is getting bad!!!

Question

I think I am addicted to food. I have always been an average/healthy weight until a couple years ago. I eat all the time and as soon as I am not full anymore I want to eat again. I have gained over 60 pounds in the past couple of years. I have gotten to the point of where I don't feel comfortable in anything I wear, I have gotten so lazy that I make excuses for myself not to be more active. Please no rude comments, it definitely wont help. How can I motivate myself to take better care of myself? What are some tips that I can use to change my terrible habit??

Answer 1

Well, first of all, what is the source of your overeating? What happened that couple years ago? Was it something tragic? Do you eat when you're happy, sad, etc.? Or do you just eat when you're bored?

If you eat when you're emotional, or something did happen to you, you might want to talk to a doctor about it. It is an actual condition, overeating.

If you just eat when you're bored, then there are some simple ways to help that:

-Control your eating. There's a couple ways to do that, but everyone works in different ways.

(1)You can start counting the amount of calories you're eating, and try to reduce it to 1200-1700 a day [calorieking.com helps greatly with that].

(2) Eat 6, small calorie meals throughout the day. I heard it helps cravings a lot..

(3) Go organic & eat healthier versions of foods. This worked for me. What you do is eat more vegetables and fruit [instead of that bag of potato chips, for example], and choose healther options of different foods. Say instead of eating white bread, eat wheat bread. Instead of regular ranch, choose light ranch. Instead of McDonald's, eat Subway. Etc., etc...

(4) Go to bed early. I know I sometimes get the worst cravings at night, and if you go to bed early, you won't get those cravings.

Otherwise, talk to your doctor about dieting...

-Exercise. This doesn't mean go on the treadmill for two hours everyday. Do something that's fun for you! Take a walk with a friend, go bike riding, go swimming, dancing, rollerskate, anything! If you "cheat" on your "diet" this is also a great way to balance it. If  you eat a Whopper value meal, balance it out with a bike ride through a park, or something else that is fun for you. Ultimately, just keep busy. It helps reduce food cravings if you're doing something.

Sorry it was long, but I thought it was necessary. Good luck!

Answer 2

Take what you're eating and cut it in half. Give yourself a time limit. Allow yourself to eat only for a few minutes, and a limited amount of food. Change your food selections. If you're gonna eat, swap out better choices for bad stuff. Get away from packaged foods with preservatives. When grocery shopping, the best advice I ever got was shop on the outside edge of the store. Fresh meats, fish, fresh produce, dairy, and grains. Choose whole grains, and the more raw fruits and veggies the better. Do something you enjoy for exercise. Swimming, biking, or just playing. I dance when I can and that helps...as long as I keep it outta the club where alcohol calories add up...but that's another Answers posting at another time. Good luck!

Answer 3

start going to a gym get into a routine that will make it easier to keep going! i have had the same problem bc i was depressed but if you just do it and get it over with it will become easier. also if you have a friend that could join you that would help too

Answer 4

The good news is that you realize that something is wrong and that you need to do something about it.  So, you are already at the first step to a solution.  

If you can, a good place to start would be to get a physical exam by a dr.  There could be a health reason for this.  Make sure he checks your thyroid levels, as a low thyroid can cause these symptoms.  You may also want to check to see if you are anemic.

You might also want to experiment with your diet and try staying away from simple carbohydrates, like potatoes, white rice, and things with high sugar content.  Eating a high sugar, high carb diet can set me up to all kinds of food cravings.  I notice that if I stick to things that are protein based or are complex carbs I get hungry A LOT less and I don't crave things.  

Here is a link to a good introduction to something called the glycemic index.  In short it is number that rates how a particular food impacts your body as sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_in...

Here is a link to a chart that will tell you what the glycemic number of common foods.

http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/glyc...

I think someone already mentioned an exercise program and that is good advice.