New Goal Conflicting with Old Habits
 

Hello! So I've been quiet on he boards for a while, but I'm back!

I've come to you lovely ladies with a dilemma: During high school I developed the unhealthy habit of eating as little as possible some days, and then binge eating on others. This helped me lose 20 lbs, but when I got together with my current significant other I began to eat out more often and to try to eat more so that she wouldn't worry. Over time I worked on not being as fanatic about counting calories, though with that I gained back all of the 20 lbs over a 2.5 year time span.

I'm currently trying to lose the weight again, in a healthy fashion this time, and she is even on board with me. Though, my issue is that I'm tempted to revert back to my old habits of just eating as little as possible, even though I know that it will sap me of my strength and cognitive abilities. I am in college and joined the club team sport of crew (rowing).

Do you ladies have any advice or insight as to how I can continue on my journey toward finally being a healthy weight while not giving into the crazy part of my brain that insists that it would go so much faster if I were to just not eat?

I've never had that specific problem, but I wake up every morning and tell myself that today I'm not on a diet, I'm living my life with healthy habits. And if that means having breakfast, lunch and dinner to you, so be it. For me this means ONLY eating 1 breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner, plus a couple of reasonable snacks.

For your goal weight and activity level, you should be eating about 2175 calories a day. Break that down into 5 meals a day ( 435 cal each). The smaller amounts will make you feel like your eating light, but the frequency will keep energy levels up.

Tell the crazy "yeah, it might go faster but the weight would just come back again".

I don't think of it as a diet, diets are temporary. This is a lifestlyle.

Arm yourself with knowledge. We go out fairly often too. I google the menus for the major restaurants we go to, so I know going in what I can order without blowing the whole day. Even so, the restaurant meal is usually most of my calories and the rest of the day I mostly snack. I've noticed more restaurants putting nutrition info on the menu, Applebee's and Olive Garden both do now. If you know you're ordering something huge and heavy, ask for the lunch portion (same entree but smaller) or get a box up front. Have some veggies or a piece of fruit and a big glass of water before you go so you aren't starving when you get there.

Breakfast has been my secret weapon during my weight loss, so has allowing myself to still eat the foods I love but in small amounts and not every day!

I never used to eat breakfast, and the result was a sluggish feeling that stayed with me for most of the day, followed by a complete binge on anything I could lay my hands on, and as much of it as I could fit into my stomach. Since starting to have breakfast every day, and within 30 minutes of getting up I've felt so much better and the cravings have almost been eliminated.

As for eating out, well I've never completely been able to follow advice on that because I'm too embarrassed to ask how food is cooked, or what it's cooked in, or if I can have my dressing on the side. So I've kinda avoided this as much as possible for the entirety of my journey. I do go to Subway a couple of times a month though so that I don't feel totally deprived.