not overweight but feeling crazy about food?

Anniekat · Post by **Anniekat** » Sun May 24, 2015 6:11 pm

hello all.

i am wondering if anyone else shares this experience... i am not currently overweight and other than one unfortunate stint in my early 20's, the most i've ever been overweight is 15 lbs or so. however, i have had issues surrounding food as long as i can remember. ive been 50 lbs overweight and ive been 15-20 underweight. eating disorder stuff has more or less always had a presence in my life. these issues obviously surface when things in my life are not great, or im feeling out of control, etc.

at this point, i keep falling off the no s wagon, but i really want to stick to it. i am pretty involved in weight lifting and for the last year, my body has gotten leaner which i love, but i wasn't eating not a lot and i knew it wasn't sustainable. i am now tending toward overeating while still trying desperately to cut carbs, im gaining fat back, etc... and im ending up in crazy town! its madness.

im wanting to follow this way of eating just for peace of mind, with fat loss hopefully being a nice bonus but not the chief reason for it.

anyone else have a similar experience? i could use the camaraderie right now.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun May 24, 2015 11:57 pm

If you are lifting weight to try to get to bodybuilder fat content, well... there's a lot of fallout from that effort. Very few people with eating disorders recover using that tactic. It makes a lot of people crazy around food, even men.

Get away from any people who bemoan their bodies, especially if they aren't overweight! The bodybuilding crowd has some of the worst body dysmorphia.

I am a little overweight now, but I wasn't when I tried to get stricter awhile back. I trace the problems to when I started thinking, well, I've been stabilized for awhile, I wonder if I could lose ten more pounds? Now I'm five pounds up from where I was and haven't had a full green week for months, maybe even a year.

I'm longing for a return to sanity, too. Got to keep trying to find other things to focus on. I feel things are on hold a bit until a break from work in a few weeks. But that doesn't mean I can't eat moderately today.

catservant · Post by **catservant** » Mon May 25, 2015 8:45 pm

Your post could have been written by me, Anniekat. I have about 10 pounds that need to go, but I am far more concerned with my mental shenanigans when it comes to food. I have been 30 lbs heavier and 25 lbs lighter, but I have NEVER been at peace. I have not done a good job of incorporating No S habits into my life YET, but I am determined to succeed. I was never a lifter, but I was a runner (until my knees gave out) who was so obsessed with getting my daily 5 miles in that I would get up at 3:00 am to run if there was no other way to get it done on any given day. So I guess you could say that I have rather an obsessive personality.

Anyway...I know for sure that I do not want my every waking moment to be consumed by thoughts of food any longer, and that I want balance in my life. I am committed to taking one day at a time, one meal at a time if necessary, and allowing time for these habits to take hold. I will not count calories, points, grams of fat or carbs; I will not weigh or measure food except with the rim of a plate, 3 times a day. What I WILL do is explore all the interesting things I can now that my mind has so much free time!

I wish you good luck with this journey. I know it isn't easy, but I think it will be SO worth it!!

Kittson · Post by **Kittson** » Tue May 26, 2015 4:54 pm

I've had a similar experience as you catservant and Anniekat. I've been bordering overweight with my highest weight 15 lbs heavier than I am now. but I've also been 15 lbs lighter than I am now too. My desired weight is 5-10 lbs lighter than my current weight.

I was doing a lot of intense kettlebell training and it was affecting my appetite and all winter I ran 30 miles per week. Since cutting out kbs and also getting a knee injury that has left me unable to run, my appetite has diminished significantly. Intense exercise makes you very hungry which in turn makes it very hard to not snack. Lately I've been walking 30-60 minutes per day, with some walks on the weekends going up to 70 minutes. My muscle tone has decreased some, but my hunger is nothing like it used to be. A couple weeks after stopping the intense exercise, my insomnia has also disappeared. To me that is worth more than anything I can imagine.

No S is a moderate plan. If you want to have really low bodyfat, this isn't the best way to do it. One must ask themselves WHY they want very low bodyfat too. Is it worth the price one pays? However, if you want to enjoy your life and think about things other than food and weight, then you have found the solution. Ease up on the intense exercise and I know this sounds corny, but it honestly is magical. That's what I experienced anyway.

I'm 3 months in to No S and at the current time have lost 2 lbs. I don't have much weight to lose so it's super slow, but the emotional peace is amazing. 99% of the time I eat without fear.

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Tue May 26, 2015 5:04 pm

Kittson wrote:I've had a similar experience as you catservant and Anniekat. I've been bordering overweight with my highest weight 15 lbs heavier than I am now. but I've also been 15 lbs lighter than I am now too. My desired weight is 5-10 lbs lighter than my current weight.

I was doing a lot of intense kettlebell training and it was affecting my appetite and all winter I ran 30 miles per week. Since cutting out kbs and also getting a knee injury that has left me unable to run, my appetite has diminished significantly. Intense exercise makes you very hungry which in turn makes it very hard to not snack. Lately I've been walking 30-60 minutes per day, with some walks on the weekends going up to 70 minutes. My muscle tone has decreased some, but my hunger is nothing like it used to be. A couple weeks after stopping the intense exercise, my insomnia has also disappeared. To me that is worth more than anything I can imagine.

No S is a moderate plan. If you want to have really low bodyfat, this isn't the best way to do it. One must ask themselves WHY they want very low bodyfat too. Is it worth the price one pays? However, if you want to enjoy your life and think about things other than food and weight, then you have found the solution. Ease up on the intense exercise and I know this sounds corny, but it honestly is magical. That's what I experienced anyway.

I'm 3 months in to No S and at the current time have lost 2 lbs. I don't have much weight to lose so it's super slow, but the emotional peace is amazing. 99% of the time I eat without fear.

That is why, in retrospect, I mostly just do a Bullworker workout a few days a week now. Mainly because, a) running hurts, b) I do not get as hungry when I do isometrics.

It has been alluded that I am a sissy because "I don't use real weights", but it is all good.

moderatemeals · Post by **moderatemeals** » Wed May 27, 2015 11:35 am

Hi everyone -
Oh my goodness I can relate! I am not overweight at all but always think losing 5 pounds would help me look better in my clothes. I just need to let that go and focus on trying to make peace with food. I have a bingeing problem (but never have purged) and when I stick to only 3 meals a day, I obviously don't binge and feel great. Sometimes though, trying to make it a perfect day messes me up and so I waffle back and forth between trying to be perfect in NO S as to get the habit down and not succumbing to the 'wth' mentality!

My main priority is not to binge and not to mindlessly snack. I'd love for it to fall in the No S framework because I have not desire to count calories or restrict any group of food. I love the support of these boards and while I don't always post, I do read the threads many weeks.

Good luck to everyone!
mm

Echos · Post by **Echos** » Wed May 27, 2015 2:01 pm

AnnieKat, I feel like I could have written your post.

I'm not currently overweight for my height, and I've never been "overweight" (according to BMI - which is iffy. I've definitely had times when I've been at the heavier side of the spectrum.)

I've always had issues with food, usually cycling between obsessive calorie counting and non-stop bingeing. This was usually triggered by stress or external emotional frustrations.

I also started weight lifting around a year ago, which, accompanied with 800 cals on IIFYM got me down to my lowest weight, sub 50 kilos. That obviously wasn't healthy or sustainable.

Now I'm trying to get back into the healthy weight range for my height, but it's hard to deal with getting bigger, even though some of it's muscle. I also have to deal with the residual carb-phobia.

So, I'm mostly following No-S to regain some sort of sanity regarding food.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that your struggle is very, very real. You aren't alone at all. The bad news is, I don't have much advice for you because I have the same problem

I would suggest trying to focus on performance rather than appearance. If you're still weightlifting, try to focus on the number on the dumbells and not on the scale. That's been helping for me, at least. Best of luck!

Anniekat · Post by **Anniekat** » Wed May 27, 2015 5:15 pm

Oh my goodness; I'm amazed at how many people identify with what I'm saying. Thank you everyone for your kind words and support.

IMO, people that say that sissies don't use "real weights" are sissies!

I agree that focusing on performance rather than looks is important. I think that is where I need to go from here.

I'll keep you posted!

kwerp · Post by **kwerp** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 6:47 pm

I'm late to the party, but I thought I'd chime in.
I've been 5 lbs heavier, and I've been 35 lbs lighter than I am now. I'd feel best if I could lose 15-20 and maintain that. At my lightest I was suffering from an eating disorder, which eventually turned on its head and became compulsive over-eating.

Since then, I've tried to reign things in:
calorie counting
Dukan
Atkins
Paleo
Nutritional ketosis
Intermittant fasting
Alternate day eating
and Intuitive eating

The end result? I can't stick to a diet for more than a month, and the amount of time and energy that goes into it leaves me feeling helpless. I really hoped that intuitive eating would bring me peace, but it hasn't. I just want to eat like a normal person.

I'm now working out every day, so if I could keep from over-eating and snacking all the time, I would hope I could shift 10-15 lbs of my current weight.

I'm on day 2, which has gone well. I'm eating bread again for the first time in ages.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 10:46 pm

kwerp, just wanted to say that it shows some wisdom, IMHO, that you see that this is closer to eating like a "normal" person than IE is. AT least, the normal slim person. If you look at world stats, overeating IS normal. When most populations get easy access to food, as most of the world does now, the population average weight goes up. Only in cultures that value moderation, and most of them are NOT snackers or sweet eaters, do people enjoy food AND stay of "normal" BMI, with less degenerative disease to boot. They don't depend on individual whim.

Anniekat · Post by **Anniekat** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:10 pm

Oh my goodness, I very much relate to what you're saying kwerp! I just started eating bread again yesterday!

And, ugh, I am sorry you are struggling so.

Marye · Post by **Marye** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:17 pm

Our stories match on a lot of points.
I'm also not overweight, but have been on both sides (under and overweight).
Done a lot of restrictive diets, witch made social life horrible.
And also ended up with health problems from being malnourished. Also lost my period for years.
For me more

carbs helped a lot. Also eating bread and pasta again and loving it.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:52 am

The variety of food that slim cultures thrive on is generous. There really seems to be room for everything...in moderation.

bonnieUK · Post by **bonnieUK** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 9:25 am

Something from my own experience (may be different for you) is that if I'm obsessing over food it means I'm just not eating enough, and either need to up the food intake or reduce exercise output. I wrote on the forum somewhere a while back about an intuitive eating experiment I did in which I found that after over-eating and perma-snacking for a short while (about 3-4 weeks), I went back to a sensible eating pattern (loosely No S) without feeling obsessive about food or hungry between meals. It also helps me to not restrict carbs or food groups (except added sugar) at all and just let my appetite be my guide.

I now try to use intuitive eating to choose what to eat within the structural framework of no s (and some common sense, e.g. if my "intuition" is saying eat chocolate chip cookies for lunch I'm not going to listen to that, but I will eat some carb rich foods and some natural sources of sweetness like a ripe banana or some dried fruit).

ETA: I think a problem with IE is that it leaves out the common sense "Grandma's wisdom" aspect. I think of it like feeding a toddler, it's good to listen to what your toddler is asking to eat, but you need to be able to step in as a parent and say "I know you want a bowl of cereal for dinner, but you'd be better off with chicken, potatoes and spinach".