‘What ONE piece of advice do you have for chronic ‘dieters’ who really, really want to be successful this time around?’

LEARN what HUNGER really feels like.

I was brutally honest with myself when I started this journey 3+ years ago.  I knew that I had a really big problem, a really unhealthy relationship with food. And that I was going to be trying to stabilize blood sugars, get off of insulin, lose weight AND trying to find answers to some complicated food issues. ALL at the same time.

I like to keep things interesting.

I knew that perhaps my biggest hurdle was that I fundamentally did not understand hunger.

My body had NOT BEEN HUNGRY in years.  I didn’t know the feeling.

I was so, so used to simply eating because it was mealtime, or I passed the frig, or it was in front of me, or because it was a special occasion, or…

And I’m not alone.  In any conversation with folks who have lots to lose, at some point our conversation will come around to hunger.  And the ways we ignore it, abuse it, refuse to allow it to happen…

I had to figure out what it meant to be hungry if I was EVER going to get a handle on overeating.

I was pretty sure that the only way to have long-term success was going to be tied to whether I could feel, understand and respond to hunger.

So I came up with a trick that would a) teach me to understand what hunger was and b) wouldn’t mess too badly with my blood sugar.

Apples.

Honeycrisp apples to be specific.

I put a BUCKET of apples in the fridge.

And I made a deal with myself…

Anytime I thought I was hungry and it really didn’t make sense for me to be hungry (had just eaten lunch, had eaten most of my calories for the day, etc…) I could eat an apple.

And only an apple.

IF I was indeed hungry enough to eat an apple…  Then I was probably legitimately hungry.

IF I was NOT hungry enough to eat an apple…  Then I was simply cruising for food out of HABIT or bored or emotions or….  I would eat nothing.

If I was NOT hungry enough to eat an apple — I was not hungry.

I used apples to train myself to at least STOP and recognize if what I was experiencing was TRUE hunger.

The worst day I had?  I ate 6 apples. 🙂

I had days where I just couldn’t tell if I was hungry or mentally craving food/comfort/company.  So I ate apples.  Burden/guilt free…  I was trying to teach myself to learn something new, so I gave myself permission to eat as many apples as needed.

And BOY did I learn. And man alive did I eat a lot of apples those first few months. 🙂

Just this week I had to buy another big ol’ bag of apples and put it front-and-center in the fridge to REMIND me to listen to my hunger.  And not just eat because I’m bored or tired or frustrated or lazy.

I don’t think we are ever done learning. 

And as much as you do NOT want to hear this… I don’t know that we — if we have a food addiction/issues/overeat — are EVER off the hook. We have to stay vigilant about not letting the bad behaviors creep back in. 

Which is why there is a big bag of apples in my fridge even after 3+ years on this journey.

I find it ironic and fun that while we give apples to teachers as gifts, in my case APPLES have BEEN my teachers. 🙂

I was at an event for work and a woman who hadn’t seen me in a while walked up to me during the reception;

‘I’m just going to follow you around and watch what you eat. I need to lose some weight.  Maybe I can learn from you.’

Confession?

Nothing makes me more self conscious than knowing someone is watching or judging what I eat.

I spent a lifetime trying to hide the true bulk of what I was really consuming. And I got REALLY good at making sure no single person had the whole picture.

I mean, c’mon… I KNOW I was WEARING my poor eating habits for the whole world to see. But I had pretty solidly convinced myself I was hiding things well enough to deflect major attention.

Insecurities run deep and old habits die hard. Even now, I will still find ways to skip social events that involve food if at all possible.

Throw into this particular awkward ‘party’ mix that I had just done a LONG run. What could that possibly have to do with food you wonder??!  I was eating anything and everything that was not nailed down. I had burned 1,000+ calories running that morning and I was freaking HUNGRY.

And someone wanted to watch me eat?!  Egad… 

So, I promised her that I would share what I used to eat compared to what I eat these days.  She promised to stop following me around. 🙂

So how do you get to be almost 400 pounds and a type 2 diabetic?

Here’s how: I would consume roughly 3,500-5,000 calories on any given day of fast food, carbs and highly processed foods. I was not exercising. This was how I spent the 1990’s and early 2000’s.

A fairly typical day looked like.

• Breakfast: McDonalds Sausage biscuit, hash browns, large diet coke
• Snack: Chips, large diet Dr. Pepper
• Lunch: Qdoba nachos loaded, large diet coke
• Snack: Candy or more chips, large diet Dr. Pepper
• Pre-dinner snack: 2 McDonald’s cheeseburgers, large fries, large diet coke.
• Dinner: Chicken enchilada casserole, rice and beans, chips and salsa
• Snack: Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream

Unbelievable that someone could eat that poorly, that much?  I WISH I was making this stuff up… But I really did eat all that stuff. Daily.

I have witnesses. Hell, I have PROOF.

My weight and a type 2 (T2) diabetes diagnosis are confirmation that this was pretty typical fare for me. FOR YEARS.

You don’t just suddenly wake up fat.

You actually have to work pretty hard to get there…

Starting in the early 2000’s, with my new T2 diagnosis, I spent about 8 years settling into a diabetic diet. Portions got smaller. I worked to glean out refined and overt sugar. I focused on a low-carb diet. I lost about 85 pounds during this time period and increased my walking over the years. It was NOT perfect, but it was a HUGE improvement.

July 2011 rolled around and I decided I was going to build a new and different lifestyle. I wanted to be healthy.

And then a WHOLE lot of additional changes have happened in the past 3+ years.

So, what does a day look like NOW?!

I consume about 1,500 – 2,100 calories a day; depending on what kind of exercise I’m doing. I try to work out 6 days a week. I eat a plant based diet.

A typical day pulled from the last month’s food journal:

• Pre-run: Nut/seed/fruit bar (no sugar added)
• Breakfast: Banana/granola/cashew butter, decaf coffee
• Snack: Hummus/carrots and grapes
• Lunch: Salad with beans, corn, grilled peppers, salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips
• Afternoon snack: Nuts, apple and more decaf coffee. 🙂
• Dinner: Quinoa, monster salad loaded veggies, avocado, oil and balsamic vinegar
• Snack: Honeycrisp Apple with cinnamon and sea salt

Just a few short years ago I would tell everyone that I hated vegetables and I could NOT imagine life without Diet Coke.

Things have changed. 🙂

You don’t just suddenly wake up healthy. 

You actually have to work pretty hard to get here.