Stopping the binges by eating protein? It works.

Have you ever noticed how when you start eating carby snacks you can’t stop? Betcha can’t eat just one…

Same with fatty treats. Given the chance, I think I could easily eat my own body weight in chocolate.

Protein is different. No matter how I try, I can’t eat too much chicken, or beef, or eggs. It fills me up.

More critically, I’ve noticed the best way to stop the binges, when things look like they’re about to spiral out of control, is to eat protein.

Protein stops a binge dead in its tracks.

Doesn’t matter if it’s a protein bar, or a piece of meat, or some pre-cooked chicken breast. It stops the binge. It kills the cravings and crazy eating.

Give it a try, next time you’re about to work your way through a family sized bag of cookies. Pause, and eat a protein bar instead.

It works. And you won’t need the cookie.

Christmas is the season of eating

It’s getting tough. At work I’m surrounded by cookies, scones and chocolates. At home the dairy is right around the corner, and can supply shakes, ice cream and slices on a moment’s whim.

I’m still shedding weight and building muscle overall, but the weight loss will definitely stall this week.

So I’ve decided to “ring fence” Christmas.

Christmas is Sunday, and we’ve agreed at home I can eat whatever I want on Friday through Monday, but then it’s back on the wagon on Tuesday 27th.

And throughout the whole Christmas season I’ll be going to the gym 6+ times a week.

I’ve accepted that Christmas is the season of eating, and made peace with it. It just needs borders. Christmas can’t run into January and become a summer of eating.

Four days. That’s what I’m giving myself.

Then it’s back to being fit, fed and fasted again 😁

Diet coke with your burger and fries?

I was that person. The one who would order a “hunger buster” value meal (Big Mac, cheeseburger, large fries, chocolate sundae, large soft drink) and ask for a diet Coke with it.

I can be really dumb sometimes.

My logic was that I could easily avoid the calories in the drink, but I still wanted my junk food. It was non-negotiable.

Then I’d get on the scale at the end of the week, and wonder why I hadn’t lost weight.

Things have changed. These days, when I get a craving for junk, I go a cheeseburger or a whopper jr. That’s it. And it’s enough.

I make sure I always have a water bottle on me, so I don’t need a drink. And when I don’t need a drink it seems a bit pointless to have a meal deal (add-on fries and soft drink) when I don’t need or want half of it.

A small burger is enough. By itself. I get my junk food itch scratched and I’m happy. *And* I’m a lot thinner and still losing weight!

What I realised is no matter how much junk food I ate, it was never enough.

Junk food is not about portions with me. It’s about getting a fix.

I knew – when I began to be honest with myself – that no matter how much I ordered, I’d always want more. I’m perfectly capable of eating two hunger busters, probably. Maybe three. That hole inside me never seemed to get full, no matter how much junk I shoved down my neck.

I realised – and admitted – that I’m an addict. Just like an alcoholic can’t control their booze intake, I can’t control my food addiction.

However, if I only have a burger, by itself, I seem to not go so nutso on the junk food.

I can’t control having large amounts, but I seem to be able to manage small amounts.

Plus, to be honest, I really believe the addictive part of junk food isn’t the burgers. It’s the fries and drinks.

That’s the case with me, anyway.

So these days, if I go with friends to a junk food place, I just order a small burger. Nothing else. I enjoy the experience, and my eating stays in check. I get my fix – because I’m still an addict – but I’m happy.

A whopper jr contains 340 calories. A McDonald’s cheeseburger contains 313 calories. That’s about right for a lunch for a woman who is trying to lose a few.

Compare that with the calories in a McDonald’s “hunger buster”: 1587. Or a Burger King whopper meal: 1620. Either is my whole day’s calories in a single meal. No wonder I wasn’t losing weight!

I know it’s not socially acceptable to believe we can eat the occasional burger and still lose weight.

I know it’s also true that some people are so addicted that they can’t even have just a burger yet avoid going nutso.

I find that this works for me. Maybe it will work for you too 🙂

Tracking the little things, ignoring the big things

I track my food on the MyFitnessPal app.

It helps to enter what I eat before I eat it, otherwise I tend to “forget” and not log everything.

Especially the “little things”.

The “little things” are biscuits, ice cream, cake at work morning tea, dressings…and all these “little things” add up. A lot.

Once I started tracking properly, I learned that, quite often, I was eating more calories in the “little things” than I was in my main meals.

This is why you hear OA people say “three meals a day… and nothing in between.”

It’s not usually the meals that cause the problem. It’s the rubbish in between.

For example, one day last week I had my usual smoothie for breakfast, then shrimp and veggies for lunch, and chicken and vegetables for dinner.

All good…and coming to about 1400 calories, which is my goal for a day.

BUT…I then had an ice cream sundae from the corner shop in the evening. Which I estimate at about 800 calories.

One “little treat” ruined a whole day of great eating.

So now I log food before I eat. Especially the “little things”.

That makes all the difference.

Meal prep + gym + OA…

Life is going well. I’m finding that meal prepping really works for me. I know what I’m eating ahead of time, and being organised makes it much easier to stick to my food plan.

This week, I meal prepped two chicken breasts, roast veggies, prawns and asparagus.

The prawns were pan fried with a teaspoon of butter for flavour.

The chicken was diced, then pan fried (oil spray) with Moroccan seasoning.

The asparagus was nuked for 3 minutes with some slices of fresh lemon and ground pepper.

The roast veggies (a mix of broccoli, red pepper, onion and carrots) was dusted with Moroccan seasoning (again) then baked in the oven on a tray for 20 minutes.

These dishes give me the following meals: prawns with asparagus for 3 X lunches, chicken with roast veggies for 3 X dinners.

That gets me from Sunday to Wednesday, when I’ll cook again.

Great meal prep recipes should be 1) scalable, 2) easy to store and reheat and 3) dishes you enjoy.

I’m someone who doesn’t mind eating the same thing multiple times, and these recipes make everything easy!

Combining with OA and regular gym sessions means everything is working for me!

Having a plan makes things easier

I have an eating plan these days that works for me. Knowing what I will and will not eat really helps in getting on top of the overeating.

My plan is usually something like this:

BREAKFAST: Two eggs (if I feel like it, often I don’t), and I’ll have a piece of fruit mid-morning instead

LUNCH: A sandwich and a piece of fruit.

DINNER: Meat and vegetables or salad. Tonight I’m having 2 pork riblets and some mixed vegetables.

As well as my food plan, I try to do a reading, and an hour exercise. I’m doing well with the readings – they’re happening virtually every day now – but the exercise is a work in progress.

Finally, I try to listen to a podcast or attend a meeting every day.

Every week I feel like I’m getting a little bit better at all this. Change is hard. But knowing what I should be doing and eating really helps control my behavior.

Having a plan makes me happier too, because my life is more organized. I have a path forward. I feel like I may even succeed! My weight is going down, too, about a pound a week, but what makes the bigger difference is learning that this is not about my weight. This is about my mind, my behavior, and my spiritual wellness.

I’m starting to believe that I will recover from this thing called overeating, and I believe my weight loss will follow as I gain control of my behavior.