You always know what to say to make me happy.
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Don’t forget the cheese!!!
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I believe that Anna could increase her caloric intake by somewhere between 200-500 calories per week until at least 3000 calories per day and essentially be at the same weight
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For a while at least, you may be right. But if she kept at it, should would eventually start putting on some real, healthy weight.
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That’d be ideal
I never forget the cheese. I am basically made of cheese at this point.
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I’ve been thinking back to this exchange,
And the discussions from today have become interwined with something I was maybe going to post in my own log. Maybe it’ll do more good here.
Personally, I’ve mentally committed to planning out my meals for five days of the week (Mon-Fri) that’ll more than just sustain me. Slight surplus. The weekend is for practicing a couple of things, but essentially it boils down to beginning to eat intuitively and not pay any mind to counting calories in any regard and just eat to nourish myself and enjoy the food that I eat. I really like sourdough, so I’ve started one that’ll presumably be ready to set come Saturday.
A supplementary promise I’ve made myself is whenever someone invites me to eat out with them, or at their place I have to say yes. To de-dramatise not being in control.
I still view this as disorderly eating — or, not being free of my eating disorder — but it feels like
- A step in the right direction
- Even if I were unable to take additional steps for a long time, it’s enough to break the self-harming cycle of perpetually undereating/over-exercising.
However, the thing I wanted to highlight is that it’s my opinion that planning one’s food intake isn’t inherently disorderly but the disorderely bit starts when bad feelings arise when one cannot adhere to their own plan. It’s fine to have a relationship with food that’s more about fuel than enjoyment, but I don’t see that dichotomy in you @anna_5588. So, conceivably a person could do what I’m intent on doing (plan Mon-Fri, play weekends by ear) and not have a disorder. The prescence or abscence of which is entirely predicated on the inner emotional state revolving that, and what the motivations are. Having a set meal-plan is really easy to habitualise, but then it shouldn’t cause stress to deviate from that plan.
But as @T3hPwnisher, planning food intake in this manner isn’t normal. But it can be benign. Despite this your (@anna_5588) relationship with food and exercise isn’t benign. The way the two relate to one another — semingly — in your life seem to be the opposite of a symbiotic relationship. Regrettably, I couldn’t find a good antonym for that.
I don’t know what else to write in this moment, I’m starting to succumb to the effects of painkillers and getting rather incapable of stringing along coherent arguments.
@Frank_C s writings on his experience after the conclusion of his diet eventually opened my eyes to my own vices with regards to being too clean and restrictive with food. You should go through his log. I don’t have a link to a specific post from which I believe you should start. Maybe, J, if it isn’t too much to ask you can provide a date-stamp from which she can begin? Otherwise I’ll circle back to this tomorrow and edit with a URL.
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Hit 2k today- digestive system not happy. I was honestly full at “1300” but ended up having a container of lactose free cottage cheese and dates and honey to make up the difference
Idk if this is sustainable
What exactly made up those 1300 calories?
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Discipline!
Gains are made at the table.
Seriously though, if your estimates or guesstimates were favoring the low side, like closer to 16 out of a 1600-1800 range, minus what ever because, ya know, then getting in an actual 18-2000 will be a challenge.
Thats like a 30-40% increase.
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Very valid point.
@anna_5588 I know that you can eat way more than 2k. You have a history of repeatedly succeeding to eat yonks beyond that during grill night. That is why I ask,
because I’m guessing that the reason you felt full at 1300 calories is because they were made up of voluminous food items. I know you have a penchant for eating a lot of vegetables. And, I have several times in the past tried to give you guidelines for reducing that. I believe I’ve suggested,
- 6-10 cups of vegetables (this is still a lot, this is a guideline used during a diet. It’s a trick to have people feel more satiated while losing weight)
- Your BW(lbs)/100, i.e. ~93lbs → 0.93lbs vegetables
and I’ve recently come to adopt the habit myself of considering fruits as coming out of the weight vegetable allowance as per option 2. to ensure that the majority of my calories are coming from things my digestive system can readily use to fuel me.
And to hammer this home, you need to do the opposite of what’d be a good trick for a person trying to lose weight. I.e., substituting high-calorie food stuffs with lower-calorie options. A person that sets out to lose weight could for instance,
- Replace granola with oatmeal (and as the diet runs longer, wheat germs to reduce carbs)
- French fries → Potatoes (removes the oil)
- Popcorn popped in a kettle → Popcorn popped in a silicone thingamajig that requires no oil
- Coffee with milk → plain coffee
- Full-fat cottage cheese → low-fat cottage cheese
and they’d presumably not feel as deprived as other options might leave them feeling. You need to do that in reverse.
Let’s say you are looking to eat some fish, that means going for salmon rather than tuna in your case.
Lastly,
I’m not convinced that this is an objective reaction to how you felt but rather this is your mind ghosts and demons trying to offer you something that appears to be reason but it isn’t really. I’ve had this happen to me too, the sensation that “no, I cannot sustain this calorie intake because X, Y, Z” but that goes away.
I’ve fallen back now in my own headway against my own problems in comparison to where I was earlier this year but I can say from my own experience that after a while of just exercising discipline to continue eating despite this sensation something magical happens. It stop feelings unsustainable. Hell, sometimes you’ll even feel hungry after meeting your calorie goal that still has you gaining.
Keep at it. Don’t give up.
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As I have a high caloric need for making gains (since i’m 3x your size) I have specifically sought out dense foods that I can eat a lot of. Try some of these and you likely won’t “feel” full.
My favorites (in no particular order)
- Almonds and Walnuts (calorie packed with mostly healthy fats)
- Avocado
- Whole fat cottage cheese
- Whole milk Greek yogurt
- Ribeye steaks (nice fatty cut of beef that’s tasty when prepared seared on cast iron)
- Oven Roasted Potatoes
- Bacon!
- Any yellow cheese (I prefer colby and cheddar)
- Beans (black, kidney, navy - green doesn’t count)
- Coleslaw
Pasta works well too even though I don’t eat much of it since I am diabetic.
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This is a very unnerving prospect
September of last year is when I started working on it. My challenge for the Committed Challenge wasn’t training; it was food. I stopped counting, weighing, and tracking food and quit weighing myself for the challenge. I weigh myself daily, but I still don’t track my food.
The short version of my struggles is the question of why. Why do I care if I have a six pack? Why does it bother me to have a little fit of fat on my body?
I couldn’t find good answers to those questions. In fact, they inhibit training progress. I still see guys who are 20-25% body fat with decent muscle mass and think “Dang, they’re jacked.” If I see that as a positive for them then why can’t I see it as a positive for me? Why do I hold myself to different standards?
I still struggle but I’m better. I’ve settled into a 5-7 pound window for my body weight. I usually eat some cheat meals on the weekends and spend the rest of the week getting the scale back down to the weeks’ starting weight.
This sounds awful. I ate 15 ounces of veggies yesterday and it was spread over two meals. I can’t imagine doubling that. My digestive system would mutiny.
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This stuff is the shit! Had a pint of it last night
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It shouldn’t be unnerving. Hunger is your body telling you it needs something.
When I was in college and training hard, it got to the point when feeling hungry I could tell if my body needed carbs, fat, or protein.
Macronutrient ratios are important and vary from person to person, have to do some discovery.
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I have 3-5 oz of mushrooms in my eggs at breakfast and 2lbs of veggies spread over my other 2 meals. I’ve genuinely always loved veggies (ie the weird kid who’d pick out the mushrooms and onions out of a meat and veggie stir fry)
I do cook them very well so digestion isn’t too much of an issue. Fruit is my biggest weakness- once I get a taste, portion control goes out the window
So what about days when you’re not hungry?
It’s kind of like thirst. If you’re thirsty, chances are you are already on your way to dehydration. Same with hunger, if your eating enough you won’t “feel” hunger because you are sustaining your body at the proper rate. It’s when we deprive our bodies that it starts to complain (it’s the reason weight loss diets are hard - but you have the opposite problem).
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Not for someone with a goal of being muscular and strong, which you allege is your goal.
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