Portion control.

I know all about emotional eating as this is probably what gave me diabetes in the first place. Being diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2013 and going through all that poisoning during treatment, with the associated loss of taste, I ate all my favourite comfort foods with little regard for proper nutrition. Chips smothered in salt, chocolate (which I don't normally eat much of), toast and more toast, and so on, not to mention Lucozade in the hope it would restore flagging energy levels. I despaired of myself, but carried on anyway, resulting in a big weight gain and raised blood pressure, and therefore more than likely my diabetes.

The problem isn't always hunger but a craving for food. Personally I find hunger easy enough to ignore unless it's very extreme. Cravings are worse, they can be all.consuming to the point of not being able to think of anything else. Also, if you are switching to smaller portions than you usually eat it is only natural to feel hunger pangs for the first week or so until your stomach adjusts to smaller amounts.

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Dillinger said:

I don't think it is about greed @mo1905 - if it were why would there be so many unhappy fat people? Who after all wants to be fat?

Here is quite a good discussion about Leptin (the hormone that tells us we are full) and in particular how fructose inhibits that hormone.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/leptin/#axzz2wECQpapQ

We'd be quite surprised, I hope, if people started claiming height was related to a personality trait or sin as we do with obesity (being the assumed product of the sins of greed and sloth). Short people are like that because they are envious, or the like. So, why are we so willing to accept that fat people are there because of some moral failing?

As I said who wants to be fat? There is such pressure on us all to skinny that if it were merely a case of making a conscious decision not to be wicked we would not see obesity anywhere.

Regards

Dillinger

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I read through some of the stuff on marksdailyapple and particularly leptin seems to be an interesting hormone. Could also explain why LCFH works so well for weight loss.

To me, keeping the amount of food down to less than you want seems stupid indeed, when there are better ways to handle both weight and blood sugar.

I find that if I eat too little I will eat more later in the day, works the other way around too, so if I eat enough I don't get hungry soon. But I don't have any weight problems so assume my leptin level is normal and thus have normal hunger/full function.

I like being hungry when I sit down to eat and the joy of eating when hungry and feel satiation set in is lovely. Hubby and I smile happily towards each other and all is well.

I was a very greedy person some years ago, in fact I went out and bought an even bigger plate so that I could get more food onto it !! I am now paying the price for this, with type 2 and reflux problems. I now eat little and often, this helps to control both of my problems.

Dillinger said:

I don't think it is about greed @mo1905 - if it were why would there be so many unhappy fat people? Who after all wants to be fat?

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The reason so are so many "unhappy fat people", as you call them, is that greed is so often followed by guilt. It becomes a vicious circle, people eat because they are depressed/down/bored or just plain unhappy and then feel guilty because they have eaten too much, their guilt then makes them depressed again so they eat because that makes them feel better but then afterwards they feel guilty..........etc

Sid Bonkers said:

The reason so are so many "unhappy fat people", as you call them, is that greed is so often followed by guilt. It becomes a vicious circle, people eat because they are depressed/down/bored or just plain unhappy and are then feel guilty because they have eaten too much, theyre guilt then makes them depressed again so they eat because that makes them feel better but then afterwards they feel guilty..........etc

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Dont forget the stupid dietary advice that has been given for the past decades, like eat a lot of carbs and eat very little fat, there is the major culprit for the obesity epidemic. Basic nutritional fact is that carbs triggers insulin and insulin in excess make you fat.

my general rule of thumb is a small side plate for all meals and if im having frozen fruit/ youghut etc i use small sherry glass sized works for me and i dont feel to hungry lost 3 stone since nov last yr ...

cath99 said:

my general rule of thumb is a small side plate for all meals and if im having frozen fruit/ youghut etc i use small sherry glass sized works for me and i dont feel to hungry lost 3 stone since nov last yr ...

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You sound very much like my mother-in-law Cath, she eats from a side plate and can make a chicken breast last for 2-3 meals.

noblehead said:

You sound very much like my mother-in-law Cath, she eats from a side plate and can make a chicken breast last for 2-3 meals.

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1. hahaah im not tight honest .. just re educated myself on food sizes . x

It's enhanced by the sugars and trans fats, even the sweeteners in diet drinks are now thought to make you crave more sweet food... So it's no wonder that people who don't recognise what a "portion" looks like and eat just a portion , all the trans fats and carbs do is create more yearning..


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I eat my main meals on side plates. Only been up to a size 12 once in 30 years because my hubby decided to serve my meal on big plates (to suit him), and at that time I could barely walk. Apart from that side plates (not small plates) have kept me size 10.

Blimey they are now saying on news tonight to eat unsaturated fats....


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I follow he LCHF way of life. Since doing this, I have lost weight, my sugar cravings have gone and I have lost weight. Hurrah! Anything sweet has been limited to occasionally. 2 slivers of cake, 4 squares of chocolate, 1 chocolate truffle, 2 glasses of wine and 1 chocolate pot since diagnosis. Ate chocolate pot last night out of curiosity. Fancied it earlier in day but felt full after evening meal. Ate it anyway. Too rich and now got heartburn. Feel quite pleased in a strange kind of way as I won't want to do that again. 2nd time I had the cake it did nothing for me. Daughters birthday on Wednesday and know that I won't fancy cake. When first started diet, I struggled to walk down the sweets, cake, cereal, bread and crisp isle. Now feel no emotional cravings whatsoever. Feels good. When I tried the low fat diet I had cravings all the time. I appreciate that my way of doing things doesn't suit all but each to their own. Now if only I could sleep! Lol!

Dillinger said:

That sounds nice; but it is obviously not true - one can look to one's own experience of eating and hunger and conclude that plate size is pretty irrelevant. There might be subtle influences on the satiated but if you are hungry then whether your plate is the size of the table or of a coffee cup won't really matter. What matters is your leptin response telling your brain that you have eaten enough.

Hunger is, I would suggest, a key hormonal response that can barely be overridden by conscious will; if it weren't your line would have died out long ago in competition with those who really acted on being hungry...

Dillinger

p.s. what is a sad statical world?

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So, you are just going to ignore all the evidence and continue to assert that you are right? Fair enough, I won't bother to reply to you again.

Bluetit1802 said:

I know all about emotional eating as this is probably what gave me diabetes in the first place. Being diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2013 and going through all that poisoning during treatment, with the associated loss of taste, I ate all my favourite comfort foods with little regard for proper nutrition. Chips smothered in salt, chocolate (which I don't normally eat much of), toast and more toast, and so on, not to mention Lucozade in the hope it would restore flagging energy levels. I despaired of myself, but carried on anyway, resulting in a big weight gain and raised blood pressure, and therefore more than likely my diabetes.

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It is very sad to hear about your cancer and other illnesses, Please be positive about life and consult your doctor for a proper diet that would help you fight cancer, bp and diabetes as well.

AlexMBrennan said:

So, you are just going to ignore all the evidence and continue to assert that you are right? Fair enough, I won't bother to reply to you again.

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I am very fat. I have tried for many years to lose weight. It doesn't happen. I have used food diaries, many diets etc. Nothing has helped me lose more than 7 lbs. Then usually after a month or so, I regain those 7 pounds, even though I am still following whatever diet I am doing. I have been to doctors. Their response is that I am not being honest in my food diaries. I am. I have been to restaurants and been astonished as to how much slim people eat. I can only manage a main course and usually don't finish that. I weighed my food and ate 800 calories a day for a year and walked at least 2 miles every day(usually more). I didn't lose weight. I got ill with many colds/flu viruses. I gave up trying to lose weight and decided to be healthy instead.

Something has obviously gone wrong with my body. But it isn't through eating large portions. I am now taking supplements and exercising to try to help my thyroid. I am convinced that a whiplash injury 25 years ago has damaged it. My GP says it hasn't because the thyroid tests are all fine. I don't know what else to do. I have been diabetic for 3 years. My latest HbA1c reading was 41...just in the normal range. I manage my diabetes through diet only.

I have decided that I will probably need to give the forum a miss for a while because I get so upset by people generalising about weight. I also get upset that I see so many losing weight on a low carb diet, whilst I do not. (though I am pleased for them) Dillinger is one of only a few posters who has helped me and given me hope.

I really don't see how eating 800 calories a day off of a small plate will make me lose weight when eating the same calories off of an average size plate won't. Perhaps many fat people are greedy gluttons. Perhaps though, there are more like me who aren't.

AlexMBrennan said:

So, you are just going to ignore all the evidence and continue to assert that you are right? Fair enough, I won't bother to reply to you again.

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If 'evidence' directly contradicts what you can ascertain from your own experience then that evidence needs to be of an extraordinary high qualitative nature for one to accept it. You claim to be rigidly attached to logic and process so you must by definition agree with that surely?

To say then that observations on the 'Delboeuf illusion' means that people overeat when they have large plates because they underestimate the amount of food in front of them seems to be a long way from 'extraordinary evidence' especially when we know ourselves how hunger operates. It is also directly linking obesity to gluttony and that is the point I'm disputing; overeating obviously happens but why does it happen? You suggest gluttony compounded by the 'Delboeuf illusion', I say leptin imbalances.

Regards

Dillinger

zand said:

Something has obviously gone wrong with my body. But it isn't through eating large portions. I am now taking supplements and exercising to try to help my thyroid.

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Hi @zand, I'd ask your GP to go on Metformin; I think it's a pretty benign drug and if you have issues with it there are slow release versions. If you do take it one of the things it will do is help with weight loss as it increases your sensitivity to insulin in a similar way to exercise. So worth a go.

I like the idea of insulin and leptin as causes of obesity but was really convinced when my second child was born; I stopped exercising, slept a lot less, ate the same things as I had before but had recently started Metformin and guess what? I lost 10kgs over 6 months...

Stick to the low carb diet, try to get on Metformin and try to exercise as much as you can; not to burn off calories but to sensitise yourself to insulin.

Don't give up! Being overweight is not your fault; you are not a sinner! But there are ways to try and deal with your metabolism.

Best

Dillinger