Here it is.

[birdofparadox]

I've lost 22+ lbs since Halloween

Comments

Dieting vs a healthy diet

[fairgoldberry]

I never did caloric restriction, but I've had really good luck with caloric awareness. Unless I am careful I'll vacillate between 600 and 3600 calories, which puts me on a nasty metabolic roller-coaster. I spent four months religiously tracking my calories to make sure I ate *enough* every day, and stabilised at a roughly healthy intake (1800-2000 calories). Then, I would hit the end of the day and think, "I'm hungry. What did I eat? OK, I'm actually full-up on calories. Am I really hungry, or eating cause I'm bored?" If I was hungry, I wasn't allowed to beat myself up for eating, but if I was bored I tried to do something interesting instead (it also taught me to recognise hunger vs. mindless eating). Or I would think, "OK, I tally up my calories and...a thousand calories? No, no, that's not OK. Time for a snack!"

If you keep a non-judgmental idea of what you're eating, you can keep a *steady* intake, which is more important than keeping a *low* intake. Metabolically, a steady intake is better for staving off the nasties like obesity and diabetes, even if it's 'more' than you're supposed to eat.

Re: Dieting vs a healthy diet

[puzzleoflight]

I do this too! It wasn't until I actively kept track of my caloric intake that I realized I frequently went several days in a row not even hitting 900 calories, and would then randomly have days where I'd eat nearly 3000 out of the blue. Talk about an unhealthy way to eat. No wonder I was having issues with weight and fitness.

I started doing what you do--making sure I eat enough calories every day--and that's quelled the 3000 calorie binges every couple of days which, I suspect, were occurring because I was making myself incredibly hungry without even realizing it.