Diet Tribe

August 11, 2011

How Do I Stick to a Diet when Family Isn't Helping!?

Filed under: diet help — Tags: , , , , , , , , — judy @ 12:03 pm

What’s this week’s question? Let’s dive straight in…

Question: I’ve been trying to go on a diet thats workable for the past 2 months…
They’ve all failed me because I ALWAYS binge on the third day!

Anyways, now I’m on a healthy diet w/lean meats, a lot of veggies and fruits etc.
I try to stay around 1,200 calories a day so I tend to plan my meals out ahead of time.

BUT the problem is always around dinner. My mom always makes dinner for my siblings and I (3 brothers). I love her to death but she always makes packaged fried foods, burgers, french fries, etc…
My brothers love it and so do I but I can’t eat it w/a diet.

When I tell her no thanks, she gets sort of offended and at the table my brothers start to pick on me and my eating saying I’m "anorexic."

PLEASE help, I don’t know how to stay on a diet and please my mom at the same time!! My family has been through a lot of stress especially my mom and it means so much to her if I eat w/her meaning the same foods….

Please answer! Thanks!!!

Answer: First of all, I think you should tell your brothers that anorexia is a very serious illness and shouldn’t be joked about. :|

I think you should calmly approach your mother and tell her how important it is for you to lose weight. Tell her that you understand the stress she’s had to endure, but if you’re unhappy with your body that puts a lot of stress on YOU, too, which isn’t fair to you. So she doesn’t get offended, tell her that you find her food super-yummy, but it isn’t good for you. Flatter her. If she knows your real motives behind not eating her food (that it will wreck your diet, not that it doesn’t taste good) she should understand. Maybe compromise and eat dinner with her and your brothers 1-2 times a week, and ask to prepare your own meals the other days. If all else fails and she absolutely INSISTS you eat the food she prepares, have ice water with it and sip between bites, chew well, and eat reduced portions. And exercise! That’s important. :)

If you make it clear how important losing weight is to your mother, she should be willing to help you. Your health and happiness are important, too, and she knows it.

Good luck sweetheart, I hope it all goes well for you! :)

May 1, 2011

Help Me Sort out My Diet? Eating Disorder/s?

Filed under: diet help — Tags: , , , , , , , , — judy @ 12:01 pm

What’s this week’s question? Let’s dive straight in…

Question: Three years ago I believe was anorexic. I would exercise excessively and always believed I needed to lose ‘that little bit more’ of weight. I used to eat no breakfast, a mandarin (sometimes) for lunch, and about 1/4 a plate of dinner. If I was forced to eat, I would throw up. I was around 4kg (8.8lbs) lighter than I am now and my current BMI is 18. However, I have a naturally small frame and nobody dismissed it as suspicious. I pulled out of it on my own.

I then believe I was "orthorexic" and slightly hypochondriac. I would cut whole food groups out of my diet because I believed it would either cure some imagined ailment of mine or would make me healthier. I felt disgusting if I slipped up. Junk food was out of the question, all that mattered was being healthy. I would be extremely distressed if I went to people’s houses because I didn’t have control over what I ate. I spent a week living on vegetables and natural yogurt, because everything else contained something too ‘unhealthy’ for me. Nevertheless, I gained about 3 kg (6.6lbs) on top of my ‘anorexic’ weight, but it made a big difference.

Recently I have broken this cycle of control. I have been absolutely fed up with being obsessed over food and I wanted to rebel. I figured I was still considered skinny for my stature, and so I didn’t have to worry. I even wanted to gain weight, even a tad too much just to end the craziness. I started to binge, but I am naturally skinny, and the whole idea of gaining weight was almost futile. I only put on 1kg (2.2lbs) in the whole process, even when eating large amounts of chocolates and a half bag of chips a day and not worrying about the quality or quantity of everything else. All it really did was give me serious PMS.

As I said, overall I’m only 4kg (8.8lbs) greater than my anorexic weight three years ago, and all of my friends weigh about 10kg (22lbs) more than me, and my BMI is underweight.
I’m so confused. I don’t know how much to eat without bingeing, I don’t know how little to eat without starving, I don’t know how healthy to eat without obsessing, and I don’t know whether I should or can gain or lose weight. Advice?

Answer: To understand what BMI you should be at, consider your growth curve until the point that your eating disordered behaviors started. Try to consider your frame size, what your family’s genetics indicate, and what is considered healthy for most people of your height (also, remember that at a healthy weight for you, you should be getting your period). Once you have a fairly good idea of what weight is healthy for you, you can try to eat enough to gain to that weight. You may have to eat quite a lot of calories to reach such a weight, but it is totally possible to do so without bingeing.

As for eating healthy without obsessing: try to think of it in terms of moderation. Healthy eating means that you can have dessert once in a while, go out to eat occasionally, have anything in moderation. Healthy eating means not cutting out any foods or labeling anything as "good" or "bad". It means allowing yoruself foods you want and trying to feed your body well and give it the fuel it needs to be healthy.

I also struggle with an eating disorder, but I’m now recovering, and if you ever want to talk, feel free to email me at laurelle117@yahoo.com

April 5, 2011

I Honestly Need Help? How Do I Have Balence in My Diet and Help Control My Cheat Days?

Filed under: diet help — Tags: , , , , — judy @ 12:02 pm

This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:

Question: i’m 17 5′2 and around 100 pounds. I recently lost 25 pounds this last year so about a year ago i started. So i havent ALWAYS been this tiny.Honestly i’m going crazy. I use to be hella obsessed with working out and eating right. I have made it somwhat a life style and stick to healthier options now. I’m an athlete and also work out alot.. but not on weekends because i’m busy alot and sunday is a major rest day. I try to incorperate a cheat meal into my clean eating because i was getting SO deprived i kept loosing weight without even trying. Made me loose tons of muscle and i was dizzy and light headed for awhile with no energy. i dont want to be deprived.. but it always turns into a binge or me eating ALOT more then i plan. Like today =[ then i feel HORRIBLE. I don’t know what to do and i want to stop.
Answer: I understand! I’m 5,5 and only 100 lbs! No matter how much I try, I can’t gain weight :( try cliff bars and stuff since those are packed with nutrition to gain muscle, not fat :) they work alot during running season :)

August 27, 2010

Ok, So I Binge. . . Diet. . . Binge . . Diet. . . Binge. . . Please Help!!!?

Filed under: diet help — Tags: , , , , , — judy @ 12:10 pm

I just love answering these diet help questions. Here’s another:

Question: i’m not getting anywhere. wat can i do to stop this pattern?? i know wat to do to loose weight i just don’t know how to not binge after a couple of days of dieting. any suggestions? advice? personal experience? please share but please no stupid links unless u have tried them and know that u don’t have to pay for the program. thanx
Answer: If you start a routine eating small meals throughout the day and- before you are starving, you can break the desire to binge.

When you restrict food, your body becomes starved and your mind cannot stand the deficit so you over eat.

The way to not over eat is to not under eat.
If you eat before you are famished, you have a better chance at exercising self control.

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