Combating comfort eating?

[thplinth]

3 hours ago, killiefaetheferry said:

Just exactly that. Close your eyes, relax, enjoy the sensation or having your eyes closed, focus on your breathing and let the whole feeling just chill/zone/space etc you out. I can do that for 20 minutes when I feel tired or a bit stressed and I feel brand new. Either that or crack one off, both are good.

Ahhh you mean meditation.  Could not agree more. An excellent tool for tackling depression, panic attacks and anxiety.  

A lot of people don't realize it but you are not actually your mind. And your mind can become dysfunctional, then it has to be controlled, to stop it rabbiting on or even 'turning on' you. Meditation is the key to this as it is essentially the art of being able to switch off your thoughts. And as you say focusing on your breathing is the most direct and easiest way for people to start practicing it. 10 minutes a day will see most folk seeing an improvement over time.

Some people will find it extremely difficult to switch off their thoughts at first but as you practice the gaps between thoughts (jumping into your mind) will lengthen. It is here that you realize really how little control you have over your 'own' mind. This control over your own mind has to be developed like a muscle.

So if you feel like your mind is becoming your enemy (running your self down, criticizing etc) then it probably is. They can be utter khunts. You need to take the reins back from it. Be able to switch the fhucker off if need be. But mostly what helps is the realization that you fundamentally are not it.

Edited July 15, 2017 by thplinth

[thplinth]

And just to finish that... it is those gaps between your thoughts that is you, not the thoughts. You cannot always stop the thoughts jumping into your mind but you do have the choice to whether you pay them any heed. Just let them pass through, don't attach yourself to them. They will come and they will go but you will remain. It can be very liberating to know that you are not your thoughts. You cant stop the thoughts but you can observe them and let them pass. And over time if you stop energizing the negative thoughts by taking them on board, they will subside. Meditation is very helpful in this regard because as you are able to silence your mind what remains is the real you. And many folk do not even know themselves.

[killiefaetheferry]

Aye that's pretty much it. I'm too busy being chilled to put that much effort into describing it though . I'm sure there will be a difference, but I can't help but think that 'meditation' has been rebranded as 'mindfulness' because the former conjurs images of shaven-headed monks dinging wee cymbals, singing hari-krishna, and drinking salt water to make themselves vomit. 

 

[Orraloon]

23 hours ago, thplinth said:

Was thinking maybe your eating habits and feeling down in the dumps might actually be the same problem. Have you tried taking supplements? Maybe you are suffering some sort of deficiency. Taking extra Magnesium is known to cure depression in some folk within 2 weeks. Google magnesium and depression. You'd be surprised. 

This is a really low cost no side effects option that is worth trying. I would also get hold of some ultra high dose vitamin B12 and C and a quality general multivitamin. Where you live you are probably deficient on B12 at least. Give it at least a month taking them regularly and see if you feel better. Fish oil capsules are also good. 

Try all of these before resorting to medication.

Out of interest, what is the link between where he lives and B12 deficiency?

 

[thplinth]

Oops I was thinking of D3. That is another one to add to the list. Again go for high dose.

[Orraloon]

39 minutes ago, thplinth said:

Oops I was thinking of D3. That is another one to add to the list. Again go for high dose.

He could move to Dundee. Sunniest city in Scotland. 

[Orraloon]

On 7/13/2017 at 7:00 AM, Cove_Sheep said:

 

 

I think it's almost entirely down to boredom and feeling low.

I think you need to start spending more time on the TAMB again. That'll help.

Dr thplinth and Dr Orraloon will sort you oot. One way or another. 

I agree with him about carbs especially when taken in the form of sugars. There is no need for added sugar in anything. The only reason it exists is to line the pockets of shareholders of multinational companies. Sugar is more toxic than alcohol IMHO.

I disagree with him about vitamin B12, though. He clearly doesn't know his B12 from his D. If you eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy products you are probably getting plenty of B12 from your normal diet. Some folk can't absorb B12 properly but taking extra supplements isn't going to help that. If you happen to be one of those people you would be as well flushing those supplements straight doon the lavie pan. Because that is where they are going to end up anyway. I don't think you should take them until you have consulted with your GP. If you are deficient in B12 you will probably have anaemia. He can do a simple blood test. That combined with discussing your symptoms will let you know if you have a B12 deficiency. If you do have a deficiency it is important to find out why you are deficient. Simply throwing more B12 doon your neck might not be the answer.  

From what you have told us so far I don't think there is any reason to suspect that you are deficient in B12, so don't waste your money. Speak to your GP about it first.

 

[thplinth]

By coincidence saw this earlier. I think you did the right thing getting off those pills Cove. You know yourself if they were bad news for you. 

[Cove_Sheep]

8 hours ago, thplinth said:

By coincidence saw this earlier. I think you did the right thing getting off those pills Cove. You know yourself if they were bad news for you. 

Basically, here is the history on meds:

First ones were a very low dosage of Citalopram. 25mg IIRC. They did nothing for me mentally. I've always been a light sleeper. Maybe 5/6 hours a night. The only thing these did for me was to see me get that 5/6 hours per night from about 7:30/8pm...

Then I was put on to 50mg of Sertraline. After an initial fight with lethargy, they worked fine for a few months. Then stopped working.

I was then put on to 100mg. I never got beyond the lethargy and feeling constantly hungry on them, so I stopped. Cold turkey.

GP took bloods prior to me making that decision to ensure it was the meds leaving me lethargic, they all came back fine, and strangely, despite the amount of comfort eating, my diabetic bloods were BETTER than ever.

Since coming off them, I've had a couple of GP reviews. There's been no "downer" in terms of my frame of mind and I've now got more energy. Averaged about 40 miles per week running since coming off them (struggled to hit 20 on them), so the lethargy is clearly gone.

Now just need to get back on top of my diet and that's what I'm really struggling with.

[thplinth]

3 hours ago, Cove_Sheep said:

Basically, here is the history on meds:

First ones were a very low dosage of Citalopram. 25mg IIRC. They did nothing for me mentally. I've always been a light sleeper. Maybe 5/6 hours a night. The only thing these did for me was to see me get that 5/6 hours per night from about 7:30/8pm...

Then I was put on to 50mg of Sertraline. After an initial fight with lethargy, they worked fine for a few months. Then stopped working.

I was then put on to 100mg. I never got beyond the lethargy and feeling constantly hungry on them, so I stopped. Cold turkey.

GP took bloods prior to me making that decision to ensure it was the meds leaving me lethargic, they all came back fine, and strangely, despite the amount of comfort eating, my diabetic bloods were BETTER than ever.

Since coming off them, I've had a couple of GP reviews. There's been no "downer" in terms of my frame of mind and I've now got more energy. Averaged about 40 miles per week running since coming off them (struggled to hit 20 on them), so the lethargy is clearly gone.

Now just need to get back on top of my diet and that's what I'm really struggling with.

Frightening. Did any of these doctors attempt to locate the source of the depression? Did they investigate your diet, habits, lifestyle before throwing pills at you in ever increasing quantities?

[McDange]

Something that worked for me to cut out a lot of the junk I was eating was using an App to order shopping. I use Asda's regularly and pick up from the store. I'm really bad for picking up random sweets, biscuits etc when I go into a supermarket so this helps to eliminate that and if I don't have it in the kitchen then I can't munch on it. 

Although don't order stuff when you're hungry or rough! 

[PapofGlencoe]

1 hour ago, McDange said:

Although don't order stuff when you're hungry or rough! 

aye it's important to have some easy to cook alternatives for this very occasion! or when you just can't be bothered cooking.

doubtless a shop bought steak pie, fish pie or carbonara aren't the healthiest but they're much better than a takeaway.

[Tartan Queen]

On ‎12‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 4:05 PM, Cove_Sheep said:

As some folk on here will already be aware, I've had a battle with mental health issues over the last year, which eventually saw me on anti-depressants.

I came off of these maybe a month ago now as they were leaving me totally lethargic and feeling really hungry all the time. This, coupled with feeling very low, saw me back into some old, bad habits, with regards to comfort eating.

The gist of it means that I went from about 87kg in mid-March to about 100kg now.

Since stopping the medication, my energy levels have came back, so I'm now not getting any worse weight wise, but I'm still not 100% mentally, meaning I'm still often succumbing to eating rubbish when feeling down/low/bored.

That then leaves me feeling bad about myself after I've finished eating whatever rubbish I've picked up to snack on, as I obviously know it's wrong.

My GP has referred me to CBT as they believe that will work better for me than medication, but it could be about 18 weeks until I can get an appointment for that.

In the meantime, anyone have any experience with this sort of issue and strategies/coping mechanisms to beat it?

I know what I'm doing wrong, I know what I NEED to do, I'm just not quite strong enough mentally to do it...

 

Thank you for sharing your story AND you are stronger than you think, as your post shows. I had similar issues with my weight a few years ago, yo yo diets that didn't work, tired all the time, felt down (not depressed), couldn't be bothered with anything or anyone, you know the script.  Through a friend of mine, I found food combining and this worked for me and I lost over 3 stone and to be honest it really didn't take much effort, although really sceptical at first as I have tried various diets, albeit not particularly healthy and the weight just wouldn't shift.  The first week I lost 4lbs, felt so much healthier, had more energy and after a few weeks found the confidence to join to a gym (would never have done that before) and after about a year got to my target weight and managed to maintain this for a couple of years. Felt so good on the inside that it showed on the outside as well. So much more confidence, able to look people in the eye and laugh again. Then had a really bad foot injury (Scotland trip at its best!!) which stopped me from doing the things that I really enjoyed and the weight started going on again and before I knew it 2 stone was added, felt terrible, lost confidence got myself back into bad habits but have now turned this around again and have lost 1 stone, starting to feel good about myself again, confidence is starting to return again, back at the gym, albeit not as much as I was once as fitness levels are crap and foot still not healed but at least starting to feel good again.  If you want some easy, one pot recipes - not so many dishes to clear up!! drop me a pm and I will try and help as much as possible as I do know how it feels about trying to lose weight and beating yourself up for eating crap.  Like I said above I wasn't depressed so don't know how that feels but I can give you tips on how to snack on fab food without the fat and calories that go with snacking and leave you feeling satisfied and energised. Hope you get back to your former self soon

[G-Man]

On 21/07/2017 at 11:29 AM, Tartan Queen said:

Thank you for sharing your story AND you are stronger than you think, as your post shows. I had similar issues with my weight a few years ago, yo yo diets that didn't work, tired all the time, felt down (not depressed), couldn't be bothered with anything or anyone, you know the script.  Through a friend of mine, I found food combining and this worked for me and I lost over 3 stone and to be honest it really didn't take much effort, although really sceptical at first as I have tried various diets, albeit not particularly healthy and the weight just wouldn't shift.  The first week I lost 4lbs, felt so much healthier, had more energy and after a few weeks found the confidence to join to a gym (would never have done that before) and after about a year got to my target weight and managed to maintain this for a couple of years. Felt so good on the inside that it showed on the outside as well. So much more confidence, able to look people in the eye and laugh again. Then had a really bad foot injury (Scotland trip at its best!!) which stopped me from doing the things that I really enjoyed and the weight started going on again and before I knew it 2 stone was added, felt terrible, lost confidence got myself back into bad habits but have now turned this around again and have lost 1 stone, starting to feel good about myself again, confidence is starting to return again, back at the gym, albeit not as much as I was once as fitness levels are crap and foot still not healed but at least starting to feel good again.  If you want some easy, one pot recipes - not so many dishes to clear up!! drop me a pm and I will try and help as much as possible as I do know how it feels about trying to lose weight and beating yourself up for eating crap.  Like I said above I wasn't depressed so don't know how that feels but I can give you tips on how to snack on fab food without the fat and calories that go with snacking and leave you feeling satisfied and energised. Hope you get back to your former self soon

Good on you TQ. , 

[G-Man]

14 minutes ago, G-Man said:

Good on you TQ. , 

(Trited to edit but wouldn't post so apologies if it suddenly does and this is posted again.)  Ah feck it, won't work. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by G-Man

[Tartan Queen]

On ‎27‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 0:15 AM, G-Man said:

(Trited to edit but wouldn't post so apologies if it suddenly does and this is posted again.)  Ah feck it, won't work. 

Ha ha. Thank you

[Scotty CTA]

On 7/12/2017 at 11:05 AM, Cove_Sheep said:

As some folk on here will already be aware, I've had a battle with mental health issues over the last year, which eventually saw me on anti-depressants.

I came off of these maybe a month ago now as they were leaving me totally lethargic and feeling really hungry all the time. This, coupled with feeling very low, saw me back into some old, bad habits, with regards to comfort eating.

The gist of it means that I went from about 87kg in mid-March to about 100kg now.

Since stopping the medication, my energy levels have came back, so I'm now not getting any worse weight wise, but I'm still not 100% mentally, meaning I'm still often succumbing to eating rubbish when feeling down/low/bored.

That then leaves me feeling bad about myself after I've finished eating whatever rubbish I've picked up to snack on, as I obviously know it's wrong.

My GP has referred me to CBT as they believe that will work better for me than medication, but it could be about 18 weeks until I can get an appointment for that.

In the meantime, anyone have any experience with this sort of issue and strategies/coping mechanisms to beat it?

I know what I'm doing wrong, I know what I NEED to do, I'm just not quite strong enough mentally to do it...

There's a lot of that going around.

Here's 2 verses from Romans 7 showing that it's pretty much universal... 

Romans 7:15 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."

And

Romans 7:19 "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

One of my absolute favourite song lyrics is from Rod Stewart's 'I Was Only Joking'... "I apologised, and then realised that I'm not different after all."

We're all weak in the flesh, but if I remember correctly, didn't you previously find the strength to get up of the sofa, take up running, and lose a lot of weight?

Haven't read the thread yet so apologies if this has already been covered...

1. Don't go shopping hungry. (Less chance of buying crap.)

2. If you don't buy crap it won't be easily accessible in the house.

3. PLAN to buy healthy snacks for in-between meals. (I eat raw broccoli all the time.)

4. Stay active. (Are you still refereeing?)

5. Don't eat after 7:00pm (and go for a walk after supper).

6. You can lose an average of a pound a day by just eating meat and vegetables. (Atkins diet?) I've done it twice... I lost 14 pounds in 14 days (213 lbs. down to 199 lbs. about 3-4 years ago) and then 20 pounds in 20 days about 4 weeks ago (217 lbs. down to 197 lbs.) No starch, no carbs, no sugar, no fruit, no dairy, no alcohol... just meat, vegetables, water and black coffee.

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling at your best right now, David, but fortunately having met you, I have no doubts that you'll turn this around. 

Best wishes, Scotty

[gkm_vancouver]

I've managed to lose a couple of stone recently and there were two main aspects to that:

1. Cutting down on chocolate/cakes

2. Cutting down on large evening meals

There's no doubt one chooclate cake begats another and eating large in the eveining without working it off ends up as excess gut. If you're stuck in the house then the other aspect you'll need is something to occupy your mind

[Cove_Sheep]

On 8/4/2017 at 7:55 PM, Scotty CTA said:

You can lose an average of a pound a day by just eating meat and vegetables. (Atkins diet?) I've done it twice... I lost 14 pounds in 14 days (213 lbs. down to 199 lbs. about 3-4 years ago) and then 20 pounds in 20 days about 4 weeks ago (217 lbs. down to 197 lbs.) No starch, no carbs, no sugar, no fruit, no dairy, no alcohol... just meat, vegetables, water and black coffee.

 

Tried to send you a PM regarding Atkins, as I've been looking into it, but getting some contradictory info on it.

From what I can gather from some folk, this example of a day, MIGHT be ok for it, but I've seen others suggest it's not:

Breakfast:
1/2 smoked sausage, 50g cucumber, 25g grated mozzarella, 50g lettuce

Same for lunch.

Dinner: Pork belly, 50g green beans, 50g sprouts, 25g grated mozzarella, 50g lettuce

Although it only comes to 1,067 calories (seems very low).

Macros it gives are:

Carbs: 11g

Fat: 90g

Protein: 53g

Definitely confused by it!

[ParisInAKilt]

I'd recommend staying away from diets and just trying to follow a whole food approach as much as possible, plenty of veggies, non processed carbs and lean protein. I decided to stop eating meat and dairy about a year ago and for myself it's mostly been a massive success in stopping binging so much on takeaways and fast food, but realise that's not for everyone but it's amazing how within a few weeks your pallet changes and you look forward to a plate of beans, broccoli and rice. 

[Cove_Sheep]

So, basically, half of the weight that went on has gone.

I thought my employment issues had been sorted out and started a new, permanent job, that I was looking forward to, about a month ago.

However, after a shambolic and short handover period, I ended up with a wee relapse mentally and, earlier this week, reluctantly agreed with the GP to try medication again.

I returned to work today, and, in not so many words:

• Effectively got a verbal warning about being off;
• Was questioned as to whether or not I'm trying to/want to get better;
• Put under pressure about the need for no future absences

And culminating in a remark or two which totally trivialise and make light of depression.

So, I walked out. That's me unemployed again, and I literally can't afford to be.

I genuinely feel cursed...

Edited October 13, 2017 by Cove_Sheep

[gkm_vancouver]

Sounds like a bully-boy culture there, whistle blow them if you can. It's not you, it's them.

 

[G-Man]

2 hours ago, Cove_Sheep said:

So, basically, half of the weight that went on has gone.

I thought my employment issues had been sorted out and started a new, permanent job, that I was looking forward to, about a month ago.

However, after a shambolic and short handover period, I ended up with a wee relapse mentally and, earlier this week, reluctantly agreed with the GP to try medication again.

I returned to work today, and, in not so many words:

• Effectively got a verbal warning about being off;
• Was questioned as to whether or not I'm trying to/want to get better;
• Put under pressure about the need for no future absences

And culminating in a remark or two which totally trivialise and make light of depression.

So, I walked out. That's me unemployed again, and I literally can't afford to be.

I genuinely feel cursed...

I work for myself so not sure of rules and laws but is that not constructive dismissal? I know it won’t help financially but you should pursue this especially if they know about your mental health issues and have trivialised it. Hope things improve in all aspects of your life soon. 

[killiefaetheferry]

How did you 'walk out' ? Did you 'quit', either verbally or in writing ? Were you told you were 'dismissed' ? 

My advice would be to walk back in and ask for a meeting with your Manager. Register a Grievance. They may start an Investigatory Process into your actions in 'walking out'. ONLY do this if you want to remain employed there obviously. And they might sack you. But they would have to hear your grievance.

[TDYER63]

How will this affect any unemployment benefits you could receive? I think you should do as killie has said , and/or make enquiries as to whether or not you can receive free legal representation for compensation ,  even just to help prove why you left. I for one would not want to go back there , but you cant live on thin air either. 

Mental health is getting a lot of attention just now, employers need to be very careful and quite rightly so. I hope you have recorded dates and times and what was said at the meetings. Good luck, and keep focused on the success with your weight if you can.