I started to see the scales moving in the wrong direction again. I got spooked in light of all the work I had undertaken to lose my extra 2.5 stone (about 15 kgs) after my dad died, and don’t want to lose the progress I made.

Before this autumn set in, I was fit: doing pull-ups on the bar in my house every time I walked past; riding (almost) every day; eating fairly well, without overindulging in much; knowing I looked better in my clothing; and generally feeling good – mentally and physically.

Then September hit, and I have had far too many comfort food nights. I haven’t done a pull-up or a press-up, and my only riding (other than a couple of off-road rides with molgrips) has been my daily commute of around 8 miles total.

And as I have said in other threads, food has always been my weakness.

Anyway, the last 3 days have seen me cut back again, and while that has been enough to reduce the terrible bloated feeling I get after overeating, I end up feeling sorry for myself, and worried that I will not have anything to ‘comfort’ myself with when I get home from work.

So, I know the benefits of good health, and feel great when I am enjoying them. But I also know the benefits of stuffing my face, and like the ‘comfort’ that comes with it. On the other hand, I am also acutely aware of what I am missing when I am more restrained, because I see the cake going ’round, and want some so badly. And when I do indulge, I feel like shit, and get all depressed because I can see my body expanding.

I guess I’m really just venting, but I also wonder if some of you have bad habits you use to comfort yourselves with, and have managed to find something else more healthy to replace them with.

To take my mind off my sugar addiction, I shitpost on cycling forums despite not even owning a bike.

I am currently eating sherbet lemons. So not going too well.

Well based on the title your problems are unrelated to eating…

Well based on the title your problems are unrelated to eating…

That’s probably partly true, thecaptain. But the depression is being treated. Don’t take the word ‘unhappy’ too strictly, though; it’s more ‘anxious’ or ‘unsettled’.

doing pull-ups on the bar in my house every time I walked past

First thing I’d do is get rid of the bar in your house, if I had my own bar I’d be pished all the time and the weight would shoot up. You need to get rid of temptation. Sorted

I’m with you SaxonRider.

I’ve had a lot of ups and downs to do with food and comfort eating over the last few months. Sometimes I finish eating crap that I was desperate to eat, and wonder why I even wanted it!

I’m trying to focus on keeping my mind occupied at the moment, bought a trials bike and have started doing a lot of DIY on the house, so I don’t get bored and eat.

I don’t know what the answer is to be honest, but just to let you know you’re not alone!

First thing I’d do is get rid of the bar in your house, if I had my own bar I’d be pished all the time and the weight would shoot up. You need to get rid of temptation. Sorted

😆

I got a bit despondent when I started gaining weight recently, having lost ~18Kg (if you believe our dodgy bathroom scales) at my lightest point this summer compared to when I decided to try and change things when I was ~90Kg in summer 2016.

I’m now back up to ~76Kg.

But I’ve had a lurgy for about a month; I’ve consequently cycled less; the cycling I’ve done has not typically been as intensive as before the lurgy; the SAD carb cravings have kicked in; willpower to resist eating the extra snacks has not been great.

So my weight gain is not “surprising” at all!

Not to mention the 72Kg weight was a one-off, I may have simply been dehydrated that day.

But there is light at the end of my tunnel, my lurgy may be going for real this week, I was able to a decent intensity hill reps session yesterday afternoon and I might pop out again shortly to do something similar. With the weather looking brighter tomorrow, I might even pop over to the cat4 hills for the first time in five weeks.

More riding will get me outdoors more when not at work, alleviating SAD symptoms a bit and certainly burning some calories. 🙂

Doesn’t everyone have this problem?

My best results in this regard come from being busy – if I’m hungry, at home with food in the fridge and not a lot to do then I’m on to a loser, regardless of if I know that I shouldn’t eat because it’s not getting me any closer to being awesum at teh bike riding, I’ll still end up stuffing my face.

Instead I do stuff to keep busy / distracted. Especially low level exercise, going for a walk or doing some gardening etc.

my only habit is coke and hookers, but they’re not “bad” per se are they?…

I would separate weight and size as if you are working out when not eating then your weight will remain fairly even as fat turns to muscle which weighs more (a slight generalization i know)

maybe look into mindfulness or meditation or somesuch for moments when you need to calm and comfort yourself and try and keep food away from these times in your life. as you like food and find comfort in it you can actively control the times you indulge and maybe only indulge when you’re in good spirits so there’s less of a negative association with it.
Or try to keep a certain amount of X in the house or limit portion sizes. so that if you wish to indulge as a treat you can only eat so much and you won’t have the associated guilt afterwards.

Life will always get in the way of best laid plans but the food is not a punishment and you should not see it as such. if you wish to have a week of no exercise and more comfort then just make a plan to double the output the following week. or maybe invite friends / family over to indulge in a comforting meal with you so that it is a treat to be savoured.

but I also wonder if some of you have bad habits you use to comfort yourselves with,

Yes, junk food.

and have managed to find something else more healthy to replace them with.

Yes, healthy food.

I cook alot more now and look up new recipes to try out several times a week. I spend longer preparing meals therefore I seem to eat less as I don’t have anything to gorge on except raw ingredients.

You need a challenging goal James; you know you can mooch around on the mtb or road bike no matter how fat and unfit you get … so set yourself a goal that requires more effort.

Maindy crits will be starting again in about February or March … target entering one of those. 20 minute racing around a little track with novice cat4’s … how difficult can it be?

I’ve been recording calorie intake for the last 7 weeks, and have dropped from 78 to 71kg. Busy at work (desk job) so have only done a couple of rides and a multiday ride in the 7 weeks…but the app has given me 1600 calories based on my ideal weight, and by having a big bowl of interesting fruit at work and home, and googling a healthy meal each morning so I can plan a decent/interesting dinner, I’ve managed to stick to it. (except for a day out on a yacht, where I put away about 4500 calories worth of snacks…surprisingly easy when there are cookies, crisps and sweets to hand…)

The App (myfitnesspal) is key though, find myself walking round the shop at lunchtime, putting back the prepacked sandwiches and walking out with bread, a pile of salad/tomatoes and a few slices of meat to do the next few lunches…all because I know I have about 300 for lunch to keep to my target. The nice thing is it links to strava so an hour on the bike gives me another 400 calories 🙂

Also, I build my lunch as I eat it, so it takes longer to scoff it 🙂

Maindy crits will be starting again in about February or March … target entering one of those. 20 minute racing around a little track with novice cat4’s … how difficult can it be?

Good idea, Ant. If you’re off facebook and strava now, do you still have the same mobile number?

Maindy crits will be starting again in about February or March

I’ll have some of that!

SaxonRider, I never did send you that diet info. Let me do it tomorrow morning. What you eat is a fair part of the battle to controlling how much. It’s a hell of a lot harder to resist the snacky cravings when you are actually starving hungry.

Another +1 for myfitnesspal. Great for calorie tracking and working out macronutrients (not as hard as it sounds)

I reckon you can trick yourself into thinking you’re eating loads by eating lots of tiny little things. I have the opposite problem really as I’m currently losing weight and am trying to get motivated to eat more. But going through a bit of faff to put myself a very varied plate of food together works to keep me a bit interested in what’s going on. So I’ll maybe have:

– 3 crackers
– dollop of hummus
– 3 slices manchego cheese
– smear of quince jelly
– slice of ham
– red pepper
– 3 cherry tomatoes
– handful of spinach leaves with some balsamic over ’em
– apple
– square of dark chocolate

There’s quite a lot going on there, and I enjoy all of the bits on the plate. It takes a little while to put together (but not ages) so I enjoy the rustling it up without getting bored of waiting or put off by the idea of all the faff it’ll take to get something to eat. There’s a reasonable variety of nutrients, although my trainer would like it to come in at about 3x the calories. I wonder if you can maybe get the comfort value from lots of little bits that don’t add up to loads, rather than (say) a big plate of something rather more solid.

BigDummy, sounds a low calorie lunch…a nice BLT sandwich with some sugary orange juice and a posh bag of salt and balsamic vinegar crisps, along with the pastry you impulse bought on the way to the tills will see that 300 calorie lunch bump up to a 1000 calorie feast!

First step is to remove a lot of the stuff you know shouldn’t be eating. If you don’t buy it then even when the temptation hits you can’t have it.

Take a break. It is impossible to keep going at something like this if it is a challenge. Rather than try, fail and feel bad take a bit of a break from trying and set a date when you will get back on the wagon.

Find a distraction. Last winter I lost a few kg when I bought a handful of old bikes on ebay. I spent my evenings in the garage with the radio and a cup of tea rather than TV and eating.

Find a substitute – Coffee worked for me. Rather than eating I’d go make a cup of coffee. But not Nescafe, something that took a little more time and thought. Again bit of a distraction.

I feel I’ve failed a bit in my aim for hill climb weight loss. Nationals are on Sunday. I’m just under 72kg. I’ve managed a few Pbs and am off in the last 30 so doing ok. But I wanted to be sub 70. Life conspired against me and something had to give that wasn’t my sanity.

If my number ends in 2757 … then my number still the same James; I still got FB messenger as far as I know … just not the full FB thought of the minute/hour/day nonsense thingy.

My offer of Saturday ride always open.

I’m TSY and I eat half a packet of chocolate hob-knobs a day.

To balance this out I reduce carbs elsewhere and cycle a **** load.

half a packet of chocolate hob-knobs a day

Impressive self control right there!

Who knew you could buy half packs of chocolate hob-knobs 😉

I am similar to you in that I found it very difficult to say no to anything being offered, whether that was sugary snacks or second helpings.

I’ve been following the Keto diet for a year now, lost a load of weight which was the reason for starting the diet but the reason I’ve stuck with it is how easy I find it to ignore all the foods I used to crave. Because you just have a straight ‘no’ response to any carby/sugary food offered, you don’t even think about whether you want the food or not. I find this much easier than before when the question ‘would you like one of these (insert sugary food here)’ would start a mental dialogue of ‘yes i do, but I shouldn’t, but it looks tasty, oh go on then it’s only this one!’

The other great side affect is that I find I naturally don’t over eat as much, and if I do I don’t get that horrible bloated feeling. My energy levels are also up and I find I can ride for 3-4 hours without taking on anything other than water where I used to be a gel/snack an hour kind of rider.

Loads more information than I can give you available at reddit.com/r/keto. Read the FAQ and maybe give it a go. Happy to talk via email if you want any more info.

I’m not a doctor, start a new diet at your own risk etc, all I can say is I am yet to find any negative side effects.

I think I found my solution. At about 1:00 minute in.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUw6d37x9hQ[/video]

😀