How I lose weight with volume eating tendencies....

[havfaith]

Hi, Donna. I think you're thinking of Prader-Willi Syndrome. Children affected with this chromosomal disorder are also nearly always developmentally delayed, never feel full and cannot control the urge to eat. They also have low muscle tone and often certain facial features in common and other obsessive/compulsive behaviors. It affects 1 in 12,000-15,000 people.

I know I can pack it away and sometimes feel as though I can't stop myself. But I'm aware when I'm eating things I shouldn't that I am eating them and should stop. I just don't always do as I know I should. I'm working on that.

I definitely think having a low-calorie vegan alternative easily accessible is a good idea for those times when you just want to eat something. I've been making up big salads every few days to work through the following days. My food processor is getting alot more work these days.

[Lesliec1]

Me too. I even learned this long before I found this WOE.

Volume = veggies! So simple. I actually learned this at Weight Watchers a million years ago. They said non-starchy veggies are zero points. I said, "Oh really? We'll see about that." It was true. In fact, it seemed the more veggies I ate, the faster I lost and I didn't ever hit a plateau which was a first for me.

If you like volume, slam those veggies! You can still enjoy your starches at every meal. Also find Chef AJ's bio. She learned this too and have you seen her lately?

[roundcoconut]

Yeah, I want to comment too, on the above:

I am probably similar to the original poster in my disposition -- I HAVE had a tendency to volume eat, and would say that there are lots of different ways to work with disposition.

The original poster's way is one VERY good one -- allowing oneself to volume eat on low-calorie-density food once a day. I would feel comfortable encouraging anyone who has volume eating tendencies to consider that one particularly good strategy. It has boundaries -- you only do it once a day, and you only do it on stuff that's not going to get you into any trouble at all -- no food coma, no shame feelings (because it's planned) -- just a strategy and permission to follow it.

It is also very, very much possible to train yourself into eating a different volume of food each day, if that is something a person wishes to do. The volume of food that you've eaten on your worst days, is not set in stone, and you escalated INTO those patterns. You weren't eating four pounds of food a day when you were 12 -- you developed that pattern incrementally -- you volume ate more days per week over time, and volume ate more times per day over time. If you wish to, you can see if you would rather adjust your volume eating itself, instead of leaving it in place. Either strategy is fine.

Every person is a little bit different, but I don't think calorie-dense foods must be put in the "never again as long as I live" category unless that is something you would find easier. You can eat an avocado smashed up into salad dressing, and integrated into the dish. You don't have to say, "Avocados are off-limits to me"! You might say, "My avocado salad dressing is a once a week thing" or you may say, "I will never eat avocado with a spoon because that's not going anywhere good." But please put yourself in the drivers' seat, as far as figuring out how this might look for you. You are not me, and you are not the original poster, and you are not Chef AJ. (Unless you are.)

I personally DO have some moderate sense of portions for starches. I maybe eat two humongous potatoes at a sitting, or three medium potatoes, or maybe five smallish potatoes. That's about right for me. No measuring cup, no food scale for me. But you don't just wanna be out there, wondering how much is enough and how much is too much. You wanna develop a sense of what is reasonable for your body, for your satiety, for your hunger. Be generous with yourself, but not don't let yourself play in traffic, so to speak.

Eating frequently throughout the day may be a strategy you like, or it may be a crappy strategy for you. See what works. For some people (meaning me), eating often, was a step along the way, but not where I wound up in the long term. I just don't think there is one right answer -- people are at diff stages, with diff circumstances.

The original post makes things sound complicated, and I'm sure there are those here who loathe the idea. Find some patterns that can become your lifetime habits. Eating big salads once a day, is a beautiful lifetime pattern -- go into the dressing room and try it on, so to speak, and see if it suits you. Maybe it does!

My final (slightly ranty) comment:
It seems like a recent thread contained the idea that borderline-bulimia was OK, as long as you don't wind up overweight. And I went, "HUHHHH????" (The original comment was made something like, "I've never seen anyone who can overeat on whole natural foods to the point of being overweight.") To me, that felt like saying that a functional alcoholic should just leave well enough alone.

Those of us who have dysfunctional food patterns in our past generally want to find emotionally healthy food patterns, not just mitigate the weight aspects of the dysfunctional emotional patterns with food. There! Had to get it outta my system.

[Jerry Angelo]

It didn't quite hit me when WW told me about veggies / zero points but I must say between Dr. M, Jeff and Chef AJ, the whole caloric density thing really sunk in... Same idea, different presentation, whatever it takes I guess...

I love making a cookie sheet worth of roasted broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and whatever else happens to be around, it makes a big difference in my appetite going forward having a hundred calories or two of those non starchy veggies taking up serious real estate in my belly.

[roundcoconut]

I guess one of my questions is, why, is it that when I'm troubled about something, do I eat more? I'm not being resistant to this notion. I will eat only wnf. I do see that I am a stuffer when I am troubled about something and don't know when to quit, sometimes. Crossing fingers here. If this works. I'll believe in miracles.

You have to really look with your own eyes and decide, to the best of your ability, what it is you're seeing. Believe what you're see, not what others tell you you're seeing.

There are many ways of modeling human behavior, and the benefit of any model lies in its explanatory power, and its predictive power. Think about it! That's why we form theories and draw analogies in the first place.

So, if the model being proposed, doesn't offer any explanatory power for your own eating behaviors, nor any predictive powers for what patterns will bring you to a healthy, satisfactory place with food, then dump that model -- it is not for you.

No sense in forcing a model that offers little for your particular situation. Also no sense in ditching a model that is perfect for YOUR particular situation, even if it offers little for MY particular situation.

Models are just concepts mapped onto a situation. And concepts are not god's truth -- they are just tools. No harm in rejecting a tool that is wrong for the job, or picking up one that is better suited to the job. No one's feelings get hurt -- just trying to get the job done! Y'know what I mean?

[miss_sweetpotato]

I have been watching a lot of Dr. Doug Lisle's videos recently. I am a huge volume eater and am sick of constantly worrying about food. Right now I am doing the WNF approach right now and am cutting out salt and sugar. Too much salt does aggravate my anxiety. I am not just doing it for weight loss, but for mental health. I know I need to eat more vegetables to fill me up....but they seem so expensive. I did eat about a 2000 calorie breakfast ....plain oats, strawberries and diluted soy milk. And honestly I didn't feel stuffed or really that full. I had to go for a bike ride just to stop myself from eating. I hope sticking to this long term I will naturally eat less over time. This thread has been very informative and hope to incorporate some of these things into my meals.

(I have been following a low fat vegan diet for a long time. I haven't posted here for a long time either, and I had to create a new account because I can't access my old one.)

[Jerry Angelo]

From my own experience over the last 20 or so months I have found this-

Although I did lose a lot of weight doing the regular program, I still ate a lot and eventually my weight loss stopped. The good news was that I didn't gain back all the weight. I still ate a lot and without restriction.

And then two months ago I decided it was time to start losing weight again and I have strictly adhered to the MWL program. In doing so I have found a huge difference in the volume of food I can eat. I am easily eating half of what I ate in calories and volume.

I attribute it to cutting out anything processed like bread and pasta which did not make me full but rather hungrier. In turn, not eating those items (I also cut out nuts, seeds and rice) made me feel so much lighter and better that I felt like exercising if you could believe that lol... I walk more than 30 miles a week now and when I walk, not only does it do wonders for mental health, weight loss and heart health but it also further diminishes my hunger and restricts boredom eating because my fridge is to big and bulky to take with me on walks...

Those are notes from my journey, we may all be 'travelling' but the trip is always unique... these were my 'a-ha's' and my hope in sharing them is to give others some hope that their appetite can lessen if my mine did.

[Werner1950]

I don't think MWL has us cutting out rice.. unless you mean you prefer brown over white..

But rice is a bit more calorie dense than potatoes.

[Jerry Angelo]

No it doesn't, I should have stated that removing rice was a personal decision, thanks Werner.

[Werner1950]

But I was curious. Was that decision made due to taste preferences or due to Cal density?

[Jerry Angelo]

But I was curious. Was that decision made due to taste preferences or due to Cal density?

Mainly trigger and bingeing...

Rice, along with bread, pasta and nuts do not satiate me. Perhaps momentarily but I can't stop eating any of them, the more I do, the more I want even more. So, adding rice to the other MWL restrictions made sense then and I'm very glad I did. I know its only a couple of months but I feel so much better not having to worry about those things and in avoiding them I have grown to appreciate a wider variety of legumes. I also try to eat sweet potatoes more than white because I eat less of those, too.

Whatever works I suppose. I just wish I would have known this decades ago...

[roundcoconut]

miss_sweetpotato, I totally understand where you're coming from. I think I probably have a very similar disposition to yours, and have very similar eating tendencies in my past.

I honestly am not sure Doug Lisle's model of human eating behavior is suitable to everyone! See what you think, and don't be afraid to acknowledge that his model (of "you can't eat past comfortably full on whole natural foods on three consecutive days") isn't true for you, if that is the case. I always, always believe what I see with my own two eyes, rather than what someone tells me I see.

I think we can help you as you figure out ways to put some reasonable boundaries on your eating patterns, if that's something you're wanting to do.

It was something I felt I needed to do, for sanity moreso than for weight, so I completely understand this! A normal-weight binge eater is not a good emotional place to be, and I totally get that.

[roundcoconut]

Jerry Angelo, I love your posts.

Thank you for those!

[Jerry Angelo]

Jerry Angelo, I love your posts.

Thank you for those!

And I very much enjoy yours too roundcoconut!

[miss_sweetpotato]

Sorry this will be a lengthy post. I know the title of the post is how to lose weight with volume eating tendencies but I am actually at my lowest weight that I have ever been in my adult/teen life. At my highest I was 60 lbs heavier then I am now after I gave birth to my first son and the weight didn’t fall off like I thought it would. I lost some weight slowly got back to my more normal weight before i discovered Dr. McDougall. Following his plan I lost a lot more. I surpassed my original goal weight I am 5’5” and my weight fluctuates between 115 to 125lbs. My anxiety and digestive issues have shown much improvement on this woe.I have been able to cut down on my medication quite a bit to the point where I feel like I will be off it by by the end of the year. I feel like I should really be happy with all the progress.
Ever since I was a child I always heard comments about what I was eating or how much or how little ect. I know that I am all grown up now but it is hard to break the patterns and have just started to face where they may have originated from. maybe because before I was so focused on my volume or out of control eating and losing weight I wasn’t dealing with deeper issues.

Basically, I became a secretive eater and just felt/feel more comfortable eating by myself.

I never suffered from anorexia or bulimia. By the amount of food I can put away I have been accused of throwing up my food which really hurts. They would say because someone my size could not possibly eat that much and not be overweight. (this was after starch solution) Not once have I thrown up my food though on rare occasions(before the starch solution) I wish I could….as awful as that sounds. A few weeks ago I was at the gas station and saw Cliff bars were on sale, and though they are not something I usually eat I bought 8 of them. I ate them all behind the dumpster at the gas station and threw away the wrappers before I went home so I could eat supper with my family. Shortly after this I decided I want to make some changes. My body may be different, but i still feel the same inside regarding my relationship to food. I don’t have as much self loathing as I used to. I don’t feel as physically or emotionally miserable as when I was eating large amounts of processed crap and don’t sit alone my room completely hating myself. I don’t want to sound so negative either. I do honestly feel better about myself in many respects, my health is improved, and I do love this WOE. And my eating habits have slowly gotten better. Like the dumpster incident…I don’t do things like that as much anymore.

Of course I think it’s important to not be to hard on yourself. What is the saying? Most military people do more by 7 am than most people do all day. I think I eat more by 10 am than most do all day.

Like if I go out to the kitchen to put the leftovers away, will I just eat them all instead?
Also I can eat and eat and eat and not really feel full, but sometimes (not as much anymore) my stomach gets so bloated and constipated I have to get out the baggy shirts for a week. It isn’t fat, its just rock hard with food. When I finally do “go" my stomach is flat as a pancake.

lynns: you are right about eating only whole natural foods and listen to Dr. McDougall, Dr. Lisle, etc. I am pretty positive I have some sorta food addiction.

Roundcoconut: thank you for your words. I have been been following the regular plan/starch solution pretty well for a long time. Sometimes more fruit incorporated and slips with junk vegan foods. I was recently inspired by Dr. doug Lisles videos ( i also have the book) and thought I can give this a try, I feel like it could work.... but... BUT we’ll see if I am really one of those people who can’t possibly overeat on WNF. It hasn’t been very long, but not eating sugar and salt does feel really good mentally and physically. There is a fear of gaining weight back and I actually find myself wanting to drop a few more…
you also have a lot of good posts. You have some interesting/wonderful insights.

S B: thank you for posting and sharing your tips. I need a large salad in my life.

I hope I can get this sorted out so I can be helping others!

On reflection I am grateful. I think I would be in a really bad place right now if I hadn't discovered Dr. McDougall and continued on the SAD path instead. But I know I still have a lot of adjustments to make.