by 000 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:26 am
Nutritional yeast and stevia are not your issues; binge volume eating is the issue here.
You're binge eating because your stomach stretch receptors are completely whack.That's why you have "good intentions" but fall off the wagon and continue to binge. In order to reset your stretch receptors to feel full on less food, you actually have to, well, eat less food, and you have to eat less food consistently over time. So for a few days you'll be white knuckling it, but that will pass and then you should feel full on less food.
You're 15 so I don't know how much this applies to you, since I don't know what calorie requirements you actually need but for some guidelines, maybe this will help:
Three preplanned meals a day, ZERO SNACKING. Get used to being a little hungry between meals. Nobody needs to graze all day. I know it's encouraged on the starchy carb plant based plans, but it's unwise for those of us who are/were volume eaters. We need structure and planning to our meals, and the only way that's going to happen is to preplan what you will eat each day and stick to it. PIck a daily food volume level that will work for your age, normal activity level, and a gradual weight loss down to your healthy BMI. Divide your foods equally among the three meals with foods you like and stick to it. Weigh weekly and re-evaluate based on this. If you need to change volume levels before hitting your goal weight, adjust and divide by the three daily meals again, eating the same volume of food over the three meals. I have not veered off my chosen volume level the entire time I've been on this plan. It shouldn't be necessary until you hit maintenance, but do what works for you.
Two fruits a day, one at each of two meals. Don't eat fruits separately as snacks. If you binge eat at night or want sweet things at night like desserts, never eat a fruit as part of your dinner meal, keep fruit eating to earlier in the day.
No sugars - ditch the dates, date sugar, stevia, that agave stuff, molasses, dried fruit, craisins, raisins, or sugar artificial or real in any other form. It can trigger binges and overeating in a lot of people.
Don't overexercise. It's better to focus on food intake during weight loss than overexercising since you'll only compensate by eating more food or attempting to white knuckle NOT eating more food. Moderate exercise is okay, don't overdo it. Food is more important than exercise. If you get too tired or feel you "need" more food for your exercise, cut back on exercise don't add more food.
Don't drink your food - no smoothies or those green leafy drinks. They whack out the stretch receptors. That kale drink craze started after I went plant based, and I never got on board, but the thought of drinking kale makes me want to hurl. I don't even eat kale.
Replace most starchy carbs with beans. Since you also overeat beans, you'll need to portion out beans for each of the three meals. Beans at breakfast will keep you fuller longer than oatmeal or other grains. My only starchy food all day is a portion control of oatmeal (portioned for my needs) and I also eat a portion of beans at breakfast. I eat the equivalent of one can of beans per day divided into three portions that work for me throughout the day. I would need 20 cups of oatmeal to feel full at breakfast before I started this plan. Now I just eat my small portion of oats and a small bowl of beans with a fruit for breakfast and I'm fine until lunch.
Plan your meals so you eat approximately the same volume of food at every meal every single day. This is the only way to reset your stretch receptors. My breakfast includes my portion of starch (oatmeal) and my lunch and dinner meals involve vegetables instead of starch, but the volume is fairly consistent over the three meals. You can eat less food at any of the three meals than your chosen volumes, but not more. My breakfast is always a little less food than my other two meals, simply because I can't stomach shoveling in a large amount anymore in the mornings. I'm fine with a smaller bit at breakfast than at my other two meals.
I'm no longer sold on calorie density. Your stomach doesn't recognize calories, it recognizes volume. If you're eating different volumes of food at each meal and it varies every day, your stomach receptors just whack the hell out and overeating can become a problem. If you want to get volume eating under control, this is imperative. Sorry.
Make weight loss your project. Pick a BMI (preferably the lowest number in your normal range for your height and age) and diet down to it. Don't set "interim" goals. Interim goals can sidetrack you and throw you off your game. You reach your interim goal, hang out there a while, lose your momentum, then either stop the strict day to day planning, or horrors start gaining again. Don't do it. Pick the BMI you want to be and go down to it full bore. Keep logs, pick a computer food tracking app, and just do it. Logging, weighing, and measuring everything I eat has become a bit of a game to me and I no longer dread it. It's now second nature. I'll never NOT do it. It's imperative for me to stick to my plan and get the skinny body I want.
I was a volume eater on my plant based diet for six years before I finally got control of my eating through this type of portion controlled plan. I weigh, measure, portion , and log every bite of food that goes into my mouth every single day.
Volume eating can be a huge problem with a plant based diet. This is a highly carby diet and many people simply can't process all the carbs efficiently, hence our hunger-satiety signals become completely ineffective in helping us control our food intake. It happened to me and I was never able to get below a BMI of 23. I'm now closing in on a BMI of 18.2 and may go lower to get the final bit of flab off my stomach. I was never able to do that on my "regular" eating of plant based food.
I'm no longer on board these plant based experts using plant based diets as weight loss tools. They should be advertised as health improving tools - blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, insert disease here. The weight loss is hit and miss with people. Volume eating and binge eating are happening on plant based diets and most people just flail around without getting control of it. It's rarely addressed on any of the plant based websites. Lectures about calorie density don't help. Your stomach doesn't know from calories.
Good luck.