I am in the midst of this at this moment. it is horrible, and it happens every so often, I don't know exactly why, but usually I think it is do to major stress (financial, or worry about family issues, etc...) &/or physical issues (hormonal or whatever) that overwhelm me to the point of changing my appetite and taste for food.
Ordinarily (I have been lc pretty happily for probably 75% or more of the last 8 ish years, but every so often...) I love, love, love a few eggs lightly scrambled in butter, decadence would be to eat it with half a slice of lc toast w/gob of butter, and this is totally fulfilling and leaves me happy and uninterested in junk for the rest of the day. I love MEAT! I really do, fatty delicious interesting cuts of meat, plus some lc veggies leaves me perfectly content. But sometimes, like last week, (stress, worry, pregnancy kicking my butt this time) I just lose it.
I think that if I COULD be "not quite perfect" I might be able to handle it better (for example, when I start to go off the rails if I could just sip a mug of decaf with heavy cream and splenda I think it would be very calming and satisfy my hunger and looking for "sweet" that has me driving to three stores hunting down the exact little debbie crap that I used to hide and binge on when I was a kid, but I can't, I will get physically ill, pretty immediately, so instead I make myself sick more slowly by eating pasta, cake, etc, etc. About 50% of the time (maybe even more than that, but still) I get a grip on myself immediately and start fresh the next day, but the longer it takes me to snap out of it the harder it is ("real" food just is not appealing at all, can hardly bring myself to choke an egg down much less eat an adequate amount of protein to start back on the lc road) and I end up depressed, angry at myself, feeling achy and sick, a few to several pounds heavier and with a difficult time in front of me getting back on track.
At this point, it has happened enough times that I know better how to get out of this rut. I am starting by keeping in mind that even if I am eating horribly, it is 'less' horrible if I at least include 'some' good food, so over a couple/few days I start integrating bacon and other protein/fats and a few veggies into the carb fest until they are greater in quantity than the garbage, and I can phase them out completely one morning and get on with eggs and meat and veggies as my "interesting/colorful/treat-like" bit on the plate. Even then, the first few days are kind of white knuckle for me, and I still feel pissed off that I have to go through this. WTF? Why me?! etc, etc. When I am feeling more positive (today seems to be the start of getting back on track for me, less of a tail spin than last year, but who knows, I might be ok for a couple of weeks and lose it right around Christmas again so I can do this over in January...) I am able to look at things and say, well, I eat well most of the time, I have lost weight from my all time high, and even though I fluctuate about 30 lbs from 185-200s at least I am not gaining into new territory, and the times I DO get down to within sight of goal (I feel pretty great when I am in the low 180's and actually gain steam and get really serious about the last "little bit" at that point) are really wonderful health/energy wise. The food intolerance/allergy issue has been the HUGEST problem for me, b/c if I could just dive into lc junk (well, not even necessarily "junk" like heavy cream if you can handle it) artificial crap and all I think it would be better than binging on pasta and be much much easier to get rid of after the fact, y'know? I clearly have some emotional issues with food, but the physical ones make everything SO much harder to deal with.
This is actually really hard and embarrassing to write for me. I mean, wtf, I have been doing this SO long, and I've read EVERYTHING, I can be successful and healthy so much of the time, and still I fall apart about once a year (not always at the holidays, I don't think it's just that, most often it coincides with middle of pregnancy but sometimes it is holiday cooking stuff or just flat out extreme stress) and can't get to where I am actually happy with my weight and energy/feeling good in my clothing. ONCE, in the past couple years I was there, at the lowest about 185, and I promptly started making cookie (dough) for Christmas (theoretically, as if much of it ended up being made into cookies...) and gained back to 200 in a matter of a month. ugh. What do you want to bet I have a problem with gluten as well as dairy since it is ALWAYS wheat that is hardest to get past, I can have a bit of potato (like on dr. K) and be fine, or sweet potato, or even rice, but pasta, baking pastry/sweets and other gluten-y things just make me do stupid stupid things. It isn't even the sweet taste, I am happy w/lc subs and occasionally have them w/out wanting them again for weeks, almond meal pancakes w/faux syrup, no prob, but 'real' pancakes, watch out. (or don't actually, I'd rather no one see what I'm doing...)
And while I am doing this to myself, my family is LOVING it. I hide the worst of it from the kids, so they still eat pretty much the same, but they do get a bit of whatever pasta or whatever I eat at dinner time, and DH feels like every meal is a holiday (and I quote, from 2 nights ago: "see babe, this is why I could never go lowcarb!" in reference to the potato/stuffing/lentils I had in the fridge) so in addition to starting over for myself I have to fight him through the same old arguments and get the crap out of the house and everyone back to eating "normally". It is really hellish misery.
Anyway, PJ, just wanted to say I totally totally understand and feel what you are going through. Today the best I can do is to eat "real" whole foods, even if they are not the best carb-wise, b/c all that turkey and potato and brussles sprouts and pumpkin will at least get me started on the right direction, and I know the eggs and bacon this morning helped as well. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to handle just eggs and bacon for breakfast, and we'll see about leftover meat fro lunch. One step at a time. I KNOW that if I could make a pumpkin lc cheesecake to munch on instead of other crap (or the aforementioned coffee/cream) it would be a faster process, but that is life. I guess. I know you will get back on track too, we always do, just decide when and know you are not alone.
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