Overcoming health related fears
Hi Heather! I lost about 20 pounds last year, gained 5 back, and then got stuck there for about 10 months. I've been listening to your podcast for a few weeks and I'm finally making progress again. Your advice about the lower brain has been really helpful to me. Something I have noticed is that I am fearful of losing weight because of a past illness that caused uncontrolled weight loss. I am now on medication and am very stable, and have been for several years, however, I find my brain bringing up this fear of what if I don't have enough extra weight to lose and I relapse. I am about 25 pounds overweight, and I know it would be best for my long-term health if I can maintain a lower weight. Do you have any suggestions of good strategies to deal with these types of thoughts?
Moderation vs. Abstaining
Hi Heather, thanks for the great podcast. Currently I am having health issues that would get better if my eating quality is better. Especially around sugar, fat and meat. For the last month I did the paper and pencil journaling and put in a treat every day (either a can of soda, one serving of chips or something sweet, mostly soda). This already made my eating way better, not completely out of control than it was before. Although I have my days where I still eat/drink more than planned. However I still have my health issues and feel like I need to eat more clean to fix those. Especially I struggle with drinking soda/caffeine. I abstained from it for over 4 years till the pandemic and a very stressful work period. I feel like abstaining is the only right way for this particular thing for me and obviously once I am in I can abstain for years. However, I struggle to completely abstain now for the last 4 months. So I am unsure how to go from here. Whenever I am unmotivated at work or especially tired I want either caffeine or sugar. I can abstain from one of those but not both it seems. How do I go from here? Should I find treat substitutes that are not soda and/or not sweets and use this instead for curbing the cravings? Should I clean up the rest of the diet and not worry about one can of soda? Should I first fix my health issued by eating as clean as possible and then re-introduce treats? Is there ever a point where you would say better abstain from this extremely addictive substitute than moderate? My current way is just not working and my health issues seem to get worse. Thanks a lot, Michaela
How much of my weight loss journey should I share with my young child?
Hi Heather, I am a long time listener in the UK and I love the podcast. I had a baby boy just over a year ago, my first child. I gave myself 6 months after to recover as you suggest, and am now back on my weight loss journey. I am down around 2 stone (28 pounds) since February, and I have been attending a weight loss group - the program is Slimming World, I'm not sure if you have it in the US, but I have found it a very gentle way to lose weight as it encourages eating good, nutritious food without deprivation. My question is how much of this should I expose my son to as he gets older? I have listened to a lot of interviews with people who have been taken along to weight loss groups as a child and it has created problematic relationships with food and dieting. I really want to ensure my son has a healthy relationship with food - I don't want "dieting" to be a thing in our house, but I also don't necessarily want to stop attending my group completely as it has really helped me lose weight - I'm currently the lowest weight I've been in years. I would still like to lose 40-50lb more, but I'm not in a rush. How would you approach this - would you suggest attending the group but just not mentioning it at home? Aim to stop attending the group once he is old enough to understand what it is, and work on it by myself? Or have an honest conversation with him when he is old enough to explain what it is? I would imagine that boys are less susceptible to the pressure of weight loss than girls, but I really don't know how to handle this. He is only one now, so I have some time to figure it out, but I would love to know your thoughts. Thanks so much, Catherine.
I’m in trouble. Real trouble
Hi Heather this is Marie again. I’m kind of hesitating writing this because I know I won’t get a response for a month or so and I’m in need now but I understand your rules. First of all I want to tell you that what you are doing is amazing. How you are helping and have helped so many people and that you are at goal and have not gained your weight back, once again that is absolutely beyond words amazing, fantastic. So congratulations once again to you. I have been overweight all my life got really heavy between seventh and eighth grade. Have lost weight 100+ of times. The only time I ever reached goal was in 2013 and gained back over 100 pounds within six months. Now I started back June 25, 2021 and for 14 months and seven days I was perfect on program. September 2 I had a really rough day All I was thinking about was food and could not stop but I did reach out on the forums which I’m not real good at doing that. Then the third it started, I started overeating but I wrote down everything. Then the binge started. It has now been nine days that I cannot get back on program all I am doing is thinking about food and shoveling the food in like I did before all my good habits , all my hard work for the last 14 months down the drain. I have already gained over 10 pounds I am very bloated very disgusted and my family is very upset with me. I just turned 60 in August I take care of my 91 year old parents am under a great deal of stress. I guess I feel like I have nothing to look forward to Only sad things and what the heck am I losing this weight for. I started to do it for my health because my health was so bad with being a diabetic high blood pressure Hashimoto’s disease but since I’ve lost this weight that’s all under control for now. But now the way I have eaten the last nine days My heart is beating fast and what damage have I done to my body. I’m listening to your binging series I’m listening to different things that you have out there and I can’t change my mind. Any advice? I don’t want to write you back and tell you I’ve gained 100 pounds because with going up and down so much and Being the age that I am I probably wouldn’t last very long. I am beyond scared and I don’t know if you or anybody else can understand this but I feel like I don’t have any control over my body. People just say stop do not eat a second whatever. But I feel like I don’t have control like somebody else is running my body. Does that make sense or am I totally totally a lost cause. Oh well thanks for listening I wish I could somewhere just pay you for a telephone call to talk to you now Before I am more in trouble. Plus you know when you have an addictive personality and a binge disorder you switch from one addiction to another. You’re not supposed to buy clothes until you lose all your weight I have been buying so many clothes and I’ve been charging them I am thousands of dollars in debt for clothes that if I gain another 10 pounds I will not be able to wear and I got rid of all my fat clothes. I am a total mess. Thank you again. I’m desperate for a miracle. Why can’t I get back to it I just don’t understand myself. Help me please. Thank you thank you thank you.
Questions about my approach
Hello Heather! I’ve been listening to you from the very start, and today I ordered the podcast premium to listen to all of your episodes from the start. Oh, how awesome you were and still are!!! Little background and questions: I started my weight loss journey august 28 at 264 lbs and today I am at moving average of 261, which is just fine with me. I have my daily calories set at 1740 ish and I look at my weekly calorie allowance that you have talked about. My plan is to track for 10 weeks and see where I am. Hopefully have a 10 lb loss. My question is: after 10 weeks do I then go on maintenance for a week or for two weeks? Or just keep losing??? Also, the diet fix calculator and MyFitnessPal have me at around 1980 calories, but I only lose half a lb per week on that so this is why I lowered it to 1740. Should I go with 1980 or just keep on 1740, since this is fine for me. My worry is that I will lower my calories too much and then struggle with the lower calorie allotment when I go down in weight. Hope these questions are clear. I appreciate you soooo much and love hearing your “younger” voice from way back in the day. Kathy