This is Sushi. You may or may not like Sushi, which is totally cool. The real point of this photo is to show you what a table used to look like anytime I went out to eat – anywhere.
That’s 5 large rolls, on top of an actual meal of Shrimp Fried Rice at one my favorite local Sushi bars (well, within an hour at least) in Cookeville, TN.
And yes, I would drive two hours round trip to pig out on this same meal several times a month – to the point of being so lethargic afterward that it was hard to drive myself home!
They need a breathalizer for overeating 😛 LOL
(Yes, sometimes I travel just to eat, instead of eat while I’m traveling. Sad, haha)
I wasn’t alone at that meal, thank goodness. There were three of us – myself, my mother and my daughter. I used to consider it “an indulgence”. I look back now and recognize it as emotional eating – or just plain old ridiculous overeating…
Indulging vs Emotional Eating
I work hard. I manage my home and raise my two children single-handedly. I’ve sacrificed a lot along the way to build a business and create a nice lifestyle for us, and I did it all on my own.
What better way to celebrate the end of another long day… than to sit down with an endless amount of delicious food?!
Pizza, sushi, hot wings with french fries, cheese bread, fresh made donuts, biscuits & gravy, huge bowls of pasta, fish & chips, you name it!
Anyone who has ever eaten with me knows first hand how much I love food – and how much I enjoy it! 😀
Oh, and about that “endless amount of delicious food” – well, I usually finished it. To the point of feeling sick, even. Not so endless after all…
I finally realized that indulging as a means of rewarding myself was stupid. It was emotional overeating, plain and simple. Filling a void (not just my stomach). And if I felt so bad afterward, why did I consider this a reward?!?
Overeating Sucks!
Among other unpleasant results, I got fat. Yuck. Now I don’t mean grossly obese. At the height of my overeating spree, I was probably 30 pounds over my ideal weight.
That was enough. It was harder to walk my dog. I was seriously uncomfortable. I was embarrassed. The extra weight aggravated my back pain / back injury issues. I was unhappy with myself. I couldn’t fit into any of my clothes…
And shopping was no fun anymore – everything made me look fat! (haha)
My Solution: Still Indulging, But Losing Weight FAST!
I still love to eat. And I LOVE food.
I mean, how many things in life are as good as sitting down to a fabulous meal of your favorite foods??
And I should pause here and say that I personally did not have an overeating disorder (in my unprofessional opinion), but rather… a rough couple of years where food was a very nice comfort. 😛
I’m still indulging in wonderful foods all over the world, from the salmon in Vancouver to the beach-side burgers at Okaloosa Island. The difference is in the foods I choose to eat.
A couple of months ago I cut out carbs. Or rather, I limited it to 20 net grams of carbs per day (allowing for plenty of *good* carbs). I didn’t buy a book or join a club. I did consult my mother and the internet quite a few times in the beginning, but other than that it was super simple to do.
I’ve lost 19 pounds already.
I still eat as much as I want, and great foods even! I’ve eaten an entire pound of bacon (zero carbs!) on my own more than once in the last couple of months. LOL. I’ve discovered certain sweets I like that fall in my range, managed to get my coffee down to zero carb, etc.
Oddly enough, instead of feeling deprived and/or starved on this “diet” (I prefer to call it “a way of eating”)… I feel content. I’m not even tempted to go back to overeating. I don’t feel that emotional connection to eating, outside of simply enjoying and savoring the food in front of me.
I’ve tested it. I ordered a thin-crust meatlovers pizza. Prior to this diet I would have eaten at least half a regular pizza (hand tossed, right?) by myself. Now, two slices of thin crust and I’m full. Or rather, no longer hungry or even interested in continuing to eat past that point. And there’s the major difference – because before I didn’t stop eating when I was no longer hungry…
I’ve done ZERO research on this, but I’m guessing carbs (the yucky carbs, I mean) may trigger emotional eating – or even overeating. And maybe other things, who knows. That’s something I’m interested in looking into…
And maybe it was just the fact that I was overweight, and unhappy with myself for getting that way, that brought on the over-indulgence in bad foods. All I know is that I am finally FREE from that, feeling great, loving life, and SO happy with myself… and happy too with the plate of low-carb garlic cheesebread in front of me as I type. 😀
But you know what? On those rough days, when I DO feel like indulging, I still can. Eating low carb is cool like that. You can eat as much as you want, as long as you skip the bad carbs, and STILL lose weight. And THAT my friends… is awesome. Because yeah, I still have blah days and times when I just want to EAT. And now I can, without getting fatter and fatter. LOL. I’ll deal with that crap some other day, when I’m super skinny and stuff. But for now it’s nice to be good to myself once in awhile, by eating a pound of bacon for an afternoon snack. 😛
If you want to follow along and see what I’m eating, you can follow my tweets. I call it Tweating – LOL. You’ll find me on Twitter at @LowCarbTraveler
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