Posted by Dinah on October 26, 2010, at 8:05:10
In reply to Trying to drink more coffee, posted by Deneb on October 25, 2010, at 23:39:51
I know I am an odd person to be offering advice on losing weight. But I have had some experience over the years. Skipping meals has never actually caused me to lose weight. If I wait to eat until my body considers itself starved, I tend to find myself a bottomless pit of hunger. Eating a normal amount of food after that is very difficult.
I've heard, and I believe, that grazing is a better way to lose weight. Having a supply of healthy low calorie foods on hand, and having several small meals a day, rather than one large one.
I even see it with my dogs. When they were free feeding, food wasn't so important to them. But I have two dogs with special food needs now and I'm feeding them twice a day. They'll gulp down as much food as I'll feed them, instead of letting their stomachs tell them naturally when they are full.
If your intention is to lose weight, I doubt fasting is the best way to go. If your intention is to distract yourself from real life concerns, the extremes may work. But it's also possible to find healthier ways to distract. Obsessions come in all sorts of forms. I've long since acknowledged that I *need* obsessions to self regulate my arousal. So I don't fight that. What I fight instead is to find the least unhealthy obsessions. So instead of internet shopping, I might try endless games of Bubbles, or research some topic that interests me.
Recognizing that you are using obsessions to help control your mood is the first step to a healthier and better life. Congratulations. The next step is using that knowledge to better your life.
You're starting to hang out with your real life friends. What obsession might help you better do that? Do you think they might be like Babblers, unlikely to be impressed by unhealthy behaviors?
Is fasting helping to meet needs other than obsessional distraction? The authorities are clear it's not the best route to a fit healthy body, and you've seen yourself that it doesn't work for weight loss on a steady basis. You may possibly receive attention from people who are concerned about you. I think you've said in the past that that sort of attention feels caring to you, moreso perhaps than other forms of attention. (I think I remember your saying that. Forgive me if I'm wrong.) But I think you might also find that insisting on an unhealthy lifestyle, be it drugs or alcohol abuse or excessive fasting, causes you to lose sources of support as well. And people show caring in many more ways than just concern. You might find that you like those forms of caring too.
Symptom substitution doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm not asking you to give up the coping mechanism. But I think your life as well as your health might benefit from a better choice of obsession.
Just my opinion.
poster:Dinah
thread:955008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100907/msgs/967014.html