The daily food battle

Generally, there is something that motivates us to say “okay, I need to lose a few pounds”. For me, it was a couple weeks ago when I put on some jeans I got last spring and was barely able to button them. This prompted me to track my food for about a week to see where my calories were sitting and I found myself sitting right around 2800 calories on average. This was super exciting because this put me in a really safe and solid place to go into a deep cut – which I am now reconsidering the depth, for reasons answered later. I sat down and gave myself a calorie and macro profile and patted myself on the back for how easy this was going to be–I mean, I used to eat 1800 calories on a daily basis just to maintain, so how hard can it be in a cut, right? Turns out it's still hard! My body is used to eating and utilizing 2800 calories! It’s really not that much different from going from 1800 calories to 800, which I would never condone in a healthy cut. The difference is, I am not looking at the micronutrient deficiencies that a 800 calorie diet would create. This does not mean it is without struggle.

Struggle 1: I’m still hungry. 1800 calories of whole foods is A LOT of food. It’s a nice balanced breakfast with 40-50 grams of protein, its 2 snacks, a lunch of 8oz of meat, 1-2 cups of veggies and 1 cup of starch and then repeat that at supper. It’s a lot of food. The first 3-4 days are super easy. The highly motivated state kicks in, your body gets a rest from digesting all those extra calories and even sleep feels better for the same reason. Then day 5, or so, the “bad food bugs” get hungry. I call my cravings my bad food bugs, because it helps me to put a face to them, AND in a lot of ways, it’s quite literal. We have these bad bacteria in our gut that live off of sugar from carbohydrates. Those first few days of the cut, their survival wasn’t threatened, yet. Then, as the days go on, they get hungrier and send signals to the brain to crave simple carbs for fast energy and a quick snack. If we succumb to the craving, we are then rewarded by receiving an uptick in feel-good hormones we can relish in, momentarily. 

Struggle 2: I am not satisfied. Even right after eating, when my stomach is sufficiently full, there is still something that’s missing. Like that itch that wasn’t scratched, even though I was technically fed. This tends to be when my sugar cravings are the highest, too. Besides the bad food bugs, another reason for this could be a phenomenon known as pallet-fatigue. Pallet-fatigue is the reason you can completely stuff yourself on salty and fatty french fries and a burger, but then someone offers you ice cream or cake and you suddenly find room in your once-stuffed innards for the sweet treat. It’s because you have maxed out on the salty cravings, but the rewards system in the “sweet” part of your brain hasn’t been lit up yet. There is a whole fancy biological reasoning theory for why this is happening, that I won’t fully get into, but even having the understanding of its presence can be a helpful tool.

Struggle 3: Food is all I think about. Tracking and planning food is one more stresser, in a time where we are already over stimulated and under recovered. It takes time to track, it takes up mental ram and it’s a puzzle that isn’t necessarily always fun to put together. Tracking for extended periods of time has made me crazy in the past. To the point where I became totally obsessive, rigid and a little psychotic. I have learned to better navigate this with experience, but find myself going back to crazy land from time to time. When I give myself a calorie and protein target, while allowing my fats and carbs to undulate from day to day, I find a much wider range of freedom in my food choices. But even then, food choices go from “what do we eat for supper” to “how does every little thing I put into my mouth fit into my macro profile”. 

Struggle 4: Navigating setbacks. I am the setback queen, and it seems like every time I stumble, it gets harder and harder to get back up and to return to consistency. Have you heard the saying:  “you drop your phone and get a small crack in it, so you just smash it with a hammer”?. This illustrates the ludicrous mindset of having a whole day ruined because of one setback, so we continue to toss slop on the pile with bad choice after bad choice. If anyone has a magic solution to this, I am all ears! I know this belief is deep-rooted in the all-or-nothing mindset. If it's not perfect, then it just as well be terrible. Starting each meal, not just each day, with a fresh mind, is a difficult but effective strategy for dealing with this all-or-nothing mindset. Understand each choice made is either a tiny win or a tiny setback and as long as the wins outweigh the setbacks, we are on the right path. 

Struggle 5: Other people’s opinions. For many, this can be the difference between success and failure. In order to follow a plan, especially in public, we feel we have to justify our choices to the people around us. We say things like “I can’t have that pizza” or “I’m on a diet, so I’m trying to cut back” and then people inherently feel the need to try to talk us into falling off track. Why is this? Is it because a mirror is being held up to their face and they don’t like it? Is it because they don’t think you need to lose weight? Is it because us saying “no” somehow offends them and their efforts? Maybe. The truth is, their reasoning does not matter and all they have become is another one of your bad food bugs. When in public, instead of saying “I can’t have that” say “I don’t want that”. It sets a boundary and does not require further explanation to Betty Bad Bug. It is also a psychological game you are playing with yourself, because it is human nature to rebel when someone says we can’t do something, but if you don’t want it then it’s different. Even if it's not true. It takes practice and a little grit to stick to your guns. 

When it comes to changing our body composition, working out is the easy part. Spending 2 or 3 full-body sessions in the gym is a tiny percentage of the week. The hardest part is the diet. If one has a personal trainer with them in the gym, they have that person right there for the full hour, watching and guiding them. Then that person leaves the gym and is on their own for the remaining 98% of the week. It is very clear that those with a coach or trainer helping to navigate through struggles are more successful than those trying to do it on their own, but regardless, we are all imperfect humans who offer ourselves little grace. Fight that urge to punish yourself and remember you are beautifully and wonderfully made, in His image.