What the H is going on? (major venting)

If you are eating a few more carbs that are probably wonderfully seasoned with sodium, that's the quick way to put on a lot of water.  I watch my sodium pretty carefully because of the lymphadema in my legs. That makes me even more sensitive to it when I do get it. I can flex up 3lbs by eating a bowl of soup.  It's not the soup  itself, of course, it's the sodium and all the rest of the liquids I take in. 

I always go up in the winter and then back down in the spring. As long as I keep it to 3-8 pounds, I don't worry about it. Oh and my other condition is that I can't feel  out of control. If I'm gaining, gaining, gaining and my eating is out of control, than this is cause for concern.

So this winter I went up almost 10 pounds and was out of control so that I did worry about. But I'm back in control again and not gaining so now I'm not worrying even though I'm still heavier than I'd like. I know it will come off over time.

I will tell you something though... a few months ago I would have told you that my hunger had risen since immediatley post-op and also I was able eat more too.

But right now I'm eating like I did immediately post-op for the most part and yesterday I had to force myself to eat 1200 calories. I didn't feel hungry one bit. And I feel stuffed a lot now too, which I have not felt in a long time.

I have decided that most of hunger is mental. A lot of what we think of as hunger signals are not.

In particular, I have something that I've decided to call Restless Brain Syndrome. The other day I was desperate to eat something while also feeling quite stuffed. Nothing looked good to me so I didn't eat. As I sat on the couch thinking "I need to eat something", I realized that what was going on was that my brain was "restless" and I was interpreting that to be hunger but I wasn't actually hungry at all.

I think this 'restlessness' is also related to boredom eating.

So bottom line:

-it's natural to gain some weight this time of year, the trick is to remain in control and not just go crazy eating because it's Winter and The Holidays. 
-a lot of eating is habit and not real hunger even when we think it is
-I am not really any hungrier and I really can't eat any more than I could early out. The reason I think I can is that I changed what and how I eat. Eating more carbs, mixing carbs with my meal instead of protein first, and drinking too soon after eating are what is really going on

Oh and I recommend getting a BodyMedia FIT for all control freaks. I wouldn't be surprised if you were burning 100-200 calories a day less than you burn in the summer and you don't even realize it.

 excellent advice.

I know everyone has to decide what the range is going to be - but I think having a range is important. it's normal, IMO.

Hi M,
These are excellent thoughts. I am learning its still a process to learn about real hunger and the boredom stuff as I had a messed up approach to this for 58 years. Gonna take continuous effort to correct it. And the winter thing is true even though  I no longer live where it snows 3 feet.

I have actually started exercising in a small way but think I am gonna have to do this for other health reasons too and to feel like i am addressing this issue.

I do notice days that I am at home all day and not at the studio I tend to want to eat more. need to convert that to activities here other than laying on the sofa and wondering what we have that is healthy that I can eat. Duh!!

Have been worried for some time that i don't get enough vegetables and since getting enough protein is no longer a big problem, so i am adding more vegetables to meals and making them my snacks like Frisco does.

Thanks for your helpful ideas.    Diane

Veggies can definitely fill in the gaps if you feel compelled to graze. You can eat a cup of veggies for 50 calories and it takes forever!

I think our brains are programmed to make us seek out food. You know that feeling when you just have to get up and check out the fridge enough you aren't hungry? I call it Restless Brain Syndrome. My brain is trying to get me to do SOMETHING and I interprete that as "I'm hungry" but I'm not.

Gotta learn a new interpretation.

Ah,....I worried about gaining over the holidays, but worrying didn't stop me from doing it!  I'm up 6 pounds! 

Starting tomorrow, 1/1/12, I WILL get back on track and no more sweets until the weight comes back off!  I swore I wouldn't let myself go up more than 3 pounds ever, and I've ruined that goal completely!

Damn those carbs and how easily they make it to gain by eating them.   Time to Detox (after our new years party with the grands)  No point in torturing myself and starting today.  We are making cookie cutter pizzas and cookie cutter fruit pizzas. 

I keep reminding myself:   " I never thought it would be easy, but it WILL BE WORTH IT!"

So, I'm curious.  I have one of those scales that tells you more than weight - bone mass, water percentage, and pounds fat. 
Unfortunately, it doesn't store any of that data.  It has a memory, but only for each user's age, height and sex so it can calculate BMI.  And, even more unfortunately, I didn't log any of the numbers early on, so I have no idea how my muscle mass and pounds fat compare to pre-op.
It's just an inexpensive scale, but from what I read, they're not utterly useless.  They can be off by 5% or so, but heck, I'll take it over no info at all.
But (I really did have a related point here), I'm wondering if these help at all in determining when a gain is due to bad habits (pounds fat) or water retention (body water percentage).  Does anyone else have one of these scales and find it useful for that?

Those scales, unfortunately can be VERY off in an individual and they aren't off by the same amount each time. (5% is their average variance. But in some individuals they can be off by as much as 15%)

My experience -- with my $300 version which is supposed to be the most accurate ever except for the $1000 version they sell to doctor's office and claims to tell me my muscle mass and body fat % within different segments of my body and not just my whole body -- is that they can tell you if you are losing fat and not muscle if you are losing 30 or more pounds but that for minute adjustments, they are worthless.

For hydration, it always tells me I'm dehydrated even when my pee is clear!

I found that I can tell, as long as I'm being honest with myself, by looking in the mirror, taking my meaurements and how my clothes fit.

Here's a series of articles about body fat and how it's measured and what all the problems are with it:
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement": Part 1 » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement": Part 2 » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement", Part 3: Bod Pod » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Bodyfat “Measurement", Part 4: Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA) » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement", Part 5: Skinfolds » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement", Part 6: Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) » Weightology Weekly
The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement", The Final Chapter » Weightology Weekly

Thank you all for your valuable insights on the issues described in my rant. It helped me realize I can deal with this and stay at a proper weight long term and this gain of a few pounds does not mean I am doomed to reagain 100 lbs. We are all so haunted by our past dieting experiences.

So here is a newsflash:

I have food journaled from day one and still do so and most days record my weight in the journal. So I looked back to see what I was a year ago. ON DECEMBER 26,  2010 I WEIGHED 124:  MORE THAN I WEIGHED A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO WHEN I MADE THIS PANICKY POST !!!!!!   Really puts it in perspective. Duh!!!   All the more reason to keep these records.

Anyway, thanks for listening. Going to take my dog for a walk on this sunny day.  Happy new year all.

Diane

I haven't been on here since probably early Sept. - work started getting crazy and I started neglecting myself.  I stopped working out regularly in October, quit tracking food except in my head.  Still weighed and stayed mainly on program, but not like I should have been.  I can defiantly tell that I feel better now that I'm back to my daily exercise routine and making sure I'm reaching my protein goals, tracking my food.  I crept up a few pounds over the holidays, but the fact that I let the other stuff go really disturbed me more.  I'm focusing on me again and making sure my body is getting what it needs and feel a ton better for it.  I won't mind doing this for the rest of my life for the trade off of how much better I feel!  

I missed everyone and am so glad to see all the people I remember as well as some new members!!