Lil
Well-Known Member
Lil. Can you accept that hunger could be hormonal?
Is this, Lil, I ask you really and primarily an issue of personal choice? I accept personal choice is an element, but is it really the driving one?
I'm not saying hormones play no part. I said:'
Is there a large genetic component? Yes. Do hormones play a part? Of course. When you are stressed you will hold on to weight. When your metabolism changes, you will hold on to weight.
I know teeny tiny women who eat McDonalds and sweets every single day and never get over 100 lbs. I know men - my son is one - who eats nothing but junk and plenty of it - who are thin. Genetics, hormones, metabolism - whatever you want to ascribe it to - it all has an effect.
I am a person who does not do hunger well. I'm not diabetic, by my whole life I could have done a Snicker's commercial. I'm not myself when I'm hungry. I never knew it until my Senior Partner at a law firm I worked for told the secretaries at our office, after we'd taken an overnight trip together, "You have to feed Lil. She gets mean when she's hungry!" In the last 15 years of so I've noticed occasions where, if I get too hungry - like skipping breakfast and it's 3:00 in the afternoon and I've been running around - I get nauseous and shaky. Again - I'm not diabetic - never have been. But there's something about me that makes that happen.
I'm just saying that you deal with what you've got. I have had friends who, when upset or busy or stressed, "forget to eat". I hate those people. The ONLY time in my entire life I was too upset to eat was when my mother died. After a day or two my aunts took me out and sat me down and forced a meal on me and the dam broke and I ate like a pig.
But, like a person with a handicap has to learn to overcome that handicap, a person who's hormones or genetics make them gain and hold weight (with the rare exception of someone who really has a metabolic disorder like a thyroid malfunction or glandular issue) has to learn to overcome that hormonal or genetic issue and take affirmative steps to avoid doing those things that make them gain, or keep them from losing.
I find that losing is much harder now, at 52, than it was pre-menopause. I'm sure it is hormones to blame for that.
I can only speak for myself of course. But I've lost weight successfully too many times to say it can't be done through self-control and exercise. It definitely can. I stop eating the sweets and high fat foods and exercise, I WILL lose weight. Maybe slowly, maybe quickly - but it will come off. The problem I have is that I don't have the self-control to keep it up forever...and the weight sneaks back on.
Fat cells never die. They just shrink down and lay in wait for you eat a Blizzard. (Not-So-Fun Fact: One Medium Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzard has 900 calories and 48 grams of fat.)
Not true.
Muscle weighs more than fat.
I meant "lose weight" as synonymous with "lose fat". After all, losing fat is what we actually care about.
I don't think I'll do the intermittent fasting at this point. I wouldn't try it anyway until I'd talked with my doctor and dietician (who I'm sure is ready to wash her hands of me). But I will be stalking you ladies and seeing how you are doing.
If it matters - not sure of your ages - Jabber's sister is about my age, 52, and so I'm sure hormonal changes have to be starting to hit her too.
Maybe you'll at least inspire me enough to get back on my own program.
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