Overcoming Overeating

Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight, and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose the last 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every Wednesday about every win and setback along the way.

I don't know a darn thing about it. I know so little, in fact, that I have experienced my first major setback -- I have gained. Simply typing those words is painful, but in no way does that diminish the truth of them. Just when I thought I had this thing beat, here comes a big fat reality check. Some may think a few pounds is not that much, and I could very easily agree. I could also add that I had down-time from exercising due to my surgery, but not even that softens the blow. When I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that I am still teetering on the thin line between overeating and addiction. Anything I have gained was caused by something I put in my mouth.

Prior to writing this post, I knew that I was failing miserably in my eating, so I reached out for help from one of the pros, Dr. Jonny Bowden. Having had the pleasure of consulting with him before, I knew he'd give it to me straight. At the time, I had no idea that I had gained any weight. I was simply smart enough to realize that I was heading down a dangerous path and that without help, I could very easily fall back into my old ways. If telling it straight was what I wanted from Dr. Jonny, straight was what I got.

I immediately swallowed hard when he responded with tough love. If I didn't need his advice so badly, I would've closed the window right then, but I kept listening. Dr. Jonny has advised me before and has never steered me wrong. I trust him fully and recognize that he is serious about his commitment to helping people live fuller lives through healthy eating and exercise. Knowing that all things good to me aren't good for me, I continued to read.

The tough love answer was that on some level, I have to suck it up. Now, this may not sound like the deeply intellectual advice that a learned guy like Dr. Jonny would give, but he did. In all his intellect, he knew that the flat-out truth was what I needed to hear. Initially, I bristled -- suck it up? But then the words began to sting, because he was right, and I knew I'd been doing the exact opposite of sucking it up -- I'd been scarfing it down. In all my scarfing it down, the numbers on the scale went up.

Gratefully, he didn't stop there, but gave me real solutions to what I was doing wrong on a daily basis. I admitted to him that I am a nutritionist's nightmare because I eat late at night and love sweets and bread. Dr. Bowden was not deterred by my complaints. He explained that the more protein and fat (not trans-fat) that I eat, the less I will crave carbs. Similar to someone who has quit smoking, the cravings will diminish over time. Eating fewer foods that send my blood sugar through the roof will also help prevent cravings. Another suggestion was to try L-Glutamine, an amino acid in powder form (not pills). By dropping a heaping tablespoon in water, I can expect the cravings to go away in about 20 minutes. As always, Dr. J has come through with great advice just for me.

Now that he's done his part, I must do mine. I am going to try the things that he has so graciously suggested and report back on my results. I may not have overcome overeating, but I have overcome. I'm convinced that this setback is a setup for a comeback. Nothing like a few pounds gained to make me recall all that I've lost and renew my commitment to never gain any of it back again.