Women who eat a ton without gaining.... page 21

[Jorjor]

Just curious, how many calories do you think you normally eat? Just wanting to collect data...

At only 18 though you might find the next 5 years might continue to fill you out. I was early that way, but I remember many girls that didn't really fill in all the way until mid-late college.

I don't think I've ever even attempted to count, lol, but If I were to throw out an educated guess maybe 1500-2000. From the time I was 12-16 I used to swear to everyone who poked fun at my weight that I stuffed my face 24/7, but I think recently I've unknowingly scaled back to just eating a normal amount.

[Happy Paleo Girl]

I totally hear you. I didn't mean to sound judgmental of Molly either, it's just not the look I'm hoping to achieve is all. I started lifting a few years ago and that has help quite a bit with feeling good about myself for something that has to do with my body yet is not about fat. I do feel physically uncomfortable with extra fat, especially in my stomach area. I can still remember so well what it felt like at my lowest weight. I don't remember what I looked like or how I felt about that, what I do remember is how amazingly light I felt and comfy cuddling up in a ball with myself. It was like I was able to feel closer to my own body (I'm into yoga) and that had a very self nurturing feeling to it. It also made me feel very energetic and gave me a feeling of having fun just being in my body. Right now I feel heavy and burdened and my stomach gets in the way of bending and hugging myself. That probably all sounds rather silly! I also have a hubby that thinks I'm fine just the way I am, no pressure there. This is way more about how I feel in my body than what my body looks like in the mirror. This particular experiment also has a lot to do with wanting to end my obsession with food/dieting and come to a nice normal way of healthy eating and thinking about food.

Wow. I could have written what's bolded above. I feel exactly the same way about my body. I have felt increasingly uncomfortable in my skin over the last year and a half (mine is due to some kind of inflammatory health issue that causes me to retain a LOT of water, despite what/how much I do or do not eat, very frustrating). But the feeling of when I was at my best is what I miss the most. It was light and effortless (I say that even though I was training hard at the time) and my clothes all fit well. I know exactly what you mean about the feeling of cuddling up in a ball with yourself. Lately I can't even get comfortable lying in bed and reading a book. Ugh. Anyway.

I would LOVE to look like Molly. She looks pretty small to me in the pic that she has in the blog post, "My Favorite All-Natural Beauty Products: Part 1".
I wasn't aware of her blog before you linked to it, but I'm really digging it and have subscribed. Good stuff.

[PaleoMom]

Wow. I could have written what's bolded above. I feel exactly the same way about my body. I have felt increasingly uncomfortable in my skin over the last year and a half (mine is due to some kind of inflammatory health issue that causes me to retain a LOT of water, despite what/how much I do or do not eat, very frustrating). But the feeling of when I was at my best is what I miss the most. It was light and effortless (I say that even though I was training hard at the time) and my clothes all fit well. I know exactly what you mean about the feeling of cuddling up in a ball with yourself. Lately I can't even get comfortable lying in bed and reading a book. Ugh. Anyway.

I would LOVE to look like Molly. She looks pretty small to me in the pic that she has in the blog post, "My Favorite All-Natural Beauty Products: Part 1".
I wasn't aware of her blog before you linked to it, but I'm really digging it and have subscribed. Good stuff.

She does look good in that picture. I had watched some videos that looked quite different, not that there is anything wrong with those either, just not what I'm wanting for myself is all.

I really miss the feeling of clothes feeling so easy and comfortable to wear. Bending over didn't cause waistbands to start digging in and shirts either fit or they didn't. There weren't ones that were flattering and others that shouldn't be worn in public. I miss sitting in chairs with my feet up and my knees under my chin, now that just pushes my stomach in so much I feel like I can't breathe comfortably!

I do hope you find out what is happening with your water retention. Have you messed around with changing salt intakes up and down? Sorry if that is way too obvious.

[magicmerl]

There is a local author who's name I can't recall, who has written many books. Back in the 90's in one book she recommended that if M&M's were a problem, to fill a pillowcase and eat freely until the huge craving would go away. Me? I'm a hardcore sugar junkie. I would have eaten them, then filled it over and over.

Correction. You *think* you would have been able to eat them.

That's no different from some young guy thinking he could 'take' whoever the current world heavyweight boxing champion is in a fight.

Just a mistaken assessment of your own abilities.

[Shelly6]

I'm following this thread with interest. I spent the last 10 years eating tons of food with zero nutrition, occasionally yo-yo'ing to ridiculously restrictive "diets", and consequently bitching about how I felt like crap all the time. Since I started experimenting with primal foods in August, it's like my body CANNOT eat enough REAL food. It's like it's screaming "THANK GOD. YOU'RE FINALLY EATING FOOD. THANK GOD. MOAR PLEASE". Part of me hates the fact that I feel like I'm eating 6,000 calories a day (exaggeration obviously), but then the other part of me thinks that I survived on crap food (aka no nutrition) for over a decade, it's going to take awhile for it to chill and finally realize there's no more yo-yo crap or fake food coming its way.
(And linking to another related thread http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread79783.html (Tribal Rob the black hole), I've noticed in the past that I have a habit of eating like a ravenous horse this time of year, but scale WAY back during the warmer months. I'm glad I'm not the only one!)

[eKatherine]

I think that we need way less fat during the warm months. That's why my feet got soft when I ate more fat, but they are always soft in the summer.

[LauraSB]

So I have had a really hard time pulling out of a holiday binge - I guess, I hate to say I know what's really going on - and my eating has been almost out of control for the last 6 weeks. My 1/2 lb/week weight loss budget was right around 1500 cal/day. I have been eating at maintenance for 131lbs most weeks and for 2.5 of them at what should cause 1lb/week gain. And yet, I have hovered between 131 and 133 lbs the whole time. I actually started at 132 lbs and am at 131 right now. I was losing slowly enough prior to this (on 1400 cal/day) that I was worried I'd hit a plateau. There have been a few days in there where I was at 2500 cal, with 1000 of them from alcohol, lol. I am completely free with primal carbs and my high days have hit as high as 250g!

I'm not sure what to make of this. I had been overweight for 25 years and eating crap, so I have no idea what my metabolism is really like. I'm starting to think though that processed food is *way* worse than alcohol or primal carbs and that BMR calculations are much too conservative when you're eating whole foods. I'm not sure how else to explain the fact that an increase of several hundred calories a day has had no impact on my weight.

[gopintos]

How timely - several of them struck a chord for me.

9 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight | Mark's Daily Apple

[Happy Paleo Girl]

She does look good in that picture. I had watched some videos that looked quite different, not that there is anything wrong with those either, just not what I'm wanting for myself is all.

I really miss the feeling of clothes feeling so easy and comfortable to wear. Bending over didn't cause waistbands to start digging in and shirts either fit or they didn't. There weren't ones that were flattering and others that shouldn't be worn in public. I miss sitting in chairs with my feet up and my knees under my chin, now that just pushes my stomach in so much I feel like I can't breathe comfortably!

I do hope you find out what is happening with your water retention. Have you messed around with changing salt intakes up and down? Sorry if that is way too obvious.

Yes, yes, yes! I know exactly how you feel. Clothes are my enemy lately. Getting dressed to go to work is usually the worst part of my day. I can't wait to get home and put on something flowy and comfortable. I currently have drawers and a closet full of clothes that no longer fit.

Salt is obvious, but that's ok. Over the last year and a half that I've been dealing with this and it's been getting worse, I have tried just about everything, obvious or not. I'm currently working with a (pretty crappy, unfortunately) integrative medical doc. and am going to give low dose naltrexone a try. Intuitively it feels like the water retention is due to massive inflammation, which LDN is supposed to help with. Hopefully one day I will get this figured out and won't need to keep buying larger and larger clothes! I'm up 3 sizes at this point.

I agree about Molly's pics - she does look quite a bit larger in some of them.

[ConnieSB]

Busting Bodyweight Exercise Myths

I love her website, I really like her workouts and her attitude about food and exercise!