I solved my cravings issues. After developing a food intolerance, I planned a diet that included enough salt, fruit, vegetables, protein, fat, everything. Because I was ensuring that I got everything that I needed every day, my cravings went away. I stuck to that diet for years, with 20% less calories than I needed. I didn’t miss them. I discovered that counting calories for each meal was such a chore for me that it would ruin my willpower. So I made a meal plan that had everything already counted out, provided enough variety to keep me from getting bored, and was designed for fast cooking so I wouldn’t get tempted to snack instead of sticking to my meals. I stuck to that diet for years, and consistently lost weight.
From what I can tell, my entire problem with “lack of willpower” was actually imbalanced nutrition. I’d fail to eat enough salt one day and then find myself pigging out on pizza the next. I’d eat a lot of seeds one day and wouldn’t feel satisfied, so I’d keep eating them. I’ve stopped binges by adding salt and I’ve noticed that if I eat vegetables with my seeds, I feel satisfied much sooner.
Also, I think food additives cause me cravings. Sometimes there is a processed food item I can’t stop eating once I start, but a home made version doesn’t have the same effect. I make everything from scratch on my diet (not as time-consuming as it sounds because I maximize efficiency) and I think that was a large part of my success.
There are a lot of things that help. Here is a list with yours at the top. It definitely helped me. Perhaps part of the problem is that people are looking for a single thing that will solve the problem. For many people, myself included, you need to get a lot of things right.
Ensure no micro-nutrient deficiencies. And note that different people have very different needs.
Ecological issues—control over the accessibility of fattening foods. (No chocolate under the desk)
Avoid excessive stress. Including lack of sleep, pain, infections as well as the boss shouting at you a lot.
Optimum amount of exercise. Too much energy depleting hard “cardio” can cause
Build up lean body mass through strength training. The right strength training not some rubbish inflicted on you by a minimally trained instructor.
Optimum nutrition timing. Some people thrive on one meal a day, and find eating more often makes them hungry, others need to graze.
Sufficient bulkiness of food to stimulate the stomach’s stretch receptors.
Sufficient of the various macro-nutrients (glucose equivalents, proteins including correct amino acid mix, the various forms of fats (eg Omega 3s and Omega 6s).
Compensate for metabolic defects. Eg some people have trouble turning short chain Omega 3s into long chain Omega 3s. Similarly carotene / vitamin A. You may need to supplement the exact thing you need.
Avoid appetite stimulants (eg caffeols which are in coffee including decaf but not in caffeine tablets).
Avoid highly glycemic food in large quantities due to insulin spikes and rebound hunger (chinese restaurant effect).
You may have to deal with some psychological issues around food. This is very common. Food is a common tool used to make many forms of psychological pain go away for a while. None of the above will help with that.
I was 80kg with very low muscle mass so my body fat was probably around 30%. I lost weight to about 67kg and have put weight on back up to 74kg, mostly muscle*. My waist has overall gone from 104cm to about 90cm
The process took about 10 years with many ups and downs and setbacks. I want to get back under 70kg. The major outstanding problem is that I tend to gain weight in Fall when the days are getting shorter.
This at 165cm in height.
*I found at I have low Testosterone levels which probably contributed to my difficulties in losing fat in particular. The recent gains in weight are linked to increased muscle mass resulting from normalizing my Testosterone levels combined with HIIT and resistance training.
I like this list. I especially like the fact that it is very explicit about different things working for different people—there is no one magic pill/exercise/diet that works for everyone!!eleven!
12 You may have to deal with some psychological issues around food. This is very common. Food is a common tool used to make many forms of psychological pain go away for a while. None of the above will help with that.
And number 12 is a biggie. It receives very little research because it’s hard to quantify, measure, control for, it’s very diverse, etc. but my impression is that for many people it’s the real reason they have weight problems they can’t get a handle on.
Yes I agree . . . there is apparently a significant problem with alcoholism among people who get weight loss surgery and I suspect this is part of the reason.
I’m told there can be a physical component to that—weight loss surgery that involves changes to the intestinal layout means alcohol gets absorbed more quickly (most liquid is absorbed in the large intestine), meaning patients get drunker quicker. A quick Google supports this—apparently the higher alcoholism rates haven’t been found in association with lap band surgery, which doesn’t affect the intestines.
it is plausible that rate of absorbtion would affect the addictiveness of alcohol.
Doesn’t look too plausible to me. There are easy ways to increase the rate of absorption of alcohol, for example drink on an empty stomach, or drink carbonated alcoholic drinks. I haven’t heard of these behaviors being associated with alcoholism.
Doesn’t look too plausible to me. There are easy ways to increase the rate of absorption of alcohol, for example drink on an empty stomach, or drink carbonated alcoholic drinks. I haven’t heard of these behaviors being associated with alcoholism.
That’s an interesting point too. The basis for my reasoning above is Paul Graham’s idea that if you take something you like and make it more intense it increases the potential for addiction. I do agree that the examples you give go against this intuition. What are the drinks of choice for alcoholics? There is the stereotype of the wino but not the champagne-o.
I thought champagne referred to wine from the Champagne region of France.
It’s interesting, the use of the word “champagne” is somewhat controversial. I believe that it used to be that you could call carbonated wine “champagne” if it were prepared in the Champagne style. According to Wikipedia, they changed the law in 2006 but grandfathered wines which were sold before then.
Anyway, this is a bit of a side issue. If you don’t want to call it “champagne,” you can call it “sparkling wine” and the same argument applies.
Differences in the rate of absorption can definitely be important to addiction; oral amphetamines are not particularly addictive, but amphetamines taken in other ways that increase absorption rate are very addictive. And the last I checked the research on that, there wasn’t much understanding of exactly why the line there is where it is. Perhaps alcohol just works completely differently, but it is also possible that drinking on an empty stomach, or drinking carbonated drinks, doesn’t increase absorption enough to make a difference. Or perhaps it does make a difference, but not enough to have turned up in any research yet; this isn’t an area where small effects would be easy to detect.
I would add as EY says some people just have it tough. There are some populations with a legacy of severe famine who are tremendously prone to weight gain. Epigenetic effects from childhood illness, hunger, neglect or abuse seem also to be a factor in some people.
Various illnesses also cause weight gain eg Cushing’s syndrome.
I solved my cravings issues. After developing a food intolerance, I planned a diet that included enough salt, fruit, vegetables, protein, fat, everything. Because I was ensuring that I got everything that I needed every day, my cravings went away. I stuck to that diet for years, with 20% less calories than I needed. I didn’t miss them. I discovered that counting calories for each meal was such a chore for me that it would ruin my willpower. So I made a meal plan that had everything already counted out, provided enough variety to keep me from getting bored, and was designed for fast cooking so I wouldn’t get tempted to snack instead of sticking to my meals. I stuck to that diet for years, and consistently lost weight.
From what I can tell, my entire problem with “lack of willpower” was actually imbalanced nutrition. I’d fail to eat enough salt one day and then find myself pigging out on pizza the next. I’d eat a lot of seeds one day and wouldn’t feel satisfied, so I’d keep eating them. I’ve stopped binges by adding salt and I’ve noticed that if I eat vegetables with my seeds, I feel satisfied much sooner.
Also, I think food additives cause me cravings. Sometimes there is a processed food item I can’t stop eating once I start, but a home made version doesn’t have the same effect. I make everything from scratch on my diet (not as time-consuming as it sounds because I maximize efficiency) and I think that was a large part of my success.
There are a lot of things that help. Here is a list with yours at the top. It definitely helped me. Perhaps part of the problem is that people are looking for a single thing that will solve the problem. For many people, myself included, you need to get a lot of things right.
Ensure no micro-nutrient deficiencies. And note that different people have very different needs.
Ecological issues—control over the accessibility of fattening foods. (No chocolate under the desk)
Avoid excessive stress. Including lack of sleep, pain, infections as well as the boss shouting at you a lot.
Optimum amount of exercise. Too much energy depleting hard “cardio” can cause
Build up lean body mass through strength training. The right strength training not some rubbish inflicted on you by a minimally trained instructor.
Optimum nutrition timing. Some people thrive on one meal a day, and find eating more often makes them hungry, others need to graze.
Sufficient bulkiness of food to stimulate the stomach’s stretch receptors.
Sufficient of the various macro-nutrients (glucose equivalents, proteins including correct amino acid mix, the various forms of fats (eg Omega 3s and Omega 6s).
Compensate for metabolic defects. Eg some people have trouble turning short chain Omega 3s into long chain Omega 3s. Similarly carotene / vitamin A. You may need to supplement the exact thing you need.
Avoid appetite stimulants (eg caffeols which are in coffee including decaf but not in caffeine tablets).
Avoid highly glycemic food in large quantities due to insulin spikes and rebound hunger (chinese restaurant effect).
You may have to deal with some psychological issues around food. This is very common. Food is a common tool used to make many forms of psychological pain go away for a while. None of the above will help with that.
Many more.
Would you mind sharing your weight loss history and current status?
I was 80kg with very low muscle mass so my body fat was probably around 30%. I lost weight to about 67kg and have put weight on back up to 74kg, mostly muscle*. My waist has overall gone from 104cm to about 90cm
The process took about 10 years with many ups and downs and setbacks. I want to get back under 70kg. The major outstanding problem is that I tend to gain weight in Fall when the days are getting shorter.
This at 165cm in height.
*I found at I have low Testosterone levels which probably contributed to my difficulties in losing fat in particular. The recent gains in weight are linked to increased muscle mass resulting from normalizing my Testosterone levels combined with HIIT and resistance training.
I like this list. I especially like the fact that it is very explicit about different things working for different people—there is no one magic pill/exercise/diet that works for everyone!!eleven!
And number 12 is a biggie. It receives very little research because it’s hard to quantify, measure, control for, it’s very diverse, etc. but my impression is that for many people it’s the real reason they have weight problems they can’t get a handle on.
Yes I agree . . . there is apparently a significant problem with alcoholism among people who get weight loss surgery and I suspect this is part of the reason.
I’m told there can be a physical component to that—weight loss surgery that involves changes to the intestinal layout means alcohol gets absorbed more quickly (most liquid is absorbed in the large intestine), meaning patients get drunker quicker. A quick Google supports this—apparently the higher alcoholism rates haven’t been found in association with lap band surgery, which doesn’t affect the intestines.
That’s really interesting. When I think about it, it is plausible that rate of absorbtion would affect the addictiveness of alcohol.
Doesn’t look too plausible to me. There are easy ways to increase the rate of absorption of alcohol, for example drink on an empty stomach, or drink carbonated alcoholic drinks. I haven’t heard of these behaviors being associated with alcoholism.
That’s an interesting point too. The basis for my reasoning above is Paul Graham’s idea that if you take something you like and make it more intense it increases the potential for addiction. I do agree that the examples you give go against this intuition. What are the drinks of choice for alcoholics? There is the stereotype of the wino but not the champagne-o.
That’s because alcoholics generally can’t afford champagne on a regular basis.
A SodaStream and a bottle of vodka leads to… interesting results quickly and cheaply.
I don’t see why not . . . it doesn’t cost much to carbonate liquids, agreed?
I thought champagne referred to wine from the Champagne region of France.
It’s interesting, the use of the word “champagne” is somewhat controversial. I believe that it used to be that you could call carbonated wine “champagne” if it were prepared in the Champagne style. According to Wikipedia, they changed the law in 2006 but grandfathered wines which were sold before then.
Anyway, this is a bit of a side issue. If you don’t want to call it “champagne,” you can call it “sparkling wine” and the same argument applies.
Differences in the rate of absorption can definitely be important to addiction; oral amphetamines are not particularly addictive, but amphetamines taken in other ways that increase absorption rate are very addictive. And the last I checked the research on that, there wasn’t much understanding of exactly why the line there is where it is. Perhaps alcohol just works completely differently, but it is also possible that drinking on an empty stomach, or drinking carbonated drinks, doesn’t increase absorption enough to make a difference. Or perhaps it does make a difference, but not enough to have turned up in any research yet; this isn’t an area where small effects would be easy to detect.
I would add as EY says some people just have it tough. There are some populations with a legacy of severe famine who are tremendously prone to weight gain. Epigenetic effects from childhood illness, hunger, neglect or abuse seem also to be a factor in some people.
Various illnesses also cause weight gain eg Cushing’s syndrome.