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Isn't it a bit unfair?
An_249810 posted:
Today I saw the e-mail from WebMD (join the Food and Fitness Plan). However I am a bit concerned about it and I think it is unfair even though it is not my place to judge, probably.
The thing is, I have a friend, who sleeps on most days 10 or more hours and here I am, sometimes I get barely 4 hours. Being up and running for 20 hours a day is not an easy feat of course, so after I signed up for the Plan, I realized that it was kind of a mistake to think it was suitable for me.
This is half of the day (5pm); my calorie intake is currently at 900 calories and I barely ate anything compared to my non-diet schedule. I always try to buy and eat from low calorie food options. So I am guessing to be able to make it to 1400 calories, I have to starve a bit...
Isn't it a bit unfair that even though my friend and I have nearly same amount of activity going on in total during our wake time, yet she can eat 3 meals and be done with 1300 calories and here I am, trying to stop eating my 7th meal... The unfairness isn't because of our different lifestyles but because I can't even get a proper suggestion for my food intake on a very famous health website.
abnersmom responded:
Hi, Comparing one's self to another person is never a good idea in any area, but especially food intake. Yes, you will have some hunger at 1400 cals, but it is doable if you make the right food choices. I have gone from 265 to 150 since June 2011. It took me a while and I only ate 1200 cals most days, but I did it and have now been maintaining for about 3 months. I eat no processed foods, lots of fresh or frozen veggies, some fruit, whole grains, lean proteins and low fat dairy. I do not keep any junk food in my house as I know I cannot resist those chips!

I'm not as good about logging my food now, but I have learned what I need to consume for nutrition and I keep up with everything I consume even if I don't log it or write it down. The food log kept me honest at first.

Eating well may not be "fair" or easy, but I promise you it is worth it for your health!!
SueAnne8556 replied to PetuniaPea's response:
When you don't sleep enough, your body creates cortisol, because of stress to the body. that makes you gain. I work 3rd shift, and most of us are sleep deprived and gained weight when we started this shift. I have had the most luck with lowering my sugar and carb intake and trying to sleep as much as possible.
sasach replied to PetuniaPea's response:
It's not that I'm not sleeping enough. It's just I can't I seem to wake up at the same hour everyday, doesn't matter even if I am extremely tired or had never moved an inch that day.
My friend hates sleeping, too. We kind of envy each other. She says when she sleeps 8 hours, she feels like punching someone, only 10 hours is enough for her. (She thinks 8 hours is too much, too, since we work more than half of the day and she has no time for herself and her hobbies, or even her family)

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I haven't been eating enough fruits and veggies lately (even my honey and herbal teas). I will definitely take this up.
PetuniaPea replied to sasach's response:
Try eating more foods that contain tryptophan and melatonin. You can look them up online... 10 hrs is too much sleep!
PetuniaPea responded:
Hi again, my original post got deleted because I had noticed that it repeated twice (maybe I pushed the reply button twice?), so I contacted the moderator to delete the DUPLICATE post, but they ended up deleted BOTH. So I'm basically recapping what I had originally wrote after abnersmom, so that the future posts make sense!

I had said in my original post that lack of sleep can cause you to gain weight because it can make you hungrier during the day. I also had said that it wasn't unfair because your friend found out what works for her, you just have to do the same.

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