I used to wake up at night and eat
...including out of the trashcan
15 years ago, by all standards, I was obese and pre-diabetic.
I used to wake up in the middle of the night. I was thirsty but I ended up eating. I used to eat anything I could get my hands on, no discrimination. Then I used to go to bed – tranquil.
✅ I WAS A “CHAMPION”
I used to continue with a big bowl of cereal in the morning – after all, I needed the fiber, right? But most of all I needed the energy.
What could be better for someone doing “fitness”?
I used to get fitness classes subscriptions. I used to attend fitness classes 3-4 times a week, for 2 hours each session. I used to work out a lot.
Besides fitness classes, I also used to cycle, rollerblade and sometimes go swimming.
I was really active, I always enjoyed exercising.
Exercise and the fact I never enjoyed alcohol have helped me avoid completely destroying my body.
I used to be a regular fat guy. You know the type: “just suck in your gut a little bit” and “you’re tall, you can’t tell you’re fat”.
✅ I DESERVED IT
I remember that after those fitness classes I used to think I deserved something sweet.
In my mind, 2 hours of fitness classes would burn billions of calories.
Actually, out of the 2 hours, the real exercise time was 2 x 45 minutes. Add in the warm-up time and I basically ended up with a truly 2 x 35 minutes of intense exercise.
It’s not like I was an athlete or anything. I got my sweat on and that was it.
Meaning: for a man weighing 100 kg = a maximum of 500 calories in one intense hour of exercising (from 2 cumulated classes).
What was very much in fashion at that time: oatmeal cookies. Or that was my perception, at least.
I used to buy oatmeal cookies because I was under the impression that if oat was included in the recipe, then the product must be something special, right?
I was under the vague impression that oatmeal was recommended for its fiber intake or something.
So oatmeal cookies must be healthy.
✅ FIBER
Of course oat does have some fiber content. But in order for a woman to get the necessary daily fiber intake she should eat 1000 calories worth of oatmeal.
If you have just a little bit of knowledge, you can benefit from the same fiber intake from 600 calories of avocado.
Even that weird stuff called Wasa is superior to oatmeal when it comes to fiber intake. Meaning you can get 25 grams of fiber from 500 calories of Wasa.
Anyone can get a decent fiber intake from high-calorie diet. Of course you’ll be emptying out your bank account on all sorts of stupid things – if you lack the knowledge.
If you’re a pro, you can get 25 grams of fiber from vegetables and fruit.
385 grams of raspberries contain 25 grams of fiber within just 200 calories;
500 grams of blackberries containg 25 grams of fiber within a similar 200 calories.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, carrots, even strawberries represent low-calorie, high-volume options – not to mention they are also rich in minerals and vitamins.
If you’ll eat vegetables and fruits, like you normally should, then you won’t be buying exotic foods (avocado) or expensive, processed products (Wasa) or horse food (oatmeal).
It’s OK, no one was born with the knowledge embedded into their brain by default.
✅ A PIG’S LIFE
Only very late in my life did I realize that oatmeal is food destined to make farm animals fat.
My grandfather used to feed oatmeal to the horses when going out with a fully loaded buggy for tens of kilometers.
Never mind that the first 3 ingredients on the label were wheat flour, sugar and hydrogenated fats.
The magic of oatmeal was making me blind to the obvious.
✅ DISCERNING
Many times, I used to eat half a bag of cookies. After that, I used to throw it in the trashcan in my attempt to minimize the damage.
But what a surprise! At night, thirst used to wake me up. Then I would immediately remember I had dessert in the trashcan.
I used to pick the bag right out of the trashcan and eat my “worries” away.
✅ SOLUTIONS
History kept repeating. I was constantly thinking what to do to stop eating at night. Stop eating out of the trashcan. Until one day when the solution presented itself to me.
I would partially eat the contents of the cookie bag. Then I would take the bug spray recipient and spray the cookies inside the bag.
Then I would throw the bag in the trashcan and effectively get rid of my worries.
I subsequently learned that the key point where I needed to invest some willpower was when shopping.
Over time, I learned to avoid bringing “treats” inside the house. We all know what happens then: if there is junk food in the house, it’s only a matter of times until it gets in our bellies.
If you like reading these nice articles over morning coffee and want full access to over 400 premium articles, would you be open to support my publication for 0.2 eurocents a day?