I’m not eating between meals and I’m not taking seconds. Just today. And I’ll try this for a year to see what happens.
I talk a lot about not eating between meals (probably because I spend so much time not doing it.) But, the part about not taking seconds is just as important to my commitment (and yes – for the worriers – portion control matters) and for me it’s especially an issue at dinner time.
Breakfast and lunch are always the same thing — cereal & coffee for breakfast then a sandwich for lunch. But dinner could be anything and sometimes it’s very tempting to get a little more.
But there are two things helping me keep my commitment. First is the fact that for some reason if I have seconds of any pasta dish I wake up in the middle of the night with a terrible, horrible pain in my lower gut, it’s the worst thing and it comes in the depth of the middle of the night (I finally learned that drinking 5 glasses of water very quickly makes the pain go away within 15 minutes. Before that it went on with no relief for hours).
Second is my blood sugar — the more I eat and the longer I spend eating extra food, the longer my blood sugar will stay elevated. I relearn this lesson regularly, so I know that even though I’ve lost a lot of weight, it’s still very much a concern (just read yesterdays Commitment Discussion for the proof of this)
So for me those two issues are my enforcers — but the proof of the effectiveness of it all is that my weight is steadily going down in spite of virtually no exercise for these last 2 weeks and my gut never hurts any more and my blood sugar is (mostly) under control.
And that all comes from the little discussed piece of the commitment: Not taking seconds.
What helps you keep to the commitment? And can you see direct benefits yet to either piece of it?
5 Comments
The biggest effect for me is on my energy levels. I’ve never been a morning person, but since I’ve started eating breakfast, I find my brain actually firing before 10am. I’m also sleeping better now that I am giving myself 2-3 hours between dinner and bedtime.
As for weight, I’m not sure of the effects of my new eating habits because I also have to do exercises and stretches for the Total Body Makeover. All-in-all though, I feel much healthier than I did 5 1/2 weeks ago.
I’ve only been lurking here but all of your comments are so inspiring. I need to lose at least 30 lbs. But, the hiatal hernia has been an odd blessing in disguise since it’s so damn unpleasant to eat that I find myself avoiding it until I’m so hungry I can’t stand it. That’s not good, of course. My doc prescribed Prilosec and that does help enormously but, if by chance I forget and bend over shortly after I’ve eaten, it all comes up. Then, there’s that extremely uncomfortable FULL feeling that last for 6-7 hours after I’ve eaten, and I hate that feeling. Anyway, I had to go to the doc last week, and the nurse told me I’ve lost 14 lbs. since last November. (I don’t have scales anymore, and am kind of glad so I only check at the doc’s.)
The other complication for me is that I take some medications that only work well on an empty stomach. And, one of them, Ambien for my lifelong insomnia (what a gift Ambien has been), requires a completely empty tummy. So I don’t eat anymore after about 2-3pm becaue it takes so long for my stomach to empty.
Didn’t mean to make this about my little anomalies. Mostly just wanted to say that you’re ALL so INSPIRING! Katiebird’s signature has LONG been a great motivator and her courage in using that signature bowled me over.
P.S. One little effect of the missing 14 lbs. is that I feel a bit lighter, and I dance a bit now to music — god help anyone who’d see me – but I feel “wigglier” than I used to. Like my hips aren’t quite as encased in lard as they used to be.
Oh, Susan — What a tangle of competing requirements — it’s not surprising that you’ve been losing weight. Have you tried eating more frequent, but much smaller meals? I know that takes a lot more planning and time. Also, is there information out there (the library maybe?) on how long different foods take to digest? Maybe you could eat your heaviest meal (but still small because of the bending over problem) at lunch and those small light (maybe fruit or salad) meals later in the afternoon.
In a way it isn’t so different from the diabetic problem. We’re trying to find a way to eat without disturbing our blood and kidneys. You’re trying to fake out your tummy. It sounds like you need a little more information about the digestive process and how the various elements work together.
Oh, and making sure you’re eating the right portions could help. With just a quick search, I found this page with a good explanation of portions. And there are many more out there.
Good luck!!
Thanks, Katie. Hey, I really like the auto-typing. It helps me see my typos.
Well, I’ve gotten down to eating once a day. I used to eat a 7-grain cereal with raw walnuts and raisins in the morning (and, ahem, butter – yummy — but NO sugar / am not a sugar nut). And then I’d eat around 2. But it was too much. So now I”m just waiting to eat until about 11-noon or sometimes until 1-2pm, and then that’s all i eat.
‘cept I get hungry, and eat little bits — a piece of cheese/a few nuts or something like that. I try not to eat more than that, but it’s really hard because I’m still hungry. However i don’t dare eat more.
I am going through a whole lot less butter than I used to, which is great.
My favorite meal that I fix for myself is a boned/skinned chicken breast that I get from Sunny Farms, which is a local market that sells its own meat and has its own butchers on hand. Totally different food experience than the supermarket chickens. And I bought a huge bag of those stir-fry vegetables from Costco — those are SO good. I saute the chicken in lots of butter (ahem), onion, freshly minced garlic and some spices … about five minutes before it’s ready, I toss in a bunch of the frozen stir-fry veggies.
Sometimes I think that hernia was like a free stomach-stapling surgery. ha!
Being hungry won’t kill me. I do try to be sure I eat enough protein and green/orange/red foods. Losing weight will HELP my back a lot.
But the last time I got really svelte, I had to do weight-lifting .. at home, of course, because the gym is too boring and i could do it front of the tv. Ankle weights — boy, do those firm up the tush, tummy and legs. Don’t think those are realistic anymore, but you young’uns can do those.
Manny — I know what you mean about breakfast changing your mornings. Me too. And I’m glad I got in the breakfast habit when I did because now just about the best part of my day is doing my morning articles while I eat breakfast and drink coffee.
Susan, I wish you would look into the tiny portions, more often possibility. I just think it could help keep it all from coming right back up when you bend over. Of course, if you’ve tried it — then I’ll shut up.