6 Things you can do to avoid snacking: Free PDF Poster
Category Archives: Weight Control
March 31, 2007 — Just 4 Today
Just 4 Today, I’ll take my fiber supplement twice, drink 2 liters of water and weigh myself (done). And walk 3 times today for 15 minutes each time (3415!).
The weight is holding totally steady at 165. So I guess I balanced out the slightly extra large serving of dinner last night with the sightly more walking I’ve been doing all week. I’m reminding myself that this control is the most important thing. It’s way more important for me to learn control than to be losing weight.
Still, I’m a little worried about what will happen when Lent is over. I gave up chocolate for Lent. And that’s kept me out of trouble more days than I could possibly admit.
I’ll have to come up with something to replace it. Maybe give up chocolate as long as we’re in Iraq? That could last the rest of my life….
What are you trying to control? Just Today?
Healthy Eating
Healthy Eating is an interesting YouTube video series by UrgeIt. There’s virtually no staging or editing. He’s an older man (maybe my age) sitting on a chair, possibly in his kitchen, with a towel or something hanging on a hook behind his head. And some bottles off to the side. Sometimes his head and face aren’t completely on camera.
Still, he’s thinking about the sorts of things we talk about here and I thought I’d share some of them here now and then.
I was pretty nervous watching #1 which focuses on the benefits of coconut oil. And he acknowledges that this idea makes people nervous. He discusses some of the history of coconut oil as a food additive for pigs. (If anyone knows more about coconut oil, please share it. I’m going to see what I can find out too)
The second one (Healthy Eating #2) isn’t so radical — at least I didn’t think so. He discusses the concept of dieting and the benefits of permanent lifestyle changes instead. Take a look and see what you think.
( Sadly, he’s blocked embedding, so all I can give you is the links. )
Lunch time fake-out: One Lunch IS enough
Once again, it’s lunchtime and I finished eating about 1/2 hour ago. So why am I still hungry?
I have a pseudo-belief that my body wants to hang onto every ounce it’s got. And so, whenever it gets the chance it settles on a plateau and hangs on for all it’s worth. And it’s frustrating, discouraging, to hit one. It just doesn’t seem fair to put so much effort into watching what I eat and get (what seems like) nothing in return.
So, I was thinking about my diet plateau this morning — but in a good way for once. It occurred to me that this 3 week plateau isn’t such a bad thing to experience: Now I have a pretty good idea how much I have to eat to maintain my weight. That there isn’t room for deep fried treats like apple fritters (650 calories!) But there is room for the odd slice of bread with dinner.
And I was thinking about those numbers I wrote about yesterday. And that if I want to listen to what they’re trying to tell me, I’ll get a pretty good idea of what I need to do to jump-start my weight loss again.
Because it just wouldn’t be that hard to make significant changes:
- Walk 1 extra mile (for almost 100 calories)
- Don’t eat that piece of bread with dinner
- No more graham crackers
pseudo-belief
That’s it. If I just do that everyday, I’ll start to lose weight. Except that my body REALLY doesn’t want to give up a single ounce.
What is your lunch time fake-out?
Commitment by the Numbers
The first number is 165 — I haven’t gained or lost any weight to speak of for weeks. Every morning this number is one of the first things I see. And, in a sense, I’m getting sick of it. On the other hand, it’s not 170. That would make me much more than sick.
1,750 the next number — the number of calories in 1/2-pound. When I was gaining that 1/2-pound a week, this was the critical number. That or 250, the number of calories I was overeating every day.
And those are seriously puny numbers. Tiny, tiny mistakes that added up to 15 pounds over those 30 weeks when I wasn’t being quite as obsessive about my eating habits.
Hanging on
0 — not such a bad number, all things considered. Not great — but I see it as a reasonable compromise. And a reminder that this weight control thing is possible. I mean, zero pretty much proves I’m controlling something. Doesn’t it?
So today I had lunch. It was a tasty sandwich (with piles of romaine lettuce & tomatoes) and baby carrots (from Aldi — not woody in taste or texture) and you’d think it would be filling. But, I’m still starving. It shouldn’t be possible. But, I’m really (even after typing all this) really hungry.
After dithering around for a while, I went out to find a little something (maybe a roll?) to eat. But, as I walked up the street, I thought about the number of calories in a roll (not even a pastry) — and it could easily be a couple of hundred calories. It would certainly be over a hundred calories.
And I started thinking about the power of small numbers. And the cost of those tiny numbers. And whether I had lasting pleasure of any of those other snacks I had during the months when my weight was creeping up 1/2-pound a week.
I turned the corner — away from the bakery and the tempting shops.
And I kept walking.