I know it does not officially "spring" until almost the end of March, but I think it's here in Brownsville. :) It's 74 degrees today, and the sun is beaming. I am enjoying it, and I think my body is saying ahhhhhhh. I feel eating becoming easier as I get more sunshine.
My steps (doing three meals a day with balanced portions and snacks when needed as well as vitamins and brown at night now) and listening to hunger and fullness and paying mind to calories burned and taken in is paying off for me. I have lost a few pounds since the beginning of the year, and I'm just feeling lighter in general since I'm not taking in so many extra calories. Mind you, I am not in "dieting" calorie range either (what all the gurus say... either 2000, 1500 or 1200... eek). I am just nourishing my body with plenty but not too much. I count any day that I eat less than I burn and choose mostly foods that agree with my biochemistry (even if it's only 100 calories less) as a victory for my eating plan. I think because of my biochemistry and my history of bingeing that it is still tough for me at times to know that I've had enough. The numbers show me that clearly...
And the cool thing is that it's painless. I'm not depriving myself at all. I am really happy with the way my 2010 is going so far. If you want a good tool to see why you might be losing, gaining, or maintaining, I like caloriecount.com. I log my foods loosely each day now that I have the hang of it and mostly guesstimate my movement (a couple times during the day when I'm working on checking email). It might sound a bit obsessive, but I find that I need hard numbers to knock me into reality about my habits. :) Writing and counting have always come naturally to me, and putting those things to work works for me. I realize that each person has to work his/her plan in the way that works for him/her. As I'm a sensate person (ISTJ personality), concrete, real numbers and words work for me. I have lots of lists, and this is just one more thing in that vein. :) I use this as my journaling, unlike some who use journals in a much more loose way.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Update on hunger scale and portions
I can tell that my hunger scale is helping me. I am able to stop at 2 much more often than before, and I am able to avoid snacking when not hungry most days. I am pretty pleased with my progress for the last almost two weeks of monitoring my behavior around this.
I do notice, though, that I have to remain vigilant as it is really easy to slip back into just eating til it's gone! At dinner tonight, we ate out, and I ordered my chopped steak just the way I wanted... no gravy or swiss cheese (why put that one there anyway?). I ate part of my salad (it wasn't that great, so why eat it? I focused on the tomatoes and cucumbers), and I ate half of my mashed potatoes and half of my corn and left the rest (my daughter nibbled a bit on those items). I didn't feel the need to clean my plate.
Over the last month, I have lost a couple pounds and a few inches with working on daily exercise habits (yes, I have a daily habit now) and more NEAT movement. I plan to keep this momentum going along with the portions awareness. So, my current goals are these:
1. Exercise in some form each day (walking, wii fit, or gym) for at least 30 minutes
2. Get NEAT movement in so that I am burning at least 3200 calories (I am upping this a bit from where I had it. It seems slow going for me as I realize how sedentary I was before!)
3. Eat three meals with proper nutrients for me and snacks if needed.
4. Listen to hunger/fullness cues. Often, I don't need to clean my plate to feel satisfied.
5. Drink 4 glasses of water. (I am adding this one in. I think I drink around this amount most days, so I will monitor it and raise that level slowly as with the activity, etc).
These are my body/fitness actions. I have chosen, as I might have mentioned, to focus on actions, rather than goals. My goals are slow weight loss (I have not put a number on this as that seems to sabotage me with my history around weight and eating), continued step work this year, and more fitness (I have made strides in that area I can tell by the exercises I am doing now and where I began a couple months back with getting serious about my movement and feeling good). To reach those goals, I am using the list above.
I might write more about a few other non-food/fitness goals another time...
I do notice, though, that I have to remain vigilant as it is really easy to slip back into just eating til it's gone! At dinner tonight, we ate out, and I ordered my chopped steak just the way I wanted... no gravy or swiss cheese (why put that one there anyway?). I ate part of my salad (it wasn't that great, so why eat it? I focused on the tomatoes and cucumbers), and I ate half of my mashed potatoes and half of my corn and left the rest (my daughter nibbled a bit on those items). I didn't feel the need to clean my plate.
Over the last month, I have lost a couple pounds and a few inches with working on daily exercise habits (yes, I have a daily habit now) and more NEAT movement. I plan to keep this momentum going along with the portions awareness. So, my current goals are these:
1. Exercise in some form each day (walking, wii fit, or gym) for at least 30 minutes
2. Get NEAT movement in so that I am burning at least 3200 calories (I am upping this a bit from where I had it. It seems slow going for me as I realize how sedentary I was before!)
3. Eat three meals with proper nutrients for me and snacks if needed.
4. Listen to hunger/fullness cues. Often, I don't need to clean my plate to feel satisfied.
5. Drink 4 glasses of water. (I am adding this one in. I think I drink around this amount most days, so I will monitor it and raise that level slowly as with the activity, etc).
These are my body/fitness actions. I have chosen, as I might have mentioned, to focus on actions, rather than goals. My goals are slow weight loss (I have not put a number on this as that seems to sabotage me with my history around weight and eating), continued step work this year, and more fitness (I have made strides in that area I can tell by the exercises I am doing now and where I began a couple months back with getting serious about my movement and feeling good). To reach those goals, I am using the list above.
I might write more about a few other non-food/fitness goals another time...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Portions...
Portion sizes go right along with calories. I was eating WAY too many calories before and was usually full. No surprise there. I have made some progress but still not enough. My main trouble spots are lunch and dinner. I was thinking just tonight, before I read Sue's blog, strangely, that I'd like to really start listening to my body cues more. I could never hear them before I began eating protein, complex carb, fat, water, etc at each meal. Now I can, and I plan to act on what I hear and learn to honor my body rather than hoard or eat more than I need.
I keep a food journal, and I'm going to begin jotting down a number beside my meals. In the morning, for example, I'll eat oatmeal with protein powder, peanut butter, maybe a little cocoa and tea or water to drink. I think I usually make about the right amount for how hungry I am, and calorie wise, it seems on as well. Nevertheless, I will listen to my body and rate where I stopped eating. As Sue said, my goal is to
eat to comfortable fullness.
That sounds like abundance to me! :)
So, here are the numbers:
1. still hungry (not satisfied physically or mentally)
2. comfortable fullness (body says enough and I can move lightly and not feel heavy)
3. too full (uncomfortable feeling in my belly, wanting to sit are my symptoms of this).
If I feel the need from my head to eat more even though I've reached a 2. on my scale, these are my strategies:
*drink more water
* make conversation if it's at dinner (sometimes I eat with my husband at lunch, too, so that would work, but probably not tomorrow).
*think about how good it feels to feel light and comfortable
*pray and thank God for the meal
*walk away and start something else
*remind myself that if I'm truly hungry later, I can always have a small snack or the next meal!
There will be more food!
I will report in on how this and other goals are coming...
I keep a food journal, and I'm going to begin jotting down a number beside my meals. In the morning, for example, I'll eat oatmeal with protein powder, peanut butter, maybe a little cocoa and tea or water to drink. I think I usually make about the right amount for how hungry I am, and calorie wise, it seems on as well. Nevertheless, I will listen to my body and rate where I stopped eating. As Sue said, my goal is to
eat to comfortable fullness.
That sounds like abundance to me! :)
So, here are the numbers:
1. still hungry (not satisfied physically or mentally)
2. comfortable fullness (body says enough and I can move lightly and not feel heavy)
3. too full (uncomfortable feeling in my belly, wanting to sit are my symptoms of this).
If I feel the need from my head to eat more even though I've reached a 2. on my scale, these are my strategies:
*drink more water
* make conversation if it's at dinner (sometimes I eat with my husband at lunch, too, so that would work, but probably not tomorrow).
*think about how good it feels to feel light and comfortable
*pray and thank God for the meal
*walk away and start something else
*remind myself that if I'm truly hungry later, I can always have a small snack or the next meal!
There will be more food!
I will report in on how this and other goals are coming...
Continuing Resolutions for the New Year
I have been working on my health, eating, etc, but I decided to write down some goals to work on daily. I think that works best for me. I wrote them down and then evaluate each week to see how it's going.
These were my main two goals to do each day:
1. Burn a set amount of calories each day through more NEAT, wii fit, gym, whatever I want to do. I set the amount at 3150 since I was pretty sedentary before. That brings me up to light activity, I think. So far, i have hit that goal every day of the year. :)
2. Eat regular meals on time with healthy components. I wanted to focus here on eating on time since I felt that slipping over the holidays. It is amazing how other people eat! They eat late, late or sparsely. It is really terrible.
And those were the two. It sounds pretty basic, but that seems to work best for me. I really thought about setting a weight goal, but I decided against it. Sometimes, focusing on the steps of the journey give me more success, I think. Setting a number out there makes me want to rebel just thinking about it! :) If I am doing healthy stuff for my body, then there is no rush to get "there." I will post more about something Sue wrote about in her blog that I'm also working on...
These were my main two goals to do each day:
1. Burn a set amount of calories each day through more NEAT, wii fit, gym, whatever I want to do. I set the amount at 3150 since I was pretty sedentary before. That brings me up to light activity, I think. So far, i have hit that goal every day of the year. :)
2. Eat regular meals on time with healthy components. I wanted to focus here on eating on time since I felt that slipping over the holidays. It is amazing how other people eat! They eat late, late or sparsely. It is really terrible.
And those were the two. It sounds pretty basic, but that seems to work best for me. I really thought about setting a weight goal, but I decided against it. Sometimes, focusing on the steps of the journey give me more success, I think. Setting a number out there makes me want to rebel just thinking about it! :) If I am doing healthy stuff for my body, then there is no rush to get "there." I will post more about something Sue wrote about in her blog that I'm also working on...
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Going into the holidays...
As I recently posted, I am working on getting more NEAT into my day. This process has been pretty easy. I reached my goal of 3000 calories burned each day last week (I use the caloriecount site to track this once a day or a couple times a day. It's painless and easy and works well to motivate me). So, this week, I'm taking that up to at least 3100. I noticed how much happier I have felt since standing, walking outside in spurts, going to the park and walking or standing, just doing more. Some days it's been more shopping or cleaning. Last night, it was over an hour of Christmas caroling among other things. It is pretty obvious to me. I am also not sleepy in the afternoons now-- no desire to take a nap AND I'm falling asleep quickly at night. I had been going through a few weeks of tossing and turning (which I blamed on the season and light issues/rain). Now, I'm thinking my body is saying, "yes, I'm tired and ready to sleep. Thanks for the wonderful extra movement today."
This morning and afternoon, my daughter and I baked Christmas cookies. That is a real love of hers: cooking. So, we did that for almost two hours-- all NEAT time. I noticed how easy it was for me to do-- the standing, etc. was not tiresome for me. I'm thinking my body is adjusting to new movement levels and really liking them. We took 3/4 of the cookies to neighbors and wrapped the rest up to have with meals. :)
I don't weigh but a couple times a week, so I'm not really worried about that aspect of things. As I have mentioned before, I have to be careful to keep my focus primarily on doing the steps, eating a reasonable amount, and moving. If I start fixating on numbers too much, I think about how I can speed things up or whatever. I do much better living in the current day and working on health. The times I do see a drop in weight is at those times-- when I focus most on health.
I can tell my body is happy moving like this, and it now sends me messages of ok, time to get up and move. You've been sitting for twenty minutes or thirty minutes. I don't think I've had a two hour block of sitting this whole week! And I have not had to prod myself once or say ok, time to exercise.
If anyone reads this blog, I want to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. :) My family and I will be traveling on the 24th, and my blogging will be null or scarce until January 5th. Until then, eat well and move well. :)
This morning and afternoon, my daughter and I baked Christmas cookies. That is a real love of hers: cooking. So, we did that for almost two hours-- all NEAT time. I noticed how easy it was for me to do-- the standing, etc. was not tiresome for me. I'm thinking my body is adjusting to new movement levels and really liking them. We took 3/4 of the cookies to neighbors and wrapped the rest up to have with meals. :)
I don't weigh but a couple times a week, so I'm not really worried about that aspect of things. As I have mentioned before, I have to be careful to keep my focus primarily on doing the steps, eating a reasonable amount, and moving. If I start fixating on numbers too much, I think about how I can speed things up or whatever. I do much better living in the current day and working on health. The times I do see a drop in weight is at those times-- when I focus most on health.
I can tell my body is happy moving like this, and it now sends me messages of ok, time to get up and move. You've been sitting for twenty minutes or thirty minutes. I don't think I've had a two hour block of sitting this whole week! And I have not had to prod myself once or say ok, time to exercise.
If anyone reads this blog, I want to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. :) My family and I will be traveling on the 24th, and my blogging will be null or scarce until January 5th. Until then, eat well and move well. :)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
More about NEAT
So, I have been trying to put into practice what I know about nutrition and movement along with the steps as usual. I see several options for being healthy and losing weight (slowly). One option is very low calorie eating with little movement other than some NEAT (non-exercise thermogenic activity). Low calorie (very restricted calories between 1500-1900 per day) has never worked for me and was what led to my terrible bingeing/regain last time around. So, I have been cutting calories from a very high level. I have made good strides on that. I am now looking especially at adding more NEAT movement into my life. I am making it to the gym three times a week right now as well.
I think the NEAT movement is the key for me. I have packed on the most weight over the last five years. When my daughter was smaller, I was smaller. I was moving more-- period. I got a lot of compliments on my appearance in the year following her birth, and I was not working out at the gym. I still weighed around 200 lbs. Then, as she got older, I got much more sedentary again. I can sort of see all of this now very clearly. And the weight climbed with that and my unhealthy eating habits (which I always had but which movement helped cancel out to a small degree).
I read a story about a woman who started going to the gym and expended calories and energy there; then, she was so tired the rest of the week, she barely moved. OR she justified barely moving with, "I've already exercised." And guess what? She actually GAINED weight while going to the gym. I also read many, many stories of folks who ditched the gym totally for NEAT and have lost weight and feel great. I think for me, the best thing is to combine the two. I realize the NEAT is the tough one for me, as strange as that sounds.
The small steps I'm taking to get more NEAT in my life are these: get up every 15 minutes and move if I'm on the computer, keep the house as clean as I can on my own with doing chores each day (I have my house cleaned every two weeks so there is always plenty for me to do between times!), shoot for burning at least 3000 calories per day in movement overall. I track movement and calories on caloriecount, and that works well for me to show me the reality of what I'm eating and doing (or not doing. heh).
For now, that is a modest goal. As I have mentioned I was VERY sedentary in the past, and I suspect, I am one of those folks who is biochemically less prone to movement. :) James A. Levine and the NEAT Mayo folks have written about these folks. I'd also say it goes hand in hand with most sugar sensitivity. So, the trick is to be aware of that propensity to couch sit and fight back. Some things I am doing/planning to begin for NEAT each day:
1. Get up and walk/move every 15 minutes.
2. Do at least one load of laundry per day.
3. Do some dishes each day.
4. Cook when I can rather than going out.
5. Take a walk at night for ten or more minutes.
6. Work on a project for 15 minutes at least once a day (wrapping presents, for example)
7. Make my bed each morning.
8. Take a short walk during the day whenever I feel like it (even for 5 minutes).
9. Stretch for five or ten minutes when I feel stiff.
10. Play at the park with my daughter or walk there while she plays.
11. Go to the store and shop (yes, this counts as neat movement).
12. Park far away and walk (I do this much more often now. I used to try to park close. I really was sedentary!!).
And there are many more... I'll add to a list as I find others that I do.
So, my goal from now to Dec. 19th is to expend 3000 calories or more per day. I'll report back on how that went and changes I feel/see if any. Then, I'll see how easy/tough that was and up it slowly. And now, I'm going to get up... and move! :)
I think the NEAT movement is the key for me. I have packed on the most weight over the last five years. When my daughter was smaller, I was smaller. I was moving more-- period. I got a lot of compliments on my appearance in the year following her birth, and I was not working out at the gym. I still weighed around 200 lbs. Then, as she got older, I got much more sedentary again. I can sort of see all of this now very clearly. And the weight climbed with that and my unhealthy eating habits (which I always had but which movement helped cancel out to a small degree).
I read a story about a woman who started going to the gym and expended calories and energy there; then, she was so tired the rest of the week, she barely moved. OR she justified barely moving with, "I've already exercised." And guess what? She actually GAINED weight while going to the gym. I also read many, many stories of folks who ditched the gym totally for NEAT and have lost weight and feel great. I think for me, the best thing is to combine the two. I realize the NEAT is the tough one for me, as strange as that sounds.
The small steps I'm taking to get more NEAT in my life are these: get up every 15 minutes and move if I'm on the computer, keep the house as clean as I can on my own with doing chores each day (I have my house cleaned every two weeks so there is always plenty for me to do between times!), shoot for burning at least 3000 calories per day in movement overall. I track movement and calories on caloriecount, and that works well for me to show me the reality of what I'm eating and doing (or not doing. heh).
For now, that is a modest goal. As I have mentioned I was VERY sedentary in the past, and I suspect, I am one of those folks who is biochemically less prone to movement. :) James A. Levine and the NEAT Mayo folks have written about these folks. I'd also say it goes hand in hand with most sugar sensitivity. So, the trick is to be aware of that propensity to couch sit and fight back. Some things I am doing/planning to begin for NEAT each day:
1. Get up and walk/move every 15 minutes.
2. Do at least one load of laundry per day.
3. Do some dishes each day.
4. Cook when I can rather than going out.
5. Take a walk at night for ten or more minutes.
6. Work on a project for 15 minutes at least once a day (wrapping presents, for example)
7. Make my bed each morning.
8. Take a short walk during the day whenever I feel like it (even for 5 minutes).
9. Stretch for five or ten minutes when I feel stiff.
10. Play at the park with my daughter or walk there while she plays.
11. Go to the store and shop (yes, this counts as neat movement).
12. Park far away and walk (I do this much more often now. I used to try to park close. I really was sedentary!!).
And there are many more... I'll add to a list as I find others that I do.
So, my goal from now to Dec. 19th is to expend 3000 calories or more per day. I'll report back on how that went and changes I feel/see if any. Then, I'll see how easy/tough that was and up it slowly. And now, I'm going to get up... and move! :)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Back to Basics...
As a person with addictive biochemistry, I constantly have to return to basics. That means remembering that above all I choose that:
My life will be shaped by recovery.
If I let it, other obsessions will come right in and try to get my focus off of recovery (calorie counting or cutting portions or restriction of some sort will become a main focus). And every time, I will feel worse rather than better. For example, if I focus too much on calorie counting, I will only want that or weight loss. Then, recovery takes a back burner, and for the addict, this begins the slide into sugar, depression and other life/radiance killers.
So, today, my recovery steps were on step 4: eating a good breakfast within the hour, solid lunch, plenty of water, fish oil and vits, exercise at the gym and NEAT movement more purposefully, paying attention to portions/calories.
The portions/calories stuff takes its rightful place as one of the LAST things for me to focus on. If the program stuff is not happening, I can guarantee that the calories and portions will be crazy (and I see a correlation between sloppy program and overeating. Wow. Shocker!)
So, what I'm seeing again (and again and again? LOL as a slow learner) is that the program is the foundation for me. There is nothing like it in terms of what it has done for me and what it continues to do. Any other things I do are just small blocks I've added, but the foundation is the core. If I make something else a core, it is a warning to me that I'm looking for a "hit"-- some excitement rather than doing the work of recovery.
In the past, all diets have given me "hits" because they were short term and gave some results quickly in terms of pounds. Recovery is for life. It is like time released happiness. :) But it does NOT provide the hits that living in addiction did. Being mindful of this difference is key for me.
So, feeling radiant today and thankful...
My life will be shaped by recovery.
If I let it, other obsessions will come right in and try to get my focus off of recovery (calorie counting or cutting portions or restriction of some sort will become a main focus). And every time, I will feel worse rather than better. For example, if I focus too much on calorie counting, I will only want that or weight loss. Then, recovery takes a back burner, and for the addict, this begins the slide into sugar, depression and other life/radiance killers.
So, today, my recovery steps were on step 4: eating a good breakfast within the hour, solid lunch, plenty of water, fish oil and vits, exercise at the gym and NEAT movement more purposefully, paying attention to portions/calories.
The portions/calories stuff takes its rightful place as one of the LAST things for me to focus on. If the program stuff is not happening, I can guarantee that the calories and portions will be crazy (and I see a correlation between sloppy program and overeating. Wow. Shocker!)
So, what I'm seeing again (and again and again? LOL as a slow learner) is that the program is the foundation for me. There is nothing like it in terms of what it has done for me and what it continues to do. Any other things I do are just small blocks I've added, but the foundation is the core. If I make something else a core, it is a warning to me that I'm looking for a "hit"-- some excitement rather than doing the work of recovery.
In the past, all diets have given me "hits" because they were short term and gave some results quickly in terms of pounds. Recovery is for life. It is like time released happiness. :) But it does NOT provide the hits that living in addiction did. Being mindful of this difference is key for me.
So, feeling radiant today and thankful...
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