Monday, May 26, 2008
Pendulum Swings
One day I eat well, two days I overeat. I pigged out Saturday, fasted Sunday, pigged out Monday. Obviously, I am having a hard time with consistency. Except for consistency with my exercising: I am consistently doing very little working out. Arggghh. Gotta work on that.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Calorie Counting Help and Planning
I've decided to try out www.thedailyplate.com to help me keep track of my daily calories and see how close I am coming to my goals. It has a great calorie counter where you can search for a food (including restaurant food) and add it to your daily food diary. The site totals the calories and other nutitional info for you. You can then save the info to track how you are doing over time.
You can also calculate what your daily calorie intake needs to be to lose (or gain) a certain amount of weight in a certain time, based in your current weight, height, activity level, and age. The basic membership is free, so I'm going to try it out for a while. It seems very useful so far; I'll let you know what I think about it after a few days.
You can also calculate what your daily calorie intake needs to be to lose (or gain) a certain amount of weight in a certain time, based in your current weight, height, activity level, and age. The basic membership is free, so I'm going to try it out for a while. It seems very useful so far; I'll let you know what I think about it after a few days.
Fasting
I fasted for straight three days last week. Contrary to my expectations (and previous experience), it was not difficult at all. Seriously. I was not hungry. For the most part, I felt energetic. Only very late at night on the second day and on the evening of the third day did I feel weak at all. I walked and worked and exercised and felt good. I couldn't believe it. It was amazingly easy. Really. I kid you not.
The other amazing thing besides how easy it was, was the resulting weight loss. On the second day of the fast I weighed 128 pounds. On the third day, I weighed 125 1/2 How it is possible that I could have lost that much in one day, I don't know. I figured that it was only partly true weight loss and the rest was due to a lesser weight of food in my belly, but I was wrong. After I broke my fast the night of the third day I expected to see some gain the next day, simply due to the weight of the food in my system, if nothing else. But I didn't. The day after the fast, my weight was still going down. I weighed 124 3/4. I'm not sure how that is possible, but I like it.
The only down side to the fast occurred when I finally broke it. I first tried eating some veggie sushi from the grocery store, but it hurt my mouth so badly that I literally could not eat it. The roof of my mouth was on fire with pain. Instead, I ate some cantaloupe which that did not cause mouth pain at all. Next I ate a little brown rice with soy sauce which caused only a small amount of pain. Finally, I tried the sushi again and was able to eat it that time with only a little pain.(Maybe I should have listened to my body and not eaten it at all.) Why was there pain when I initially ate again after the fast? Why to some foods and not others? Did the fasting make me more sensitive to something that I am allergic to?
The other amazing thing besides how easy it was, was the resulting weight loss. On the second day of the fast I weighed 128 pounds. On the third day, I weighed 125 1/2 How it is possible that I could have lost that much in one day, I don't know. I figured that it was only partly true weight loss and the rest was due to a lesser weight of food in my belly, but I was wrong. After I broke my fast the night of the third day I expected to see some gain the next day, simply due to the weight of the food in my system, if nothing else. But I didn't. The day after the fast, my weight was still going down. I weighed 124 3/4. I'm not sure how that is possible, but I like it.
The only down side to the fast occurred when I finally broke it. I first tried eating some veggie sushi from the grocery store, but it hurt my mouth so badly that I literally could not eat it. The roof of my mouth was on fire with pain. Instead, I ate some cantaloupe which that did not cause mouth pain at all. Next I ate a little brown rice with soy sauce which caused only a small amount of pain. Finally, I tried the sushi again and was able to eat it that time with only a little pain.(Maybe I should have listened to my body and not eaten it at all.) Why was there pain when I initially ate again after the fast? Why to some foods and not others? Did the fasting make me more sensitive to something that I am allergic to?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Battle of the Peanuts
I did battle with a bowl of peanuts tonight...and won. They were sitting there, looking oh-so-innocent, but they didn't fool me. I knew they were intent on tempting me into going off my fast.
My winning strategy was simply this: I thought, "I've had peanuts before. I know exactly what they taste like. I will have them again sometime in the future. I don't have to have them right now."
And so I didn't.
My winning strategy was simply this: I thought, "I've had peanuts before. I know exactly what they taste like. I will have them again sometime in the future. I don't have to have them right now."
And so I didn't.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Perceptions and Misperceptions
The Nashville Film Festival featured lots of movies, lots of parties, and lots and lots and LOTS of free food and drinks. It's awfully hard for a cheapskate like me to turn down free food and drink, especially very yummy free food and drink. From the daily dishes provided by Whole Foods (one of the festival sponsors) in the VIP tent, to the buffets at receptions and parties that were catered by some of Nashville's best restaurants, I sampled it all.
One dangerous misperception that I have stuck in my head is that food tastes better when it's free. Another, even more dangerous one, is that free food calories -- like out-of-town calories, vacation calories, and party calories -- don't count!
These misperceptions were just as guilty as hunger or the attractiveness of the food in leading me into days of over-eating at the film festival. (And at least one night of over-drinking, but that's another story entirely.)
Another perception that gave me the title of this post is the feeling of being thin or fat which may or may not not be based in reality. I've had a couple of doctor appointments recently (don't worry, I'll live) and with each of them came a dreaded weigh-in. I say 'dreaded' because these weigh-ins came after all that over-eating at the film fest. I went to the first appointment knowing that I had been pigging out and feeling like a big blob of lard. Well, actually that perception was right: I weighed in at 132 pounds. Yipes!
I'd like to say that was a wake up call, but I continued to overeat and under-exercise for a few more days. Finally, I started getting my act together again just before my second doctor appointment. I went to that one feeling thin and pretty good: I weighed in at 131 pounds. (Actually, also yipes!)
Now, I know for a fact that the one pound difference did not make that much difference in the real world outside my own mind. I doubt if anyone but me could even notice it. But in my perception it loomed large.
How is it possible that I felt fat at 132 and thin at 131? All perception. Because I knew that I had been pigging out and not talking care of myself I felt huge and horrible at my first weigh-in. Because I had started taking care of myself again, I felt thinner and fit at my second weigh-in; I could have sworn that even my pants were looser.
The other aspect of this, is that my perception caused the one pound weight loss to make me feel not only thinner, but hopeful, back on track, and confident. That, in turn, has since helped me to really get myself back on track. (Believe it or not, I actually fasted today for only the second time in my life -- more about that in a later post.)
Bottom line is that perception is a mighty, mighty thing. I will have to harness it for good, not evil -- that is, to help me lose weight, not gain.
One dangerous misperception that I have stuck in my head is that food tastes better when it's free. Another, even more dangerous one, is that free food calories -- like out-of-town calories, vacation calories, and party calories -- don't count!
These misperceptions were just as guilty as hunger or the attractiveness of the food in leading me into days of over-eating at the film festival. (And at least one night of over-drinking, but that's another story entirely.)
Another perception that gave me the title of this post is the feeling of being thin or fat which may or may not not be based in reality. I've had a couple of doctor appointments recently (don't worry, I'll live) and with each of them came a dreaded weigh-in. I say 'dreaded' because these weigh-ins came after all that over-eating at the film fest. I went to the first appointment knowing that I had been pigging out and feeling like a big blob of lard. Well, actually that perception was right: I weighed in at 132 pounds. Yipes!
I'd like to say that was a wake up call, but I continued to overeat and under-exercise for a few more days. Finally, I started getting my act together again just before my second doctor appointment. I went to that one feeling thin and pretty good: I weighed in at 131 pounds. (Actually, also yipes!)
Now, I know for a fact that the one pound difference did not make that much difference in the real world outside my own mind. I doubt if anyone but me could even notice it. But in my perception it loomed large.
How is it possible that I felt fat at 132 and thin at 131? All perception. Because I knew that I had been pigging out and not talking care of myself I felt huge and horrible at my first weigh-in. Because I had started taking care of myself again, I felt thinner and fit at my second weigh-in; I could have sworn that even my pants were looser.
The other aspect of this, is that my perception caused the one pound weight loss to make me feel not only thinner, but hopeful, back on track, and confident. That, in turn, has since helped me to really get myself back on track. (Believe it or not, I actually fasted today for only the second time in my life -- more about that in a later post.)
Bottom line is that perception is a mighty, mighty thing. I will have to harness it for good, not evil -- that is, to help me lose weight, not gain.
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