I Just Won't Starve Myself

I've had some insight the last few weeks. Personal insight really, because I don't want to get preachy and don't care if other people listen or even care. So beware of a selfish post that could quite possibly be offensive...

I'm on my last leg of nursing. Really, I could/should be done, but he likes is so much I've just not cut it out completely yet. It's only one nursing in the morning and one at night. But since reaching his first birthday, I've made an attempt at weight loss which I figured would put a gradual end on nursing anyway. I say attempt because I'm not really exercising, or at least haven't been in the last two weeks since he turned one. I've only altered what I eat. That's it. Two weeks ago, I weighed 194 and this last Saturday I weighed in at 185. That's almost 10 pounds. I was shocked myself. So you ask, what did I alter? Here is goes:

*No sugar... at least limited, I did have cake for the boy's birthdays.
*No soda, and I've been strict with this one
*More water, or at least reaching my goal of a gallon a day
*Less food, I'll get back to this one
*No chocolate, still. Almost 9 months with out it!
*Be sure to take a multi vitamin
*Wear tennis shoes everyday so that I'm more apt to walk around
*I am also starting a couch to 5k program, not because I want to actually run a 5k but because it will get me in better shape.

That's it. And 10 pounds later I am amazed at myself.

Okay, back to the whole eating less thing. I thought to myself one night after reading my sister's blog on weight loss/healthy stuff, "do I really know when I'm full?" It's a valid question. I fully admit that I'm a "foodie", I LOVE food. And I eat to make me happy, well rather, I eat because it tastes good, which makes me happy. But I don't just eat anything, it really has to taste good. So my problem with dieting is that I don't want to eat tofu and soy beans to lose weight, I like the food I currently eat. My initial thought was that when I set the table at night, I'd set myself 2 plates. I'd load up my plate with dinner, what I'd usually eat, and then half it and just eat the one plate of half the food. I'm a visual learner... Sounds reasonable, right? Well aside from the extra dishes and wasted food. The first night I attempted this I instead, just envisioned what I normally took first, and then just took half of that. After eating my self-allotted portion, I was still hungry but told myself to give it some time and let it settle. That's really my problem, is that I just eat until I feel full which is always too much because I never give the food time to get to my stomach before it can tell me to stop eating. So low and behold, after about 5 or 10 minutes I felt full. Which was another subject in itself since I spent that 10 minutes talking to my 4 year old and husband having enjoyable family time. So I stood up from the table, put my plate in the sink and proceeded to put food away. That simple, right? I still fight the urge at every meal to just eat until it feels good. But I've learned new portion sizes, and have adjusted to taking just that much. Seconds aren't out of the question, but I need to listen to my body before taking them.

I hate dieting. And I won't do it. It's dumb. And let me tell you why. It's great and all, to lose the weight from a diet, no matter how radical, but if you're not learning to change your lifestyle, you'll gain it all back when the diet is over. So why not just learn to live better, and while that is a slow transition, the weight will eventually come off. I liked the saying that Koli from the Biggest Loser said this last season "Celebrate the little victories". Celebrate the half an ounce you lost, because it's a half ounce in the right direction. And if you are teaching your body to be healthy, then that half ounce will stay off of your body.

I've had to think lately a little about calorie counting. First, let me tell you that I'm NOT a calorie counter. I know a girl who can tell you the exact calories in EVERYTHING and knows exactly how many she eats a day. No thank you. I'd rather just put better things in my body with out worry, than to count everything. With that said, I've been more aware of what calories are in some of the things I eat and factor in what that does to your body. Plan and simple, if you eat things with good and possibly low calories, you don't have to starve yourself. Because I WON'T starve. I like food way too much.

And what message is that sending to our children. Starving yourself. This generation of morbidly obese children, that in order to be beautiful we need to starve ourselves? I don't think so. Just teach them to eat better, and to be aware of having a healthy body. A healthy body doesn't mean that you are a size 2 and weight a buck-15, because how many people are really that person? It's unrealistic, untrue and only results in eating disorders

Celebrate the body that God gave you, and treat it right by eating things that make it happy. Allow yourself times to splurge and you're body will stay happier for longer. Plain and Simple.