I have a confession to make. My confession is that I'm obsessed with food. It consumes my thoughts 24/7. My mind is always on my next meal, whether it be healthy or unhealthy. So, now that I've lost all this weight, my challenge has been to figure out how to work around this, and use this "addiction" to my advantage.
Here's what I've come up with to help me feel in control: I eat 5 times a day, with a very strict calorie amount for each meal. I eat around 2000 calories a day, and try to drink as much water as I can. That's what my trainer and I have come up with, along with my amount of exercise, to maintain my weight and muscle mass.
On a typical Monday-Friday
My breakfast is my biggest meal, and it's usually around 650 calories.(Around 6 a.m)- I usually eat a banana, yogurt covered raisins, and have a Jillian Michael's protein shake--along with either oatmeal, cream of wheat, grits, or Eggo (am I allowed to use brand names?) waffles or pancakes. It's my favorite meal of the day and I always have it right after my run in the morning. I'll also have a couple of cups of coffee after because the caffeine is supposed to work wonders on your metabolism, according to a few sources that I've read. (Not to mention the caffeine boost! :) )
-3 hours later (9 a.m), I'll have a snack, which has a 300 calorie limit-usually a fruit, cheese, and some sort of carb thing like teddy grahams or crackers)
-A bit later (11:30 a.m. or so, depending on when my students eat lunch), I'll eat my lunch, which has a 550 calorie limit. This usually incorporates a sandwich/lean cuisine, some sort of vegetable (usually carrots with ranch), and sometimes yogurt.
-3 hours later (2:30 p,m.) , I'll have another snack, which has a 300 calorie limit. This is always some sort of fruit and a Fiber One* (again, are brand names okay?) bar. I always enjoy this snack because it feels like I'm "cheating" when I'm really not.
-3 hours later (5:30-6:00 p.m.), I'll eat a small 200 calorie dinner. This is either a pre-measured salad, pasta salad, popcorn w/ a veggie (edamame, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, etc...), pretzels w/ a veggie (edamame, cucumber, cherry tomatoes etc...), pimento cheese sandwich, or turkey and cheese wraps.
Since I'm eating every few hours, I never feel hunger pangs, so I think that this is a reasonable solution to my obsession with food, without overeating. This is not 100% perfect. I've had a lot of success with this plan, but I've had a couple of days where I've had some bad overeating episodes- (yesterday included.)
Yes, I overate yesterday. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm strict during the week, but I slack on the weekends. So, in addition to fast food on Saturday (been chinese food lately), yesterday, I got my coffee w/ pumpkin bread, went out to eat (Jason's Deli), had a sweet treat (a PB/Oreo milkshake), and then indulged in 5 pieces of pizza. However, I'm trying very hard to not punish myself for it. I've jumped back on the bandwagon and eaten normally today, stayed well hydrated, and done my exercise. I do feel quite swollen, but that's to be expected, I guess. I just have to hope that the exercise will help me bounce back.
Does anyone else experience these types of things? This is consuming my life, but I think there are worse things to be thinking about. Any advice/comments would be appreciated and welcome.
Girl,
ReplyDeleteYour post seriously makes me feel normal! I, too, think about food all the dang time. To be honest, I think it's because we are restricting ourselves from going overboard. I have decided, once this bet that I am on is over, I will eat well everyday and have one cheat meal a week. This day is the day that I am allowed to eat whatever I would like. I will tell you though, as a Christian, I am learning the importance of self control. I never want to pig out and fantasize about the next time that I will pig out. My cheat day will be a day that I allow myself to eat without stressing over the content. Hope this makes sense. By the way...brand names...ok with me :) We really should do coffee or something at some point. We could talk for hours about your last dang post :)...I wish I were kidding :)
Oh, man....do I think about food....or rather, what I want to eat.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is the exact opposite though - I usually eat crud food when I *stop* thinking about food, or think about what it is doing to me. It's when I let the emotion of eating said food overcome the rational side of me that I lose the control!
Sounds like you really have a good order of food throughout your day between all your snacks and meals though. :) Quick question for you though - you mentioned that you eat breakfast around 6am after your run....so what time are you getting up to run at!?
Let's just say, I'm very much a morning person and am a very early riser. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI'm Nieta, Steven's wife! Welcome to the blogosphere! I saw that he linked to you in his last post and decided to investigate.
Congratulations on your success! You're totally hardcore. Your words resonate very strongly with me - I struggle continuously with my own conception of myself, with society's definition of beauty, with the nature of media messages regarding diet and exercise.
My own road to healthy lifestyle success may be exactly the opposite of yours. After I stopped tightening my controls and finally learned to enjoy food (even the "bad" stuff) and exercise (meaning that I had a choice in exercising, doing which activities, for how long, or not at all), I attained my fitness goals in a matter of months.
I spent many years agonizing over my level of control. I obsessed over food, writing everything down - not only as a record of what I ate, but to serve as a ticket on a guilt trip if I slipped. I was still fit and looked healthy, but I was, I believe, mentally sick. Nothing was a joy in life, unless I had properly controlled my diet and exercise routine. Nothing was truly spontaneous. I avoided social gatherings in order to avoid the temptations that came with them.
I very strongly believe that there comes a point, after one achieves his/her fitness goals, that "letting go" of control brings about not only a mental freedom, but also a physical healthiness that isn't attained through dieting and exercise. Variety, even the inclusion of simple carbohydrates and fats, makes your metabolism versatile and keeps it guessing.
All I really know is that once I stopped obsessing about food, I truly forgot about it. It ceased to be a motivator at all. Good food choices were no longer motivated by feverish control, but by simple desire for the cessation of hunger. If confronted by a pile of delicious cookies, because there was no more need for control, there was no desire for the cookies to fuel the control.
Now... I am full of guilt that I spent so much of my time and energy striving after a happiness goal that was not me-centric, but other-centric. I wanted to fulfill the expectations of society, and believed that in doing so, I would find joy. When I controlled and restricted, I didn't have a single thought in my head regarding my own true path towards fulfillment.
I'm not sure how these mind games work for others; I'm just sharing with you my own mental quirks and foody revelations. Different things work for different people, and if my words help somebody else to better understand her/his own mind, yay! I hope I'm not completely on the wrong track!
Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts,
Nieta