As promised, a dieting post.
I have two weights I go back and forth between—not so much yo-yo-ing as TIDING. At the lower one I feel pretty much fine being a plus-sized person; at the upper one I feel like I’m wearing clothes made of fat. Also at the upper one I’m uncomfortable and my knees start aching and I overheat more easily. Obviously the upper one is not where I would like to be, and yet that’s where I am now.
So I’ve spent the last few weeks gearing up for a diet, and this past Monday I leaped into the abyss. (I didn’t choose Monday on purpose. I’m not usually a “starting Monday” dieter. It just happened that that was the day I woke up and felt ready to tackle it. I don’t know why I’m explaining this.)
I do my best to make dieting fun (I wrote about it today over here if you want more on that topic). I buy little dieting treats—spending more on a fruit I like that’s not on sale, or buying fancy coffee/tea, or buying a smaller amount of a more expensive sweet. I choose a gimmick or two: protein first, or vegetables first, or intermittent fasting, or plenty of coffee, or no calories in drinks, or whatever—it’s best if it’s something I haven’t tried before. I buy non-food treats of approximately the same cost as the food treats I was buying when I wasn’t dieting. I blog about it.
But there is only so much I can do. It is more fun to NOT be on a diet than to be on a diet, and that is just how it is. So things feel a bit BLEAK right now.
This time around I’m mix-and-matching the ideas that were successful from previous diets:
1. Eat breakfast within an hour of getting up, and make it proteiny. (The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Program)
2. Eat protein with dinner, and then have a potato before bed. (The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Program)
3. Drink coffee for energy, antioxidants, appetite suppression. (various sources)
4. But drink the coffee black, because bitter flavors can reduce cravings for sweets. (Eating Well for Optimum Health)
5. Eat when HUNGRY, not when it’s “time to eat.” (Tess)
6. When hungry, start with Good Stuff (vegetables, grainy stuff, a hard-boiled egg) and see if that handles it. (various sources)
7. Try try TRY to remember that “slip” plus “more slip” is > “slip” (i.e., don’t turn a slip into an ALL-OUT CHOW-DOWN as if it’s either ALL DIET or ALL NON-DIET).
8. Fibrous grains! Vegetables! (various sources)
9. Eat Magical Awesome Foods With Magical Awesome Properties (spinach, blueberries, yogurt, flax seed meal, vegetable juice) to achieve maximum Magical Awesomeness! (Eat This, Not That!)
10. See if I’m thirsty, not hungry. (Tess)
11. Exercise every day (“every day” ends up being more like “5 days-ish/week” in practical application, because of evening plans—but I still think of it as “every day” instead of thinking “It’s Monday today so I exercise” or whatevs), so that it becomes part of the routine and doesn’t start to seem like “day off” when I don’t “have to” exercise. (experience is a hard teacher)
12. See if a smaller/lesser/healthier treat will satisfy. (various sources)
So. Anyway. Diet. Sigh.
You have much more energy and willpower to even think this plan up than I do.
Maybe start or really get into a current hobby? Maybe keeping busy will take your mind of the “diet” yuckiness. How is the knitting going in your household?
I, too, should try and get to a healthier weight, but dude, that is waiting until After Thesis.
A while back, I decided that, instead of going on a diet, I would choose to make more healthful choices. I find that this helps with the psychological aspect of things. Maybe you need the idea of “being on a diet” to make those choices, but almost everything on your list would fall under the category of a healthful choice. Maybe looking at it that way wouldn’t seem so bleak?
Way to go, Swistle!! I hear reading encouraging comments is helpful! :)
The first week is hard. I am back on WW and on my way to my goal. You have to take it one day at a time, and it really has to be a lifestyle change to make it easier. More fruit, better choices/portion sizes. I’ve realized I can’t just have a little cake or have ice cream in the freezer. If it isn’t there, I am not tempted.
It’s been in the 80s and 90s this week. But, last night there was a cool breeze. So I asked my husband to watch the kids last night while I walked around our neighborhood. That 30 minute walk, made all the difference and I plan on repeating whenever I have free time this week. Sometimes making time for ourselves points us in the right directions and it gets easier.
You can do it! You are doing well!
I don’t eat after 7pm. It cuts out all of the late night after dinner snacking.
Ha! “not so much yo-yo-ing as TIDING” Does that mean we can blame it all on the MOON?!!!
I doing the C25K again… care to join me?
This isn’t something I am telling everyone but I will share it you, dear Swistle, I just started “Insanity” and I think I may die but I hope I will die smaller than I am right now. My husband is doing it as well and we have some friends on it too so I hope I can stay with it. For now, my feet hurt and I am sore all over. Good luck to you!!
It is very hysterical that you wrote about this TODAY because I just read a post from a lady who talked about JUST THIS (how its more fun in the beginning). She lost 150 pounds and has 7 kids. YES 7. She has kept it off for 12 years. I would encourage you to read her blog (especially today’s post) http://www.fittothefinish.com/blog/2010/04/when-the-fun-fades/.
Ok, and I want to add one more idea to your list. Look at an inspirational “Before and After” transformation daily. When I can see that a regular person lost weight doing it the right way it inspires me to stay on track….
Good luck. :o)
Anonymous- I like to keep “eating to lose weight” separate from regular healthful eating, because I think otherwise two incorrect assumptions are reinforced: (1) That healthy eating leads to thinness so therefore fat people eat unhealthily, and (2) That diet-like eating is the healthy norm, and that eating normally is eating unhealthily.
Distraction is key here. Time for a project of some sort, something that takes up time and concentration so that you don’t have time to think about the diet and what you’d like to be eating. I always did better on diets when I was having insane periods at work because I didn’t even have time to stop for lunch, much less think about all the unhealthy alternatives I wished I were eating.
Good luck!
Good luck! I drink a TON of water and when I really want sweets, I drink tea. It kind of helps.
I like your response to anonymous here. Dieting is literally starving your body, it can be beneficial but is not how we should normally be eating.
Good luck!
My husband, almost two years ago, was diagnosed with insanely high triglycerides, and the doctor said either quit sugar or go on drugs. He quit sugar, and apparently (he kind of hid this from me) he was a real sugar addict. I mean, he was eating giant cookies and desserts all the time at work. Anyway, he cut out sugars and nothing else and ended up losing 15 pounds. Crazy! But the interesting thing is that he doesn’t enjoy sweets anymore. If he eats ice cream he feels sick. So I think palates can be trained.
For me, I NEVER buy chips or salty snacks because I have zero willpower for those foods. ZERO. If chips are around me I must destroy them, by eating them, and so I don’t even walk down those aisles at the grocery store. Sounds strange but it works for me.
This makes me so happy and not in a schadenfreude way. I’m extremely bored with my current healthkick offerings, and I love your take.
I could not agree more that healthy eating and eating for weight loss are two separate and distinct concepts. In some cases one is a subset of the other, but not always.
So, anyway. Diet. YAY.
Good luck, Swistle! I agree with the others who said maybe it’s time to find a fun, time-consuming project to distract yourself from thoughts of food. (I’m noticing my husband snacks a lot less since we got a Wii…don’t know if that’s good or bad!)
For what it’s worth, I totally noticed your new picture on Twitter the other day, and I thought you looked great!
Like @Miss Grace, I try not to eat anything after dinner, so my splurge has been to get all the crazy flavored herbal/decaf teas for a sweet and/or unusual treat. Celestial Seasonings’ profit position has improved a lot since I started this technique! Also, it is less messy than cookies or ice cream while in bed, reading.
Except don’t “spill” on sleeping husband because he is snoring. FYI.
I totally have that problem with a slip up = all out screw up forget the diet today. *sigh*
Sounds like a good plan–I hope it goes well! What helps me:
1. Make the plan to eat HEALTHY foods, not to go on a diet. For some reason, I can handle this better mentally.
2. Have things I like around as snacks–almonds, fruit, hummus and veggies, hard boiled eggs with LOTS of pepper. Plan ahead (hard boil a bunch of eggs at once, so I don’t just grab a handful of cookies when I’m feeling lazy).
3. Plan yummy dinners (last night’s Tabbouleh salad with lots of extra veggies thrown in is a favorite) that everyone in the family likes.
4. Don’t buy the crappy food. If I have mini Reese’s around, I WILL eat them. Same goes for ice cream and anything I’ve baked.
Oh! One more thing. I had to keep a food journal for a nutritional assessment I was having, and I found that I ate better because of it. I was making cupcakes and I didn’t eat any frosting because I didn’t want to write down four tablespoons of frosting right out of the container.
I’ve been “on a diet” since last September when I reached the point where the “1” at the beginning of my weight was almost a “2” — not healthy for me. I’ve lost 40 lbs since then, and I won’t claim that it’s been fun, but I will tell you that it gets easier once you “detox.” For me at least, in the beginning, I am CRAVING all the salty, sweet, fatty foods and nothing else tastes good, but after a while those things lose their appeal. That’s not to say I’m not still sorely tempted to overindulge in cheese and crackers once in a while, but the cravings have subsided and now I’m pretty happy eating healthy food.
Exercising every day is a tough habit to get into, but if you do it enough to make it a habit, it will be much easier to sustain.
I know you can do whatever you set your mind to. You rock!
Good luck Swistle!
My favourite tricks are pickles for snacks or those almond-stuffed olives–they have crunch, salt, and enough substance that three or four feels like a decent snack (and Mr. Weil would agree with both the olive and the almond).
I also noticed (a bit of) a difference when I switched from white sugar to the darkest available–now many sweets taste way too sweet.
My favourite trick drink is a big glass of water with a little splash of grapefruit juice in it. It makes it taste less like water and more like a treat.
I really need to follow your example and get back into the swing of things. Thanks for posting about this!
I’m not sure you were asking for advice, but I wanted to offer my encouragement because I know that losing weight is SO hard. I had a baby last July and had to lose 55 pounds to get back to my goal weight. It did NOT just come off for me, and breastfeeding didn’t “melt it off.” The key for me was surrounding myself with people who would keep me accountable (especially in the exercise department) and telling my husband that I needed his full support, including happily eating the healthier meals I cooked (and not acting like my diet was a burden on him), and not trying to sabotage my efforts by bringing junk into the house or eating that stuff in front of me. Now that I am down to my goal, I’ve been able to ease up a bit on the strictness, but my metabolism has changed (I am in my late 20s now) and I just have to be more careful from now on, I guess. Anyway, you can do it, you WILL do it, and we support you!
Could you explain the potato before bed thing? I’ve never heard that before.
Another tip- putting about an ounce of cranberry juice in each glass of water throughout the day will help you lose the bloat really quickly. Sure you’re just losing water weight, but it helps you feel skinnier quicker!
Cassie- Oh, the potato is a fun one! The concept behind it is detailed in the sugar addict book, but the gist is that eating protein and the potato at the right times can help balance mood and decrease sugar cravings. I found a pleasant side effect, which is that I didn’t want to snack in the evenings because then it would be really hard to eat a potato with no appetite.
I try combine #6 with #10: When hungry, start with a big glass of water.
It fills you up somewhat, and I once heard that a bunch of people who had taken a lot of weight off were followed for a long time and the one thing the ones who all kept it off had in common was that they drank a lot of water.
This is a great theory for me, but you can judge as to whether I practice what I preach by the fact that I am chronically dehydrated.
Also, I put lowfat/skim milk in my coffee because: it offsets the tooth-staining properties of coffee, it provides a small amount of protein and makes it seem more filling to me, and it helps counteract the fact that coffee leaches calcium from you (or so I hear – not like I’m a doctor or anything).
i have nothing helpful, as i have failed within 48 hours of every diet i’ve tried, but i will cheer you on! because you are awesome! and yay you and YOU CAN DO THIS! :-)
Here’s my mantra for my weight loss journey:
Being fat is hard. Eating healthy and exercising is hard. CHOSE YOUR HARD.
My friend who lost 100lbs told me this is what kept her going. I have 100lbs+ to lose too and for two months (and minus 30 lbs woo!) this has kept me going too. Oh, and “flip the switch” helps too. I wrote both of these with a bar of soap on my vanity mirror one day in during a fit of wavering determination. It helps me so much to see it every day, every time I look in the mirror. I want this. I deserve this.
Good luck Swistle, you deserve it too :)
JCF- For me, a weight-loss diet is totally different than eating healthy. Eating healthy is sustainable for life, but a diet is not. Eating healthy can result in weight gain, maintenance, or loss, but a diet results in weight loss. But on the other hand, I do the same thing where I use the “healthy eating” mindset to help lessen the pain of dieting!
Chose=Choose?
I think it is great to have a plan and to get motivated….I have found eating healthy is a great weight loss program! Foods with little to no preservatives makes such a different!! I try to shop the out skirts of the grocery store before entering into the prepackaged areas.
I can’t imagine how much dieting and exercise is going to have to happen after I become a complete whale from these twins. ha!!
I’ve been reading a ton about diet lately, as I sort of blindly muddle through my own, and this is by far the most sensible. Love it.
Honeybecke- The trouble with that, for me, is that it divides people into two categories: (1) People who are thin and eat healthy and exercise, and (2) People who are fat and eat unhealthy and don’t exercise. I’m ALREADY eating healthy and exercising, but to lose weight I have to eat less than I do and exercise more than I do.
Your plan sounds pretty good. I’ll add one piece of advice. Measure yourself. Sometimes the scale doesn’t move much when exercising but seeing results with the measuring tape is encouraging.
Can I just gush and say that I think you’re awesome, Swistle? Because you ARE.
As is your handling of this topic. Good luck, dude!
I am so with you on this! I love your tips and I do a few of them myself. My favorite treats right now are Sobe Lifewater and Special K Fruit Crisps.
I agree with you on the diet vs. healthy eating thing. I am almost 40 and I spent most of the last 4 years pregnant. In order for me to drop pounds I really need to be restrictive and even that gives me 1/2 a pound loss a week. My solution is veggies galore :)
Best of luck and please keep writing about this, we can all support each other!
I’ve been gearing up too…for diet and excercise. UUUUGH…Hopefully we can commiserate.
Things that helped me: eating off a smaller plate (made me serve myself much smaller portions), and drinking grapefruit juice before meals (the bitter taste thing works!). Also, NOT food shopping when hungry!
Two things:
First, thanks for the post about Zenni Optical! I got my first pair from them and I am thrilled with the quality! (Had to pay extra for the thinner lenses, but still an incredible deal.) I am telling everyone I know who wears specs.
Second, and more on topic for this post, I just wanted to support what you are saying about the fact that eating healthy and exercising does NOT always result in weight loss. I have been in that position myself, for a long time.
In my case I kept thinking, “Hey, I am working out and choosing all these great foods — shouldn’t the weight be falling off me by now?” But no, it did not come off. Folks often think that just making those healthy food/exercise choices is all we need to do, but in fact when I finally decided to make a better effort to lose weight specifically (not just “eat healthy”), I had to carefully track all the calories in and out. That actually worked.
So yeah, there’s a difference between dieting and just choosing healthy foods. But at the same time, I do like to think of my weight loss efforts as practice in choosing healthy foods. It makes me feel better about the whole thing.
Apparently I can go on and on about the subject.
In short, good luck in your weight loss efforts, Swistle! You can do it!
Can someone explain this to me because I’m not really getting it? (And SUPER-swear, I’m NOT trying to be argumentative or judge-y. I’m very overweight myself and trying to learn how to lose SERIOUS weight forever so I want to understand) If you eat healthfully and exercise, how can you NOT lose weight if you have excess? Is it like a portion issue? Or is eating healthy foods in the eye of the beholder? Like healthy to me is not so much to you?
I think I get the division you are trying to avoid (overweight=unhealthy=BAD vs not-overweight=healthy=GOOD) and I know people who are thin despite eating like crap but it seems to me the reverse is not generally the case.
Maybe its just my personal bias because I overeat (both healthy and unhealthy foods) and I’m overweight because of it . . . Clue me in?
Sally- I think it’s that different people have different appetites and different natural body sizes, and that different bodies hold onto fat more/less effectively. Also, as you can see in this comments section, most people think that “healthfully” and “low enough in calories to cause weight loss” are synonyms, and I disagree.
Oh, and also! A lot of people who want to lose weight DO simultaneously make a lifestyle change, and that’s probably how things got confused. But a lifestyle change can result in weight gained, weight maintained, or weight lost; a diet is only to lose weight. And either one can be either in a more-healthful or in a less-healthful direction.
Amen, sister. People talk all the time about simple, healthy weight loss – don’t starve yourself! But duh, if you’re losing weight, that’s because you’re taking in fewer calories than your body needs, and it’s turning on itself for that energy deficit. It’s not simple, it’s not easy, and it’s not the same thing as “eating healthy.” (digression: that phrase always makes me think of someone sitting around, gnawing on the corner of an enormous foam sculpture of the word HEALTHY. Like something from Sesame Street.)
Anyhow, beautifully said. Thinness does not equal healthiness any more than overweight automatically equals unhealthiness.
And dieting is hard and boring and sucky.
I guess that makes sense. I have certainly been on some diets that were NOT healthy eventhough I lost weight . . .
But if I’m going to lose my weight and keep it off, *I* need to change my eating habbits permanently. I guess its mostly just semantics and the idea of being on a permanent diet is repugnant so . . . some of us eat “healthfully” (not “healthy”, right Kira? ;-)
If I’m trying to eat less sometimes use a smaller plate or bowl or whatever. Because I’m not good at the whole “stop eating when you’re full” thing– I stop when there’s NO MORE FOOD.
Sally — I think it’s also worth remembering that you may lose weight if you start eating better and exercising more, but you may not lose enough weight to be thin. So if you’re dieting-to-lose-weight-to-the-point-of-thinness, you may well be setting yourself up for failure.
Agreed for sure, Slim. I have no desire to be “thin”. Even at my thinnest, healthiest weigh I was a size 10 so I know I will never be a single digit kind of chick. I just want to get back in that average neighborhood from the Super-plus-sized-burgh I’ve been living in for too many years. I have two young kids I want to be able to keep up with and I want to live long enough to spoil their kids. That and being able to shop in the normal section of a clothing store is good enough for me!
Keep up the good work, Swistle! It’s great to hear everyone’s hints and suggestions and support. I hope we ALL get to a place where we are happy/healthy/content.
Oooh, yes, Sally, shopping in the normal section of a clothing store is a big deal for me too. I see such cute clothes there, as I’m standing over beside the lumpy, mis-shapen, horizontal striped (!) nightmares in the plus-sized section.
As usual, Swistle, your posts are fabulous. I like your ideas to make a diet feel less horrible. I think that I will gear up to start one too. Thanks for the inspiration!
This isn’t so much of a suggestion as a joke, but I *try* to not eat until I can sit down peacefully and not just take one bite in between fetching things for other people or wiping up or whatever. It winds up being more like “I won’t eat while standing,” and sometimes delays meals for me until everyone can leave me the hell alone (SNARL). But anyway it means that I eat with more intention and less cramming.
Yeah.
This isn’t about the diet, but I just started “running”, using the Couch to 5K plan – I feel virtuous! Hooray! Good luck with the diet.
Right now, I am focusing on getting in my five fruits and vegetables every day. That seems to cut down on the snacking. Because man, when you’ve eaten three cups of vegetables for lunch, you really aren’t hungry for chips.