It has been a while since I posted to this blog. My last post was about my eating experience during my husband's health crisis. I was able to walk through that difficult time without the stress induced overeating that has been characteristic of my life. I am so thankful that I was able to emerge from that challenging experience maintaining my conscious eating dietary style.
Since that time, however, I lost some of my edge. I have not gained weight, but I haven't lost any either. I've stalled out at a certain weight and been there for about three months.
I've been thinking about why this may be and decided on one main reason.
Instead of 'eating only till I was full', I began putting on my plate the amount of food I thought I would need to eat. Then I would continue to eat till it was gone, letting that be my signal for ending my meal rather than the 'full feeling' signal that has been my guide for several months.
I lost sight of the main reason for my success with losing weight thus far. I took my eyes off the key requirement to conscious eating - paying attention to the full feeling that comes when I eat and letting that be my cue, my signal for ending my meal.
So I have resolved once again to 'sharpen my edge', and get back into the weight loss battle. One snack, one meal, one day at a time.
Showing posts with label weight gain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight gain. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2019
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
One and Two
As I mentioned in my last post, in my opinion there are two essential parts to being successful with conscious eating, or 'eating the way slender people eat'. Those of us who are trying to eat consciously must consciously be aware of both parts at every meal and every snack. Here goes:
1. Eating consciously means eating only until you are full. I have had friends say to me, "But I don't always know when I'm full." I understand that statement and most of my life have lived by the "I'm eating till my plate is empty" model, because I don't recognize this full feeling.
The truth is that our bodies will give us a signal for when enough food has been eaten during a meal. In order to eat only until we are full, we must learn to recognize and acknowledge that signal no matter how much delicious food is still on our plate. We must be willing to admit that it's there, even when we want to ignore the signal.
2. Again, eating consciously requires that once you feel the signal for fullness that your body gives you, eating must stop. In my opinion this is the hardest part, because sometimes we just don't want to stop. Oh, man. There's still baked potato with all the trimmings on my plate. There's only half a slice of garlic toast left; surely I can eat that. That won't be much. In order to do this with integrity, you must stop eating once you feel that full signal. If the food left on your plate can't be saved for whatever reason, it goes in the trash. That's hard if you were raised with the starving children in China, as I was. However, no matter what, conscious eating is not conscious eating, and you will never be slender, unless you are willing to throw good food in the trash. It is a difficult, but critical lesson to learn.
Yes. This is hard. But you know, so is living with knee problems, diabetes, back issues, heart problems, and a myriad of other health issues that are caused by being overweight. Those of us who live our lives with too much girth can give you a list of ways that said girth has affected the way we live. We choose our challenges. We choose our rewards. Let's choose wisely.
1. Eating consciously means eating only until you are full. I have had friends say to me, "But I don't always know when I'm full." I understand that statement and most of my life have lived by the "I'm eating till my plate is empty" model, because I don't recognize this full feeling.
The truth is that our bodies will give us a signal for when enough food has been eaten during a meal. In order to eat only until we are full, we must learn to recognize and acknowledge that signal no matter how much delicious food is still on our plate. We must be willing to admit that it's there, even when we want to ignore the signal.
2. Again, eating consciously requires that once you feel the signal for fullness that your body gives you, eating must stop. In my opinion this is the hardest part, because sometimes we just don't want to stop. Oh, man. There's still baked potato with all the trimmings on my plate. There's only half a slice of garlic toast left; surely I can eat that. That won't be much. In order to do this with integrity, you must stop eating once you feel that full signal. If the food left on your plate can't be saved for whatever reason, it goes in the trash. That's hard if you were raised with the starving children in China, as I was. However, no matter what, conscious eating is not conscious eating, and you will never be slender, unless you are willing to throw good food in the trash. It is a difficult, but critical lesson to learn.
Yes. This is hard. But you know, so is living with knee problems, diabetes, back issues, heart problems, and a myriad of other health issues that are caused by being overweight. Those of us who live our lives with too much girth can give you a list of ways that said girth has affected the way we live. We choose our challenges. We choose our rewards. Let's choose wisely.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Gaining and Losing
Yes. It has been a long time since I have written a new post. I can find all kinds of excuses for not writing. I have been busy. I haven't had anything new to write. My mind has been on other things. I could make a case for the validity of each of those excuses. The truth, however, is that none of these excuses are the real reason I have for not writing.
The reason I have not written is because I lost my focus and began to gain weight again. Now I have not gained a lot, but the number of pounds I have gained is not the critical issue. The fact that instead of me being in control of the food I eat, I have begun to allow my compulsion to overeat reign once again.
As my weight has gained, I have begun to lose. I have lost a stable blood sugar. Yep, I can feel it. It was about 10:00 this morning and I could feel my blood sugar begin to drop. My hands got shaky. I had a hard time concentrating on my tasks at hand. Fortunately I was able to get something to eat before the symptoms of low blood sugar got too bad. The point - - I do not have problems with fluctuations in my blood sugar when I am eating correctly!
I have traded the good feelings about myself when I am in control of food, for feelings of guilt and self condemnation when food is in control of me.
I have lost the fun of going to my closet and asking myself, "What fits now?" Instead, I am wearing the same old things. Not fun.
I have lost the thrill of writing about losing another pound and sharing with you the thrill of a new victory when I overcame temptation to overeat one more time.
I totally hate writing these things to you. However, I know that being willing to admit a problem, is the first step towards solving it. I also know that I am probably not alone is this dilemma. Perhaps my struggles here, my ups and downs, my defeats and victories will in some way be a source of strength and inspiration to some of you who might be reading this blog.
The one thing I am not going to do, my friends, is 'throw in the towel' and give up. Because giving up is true defeat and the loss of hope for one day being a healthy weight. Oh, no. Instead of quitting, I am going to keep working and fighting. . . and writing.
In my next post, I am going to explore some of the reasons that may have contributed to my loss of focus.
The reason I have not written is because I lost my focus and began to gain weight again. Now I have not gained a lot, but the number of pounds I have gained is not the critical issue. The fact that instead of me being in control of the food I eat, I have begun to allow my compulsion to overeat reign once again.
As my weight has gained, I have begun to lose. I have lost a stable blood sugar. Yep, I can feel it. It was about 10:00 this morning and I could feel my blood sugar begin to drop. My hands got shaky. I had a hard time concentrating on my tasks at hand. Fortunately I was able to get something to eat before the symptoms of low blood sugar got too bad. The point - - I do not have problems with fluctuations in my blood sugar when I am eating correctly!
I have traded the good feelings about myself when I am in control of food, for feelings of guilt and self condemnation when food is in control of me.
I have lost the fun of going to my closet and asking myself, "What fits now?" Instead, I am wearing the same old things. Not fun.
I have lost the thrill of writing about losing another pound and sharing with you the thrill of a new victory when I overcame temptation to overeat one more time.
I totally hate writing these things to you. However, I know that being willing to admit a problem, is the first step towards solving it. I also know that I am probably not alone is this dilemma. Perhaps my struggles here, my ups and downs, my defeats and victories will in some way be a source of strength and inspiration to some of you who might be reading this blog.
The one thing I am not going to do, my friends, is 'throw in the towel' and give up. Because giving up is true defeat and the loss of hope for one day being a healthy weight. Oh, no. Instead of quitting, I am going to keep working and fighting. . . and writing.
In my next post, I am going to explore some of the reasons that may have contributed to my loss of focus.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Confession Time
It is not and has never been my desire to present to you the idea that my desire to control my eating and lose weight is always perfectly headed in the right direction. On the contrary, I want to be transparent with you, my readers. I want you to know that gaining my desired weight loss is a struggle for me. I am no different than anyone else with overeating problems. I just happen to write about my struggles on the internet for everyone to see!
The last couple of weeks I have been working at home, doing transcription from my computer. I am sitting at my desk for many many hours a day. There are many things I enjoy about this work. I enjoy the quietness of it. I enjoy not spending money to get to get to work.
My problem is that I am not eating less to correspond with my decrease in physical activity. Therefore, the scales have not gone down anymore. In fact I have gained a couple of pounds. Sigh.
Please understand that I have not given up on losing weight. I am still struggling with it and always will. The defeat will come when I quit struggling because a lack of struggle means that I have given up. I am not ever giving up. As long as I keep struggling, then I have a hope of winning that ability to wear my 'skinny clothes ' again!!!
The last couple of weeks I have been working at home, doing transcription from my computer. I am sitting at my desk for many many hours a day. There are many things I enjoy about this work. I enjoy the quietness of it. I enjoy not spending money to get to get to work.
My problem is that I am not eating less to correspond with my decrease in physical activity. Therefore, the scales have not gone down anymore. In fact I have gained a couple of pounds. Sigh.
Please understand that I have not given up on losing weight. I am still struggling with it and always will. The defeat will come when I quit struggling because a lack of struggle means that I have given up. I am not ever giving up. As long as I keep struggling, then I have a hope of winning that ability to wear my 'skinny clothes ' again!!!
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