The negative side though, was after having a more restrictive plan, I kind of fell apart afterwards. I am trying to go back to Intuitive Eating, with which I am having a hard time. Don't get me wrong—I think it is a fabulous approach to food, and ideally the way to go. I know diets don't work. In our society though, quick fixes are adored, and it seems everyone is on a diet of some sort.
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| How I feel trying to figure this all out |
And I found this super simple strength workout that I can do before work. I know strength training is very important for weight loss and general health. And in all honesty, I am not the type of person that will get up at 4 (or even 5) am to go running or something. Added to the strength training, I walk a lot. I do a mile each morning on my at-work break. And then The Girl and I will be walking two miles every afternoon (gotta get her moving too!). I also skip elevators, park at the far end of the parking lot, and so forth. I've started riding my bike to and from my second job once a week... it's only 3 miles each way. I wish I could do that more, but scheduling-wise it is very difficult.
Now, how am I trying to make that all work with Intuitive Eating? Well, while I do have a rough calorie count to aim for, and I log foods/exercise, I eat what I want, though I do kind of watch portion size. And of course, I then read posts like this one that says you can't really have both healthy eating and intuitive eating. But then, I disagree a bit here. No, IE isn't about setting "rules" when it comes to "healthy" versus "non-healthy" foods, it is about making peace with food, honoring your hunger, respecting fullness, and finding other ways to deal with emotional eating triggers. Sounds pretty healthy to me. Of course there are those times when I really just feel like eating crap foods. Sometimes I want the whole bag of potato chips. And then something else, maybe chocolate, or ice cream...
And then sometimes I think I've got this nailed. Like this morning... I really wanted a muffin, and apple butter, and almond butter. So I toasted one of my homemade apple-oat muffins, cut in half. Spread the cut sides with a little almond butter, and topped that with my mom's fabulous homemade apple butter. Poached an egg, made my coffee, and settled down to a delicious breakfast. It was so good, and satisfying, because it was what I wanted, but I didn't overdo it (a wee bit under 400 calories, by the way).
And one of my current favorite authors/speakers/bloggers, Andie Mitchell, offers some great advice on eating what you love while losing weight/maintaining a weight loss:
When I started pairing whatever meal I craved with a mound of vegetables, I found that I felt the fullness I needed and wanted while also satisfying the craving.
I started filling half of my plate with vegetables, and then eating
those first. And I didn’t just quarantine any green thing on my dinner
plate and promise myself I’d eat it for health’s sake; I found out which
vegetables tasted best to me and experimented with different methods of
cooking them. I bought a new and different veggie each Sunday at the
market. I used herbs and spices. I learned that roasting vegetables in a
burning hot oven makes for sweetness without added sugar.
Each night as I cooked dinner, I made sure that I paired that perfect
square of lasagna, those two slices of my favorite spicy caramelized
onion pizza, the two tacos — with at least double that of vegetables.
And in time, I trusted that I could eat what I craved and always feel full.
Thankfully, I love vegetables... lots of them, cooked (or not cooked) many different ways, so for me, this advice really works.
In closing, something for me to think about:
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