Tag: diet

The Most Important Aspect of Weight Loss

Food and Cooking, Healthy Living

What is the most important aspect of weight loss? Is it diet? Nutrient Balance? Exercise? Calories in/calories out? Keto? Intermittent Fasting?

Not quite.

Today I want to talk a little about the mental and emotional work that is needed to lose weight, gain health, and keep it off. It’s a subject that I don’t think is covered well enough in many books and resources – people focus more on the details of macros, calorie counting, exercise programs, etc. Without handling the mental aspect, all success will be short lived.

So, here is what I have found so far in my journey from 245+ to 150 pounds.

Never Give Up

I think the most important thing I had to do in my journey was to give up on the idea of giving up. Quitting stopped being an option. Part of that was a decision that I made, but what kept that decision from being forgotten was MFP, because every morning I will log in and read all the updates, and I don’t want to let everyone down. I also had to realize that I am doing this for myself, and nothing, not depression, not scheduling, not stress, not boredom, would make me quit.

Forgive Yourself

I have had to learn to forgive myself too. If I have a day where I go over, or if I don’t exercise as much as I planned to, I say to myself “I will do better, I won’t repeat that two days in a row.” Then I try and take a little time to notice how my body feels when I get off track. Whether if it’s a heavy feeling of having too much in my stomach, a lack of evergy, or a feeling of stiffness from not exercising enough, I notice that feeling and I let it show me why I keep my good habits. In the past I used to say “well, I messed up this day, so I might as well enjoy myself and come back to it later” then later never came.

Be Positive

Another thing that has helped a lot is thinking in terms of challenges to overcome and solutions to be found, rather than obstacles. Once I did really weal on a healthy journey, lost thirty pounds or so, but it was all derailed when I had a broken tooth and could no longer eat the healthy things that had gotten me there. At that time it was insurmountable, partly because other stress in my life was also high, and I just quit. These days if that happened again I’d break out the protein shakes and make a bunch of green soup, sugar free protein pudding, and other things . If my stress levels are really high I have an assortment of herbal teas that are very soothing. I also can feel how exercise helps me relax so I will usually get some minimum amount even if I don’t get in a huge workout.

Connect with how your body feels

Being in touch with my body has helped. Really feeling if I am actually hungry or just “have a case of the nibbles,” for example. Feeling if my body is asking for exercise. This isn’t so hard to do, it just takes a decision to notice more. Perfection isn’t immediate, you have to work at it, but the awareness will come. Another example of this is when I am stressed and inclined to nibble, and I realize that what I really need is a hug, or some kitty cuddle time, or a nap. Food becomes the cure-all, that proverbial hammer that makes every problem look like a nail, but we all have so many more tools than just that one.

How much is enough?

I learned portion control, too, and this is a tremendous tool. It was hard to give up the idea that I could have as much food as I wanted. Having grown up in deep poverty, that was a way I had of making myself feel safe because food equaled safety and comfort. So why shoouldn’t I have a whole bag of chips? I could afford it now. Yet, that wasn’t doing me any favors, it was still too much. My own solution for this is to buy smaller amounts of really high quality food, portion it out ahead of time, and take my time to enjoy it.

“This is the good stuff,” I tell my brain, “I don’t need a lot of it because it’s high quality nutrition and it tastes great.”

And it works.

Celebrate!

I learned to celebrate small victories, not using food but just noticing them and thinking ‘Hey! That’s great!” Going over onto the NSV thread has been a great way to do that, it makes me happy every time I have something to report. Celebrating other people’s small victories in the same way has been great too, it makes me realize that I’m not alone in the journey and it makes me feel good to support other people. So many times we feel like we were the only one to be this fat, or the only one to have this problem, and seeing that we aren’t alone helps us stay motivated and keep going because we see other poeple having success.

Gain Inspiration from Success

Speaking of success, the forums on My Fitness Pal have been a fantastic place for inspiration. I love reading about people’s success stories, and their in-process wins. I can see that there are folks with the same challenges as me, or worse ones in some cases, and they are winning too. I know that I don’t have any excuses, that this thing is possible, not the insurmountable task that I once thought it was. My success or my failure comes down to my choice so why would I choose to fail?

Be Patient

With success comes patience. We return to persistence as the key to success. There will be plateaus, there will be ups and downs. Sticking with it, and tweaking things a bit when results aren’t being found is essential. It took a long time for this weight to get on to our bodies, it’ll take a while for the weight to come off. Quick fixes aren’t permanent. Sometimes we even need to take little breaks to renew our focus. If we learn to be kind to ourselves, to forgive our own failings, then temporary setbacks won’t halt our progress.

How does this all work?

Now the question comes to HOW to do all this? The answers are going to be different for everyone. Part of it comes with time and thought. Brainstorm with yourself. A lot of these realizations came for me when I was writing about my journey but not everyone will have the same exerience. Maybe ideas will come during a drive, or a long walk. Maybe after reading a book. Just beginning to ask yourself these questions will help you think of your own answers. “What are some of my victories during this journey?” “How can I inspire myself to continue after I’ve had the worst day ever?” “What is my most compelling reason for weight loss?” Etc.

The Number One Tip

If I could tell everyone one thing to do, to help them be successful I would leave them with this. “SEEK THE MIDDLE PATH.” Avoid extremist thinking – the idea that if something isn’t an absolute success it’s the worst failure ever. This is still a challenge for me. I still tend towared being a bit polarized but I’m working on it and every time I do it helps me in all aspects of life.

I hope this was useful and helpful to someone. If there is a particular topic anyone would like me to explore further, I’ll be happy to do that. In future I might start thinking about specific examples of different challenges I had and ways I overcame them, because honestly, if there’s a diet mistake to make, I’ve probably made it!

What it’s like to lose 100 pounds

Food and Cooking, Healthy Living

I started my healthy journey on January 6 2020. I had lost weight before, with mixed results, and always gained it back with friends. I was around 250 pounds at that time. At five feet, three inches with fine bones that was a lot of extra weight.

245 on January 6 but I have no doubt that I was higher previously considering the holidays had just gone by. Now I’m flirting around the 150 mark. Many people want to lose 100 pounds, for me it was an impossible dream. So, what’s it actually like to do that, and what does it take?

The first thing that you need is persistence. To be persistent, it helps to understand yourself and what your personal weak points are. That way you can plan around them. It also helps to have a sustainable diet plan that isn’t miserable to follow. My first 85ish pounds were done by simple calorie restriction, ranging from around 1200-1600 calories depending on the day. Though I limited refined sugars and refined carbs, I didn’t cut out any major food groups and I occasionally had treat days. Usually averaging less than 1 a month.

You also need at least a basic understanding of what your body needs in terms of nutrition, both vitamins and also macronutrients like proteins and fats. Awareness of any health challenges helps a lot too. For instance, diabetics might want to pay more attention to how their body reacts to different kinds of carbs. People with things like PCOS or IBS might need supplementation on certain nutrients. I had a problem with low blood sugar which I found was really tied to eating too many refined carbs early in the day. I quit doing that and my problems went away.

What’s it like though?

Generally, it has been a pretty rewarding experience. I feel victorious every time the scale drops or my tape measure reads out smaller. I’ve had to cut way back on certain less-nourishing foods, and I had to learn what portion control actually meant, but generally I feel good. After the first drop of ten pounds or so I felt more energetic and the more weight I lose, the easier it is to exercise and the more energy I have. So it basically keeps getting better and better the more I go.

There’s more room in my car, I can bend over to touch my toes really easily, I can stretch much more easily. I don’t run out of breath walking a half block. If I have to stand for a while it’s not an issue rather than having to sit down every ten minutes. My resting heart rate is in the fifties, my blood pressure is low. I fill up faster when I eat and I’m better at stopping, I no longer hate how I look in the mirror. I don’t have a super hot beach body but I wasn’t aiming for that. I get more respect in public.

Most of all though I’m really proud of myself because this is something I had thought was impossible for so long. It’s not impossible, and if I can do it, you can too.

Was I hungry?

Generally, not. People get the idea that when you have to be starving all the time when you are dieting properly and eating nothing but rabbit food and that just hasn’t been true for me. Actually, I feel LESS hungry much of the time because I don’t eat as much for entertainment and I’m not dealing with all kinds of blood sugar crashes. Even when I’m doing Time Restricted Eating I feel some hunger but I don’t have that STARVED feeling that I did when my blood sugar was out of whack.

How much did I exercise?

On a good day I’ll do an hour or so but that includes errands and household chores. I generally log any activity as exercise that challenges my muscles or gets my heart rate up for a good amount of time. I do some weight lifting though nothing very sophisticated, some calisthenics, some stretching, some pedaling on a mini-pedaler, and change it up as I get bored. When the pool is working I swim. I try to get at least 20 minutes of something every day.

What about the emotional aspects?

Since I ate primarily from boredom or need for comfort, I learned to do different things when I was bored. For comfort I’ll have a hot cup of tea as that’s very soothing. I started getting in to all kinds of interesting herbal blends for that. I rotate my tea selections regularly and that does a lot to keep my palate entertained and my belly satisfied. I also had to deal with some of the emotional issues that had sabotaged me in the past, and start learning to prioritize my own health instead of putting it on the back burner.

How did my tastes change?

When a person changes their diet, they also change their gut microbiome. You can actually train yourself to have different cravings. For example, there’s this one low cal protein bar that I love and I genuinely crave that. I don’t mind though because it’s low sugar and high protein, and I have it for dessert. I also crave different kinds of vegetables now, and when I make a really healthy meal I find that it tastes fantastic. When I have one of my old processed high fat meals, it doesn’t taste as good. Now, there are certain foods that are absolutely zero nutrition but I still like, so I will have those occasionally but control the portions.

For example I learned to make my own pizza, which looks better now than the one in the picture did. But I’d keep it to two slices and make sure I used reduced fat cheese and turkey pepperoni to help keep the calories in line. That kept the spouse happy too because she didn’t have to give up a bunch of stuff. We have homemade sushi rolls every Sunday for the same reason, also portion controlled, and that gives us some wonderful nutrients and healthy fats.

By the way, I eat pizza every friday.

What about goal weight?

I want to lose about 20 more pounds. Basically I want to get rid of this big floppy belly I still have. That’s one hard truth about weight loss, it still may not make you look like a picture in a magazine, but you’ll feel so much better and be able to do so much more. Even though I have that big floppy belly for example, I can still put on medium shorts when I started around 1-2XL shorts. My shirts have gone from 2X to medium also. That’s just to give you an idea. Still, as I have learned about my body and how much weight I actually need, my goal has gone from around 150 (which I just achieved) to around 130. That’s simply because I see how much extra I still have at 150.

What about inspirations?

I went on MyFitnessPal and logged my calories, which not only gave me a better understanding of portions but also showed me the stories of people who had faced some really serious challenges and overcome them anyway. There was someone who was totally wheelchair bound with muscular dystrophy and this wonderful lady still lost over 100 pounds. Another who was born without legs and did something similar. People with health conditions of every type, usually the types where doctors say “you can’t lose weight like this” and they did it anyway. I looked at these beautiful, victorious people and thought “if they can do it, I can too.”

That’s why I’m telling this story, finally. I work an office job. I’ve been stuck at home the last year and a half. I have a thyroid condition. Hormonal issues. I struggle with depression. Despite that I still lost roughly 100 pounds in the last year and a half. I did it, YOU can do it. If one person can be inspired to transform their life I’ll be overjoyed!

Weight loss isn’t a magic fix…

I still have some issues, I still have some things about my body I’m not happy about, but I am very proud of my progress. It hasn’t always been easy but it hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be either. I look back at my early pictures and stats and think “was I really that big?” And I know that I was, but I always told myself it wasn’t as bad as I thought, I was just fine. Still, with all the energy and freedom I have gained, I can’t imagine going back. I’m going to enjoy my tasty new foods and healthy habits and never go back.

Your turn!

If you have questions or want me to follow up on this series, let me know. I’d be happy to write more articles but don’t want to cover territory that has been done to death. I would like to focus on the creative aspect of weight loss, to fit with the general theme of this site.