Hello all!
So, I'm starting a new thread for the month of July, just to keep things a small bit neater and to outline some new focusses.
I took a break from any sort of plan for rather a few days, spent a good portion of them stuffing my face, eating things by the carton and the package, and then the rest of them just not paying close attention to the type or time or amount of food I was eating.
Turns out, it's gained me back half an inch to my waist and my thighs, but that's not too much, right? Some of it's probably bloating or re-hydration from carb-overload anyway.
But at any rate, even doing that, and by going back through my previous diary and looking at things, I've identified a few interesting things....
things that work well for me:
-eating small portions and eating often. I know the argument about it running your metabolism or whatever is total crap, but I still believe it's true somewhere in my heart, haha. That just means that I feel better and healthier doing it. Plus, blood sugar levels and all that.
-exercising every morning. Even doing something small is better than nothing. If I don't do anything, I tend to feel less energetic and am much more prone to overeat! For some reason.
things that do NOT work well for me:
-eating dairy (or at least, lactose). Oh my gosh, these past few weeks, I've felt so horrible. After eating even a slice of pizza, I get indigestion and allergies and all sorts of nasty stuff.
-having "free" days. They inevitably turn into binges. It almost borders on an eating disorder, I wonder sometimes...
-trying to eat the foods that I am prone to overdo it with. I can try to plan it into my total intake, but bottom line, it's an unhealthy behavior, and it often leads to more bad decisions.
-artificial sweetner. Now, I would have been the LAST person to say this until a few days ago, but I've actually noticed a pretty direct cause-and-effect relationship between consuming, say, a sugar-free drink and subsequent cravings to binge.
-measuring/weighing/photo-analysing. I get too frustrated not seeing immediate progress, every single day.
So! For my July challenge, I'm going to put those ideas into use, and try to
1. not do any form of body/weight loss checking until the end of the month- including even staring in the mirror too long xD
2. focus on eating pure protein sources throughout the day, getting enough gram of protein per day, with plenty of vegetables and minimal amounts of everything else, but no strict counting
3. cut down on the artificial sweetener, and since my only regular source of that is my morning coffee, try to replace the coffee with green tea slowly
4. avoid buying and planning to consume my "trigger" foods in mass quantities: cereal, ice cream, tortilla chips, yogurt, cottage cheese, oatmeal, even fruit (I don't mean not eating those things at all- just only doing it like in front of other people, so I'm not tempted to keep on eating and eating!)
5. keep going to the gym every morning for running and weight training, plus add in some elliptical time later in the day if I get bored (I bought an elliptical machine from Goodwill!!! a $400-$500 machine for just $30, and it works perfectly! just had to jerry-rig it up to plug into a wall outlet, because it was just one of the battery contacts that wasn't working
)
6. work with sort of "opportunistic dieting" ... by which I mean, since I don't often crave junk food, I shouldn't worry about that on most days, and not be concerned if I end up with a bigger deficit than might be proper, because I know that I also do tend to overdo it when I do indulge; I think it all averages out in the end, it's just not as linear or steady as for some people
7. (this is more about confidence-boosting) try every day to at least EITHER put on make-up or wear a nice outfit, preferably both, because I need to get more confident about my body now, since that won't automatically come with weight loss!
I think that's all, may add more later. Here's to another great month!
So, I'm starting a new thread for the month of July, just to keep things a small bit neater and to outline some new focusses.
I took a break from any sort of plan for rather a few days, spent a good portion of them stuffing my face, eating things by the carton and the package, and then the rest of them just not paying close attention to the type or time or amount of food I was eating.
Turns out, it's gained me back half an inch to my waist and my thighs, but that's not too much, right? Some of it's probably bloating or re-hydration from carb-overload anyway.
But at any rate, even doing that, and by going back through my previous diary and looking at things, I've identified a few interesting things....
things that work well for me:
-eating small portions and eating often. I know the argument about it running your metabolism or whatever is total crap, but I still believe it's true somewhere in my heart, haha. That just means that I feel better and healthier doing it. Plus, blood sugar levels and all that.
-exercising every morning. Even doing something small is better than nothing. If I don't do anything, I tend to feel less energetic and am much more prone to overeat! For some reason.
things that do NOT work well for me:
-eating dairy (or at least, lactose). Oh my gosh, these past few weeks, I've felt so horrible. After eating even a slice of pizza, I get indigestion and allergies and all sorts of nasty stuff.
-having "free" days. They inevitably turn into binges. It almost borders on an eating disorder, I wonder sometimes...
-trying to eat the foods that I am prone to overdo it with. I can try to plan it into my total intake, but bottom line, it's an unhealthy behavior, and it often leads to more bad decisions.
-artificial sweetner. Now, I would have been the LAST person to say this until a few days ago, but I've actually noticed a pretty direct cause-and-effect relationship between consuming, say, a sugar-free drink and subsequent cravings to binge.
-measuring/weighing/photo-analysing. I get too frustrated not seeing immediate progress, every single day.
So! For my July challenge, I'm going to put those ideas into use, and try to
1. not do any form of body/weight loss checking until the end of the month- including even staring in the mirror too long xD
2. focus on eating pure protein sources throughout the day, getting enough gram of protein per day, with plenty of vegetables and minimal amounts of everything else, but no strict counting
3. cut down on the artificial sweetener, and since my only regular source of that is my morning coffee, try to replace the coffee with green tea slowly
4. avoid buying and planning to consume my "trigger" foods in mass quantities: cereal, ice cream, tortilla chips, yogurt, cottage cheese, oatmeal, even fruit (I don't mean not eating those things at all- just only doing it like in front of other people, so I'm not tempted to keep on eating and eating!)
5. keep going to the gym every morning for running and weight training, plus add in some elliptical time later in the day if I get bored (I bought an elliptical machine from Goodwill!!! a $400-$500 machine for just $30, and it works perfectly! just had to jerry-rig it up to plug into a wall outlet, because it was just one of the battery contacts that wasn't working
)6. work with sort of "opportunistic dieting" ... by which I mean, since I don't often crave junk food, I shouldn't worry about that on most days, and not be concerned if I end up with a bigger deficit than might be proper, because I know that I also do tend to overdo it when I do indulge; I think it all averages out in the end, it's just not as linear or steady as for some people
7. (this is more about confidence-boosting) try every day to at least EITHER put on make-up or wear a nice outfit, preferably both, because I need to get more confident about my body now, since that won't automatically come with weight loss!
I think that's all, may add more later. Here's to another great month!
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