I didn’t post on Monday, but not for the most obvious reason, that I gained weight over Thanksgiving and didn’t want to admit it. No, I actually did pretty well and felt quite good about I Monday weight. I didn’t post for the second most obvious reason; I was Cyber-Monday and I got distracted looking for great deals.
Last week I set a goal to record my food every day except Thursday and to have no more than five cheat meals or snacks. I didn’t meet those goals; in fact, I hardly logged my food at all during the week, but I was really mindful about what I ate and conscious of my choices, and I learned a few things about myself.
- Tradition is important to me. I want to celebrate by serving the food that feels like Thanksgiving to me and to my family. Maybe if I had been raised, or had raised my own family, in a more health-conscious way, then lower-fat versions would be the norm, but I wasn’t, and I didn’t, and we all have a taste for butter, sugar, and cream.
- I don’t want to feel like any food is off-limits. Deprivation won’t work for me. I’m still calling it dieting, but it is actually about learning what healthy eating looks like for me at this stage of my life. Let me give a good example from this past week. My sister-in-law made some of the best cornbread stuffing I have ever tasted. I had no way to calculate the number of calories or the serving size, but I feel it is safe to assume that even a small serving had a substantial number of calories. It was really delicious, after all. The morning after Thanksgiving I really wanted more of it, so I ate a small serving of it for breakfast along with an apple, and enjoyed it without guilt.
- I have now logged enough food to be able to make fairly accurate guesses about calorie counts. I started preparing for this section of my website about seven months ago by entering my meals into My Fitness Pal according to my 1500 Calorie Meal Plan. I wasn’t consistent, but I have done enough of it to know if I’m going very far over the limit. On extra busy days I often just eat meals that I already know work and save myself the need to log them.
- When there is a choice to make between focusing on family and friends or counting my calories, relationships come first. The reality of my life is that sometimes I just don’t have the time to both prepare the food and enter all the recipes. It is also not always reasonable to stop and do the math before I eat something. The solution in these circumstances is to do my best to dish up what I believe to be the right amount and then relax and enjoy the food and the people.
- I like feeling in control. I am reaching a point that the desire to over-eat is less powerful than the desire to keep going towards my goal. Because I let myself gain as much weight as I did, I feel like it will be a while before anyone else will notice that I’m losing, but I can feel it already and focusing on my successes is keeping me motivated.
Disclaimer: This blog is simply a record of my own experience. I am not a medical professional and I don’t claim to be in any way qualified to give advice. Comments and questions are always welcome.
