The Diet Naked Blog

Crazy her, crazy me

I had a bad day, the kind of day where I just plain ate too much.  I'm suffering from PMS, which I know many people use as an excuse and other people just don't believe in at all, but for me, PMS is a reality.  I even started tracking my cycle on the calendar just so I would understand my moods and cravings a little more.  On days like today, I just want to munch through the day.

I know in a day or two, I will stop feeling like a robot programmed by an insane person.  Meanwhile, today I feel fat.

The funniest thing happened, though.  I babysat a friend's daughters today.  This friend happens to be a really beautiful woman who has lost almost 40 pounds in the past year.  She went from a size 14 to a size 2 or 4.  (I was her inspiration, she claims.) 

Anyway, I walked up my stairs ahead of her as we went to tell her girls she had arrived.  From behind, she said, "Look at your skinny butt!" I said, surprised, "Oh, thanks . . . but I'm having a fat day.  I don't imagine you have those kind of days anymore since you are to tiny, but today, I feel fat." 

And she said, "Oh, I know what you mean.  I have those, too.  I wonder where all this came from."  She touched her flat stomach to illustrate her point.

I felt much better after that exchange.  I mean, I still feel fat and it doesn't help that I'm wearing one of my least favorite shirts.  But it's nice to know that my butt doesn't look like a semi-truck from behind and that this undeniably thin woman has fat days.  Somehow, that craziness puts my craziness into perspective.

Anyway, so there you go.  I ate too much today.  I'm mad about that, but tomorrow is a new day.  I'll start it with a three and a half mile walk and then a bowl of oatmeal.

About eating no grains

I'm trying not to eat grains this week, but it's hard.  How do people eat a totally low-carb diet in the long-term?  I haven't even been grain-free, since I'm still having my normal oatmeal breakfast, but really.  Low-carb doesn't work for me.

Eating whole-foods, on the other hand, has proven to be a reasonable approach to achieving a healthy weight.  Unfortunately, "bulk-eating" even whole foods makes you fat.

Anyway, the tea-kettle's whistling and I must run, but I just wanted to say that.  Not eating grains is hard, really hard.  Wah, wah, wah.  I think I might give it up.

The Importance of Breakfast

The people at Special K sent me a couple of boxes of Special K "chocolatey delight" cereal, accompanied by a "Take Back Breakfast" tip sheet.  I've tried the cereal as a snack and it's addictive . . . thus, not a good snack for me!  But for those of you who count points or calories, you might enjoy it's strange chocolatey goodness ("crunchy rice & wheat flakes with chocolatey pieces," 3/4 of a cup has 120 calories, 2 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber and 9 grams of sugar).

Recently, studies have concluded that "there is consistent evidence of an association between breakfast cereal consumption and a healthy weight, but limited evidence for any proposed mechanism that would point to it being a causal relationship."  (That's from the information Special K sent me.)

In other words, if you eat breakfast cereal, you are more likely to have a healthy weight, but no one can prove that breakfast cereal causes you to be at a healthy weight. Nonetheless, Kellogg's would like you to eat more breakfast cereal, particularly their brand.

I would like you to eat breakfast, too, but for more altruistic reasons.  From the National Weight Control Registry website, I offer you this:

• There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

      

 

• 78%  eat breakfast every day.
• 75% weigh them self at least once a week.
• 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
• 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

You see that?  Of the people who have successfully kept off their weight, 78% of them eat breakfast every day.  That's one of the reasons I eat breakfast every day:  I want to be one of them, those successful weight-losers!

I've said before that I prefer old-fashioned oatmeal for breakfast.  Lately, I add fruit to it (blueberries are in season and oh, so good for you!).  I think it's wise to pick a breakfast you like, can easily fix and are committed to having every day.  (When I'm on the run, I take a Kashi granola bar with me or a packet of almonds.)  I like egg cooked with vegetables, but not for breakfast.  I need a more mindless breakfast than that.

Anyway, so, there you go.  Eat your breakfast!  (But make sure it's not full of sugar and fat or you won't be doing yourself a favor at all.)

Official Thursday Weigh-In

Well.  I'm back to 171.  No surprise since I ate some stuff I shouldn't have eaten, including two bowls of ice cream on Tuesday after I had a tooth extracted.  (I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking.)

I'm tentatively going to attempt to eliminate grains from my diet for a week, maybe two.  (Except for oatmeal.)  I'm not very good at cutting out healthy foods--it just seems wrong to me--and I can't bear not to eat fruit during summer when it's so good.  (South Beach Phase 1 says no fruit, no grains, in addition to the obvious no sugar, no white potatoes.)  However, I need a quick and easy way to cut calories from my diet and jumpstart this whole weight loss thing.  (Unless I change my mind because . . . no popcorn?  Can I live without it for a week or two?)

Anyway, I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. 

Meanwhile, check in.  Also, if you've joined the CafeMom Diet Naked message board (link to the right), how about going over and posting there?  I've sadly neglected that area in the past month of personal chaos and I'd like to get it off the ground.  Will you help?  All  you have to do is talk, confess, question, discuss.  Easy, right?

Go read this blog

I came across Y's post at Joy Unexpected about body image . . . in which she contemplates how to not pass along her issues to her daughter. She links to a post on BlogHer which asks the question, "would you rather be mean or stupid than fat?" 

I don't really have any commentary to go along with this link . . . her post stands on its own.

Wait.  I do have this. 

I realized recently when I see people around me who have lost or gained weight that even as I notice their weight loss or gain, my feelings about the person don't change at all.  I see them as themselves, still.  Just a little bigger or smaller.

And then, I extrapolate and think to myself, oh wait, probably people just saw me as Melodee when I was fat and not "that disgusting fat pig who won't stop eating potato chips" as I thought of myself.  I know that ten or twenty pounds, or even a hundred pounds doesn't make any difference to me when I look at friends or acquaintances.  I might feel sorry for them, to be carrying around extra weight which is so uncomfortable, physically and emotionally, but I don't feel disgusted or judgmental.  That could be me.  That was me.  That could be me again. 

Why do we extend grace to other people and refuse to extend that same kind of grace to ourselves?

And when will we embrace the truth that we are not our bodies?  Our bodies carry us around in the world, but our spirits, our souls shine whether we are big or small, fat or thin.  We need to honor and  respect the  inner person living  in our aging, temporary bodies.  (I honor my inner self by taking care of my outer self . . . the inner Mel is a lot happier when the outer Mel can walk uphills without wanting to die.)

Getting kids to eat better

I don't know about your kids, but mine would choose potato chips and chocolate bars every day if I let them.  I have discovered one way to get them to want healthier foods, though.  I trick them.  I tell them, "This is my salad," or "These are my strawberries," and then, what do you know?  They want it because we all know that food tastes better when it's on someone else's plate!

For more ideas on getting kids to eat better, check out this article on The Diet Channel. 

(And get away from my cantaloupe!  That's for Mommy!)

Home again, home again, jiggety jog

Howdy ho!  I'm home again after a week's adventure which included over 2,200 miles in the car (with four kids!), three days at Disneyland and/or California Adventures, continuous restaurant eating, endless walking, often with a 38-pound person hanging off my back, and not quite enough sleep.  I am eager to get back into some sort of routine, including eating the simple foods I've grown to depend on to keep myself on the path to better health and smaller pants. 

(As a side note, I want to mention that two years ago and sixty pounds ago, my family and I went to Disney World. By the end of the first day, my feet were swollen and blistered.  I suffered through the next five days with painful feet and excruciating blisters, despite using moleskin and bandages and powders and lotions.  This time around, despite plenty of walking, my feet felt great--a little fatigued, but no blisters, no pain.  Losing weight changes your life in so many ways.)

Tonight, after ten hours in the car and a couple hours unpacking and getting situated, I climbed onto my exercise bike to ride for thirty minutes.  My exercise streak continues . . . I'm approaching my one-year Exercise Streak Anniversary (August 14, I think). 

I reread a little bit of the South Beach diet book tonight . . . I'm considering "doing" the first phase with a little tweak (I don't think I want to give up my morning oatmeal).  The first phase eliminates most fruits, in addition to grains.  Basically, you're looking at proteins and vegetables for two weeks.  We'll see.  I haven't decided for sure, but I think it might be a nice kick-start to my stalled diet routine.

Well, onward with the weekend.  The rest of mine will include a lot of laundry and a trip to the grocery store to replenish the refrigerator.  I'm glad to be home.

Official Thursday Weigh-In

Here's a great way to remind yourself how you used to be.  Get something heavy--like a kid, for instance--and cart it around on your back for three hours at Disneyland.  My load was my 4-year old daughter who is holding steady at 38 pounds.  I cannot believe that I used to drag around that much weight--plus 20 more pounds--all the time.

Yikes!

Today, my quads are sore to the touch, thanks to that inadvertent work-out.

You should all know that I ate french fries and ice cream today . . . without a single regret.  Of course, it helps to know that I will not be weighing in since I have no access to a scale.  (My other food choices were better . . . salmon on a salad at dinner, a Kashi granola bar for breakfast, my grilled chicken burger without the bun . . . )

Even though I am not weighing in (we're going to Disneyland at 7 a.m.!) don't let that stop you!  Weigh in now, if you dare. 

Shocking myself

You will never guess what I voluntarily chose to eat at The Cheesecake Factory today.  Go ahead.  Guess.

Give up?  Not salad.  I've had salad every day for days . . . I love salad, so that's fine, but I wanted something different today.  So I had Thai Lettuce Wraps.  What a nice change of pace.  I also had a couple of fries from the kids' plates.  Oh, and I ate a little piece of bread with butter.

Then we split two pieces of cheesecake five ways, so I satisfied my longing for something creamy and delicious without overdoing it.  And I didn't even eat the glob of real whipping cream off the plate, though I sort of wanted to . . . that seemed just beyond gluttonous.

(Oh, and while we watched a movie, I ate my customary popcorn, though only half the container.)

We spent a few hours in the pool.  What a delight to wear a swimsuit and not be totally mortified as in past years.  I've never avoiding swimsuits entirely because I didn't think that was fair to my kids, but oh, the horror of appearing in public with fat flapping and rolling around!  I'm glad those days are behind me. 

Tomorrow, Huntington Beach beckons to us.  I love the ocean.

Road trip eating

We're on a road trip . . . (though of course, a large, mean dog named Spike and his equally vicious owner are house-sitting) . . . which means eating on the run.  Here's how I managed today:

Breakfast:  Kashi granola bar in the car with a bottle of water.  We left forty-five minutes later than we had hoped, and I had been scurrying around all morning as a result.  No time for breakfast at home.

Lunch:  Red Robin . . . I had my usual Cobb salad with dressing on the side.  Everyone else had a burger and fries and they ate so fast that I didn't quite have time to finish my salad.  I ate an onion ring.  Yum.   

Snack:  Stopped at a service station for a restroom break and a snack.  Kids had candy and I bought a packet of almonds. 

Dinner:  McDonald's . . . I had a Bacon-Ranch salad with low-fat dressing.  Again, I didn't quite have time to finish it.

When we arrived at our hotel at 8:30 p.m., the kids and I all put on our swimming suits and swam for an hour as darkness fell and the stars began to appear.

All in all, a successful day . . . (but I am looking forward to breakfast, since I'm kind of hungry).  Oh, and get this!  The scale this morning said 167.4!  That's my lowest weight in close to a million years.