Wine

 Food, Last Ten Pounds  1 Response »
Feb 272011
 
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Wine

It’s long been an angel/devil, love/hate thing but I’ve finally made a decision about the drink which is so much a part of my middle aged life.

I’m not going to have full bottles of it in the house any more.  I’m happy to have a glass when I eat out.  I can also buy those little single serving bottles once in a while as long as it’s for a social situation.

But it can’t sit by the bottle-full in my fridge and be just neutral in my life.  It’s not neutral; it’s negative.

I don’t like how it makes me feel.

I don’t like how it makes me eat.

Judging from conversations with friends of a similar age, we’ve got to the point where alcohol in general has a swifter and harsher effect on our brains and bodies.  Even a couple of glasses can leave us with headaches the next morning.  And who needs that?

I’ll let you know how it goes

 

 

 Posted by Millie at 4:43 am  Tagged with: ,

The Custom Built diet

 Food, Last Ten Pounds  1 Response »
Feb 242011
 
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I decided to take a different approach to this “regime”. (The word is in the news so much these days that it just seems to fall off my fingers onto the keyboard.)

Basically – I sat down and thought about what I wanted to eat every day that would still allow me to lose weight. That’s  such a different starting point than sitting down and wondering what I should cut out of my diet every day.

I came up with this:

  • breakfast – a big bowl of porridge, fruit and yogurt (porridge made with half a cup of oats and 2.5 cups of water.) Right now my fruit is tinned pumpkin heated up and stirred in with the yogurt.  I’ll probably have blueberries next.
  • lunch -cottage cheese and 4 slices and ryvita. I eat 150g of cc which is about a quarter of a large tub. Sometimes I nibble on a couple of the crackers about an hour before I eat the rest.
  • snack – dried fruit.  About 60 calories worth and, I’m afraid, for now I’m buying the over-packaged individual portions for some extra built-in self-control.
  • I also build in 6 big mugs of coffee and/or tea per day – each with 1/3 cup 1% milk.  I tried to have less milk but it tasted like a diet, so I got rid of a 100g yogurt snack and just enjoy my milky hot drinks.
  • dinner – a big plate of vegetables and lean protein.  I originally had thought about half the protein and a small portion of rice, but I’m happy with more chicken and no rice. (One less pot to wash.)  These past couple of days have been chicken breast cut up with a green, red and yellow pepper, an onion and 2 carrots, all tossed in 2 tsp of olive oil and roasted in the over. I think the next 4 days will be a big pot of veggie chili.
  • alcohol -  In the absence of a commute, I do like a drink to signal that the working day is over.  Wine is hard to control once that bottle is open so I’ve opted for a well tonicked G&T.  I use a measure of gin and a 300ml bottle of Fever Tree naturally light tonic which is very tasty.  It’s nice long grown-up tasting drink with only 1 unit of alcohol.

Once I figured out what I wanted to eat, it was easier to figure out what needed to be temporarily off the menu, namely:

  • cheese
  • peanut butter
  • bananas
  • wine
  • all other forms of crackers and bread

With wine, the thought process was, “I want wine but can’t control it.  What should I have instead?”

With all the others, I didn’t actually notice I wasn’t eating them because I started from “What do I want to eat every day?” and they didn’t feature on the list.  Interesting.  If I’d wanted to eat peanut butter every day, I would have made it work, but it didn’t even come to mind.  Not just interesting – bloomin’ amazing.

Tomorrow:  What happens on the days when I can’t just eat to my own selfish routine?

 

 Posted by Millie at 2:41 am  Tagged with: , ,

Hunger

 Food, Last Ten Pounds  No Responses »
Feb 222011
 
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Yesterday I got thinking about the difference between these two statements.

I’m not hungry.

and

I feel satisfied.

I figure you’ll never see an ad (advert, commercial – we’re nothing if not bilingual around here) for a diet where someone says “And I always feel satisfied!” (big smile on a skinny body.)

The fact is that many of us overeat to feel “full” – not just to take the edge off hunger.  I can eat an orange and not feel hungry but it doesn’t satisfy if I’m trying to feed something other than my appetite.

Yes, I know, it’s Weight Loss 101.  But I’m not sure how to conquer it completely.

Yesterday, because I had given myself permission to be utterly selfish (anti-social, really) about food, I spaced my eating throughout the day to suit no one but myself.  I only felt hunger when I needed to – as a signal to eat.  I ate enough to satisfy that hunger.

Was I satisfied?  Only because the thought of losing weight replaced the need to “feel full” in my stressful life. I figure it will be a good five days before “diet satisfaction” starts to wane and I need to replace it with something else.

So, thinking ahead, how am I going to stay satisfied without feeling overly full?

Something to think about today.

 Posted by Millie at 2:33 am  Tagged with: ,

It’s War

 Exercise, Food, Last Ten Pounds  No Responses »
Feb 212011
 
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I’m not big on military imagery but this weight loss thing certainly has some parallels with “warring”.

These past 2.5 years have been a series of battles won and lost, interspersed with periods of peace – and it’s time for the “last battle”.

The first thing I want to point out is that the enemy is not my body.  And the enemy is not food.  Those are both good, no, wonderful things and my closest allies during these next few weeks.

The enemy is my own attitude – that is, the sizable commitment gap between what I want and what I’m prepared to do to get it.

This week I’m prepared to close that gap by throwing all my ammunition at these last few pounds.

Ammunition?

Burning off at least 200 calories through exercise no matter what.

  • a 2 mile run
  • a 3 mile walk
  • 2 hours of shopping
  • Those are daily minimums.

The thing I’m not going to do is spend one whole day doing nothing because I know that I’m going on a 5 mile run the next day.  While the battle is raging, this has got to be an everyday commitment.

Eating with exacting discipline.

  • Breakfast lunch and dinners will be the same for 4 days at a time.  Boring but it makes planning and shopping easier.
  • All ingredients weighed and measured.  ie The 1/4 of milk I usually journal for coffee is actually 3/8.  That won’t matter a bit in a few weeks, but it matters in battle.
  • Eating more than the recommended 5 a day of fruit and veg. This means snacking on carrots even when it’s easier to grab a cracker.

Counting the cost.

  • As someone in the bible wrote, “No one goes into battle without first counting the cost.”  Really?  I do it all the time with predictable results.
  • The cost to me this week is no wine in the house.  At all.
  • The cost is eating very carefully during the day when I’m going out for dinner in the evening.
  • The cost is choosing what I’m going to eat at the restaurant before I go – and sticking to it.
  • The cost is not being a very flexible human being when it comes to food choices.  I will stick with my decisions even when they are socially a bit awkward. (This is my biggest “cost”.)

I will keep up this lack of flexibility (regime, dare I say, “diet”?) until the scale is really moving.  Then I’ll rethink my strategy.  I’m assuming that I will be eating like this until I leave for Canada at the end of March.

And what has prompted this last push?  I’ve made a decision that, whatever I weigh when I wake up on my 50th birthday will be the lowest weight I will ever aspire to again.  I’ve had enough of “ought” and “should” and even “want”.  Time to hit real middle age with my head high  – no matter what I weigh.

In the meantime, realising that I am serious about that has made me think that I will be very disappointed if I don’t ever keep that promise to myself to get down to 140lbs and live with it for a while.  Hence the battle.

(Now, where are my bagpipes?)

 Posted by Millie at 4:19 am  Tagged with: , ,

Sausages

 Food, Keeping Going  No Responses »
Jan 242011
 
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They are lovely skinny little chipolatas – the third one down in this photo of sausage loveliness.

Three of them cost 7 propoints.  Four cost 9 and five cost 11.

Guess how many I ate?

 Posted by Millie at 1:33 am  Tagged with: , ,

Learn Something New….

 Food, Thoughts on the Process  1 Response »
Oct 222010
 
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Yesterday something happened that made me realise I had a new weapon against obesity:  food snobbery.

I found myself craving chocolate in that “nothing else will do – to hell with everything” way.  I was walking to meet friends and knew I could get some at the store along the way.  The only fair trade fruit and nut was the store brand so I decided to try it.

I left the store, tore open the very (very) large bar and broke off a good chunk.  It was repulsive – tasteless and unsatisfying.  I ate a bit and then…..get this…….threw the whole thing in the bin.  The whole thing!

That’s when I realised that food snobbery is a blessing.  I am no longer satisfied by cheap chocolate.  Or cheap potato chips or cheap ice cream or commercial baked goods.   A little of the best is far far more satisfying that a lot of the worst, or even the middling.

I have no idea when this crept up on me but I like it.  It makes me much more thoughtful about what I really crave and what will satisfy that craving.  Maybe it’s the thinking about food rather than the snobbery that’s the real weapon.

Note to self:  This doesn’t mean you’re “cured” of anything.  Don’t go near the crap if you don’t want to eat it.

 Posted by Millie at 4:33 am  Tagged with:

Back to the real world…(but should I have left?)

 Exercise, Food, Starting Again Again, Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Sep 222010
 
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The entire time I was traveling, I ate with what could be called reckless abandon.  No calorie counting, no thinking “gee, is there way too much sugar in this for me?”, no thinking about “diet” at all.  I figured that I would be walking so much that I would burn it off.

And it’s true.  I did walk a lot and did burn most of it off.  But here’s what I forgot to factor in – the habit.  Once you throw away good eating habits for bad – even if it’s for only a 2 week period – you have to relearn the good habits, and it takes a lot of time and energy. Because of that, I’m stressed, eating too much, and struggling to get back in gear, thinking “Did I really have to have dessert at every meal?”

My point is that I need to start rethinking “vacation mode.”  For years, it was an excuse to eat with impunity. I’ve controlled it somewhat and now will try to temper my eating, and increase my exercise to a certain point.  But what I really need is to just continue to eat like I have been, albeit with somewhat different foods.  It is harder – I’m usually eating a lot in restaurants and don’t have access to a kitchen – but it’s no excuse.  Every place I go has had open-air markets where fresh fruits and vegetables abound.  I could easily buy something there and have a picnic, rather than go to a restaurant.

Or if I do go to a restaurant, I don’t have to order the speciality with meat, potatoes, dumplings and bread.  I could just get a salad and some lean meat.  Instead of sampling the nation’s cuisine at every meal, I could do it just once or twice a week.

In fact, when I came back, I was telling my neighbor about the trip and the food.  DeeDee is originally from Germany, and I mentioned how much meat and bread I ate while I was there.  She laughed and said, “Well, Germans don’t eat like that every day!”.  Duh.  Of course they don’t – they also eat salads and fresh vegetables.  In fact, DeeDee (who is rail thin), only has bread on special occasions.

Food for thought.

 Posted by Mardee at 3:17 am  Tagged with:

Oh Oh

 Food, Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Aug 082010
 
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Day 3 of the holiday is starting and I’ve fallen into a vat of simple carbs. And not in a good way.

So what’s the plan?

I hate having to plan.
But, even more, I hate the thought of putting on 5 pounds because I can’t be bothered to plan.

So today I’m going to think before I eat. I’m going to recognise hunger and stay away from the simple carbs that seem to fuel this city.

Lunch is a family bbq where there will almost no healthy food, the kind which, helpfully, I don’t find appetising. Not that that always stops me eating, but I will focus on how unappealing and unhealthy it all is.

Dinner is undecided but will certainly be at a restaurant. The challenge will be finding a salad which really is healthy. Or maybe some tomato based pasta.

I don’t need anything else. Breakfast is over and done. If we go for coffee, I’ll choose the smallest size. If the weather clears, we’ll do some walking.

I’ll check in tomorrow.

 Posted by Millie at 8:48 am  Tagged with:

As if to prove a point…..

 Food, Keeping Going  No Responses »
Jul 202010
 
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Was it because I was thinking about binge eating?

Or was it just that the “perfect storm” was approaching and there was nothing I could do about it?

On Saturday, I listed the life ingredients that can cause me to binge.  So why didn’t I mention that I was feeling several of those things, and that I was going to have to negotiate a social event and then 2 days alone?  In other words, why didn’t I admit that the clouds were building and I needed a plan to avoid doing what I was obviously going to do?

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling grumpy and twitchy.  No amount of exercise or healthy food made me feel better.  I kept fast-forwarding through the next couple of weeks and allowing myself to stress about the “to do” list.  I also allowed myself to turn “what I want” into “what I must do”.  That’s not a good mind-set for me.

That night we had friends over and I just wanted to have fun.  Nothing at all in any way wrong with that, but I wasn’t admitting to myself that I couldn’t imagine reigning myself in again.

I woke up the next morning with a bit of a hangover and a weird impatience for the husband to leave on his business trip and let me get on with my work.  Ha! I DID have plans for work but there was that almost-but-not-quite-subconscious alter-ego making plans for what I was going to eat once he was out of the house.

And eat is what I did.  It wasn’t particularily junky food and some of it was even planned.  But it was pretty non-stop and way way too much for any woman of my size and stature. And, of course, there was baking.

This morning, I woke up feeling vaguely ill and it took me a long time to get out of bed to face the day (and myself).

What were my choices?

  • I could do it again because I have another day alone, but I’m relieved to say that didn’t appeal at all.
  • I could put it behind me and relish the clean slate – zero the journal and act as though today was the first day of the week.

But I wasn’t sure that was quite right either.  I’ve definitely moved on from blowing a whole week/month/year but now I need to move myself along a little further.  It’s GOOD that I’m willing to draw a line under negative eating behaviour and move on.  But it’s better to look back and FACE IT before I wipe it off.

That’s the difference.  I’ve been moving on without looking back, without learning from my rather spectacular crash and burn episodes.  So I went back to my journal and wrote down everything I could remember eating in the past 48 hours.  And I remember a lot – partly because much of it was planned so it was only the significant “extras” that I needed to remember.

The total?

  • Sunday: 2600 calories
  • Monday: 2500 calories

That’s  interesting because I would have thought I’d eaten much more yesterday.  At least, my mindset was much less healthy while I was eating yesterday so it felt like a binge rather than just eating too much with friends.

An the outcome of this exercise?  Well – basically, the “worst” I can do isn’t all that bad.  My ultimate disaster – the shameful binge – is actually just a couple of days of overeating.  I reset my Nutracheck goal for this week to “maintenance” and all of a sudden it’s all completely retrievable.  I will keep running and walking and eating sensibly and I’ll leave it a couple of days to weigh myself.

But it’s all ok.  It is.

I may have just disarmed the binge. I’ll keep you posted.

 Posted by Millie at 3:25 am  Tagged with: , , ,

28 Calorie Banana

 Food  No Responses »
Jul 142010
 
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We always get the little bananas but this one takes the cake.  Wish we could always get them this size.

Just add 10g of peanut butter for an 88 calorie post-run snack.

 Posted by Millie at 3:49 am
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