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Back in December, I told myself that as of the new year, I was going to get back on the weight watchers wagon and start counting points again. Interestingly, I didn't end up doing that.
Since I made this decision in mid December, I decided that I would prepare myself. The thing I dread most about counting points is the hunger, the omnipresent feeling I get when my body is not getting enough calories, and it knows it. It clouds my judgement, sours my mood and it is generally unpleasant to deal with. So I figured I would try to prepare for this by spending two weeks simply working on portion control. In other words: Eat the same stuff I'd always been eating, only less of it, and when presented with a choice, attempt to pick the healthiest option that still sounded appealing.
Finally, I vowed that if I was hungry, it was okay to eat. But if I was going to eat a snack, I would limit the portion. i.e an already portioned snack like a granola bar, or if not already portioned, I would open the bag or box (or whatever), take a reasonable amount out, and put the box away. I would eat only that and, if still hungry, wait 45 minutes or so and have another. I'm not being at all exact on the portions but I figure if it's ~200 calories or so, that's probably an appropriate snack to convince my body that there's food.
Interestingly enough, it worked almost without effort. I simply had to remind myself at mealtime to scoop a little bit less of whatever I was serving, and if, when I finished it, wait a minimum of 10 minutes before deciding if I really wanted seconds.
When Jan 1 came around, I stepped on the scale. I had lost 4 pounds in that 2 weeks, and I wasn't even technically dieting. I went ahead and spent the next couple of days counting points. Naturally, I found counting points pretty dreary. It's a pain in the ass to add up the values of all the ingredients of something I'm making, then guess how big the serving of it is and convert that to points. So I quit counting points, but since I had been successful with simply reducing my portion size, I decided to go on with the same routine.
The first half of January was equally successful. By mid January I had lost another 3 pounds. The last two weeks have been a little bit tougher. I've been hungrier more often and the meals are less satisfying. I found it difficult to completely curb my appetite, so I let myself let up and eat a little bit more. I had thought that meant my weight was stabilized.
I actually skipped last week's weigh in. I didn't want to know.
Today I weighed in another 2 pounds down.
Now, my results can be affected by any number of things. I do try to weigh in at the same time of day and it's always before I've eaten for the day (actually except today; I had already had breakfast) but it's still tough to account for the vagaries of water weight. When a pint of water weighs a pound, and the amount of water in the system can vary up or down by several pints, that can make weight fluctuate. Still, I'm now well outside the range at which water could be the primary explanation for my lost weight.
So here is the theory I'm working on:
More or less what this boils down to is: Use techniques to curb impulsive behavior, and try to separate the bodily signals that are impulse from need. I know that I have a real problem that if food is in front of me, I'll eat it regardless of whether or not I'm hungry. So if I don't want to eat, I have to remove the food from being in front of me. I can do that. I know that hunger makes it difficult for me to live my life. But I can satisfy or ease hunger sanely and not drive myself to over eat later. I know that cutting out a large portion of my choices always makes me feel restricted. But I can moderate. I can choose healthy alternatives when I want, and in so doing, I can also choose unhealthy foods when I feel like, as long as I am getting a balance. Guilt is not a great motivator for me, so feeling guilty over eating something I shouldn't have is not going to do anything but make me miserable. Instead, I should make myself feel good for eating things that are good for me. That is much more motivating.
I'm only 6 weeks into this. I don't know if it's going to be effective yet. We're going to see how this holds across the whole year.
Since I made this decision in mid December, I decided that I would prepare myself. The thing I dread most about counting points is the hunger, the omnipresent feeling I get when my body is not getting enough calories, and it knows it. It clouds my judgement, sours my mood and it is generally unpleasant to deal with. So I figured I would try to prepare for this by spending two weeks simply working on portion control. In other words: Eat the same stuff I'd always been eating, only less of it, and when presented with a choice, attempt to pick the healthiest option that still sounded appealing.
Finally, I vowed that if I was hungry, it was okay to eat. But if I was going to eat a snack, I would limit the portion. i.e an already portioned snack like a granola bar, or if not already portioned, I would open the bag or box (or whatever), take a reasonable amount out, and put the box away. I would eat only that and, if still hungry, wait 45 minutes or so and have another. I'm not being at all exact on the portions but I figure if it's ~200 calories or so, that's probably an appropriate snack to convince my body that there's food.
Interestingly enough, it worked almost without effort. I simply had to remind myself at mealtime to scoop a little bit less of whatever I was serving, and if, when I finished it, wait a minimum of 10 minutes before deciding if I really wanted seconds.
When Jan 1 came around, I stepped on the scale. I had lost 4 pounds in that 2 weeks, and I wasn't even technically dieting. I went ahead and spent the next couple of days counting points. Naturally, I found counting points pretty dreary. It's a pain in the ass to add up the values of all the ingredients of something I'm making, then guess how big the serving of it is and convert that to points. So I quit counting points, but since I had been successful with simply reducing my portion size, I decided to go on with the same routine.
The first half of January was equally successful. By mid January I had lost another 3 pounds. The last two weeks have been a little bit tougher. I've been hungrier more often and the meals are less satisfying. I found it difficult to completely curb my appetite, so I let myself let up and eat a little bit more. I had thought that meant my weight was stabilized.
I actually skipped last week's weigh in. I didn't want to know.
Today I weighed in another 2 pounds down.
Now, my results can be affected by any number of things. I do try to weigh in at the same time of day and it's always before I've eaten for the day (actually except today; I had already had breakfast) but it's still tough to account for the vagaries of water weight. When a pint of water weighs a pound, and the amount of water in the system can vary up or down by several pints, that can make weight fluctuate. Still, I'm now well outside the range at which water could be the primary explanation for my lost weight.
So here is the theory I'm working on:
The Moderation Diet
- Eat a balance of everything you like
- Most things I read about weight loss will pick some specific thing that's bad for you and try to convince people to excise it from their lives. Carbohydrates, gluten, fat, dairy, salt, alcohol, the list goes on. My theory is that unless you're genetically predisposed, this is not correct. What I mean is, if you're celiac, gluten is a poison to you. If you're lactose intolerant, then your body can't handle that. Low carbohydrate diets work because of tricky chemistry. I won't be fooled by this. Cutting something out of your life may work, and if you're able to cut it out and never want it again, that's great for you! But I tried a low carb diet and ultimately I lost weight on it, but the lack of balance made meals become unsatisfying. Once we've decided that EVERYTHING is bad for us, we have to pick a different approach. In my opinion, if you like a food, there's a reason your body wants it. Listen to what your body wants and try to make choices based upon what your body needs.
- Don't be ruled by hunger
- In my understanding, hunger is a lot more than just psychological. When you're hungry, your body secretes hormones and enzymes to both let you know that it needs more fuel, and to prepare for both the possibility that more fuel is coming and that more fuel isn't coming. You're more likely to store calories than burn them and the signals to eat can overwhelm the more subtle signals that you've not eaten enough. Most diets tell you to deny hunger. I'm going the opposite: feed the hunger. But listen to the signal. Eat a little. If you're still hungry, eat some more. But pay attention to it.
More or less what this boils down to is: Use techniques to curb impulsive behavior, and try to separate the bodily signals that are impulse from need. I know that I have a real problem that if food is in front of me, I'll eat it regardless of whether or not I'm hungry. So if I don't want to eat, I have to remove the food from being in front of me. I can do that. I know that hunger makes it difficult for me to live my life. But I can satisfy or ease hunger sanely and not drive myself to over eat later. I know that cutting out a large portion of my choices always makes me feel restricted. But I can moderate. I can choose healthy alternatives when I want, and in so doing, I can also choose unhealthy foods when I feel like, as long as I am getting a balance. Guilt is not a great motivator for me, so feeling guilty over eating something I shouldn't have is not going to do anything but make me miserable. Instead, I should make myself feel good for eating things that are good for me. That is much more motivating.
I'm only 6 weeks into this. I don't know if it's going to be effective yet. We're going to see how this holds across the whole year.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 10:09 pm (UTC)I don't eat anything remotely like diet food, but I seem to hover at a reasonable weight (more than when I was in California! But reasonable.) I think most of it is portion control.
The other half is, if you feel full, don't feel guilty about stopping. If there's enough for later, great. If it means a little is thrown out, not ideal, but it does more good to throw it out than eat it anyhow. (This is one time I grant dog people have an advantage.)
I could probably lose more if I gave up pizza and steak and ate more salad, but. It wouldn't be worth it for me. But order a pizza and only eat two slices? I can do that, that's fine.
Or, tl;dr version: Right on, I think you're on the track that works for me.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 10:13 pm (UTC)Eat when I am hungry. Do not eat when I am not hungry. Pay attention to whether or not I am actually hungry every time I think about eating.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 10:25 pm (UTC)One of my techniques is that every time I sit back after a meal and feel that slightly uncomfortable feeling, I tell myself that I failed my portion control test, and that I have to do better next time.
What's interesting is that the portions my stomach is comfortable with has been going down a lot faster than I give it credit for. For example, I just ate a tuna melt sandwich for lunch, and I actually feel slightly over full now. So maybe this means next time I need to put less tuna on the sandwich. And that's just a weird thought to me.
Six weeks ago I would have eaten that and a piece of fruit and thought about having a granola bar afterward to supplement.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 11:50 pm (UTC)Around Christmas, I raised the calorie limit even more, because I felt more comfortable doing that than abandoning it.
And after the holiday food was all gone, I lowered it more than it had been before, and also increased my activity slightly, in a formal attempt to lose weight.
I was hungry for a week or two, but after that, it seemed like my appetite decreased. And for about 3 weeks, I had not a lot of movement on the scale, but my appetite was much smaller than it had been. And in the last two weeks I think I've dropped 5 lbs. So about where I should be according to my plan for five weeks later... although not evenly lost.
Anyhow, I've also been thinking about my own diet theory, which involves getting into a habit related to food but not related to weight loss LONG before you start the weight-loss portion of the diet. Enough of a habit that matching calorie limits feels like a game, not an exercise in hunger. Then the desire to 'win' the day can help carry through the (apparent) appetite readjustment...
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 04:03 am (UTC)I should at some point post a real, honest post about my own diet. But in the meantime, I did post something in reply to thistlechaser yesterday or the day before, and perhaps you would be interested to read it also.
http://thistle-chaser.livejournal.com/1168504.html?thread=9229688#t9229688
The biggest changes I have made are:
Eat six times a day
Actually make food ahead of time, don't go out
Have a free day once a week
Definitely don't take this as a "hey look you should do this instead" but just as a datapoint and commiseration, and if there are some tricks in there that help you, even better.
WW is not a bad diet at all, I was on it before and it wasn't terrible. This time around, instead of counting points, I'm going with something closer to "exchanges" which is the diet doctors often give to diabetics. It's based on X number of carb servings, X lean meat servings, X fat servings, etc... and more complicated foods will be expressed like "1 starch plus 1 fat". It's still counting, but I can more easily swap the rice for the pasta serving and not have to really do much math. I'm worried that the accuracy leaves something to be desired, but at least I'm measuring *something* and can change if it doesn't work.
More smaller meals has been great for me. Your mileage may vary, but it sounds like you're being thoughtful and not going too entirely crazy with something you can't sustain, and that's important.
Good luck!!!
ps. do you know Ambar? She once described a very similar diet plan, "Load up your plate, then put half of it back. Keep doing that, you'll lose half your ass!" Therefore I've been calling that approach the "Half-Assed Diet"
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 05:45 am (UTC)My last stint on weight watchers already trained me to prefer lean meats, when all other things are equal, and to try to add bulk with vegetables and to not go too crazy on the starches. In general I prefer protein. In the past I've found that the same amount of food can be very much more or less satisfying depending upon how much protein is in it. So I tend to have a lot of chicken, and I've mostly been using ground turkey where I used to use ground beef. But I'll still eat steaks and roasts, though the steaks are now definitely a treat and not something I eat at all regularly. Probably the thing I eat most regularly these days is burritos. Seasoned ground turkey, a bit of refried beans, fat free or low fat sour cream, avocado, a bit of cheese and some salsa. Reasonably good for me, full of protein, and I use small tortillas so I don't make huge burritos. Seems to work for me.
Mostly I'm happy to eyeball the measurements on how much I put on a plate, and come away with the real measurement based upon how I feel. In an ideal world, I'll never feel uncomfortably full. That's the signal that I've overeaten and next time I should do my portion smaller. If I find I'm doing this several times in a row, then I'm going to need to be a little more drastic about it.
Eating multiple times a day is a good thing for dieting; nearly every bit of research I've done suggests that controlled grazing is a great way to get the right amount of calories without really making yourself feel deprived. In a way, I think that's what this system is leading me to do, because I'll almost always end up with a mid-day snack or two.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 05:45 am (UTC)