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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.
