I’ve written before about my weight loss and all that lovely fatty stuff. I’m not even sure where to start today. Do I start out with the confession that I haven’t been to the gym in 3 months? Or do I start out by admitting that I almost ate the entire bag of bite size Mint Three Musketeer’s? Either way, I’ve not been doing so hot in the dieting department. I had set a goal weight of 135 lbs. (I’m 5′7″) and a few weeks ago I was so very close to meeting my goal. I was ecstatic when I saw 136 on the scale.
Since I saw that magic little number on the scale my motivation has all but disappeared. I’ve grown tired of counting calories and worrying about every little morsel of food that crosses my lips. I just want to eat. The problem with that is that I don’t want to gain the weight back. I don’t want to be fat. I want to look good and fit into clothes and be happy with what I see in the mirror and in pictures. Why must it always be a struggle?
Obviously I have some issues with food because um, who eats an entire bag of candy bars and DOESN’T have an issue with food? I wonder if there is some secret to healthy eating. I mean not everyone eats in excess, how do they control the urge to eat junk food or do they just not have the urge to eat junk food or better yet maybe they just have better portion control. See, if I have junk food in the house it’s literally like a siren song calling my name from the cupboard and I am powerless from it’s lure.
I could go on and on about my issues with weight loss and food. I’ve never truly been overweight besides right after I had River but I’ve been unhappy with my body more times than I care to count. I know that this is a life long battle for me, I just wish that it wasn’t. What’s a girl to do?
What helped me back in the day when I went on a healthy kick was not being so rigid with myself. If I wanted to cheat, I cheated. I also didn’t stick to any set dietary plan. I went to the market and found foods that I LIKED that were healthy. Or at the very least were healthier than the trash I was already putting in my body.
Also, I discovered that what started my own health food kick was that I kept getting sick. I got sick like 4 times in one winter. By the fourth time I discovered that I needed to change my lifestyle. Nothing works better than getting leverage on yourself.
I’m finding that the more blogs I read, the more that girls seem to worry constantly about this sort of thing. Especially girls who have no need to worry about it. Sure, you should take care of your body, but always keep in mind that you are the harshest judge of yourself. Most people don’t care what you look like, and if they do then to heck with them. True beauty comes from within.
Bite-sized mint Three Musketeers?!? I didn’t know they existed! I’m going to have to pick some up. As for the weight problem, I don’t have any advice, but from your pictures it doesn’t appear you have any weight issues at all.
I found that if ONE of us was working on our weight, the whole family had to make the necessary diet changes. Don’t go to the grocery store when you’re hungry. Don’t bring the junk food into your home, even though you reeeeeally want it at the grocery store. Try some switching of things. For example: need an ice cream fix? Get fat free frozen yogurt instead. Or sorbet. Granted, they are still full of sugar, but they’re not as fattening as ice cream. I’m also a big fan of jello & fat free puddings. Why? because we have a sweet tooth around here. I also find that during meals, if I eat my protein first, and then my veggies….I may be too full for breads & desserts at the end of the meal. That’s actually what one of my OBs MADE me do during my 2nd trimester of pregnancy. I was on a strict diet where I got just enough sugar each day to barely sweeten my safely allotted calf caffeine coffee each day.
What about sodas? Are you a soda drinker??? Start slowly decreasing the amount of soda you drink each day to eliminate those calories…
What else? I buy things like the Premium fat-free crackers rather than the original ones. They taste the same to me… And, things like fat-free or reduced fat Cheez-Its…
Okay…those are some of my ideas.
Good luck!
James, you are absolutely right I am by far harsher on myself than anyone else ever is. I think most women are because we are inundated with images of stick thin women day after day causing us to view ourselves in comparison to such an unrealistic ideal. I actually find it very sad that I allow it to affect me as much as I do.
Dan, they are good but so light, like in the commercial with them floating in the air, they are quite literally like eating nothing at all.
Lainey, no pop in my house…diet or otherwise. I think my biggest issue is giving into my cravings and buying junk food in the first place and on top of that buying more than one portion. Thanks for the suggestions!
Understandable. Another thing I learned about that is that “perfect” is boring. We get flashed with perfect all the time. TV ads, magazine ads, billboards, etc. Sometimes I watch these stick thin people that get in front of us and I ask myself “I wonder what they think of themselves? Are they happy? They are the epitome of perfection by our societies standards, and most of them seem to fall to insane drug addictions or are in and out of the hospital for eating disorders.”
It’s such a sad life they lead. You have it all over them. You have a beautiful child that loves you very much and you can do no wrong in their eyes. In fact, they probably you are the most beautiful person in the world.
Oh, and I ate nothing once. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
James…”I ate nothing once”. that’s funny!
Tara, I ate nothing once too. It wasn’t very filling.
…and besides, you posted back when you were cleaning out your closet. I know what size you are, and I’ve seen pics of you. Given your height & the size you wear, I would NOT say you need to worry about your weight.
I’m two inches shorter than you, and my healthy normal weight is like 145 pounds; to get below that I had to be anorexic (which at one point I was, at least mildly). Apparently we have really different builds!
Anyway, I am not all that fixated on weight or fatness or clothes size at this point in my life and I can’t tell you how nice that is. If I magically lost weight until I got to 145 again that would be nice, and I’ve been losing weight steadily since having the baby with basically no effort at all, but it’s not something I think about a lot. I like the clothes I have. I always think I look nice in the mirror. I’m sorry you are fretting. Take your reluctance to do all the work to get to 135 as a sign that it’s not that important, that it’s just kind of arbitrary, and try to be satisfied you are healthy and fit and have a body able to feed your baby and do everything you need it to do.
I have no advice on how to tell you to get there, and certainly no advice on avoiding eating crap, except to focus more on the idea of getting nutritious things into you than non-nutritive things out of you.
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Well – I’m the lightest I’ve been for years but because I’ve had 2 kids things jes’ ain’t what they used to be in the tummy dept & I doubt diet is going to help. I find that if I deny myself something like .. cake .. it immediately becomes the thing I obsess about! Also, as a self-confessed foodie, I really don’t like the low-fat, fake sugar ice cream option. It tastes like crap. So, my solution is portion control of the treat things.
Or – for things like potato chips (which I can eat a whole packet without even thinking about) I just don’t have them in the house. It’s simpler.
I think you’re being a bit tough on yourself Tara – you really look like a hot Mama. And if you are too thin, it is so easy to get every cold/flu known to man . Your body needs some fat to metabolize fat soluble vitamins after all.
Have you seen the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty? I like their message – http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/