Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Things I'm Learning in My Weight Loss Battle

I really do not like broccoli and cauliflower together. I like broccoli  and I like roasted cauliflower with perhaps some buffalo hot sauce. I like them both together with carrots in a California medley. Something about them together plain, just rubbed me the wrong way when I was eating them last night. Now I know-don't buy just the two as for me,  they need to be separate or eaten with a third, sweeter vegetable. This is one of the little tips I am learning about myself as I work to make good choices and hopefully am rewarded for them. Here's a few more.

 Giving into my carb craving, but just a little, keeps me feeling more satisfied with my restrictions on calories. I've been allowing myself a little bread, either a seedy multi grain slice to eat covered in avocado, to a whole wheat sandwich thin-just the right size to hold some lean turkey or a veggie burger. 

Never be without water. It is true that drinking water helps control my appetite. I've been drinking one to and from work, but last night I forgot. Sure enough, I walked in the door and wanted to eat anything I could gt my hands on. Fortunately, I was satisfied with a a handful of rice cake crisps, without too much damage.  Always have a water bottle on me. 

I can get over the feel of textures to make better choices. I hated Greek yogurt when it first was showing up all over the supermarkets. The bulky texture felt like it caked my mouth. I was used to overly sweet creamy yogurts, more deserts than actual sustainable meal food. I started with adding loads of fruit to distract me, then over a couple days, "weaned" myself off the fruit. Now, I can't imagine going back to  the thin overly sweet stuff. 

No reason to fear fat. If most of the time I am making good choices, a little added fat is not going to blow my meal plan. In fact, the little bits, a pad of butter here, a dollop of mayonnaise there, seem to help make my healthy options feel more substantial. Fat does that to food, in small quantities.

Saving my fruit for last at lunch, and a little bit for later afternoon really gives me the sugar boost I need to get through the rest of the work day. I've had some Hershey chocolate miniatures, leftover from one of the meetings last week,sitting on a bowl on my table in my office. I haven't even been tempted to any great extent and leave them there for visitors. That has been a shocker to me, the chocolate junky. 

Pasta and rice continue to be my diet enemies. I'm better to skip them all together than think I can eat just a small portion. Last night it was getting late so I quickly made a hamburger Stroganoff with a partial bag of egg noddles and hamburger and sour cream that needed to be used up. I didn't even pretend I would stop at a measured 1/2 cup serving, and made a slice of seedy toast to eat under an avocado.

I hope I keep learning more things and putting the new information to work. There's a video going around before YouTube with a group of women learning about their SHMEC (sleepiness, hunger, moodiness, energy, cravings). I took the  test after and surprise, learned I'm a carb fiend, along with an exercise type that needs to work out frequently, but give myself lots of breaks. Neither surprised me.  The video is kind of amusing, whether you take the quiz or not, I could relate to each of the women at some point in my up and down battles. Now when I try to find it, I can't but join in if you can find the link. It's pretty humorous.

8 comments:

  1. One other thing about fats - there are good fats and bad fats. I've been able to better control my fat intake by using an oil spritzer for extra virgin olive oil. I need fat, and like you say, it does make food taste more substantial.

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    1. I'm finally recognizing that its sugar more so than fat that hurts my eating plans. I need an olive oil spritzer.

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  2. Learning about how to tweak your plan is definitely half the battle. I find that I need something while prepping dinner, so I try to use that opportunity to eat fruit, or have veggies & hummus. I've done actually a great job of eliminating treats from my diet, and stop craving them when I get rid of them for a period of time. But, my salt/carb craving rages on. I too find that it's best to have a little of something decently healthy, paired with a fat to make it last longer

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    1. I was alone for dinner so cucumbers and hummus kept me raiding my cupboards.

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  3. I'm still working on losing my tummy too. I basically drink a large glass of water when I get up (after weighing myself of course) along with a couple Garcinia Cambogia tablets to help boost my metabolism. THEN a sugar free cappucino and a sensible omelette with a little cheese, ham and hot sauce. AND I've got a granola bar that I eat mid morning. For lunch a salad with some kind of vinaigrette dressing and lots of veggies on it and more water or DDP. another granola bar if I need it mid afternoon. and then a sensible supper. if I don't have to worry about anyone else for supper, then I'll have another salad. So far, I'm down 20 pounds and fitting into pants I'd given up on 20 pounds ago. Luckily I save everything... So they were waiting for me...

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    1. Well done! I have more than just the tummy to tone. You'd recommend Garcinia?

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  4. Good fats good sugar bad lol I don't buy anything low fat as it's usually full of sugar to give it some taste or some other hideous sweetener which is often worse than sugar. Fats like avocado fresh/oil olive oil organic butter from grass fed cows and natural organic yoghurt are much better than margarine or any of those horrid salad dressings you can buy full of stuff you can't even pronounce. Mayo good too lol

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    1. I'm not sure when the resl fats got lumped in with the processed bad but happy to know better.

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