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showing entries 6 to 10 of 27
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05 August 2010

In looking at my food diary for yesterday, I can see that I don't eat like an adult...whatever that means, right? It just seems like I eat a lot of fast food, frozen meals, or otherwise processed things, pretty much like in college and grad school. I guess I assume adults are supposed to make meals from scratch, but...ugh, do I have to? I do want to cut down on sodium though, as pre-made things are so bad about that. Yesterday's Lean Cuisine had a mere 250 cal. but a horrifying amount of sodium! So, maybe a compromise is to buy only healthy frozen, like Kashi and similar brands, do quick meals that are fresh but are more assembly (salads, etc.) than cooking, and read labels more closely. I want to avoid HFCS as well, and that stuff is in all sorts of odd places! (hummus???)

I think the bigger issue--because there always is one if you look for it--is that it's a very recent thing for me to think of myself as a grownup. That's probably sounds bonkers for a 33-yr-old woman, but I was a student until I was 28 (PhD FTW!), and grad school was an extension of college in terms of that mindset. And then I was moving around from one coast to the other chasing a boy (heh), teaching at random colleges and tutoring centers part-time but not really focused on a career path.

Bottom line: it's only within the last year and a half that I've had what I think of as a "grownup" lifestyle: happily married to the boy I chased, office job, putting down roots in my very favorite city with my family nearby. So, maybe it's a later adjustment for me than for most, but there it is. For the first time, I'm at a place of stability and (comparative) maturity where it makes sense to think responsibly about nutrition and exercise instead of eating whatever I feel like and expecting the awesome metabolism I had in my 20s to take care of burning it off. I've been mostly vegetarian (sometimes pescatarian) for a dozen years but it's amazing the unhealthy things that don't contain meat!

Hmm. Mature, stable, and responsible sounds so boring. Luckily, I'm still adventurous in various ways, and not having kids definitely makes it easier to keep on having a fabulous fun lifestyle. It's just that I can be fabulous and take care of myself in a more thoughtful way, so as to have decades more of fun to look forward to!

04 August 2010

Weigh-in: 129.0 lb lost so far: 3.0 lb still to go: 9.0 lb Diet followed reasonably well
   add comment steady weight

07 July 2010

The most useful thing about FatSecret is the calorie counter...there are more calories in practically everything than I would have thought!! No wonder it's hard to lose weight without feeling hungry; eating enough to be healthy but keeping calories down is a serious challenge.

I'm working on eating what I call "spa cuisine"--yes, I stole the name from the line of Lean Cuisines, because it struck me as good marketing! When I think of spa food, I think light, probably veggie, but very nutricious and presented in an appealing, pampering way. That sounds much better than "diet food" and more like something I could get used to in the long term. It also sums up my approach to exercise: going to the gym is of no interest, yet going to the Y 5x a week for yoga, Pilates, and dance classes is my hobby! So many of the hurdles are mental--figuring out how to view a healthy lifestyle as being GOOD to myself, not denying myself.

I'm also tapering off my Lexapro, and will see if that has an impact.

23 June 2010

Weigh-in: 129.0 lb lost so far: 3.0 lb still to go: 9.0 lb Diet followed reasonably well
   add comment steady weight

10 June 2010

I should weigh in as it's been awhile, although I'm quite sure there's been no change. My weight was very stable for years, then last year (meds? stress? bad habits?) I gained exactly 10 pounds and am now stable there. My body seems to find a comfort zone and stay put, which is fine but I liked my *old* comfort zone--the one where my Ann Taylor pants fit! :P So I suppose my real goal is to get settled back into my former "default" instead of this new one.

This is tricky, as I know the real issue is making a mental adjustment. When I went veggie, 12 years ago now, there were ups and downs at first, and I won't say I've never make exceptions over the yeras, esp. because I do like shrimp. However, the thought process of "I'm vegetarian now" has become so ingrained that when I look at a menu, I don't "see" most of it--my eyes zoom in on the veggie options. I don't feel deprived, either; I don't think about--it's habit. Ditto on my current exercise routine--at first it seemed like a real nuisance to get back into the habit, but a few months on and it's second nature. Of course I'll be at the gym 5 times a week, says my brain. Duh!

So, it seems to be all about having habits that become second-nature. I'm annoyed that my exercise regime hasn't budged my weight one bit in 6 months. So, even if it's "really" the meds and not my "fault" (judge-y language!), I know the next step: cut way down on desserts and non-nutricious "extras". Make them a rare exception to the rule (like shrimp is to my veggie habits). This...is hard. I seem to have fallen into an easy habit of having fries with my veggie burger at the Grill, or dessert after dinner out with my husband. I will need to shift so that I don't "see" the dessert on the menu any more than I "see" the meat options, without feeling deprived and annoyed like I do now. It's a bigger struggle than I expected, but I have a track record of adjusting to a new default and then sticking to it, so I know I can manage it eventually!

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