monkeygirl - Member

monkeygirl

Joined April 2009

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Weight History

Start Weight

172.0 lb

Lost so far: 16.0 lb

Current Weight

156.0 lb
Performance: losing 0.6 lb a week

Goal Weight

130.0 lb

Still to go: 26.0 lb

A married grad student at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, living in Decatur with my husband & two cats. I work, I drive, and I study. That's pretty much it.

My husband and I started working out together at the beginning of the year. My goal this year is to make exercise a true habit in my life, not just something I do for six months, then slack on. So far so good, but I made a classic mistake and upped my food intake along with my exercise, and gained ten pounds! Yikes!

So, starting in April, I started dieting, 1200 calories a day, no other limitations. I used this formula when I attempted my initial big weight loss. When I was 23 I weighed 210, and by 24 I was down to 140. At my wedding a year later, I was at my lowest weight ever, 130. I have hovered between 130-160 ever since, usually somewhere around the 140-145 mark. I was at 160 when I joined fatsecret.

monkeygirl's Weight History

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monkeygirl's Latest Member Challenges

Love Handles

status:	Completed
ended:	14 Feb 10
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Making Sustainable Changes

status:	Completed
ended:	08 Mar 10
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	Chancelet
	last weighin: losing 3.1 lb a week

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1 published recipe

monkeygirl's Cookbook

cals: 163kcal | fat: 0.77g | carbs: 31.96g | prot: 9.38g

Tomato Basil Sauce

Homemade tomato basil sauce that is great for pasta dishes.

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monkeygirl's Latest Posts

Questions about food, addiction, dieting, and eating disorders
Hi wintersmith - although I am a grad student, I assure you my degree has nothing to do with health, nutrition, or fitness. Sadly, even if it were, nothing posted to a website forum would be accepted as a valid source, which is too bad, since there is a lot of collective wisdom on the internet Wink

These are really just questions I've been struggling with.

With respect to your comment about healthy eating habits not being compulsive, I'd like to tentatively disagree. The basis for my disagreement is this: Reflecting on my own experience, I never eat anything any more without thinking about how many calories it might have, whether this fits within my overall restrictions, etc. If I can't make a decent guess at how many calories something has, I just don't eat it. On the one hand, good for not going over my limits. On the other hand, a bit obsessive. Makes ordering at restaurants difficult (I rarely trust their online figures anyway).

Now, you can say that within healthy limits (a non-starvation, balanced diet) this is fine, but this takes me back to my example of the high-functioning alcoholic. Many doctors acknowledge there are benefits to a single glass of wine a day, but that doesn't make the person who compulsively needs that one glass (or else they get snappy, have headaches, can't sleep, etc.) any less of an alcoholic. They're just a high-functioning alcoholic.

For myself, knowing about what I eat, and more to the point don't eat, has become about control and power. Making "good" food choices becomes conflated with being a "good" person. These are unhealthy and compulsive attitudes tied to otherwise positive behaviors. I don't really think I have a healthy relationship with food. I think I can manage my weight, but in ways that are, as you suggest, psychologically, if not physically, unhealthy.

I guess I'm trying to understand if this is fairly common experience for people who are dieting/trying to learn a healthy lifestyle and how other people have made sense of their feelings.

posted 20 Jul 2009, 19:41

Questions about food, addiction, dieting, and eating disorders
Hello all. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their thoughts or experiences around "relationships with food" and addiction. I'm really struggling with these questions. Can anyone help?

Do you believe you can be addicted to food?
I don't know. Most of the things we talk about being addicted to we don't need. We don't need nicotine, or caffeine, or alcohol to live, but we do have to eat. I don't have a degree in psychology, nor am I an expert on addiction. My lay-understanding is that addiction is related to compulsive behavior, typically with respect to overconsumption (drinking too much, smoking too much, eating too much, etc.) and that there is a sense that the compulsion is out of a person's control. So, you can have high-functioning addicts who only have one glass of wine a night, which on the surface wouldn't seem to be problematic, but who compulsively need that one glass a night. So I truly don't know how food fits into this framework. Are there psychologists or nutritionists out there who might be willing to weigh (pardon the pun) in?

What are the differences between dieting and "constructing a healthy lifestyle?"
Again, I don't know. I believe there is a difference, but I've never tried to spell out exactly what the differences are (and I'm sure someone else already has done so much better than I could anyway). Also, I have no concrete evidence or expertise on which to base my beliefs. They're just my opinions. Dieting seems to be about weight loss, while a healthy lifestyle seems to be about maintenance and management. Dieting seems to be a short-term fix, while lifestyle implies a long-term perspective. But if you are, or have been overweight, what's the difference between "dieting" and "constructing a healthy lifestyle?" Is it your intentions and focus? Is it the approach you take? Is it that it's sustainable?

If you have a weekend where you overindulge, but you return to your healthy eating habits the next week, what does this "falling off the bandwagon," (a phrase associated with addiction and recovery) mean? What does it signify that we need or want to overindulge in the first place? Can you have periods of overindulgence if you truly have a healthy lifestyle and a healthy relationship with food?

What is the relationship between dieting, addiction, and eating disorders?
This is a serious question for me, and one I've been meaning to ask my therapist, or a nutritionist, or someone with a heck of a lot more wisdom and experience than I have. If addiction is compulsive behavior, if you become compulsive about your diet, even if it's compulsive about eating healthy, is this a kind of eating disorder? If you diet, and you reach your goal, and you maintain your loss through diet and exercise, is that good, or an exercise in obsessive control? And how do you tell the difference?

Sorry for throwing all this out there in one post. This has been on my mind for awhile. Thank you in advance for your replies.

posted 20 Jul 2009, 13:33

Points of olive oil
Isn't it strange the foods we think are healthy for us, that are really packed in calories?!?!

Oils of any/all kinds are mostly, if not entirely, fat. How "good" an oil is depends on whether it's a saturated or unsaturated fat, the amount and type of cholesterol it contains, whether or not is has other benefits, such as antioxidants, and the overall balance of the diet in which it's used.

To echo Suzanne, some oils, especially infused olive oils, or grapeseed, walnut, etc. have a stronger flavor, allowing you to use less oil to get more flavor impact.

posted 18 May 2009, 12:39

Indian Food at a restaurant
Vindaloo - Very spicy, but just rice and a simple tomato base - like a marinara sauce. Get it with chicken, and limit the amount of rice you eat.

Also, the Tandori Chicken isn't going to be too bad - just don't eat the skin.

posted 14 May 2009, 20:14

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monkeygirl's Recent Food & Exercise

	5 tbsps Parmesan Cheese (Grated)
	1 1/2 servings Bolthouse Farms Caesar Parmigiano Creamy Yogurt Dressing
	1 serving Tyson Foods 99% Fat Free Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
	Standing
	Shopping
	Sitting

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Google G1 Calorie Counter APP users
If you use the T-Mobile Google G1 Android phone, and you track your calories with the Calorie Counter App, then join us!

Weight-Loss for Busy Professionals
A group for professionals who struggle with balancing weight-loss with careers. Support, tips & friendships are encouraged.

30's with 10-25 lbs to Lose
30 somethings with 10-25 pounds to lose.

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