Fat and Fabulous!

I am back with a post for 2015!

Fat and Fabulous!

People always like to point out that other people are fat, as if anyone needs that pointed out to them, as if they can't look in the mirror or reach and feel their own fat, as if the scale won't do it, or their tight pants won't. Note to all family members, friends and concerned strangers if someone is fat their is a 1000% chance they already know it.

Being fat is simply a fact. "I am fat, so there I admit it!" Once you acknowledge and admit that you are fat what is next? Does the logical conclusion to, "I'm fat" lead to some other observation such as, "I'm a horrible person?" I think what should follow, "I'm fat is and I am also fabulous!" Every time you have the though that you are fat what should also follow is I am fabulous. Every time some one else tells you that you are fat, you should say thank you for stating the obvious, but did you also know that I also happen to be fabulous as well!

If people came up to be people that were smart and boldly proclaimed, "You're Smart!", like they do, "You're Fat" imagine what kind of world we could live in.

Have a Fabulous Day!

Carolyn aka CLM

Welcome August!

This month I am doing a Junk Food Detox. I am eating 3 meals with no sweets or snacks between meals. I have always debated whether I should do a three meal, no snacks, no sweets plan, but I find that my problem truly is my junk food addiction and in order to change I have to change the patterns of behavior that support my large junk food consumption and eat in a manner that will help me to cut it out.

The first few days doing this detox have been challenging. I still have the sensations and craving's to eat, but I am choosing to see them as slight discomfort. I had my wisdom teeth pulled last month and I know that my discomfort now is minor compared to real physical pain. I also know that my plan is doable and that there are other things that are more challenging to me than doing the detox such as running a marathon and yet millions of people train for and run marathons.

I know the detox will not be easy, but I know that it is time for me to do the hard work and fight for myself and break free from my addiction.

CLM

Changing Eating Habits!

There are three primary ways to change ones eating habits.

1. Cut Things Out. Cutting things out cold turkey is the hardest method of changing your eating habits. Some things are easier to cut than others. For me I found that cutting out soda was pretty easy. I drink water 99% of the time, do not drink coffee, alcohol, and barely drink tea. I occasionally drink diet soda, or specialty fruity drinks, but for the most part it is easy for me to choose water. The hardest thing for me to cut are sweets, I actually crave them. When I spend efforts trying to cut sweets from my diet I end up binge eating them.

2. Substitute Things. Another way to change ones eating habits is to simply replace items. Replacing items to me is the most effective way to make changes to my diet. I went from eating regular Yoplait yogurt to light Yoplait yogurt to Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurt and the transition was not to bad. I also managed to actually switch from Haagan Dazs ice cream to Oikos Greek Frozen Yogurt. There are somethings that I have not managed to substitute. I tried to switch from fruity candy like Skittles to dried fruit and I felt that I liked the candy much better.

3. Moderate Things. When cutting things out or swapping them does not work you can always opt to eat less of something. With my skittles I started using a 1/4 cup measuring cup to portion out my candy.

When trying to change dietary habits I have found it helpful to play around with the three different methods of cutting things out, substituting things or having them in moderation. I am hoping that I will continue to build new healthy habits that will help me to better manage my eating for the long haul.

CLM

Hello July 2014!

Well I am back to eating meat, chicken, turkey and fish that is. It all came down to problems digesting soy and gluten. With me having to cut two major sources of food for me, I decided to add back the meat for my own sanity! I am feeling much better since I started eating the meat again.

I am currently tracking my calories again using myfitnesspal. I challenged myself to track from July - December just to see how I am doing. I have not really been putting pressure on myself, just being very observant of my habits. I notice that my basic meals minus junk food and binge eating always come well under 2000 calories a day, but when I factor in my nightly binges I eat like 3000 calories or more per day.

Seeing the raw numbers made me panic and I was going to break my cardinal rule of never cut out snacks and treats and try that thing I always fail at abstinence , but my mind just would not let me go there. I no I do have a problem, but going cold turkey is just not for me, it is just a nice fantasy I entertain when I feel like my eating is out of control.

I am going to try an experiment this month though. I am going to see if bulking up my dinner meals helps me with my after dinner noshing. I noticed that some times my evening meals are on the skimpy side like 300 calories. I am thinking by eating more food and bumping up that evening meal to a minimum of 500 calories I might be able to curb my evening urges.

I am also trying to be more kind to myself. I see that it is some times a struggle to be kind to myself and to respect that I am struggling in my wellness journey. The struggle is real and some times it is ugly and it is easy to beat myself up, I have to remember that I am trying.

I am thinking of adding in some tastier treats every once in a while instead of only eating very low calorie treats during my desert meal. I am thinking if I give myself the ice cream, and even cake every once in a while maybe this will stop me from going crazy and binge eating so much. I am trying to limit my treat meal to no more than 500 calories and for me that is a challenge all within itself.

Happy July!

CLM

Hello June and a Clean Sweep!

I have not posted in like forever. I was doing this thing where I was monitoring myself weekly and started trying to post once a week, but then I fell off the band wagon. I do better with a monthly post. Lots of things have been happening lately. I have recently been having to live on a tight budget and that has impacted my wellness journey and how I shop for food. I use to buy whatever fresh foods I needed and I shopped weekly. I was able to eat green smoothies and salads whenever I wanted. Now am shopping like once a month and I am relying on good old standby's like beans and rice. It has been a challenge to keep my health as a priority while trying to save a few bucks, but it is not impossible.

I have also decided to go back vegetarian so my flirtation with  meat has been very short lived.

This Month my goal is to do a clean sweep of my diet and wellness journey. Over the past 5 years I have been slowly building healthy habits such as drinking water, eating low calorie meals, walking, but there have been some areas that I was slacking in. This time around I am focusing on eating a low-fat diet, cutting way back on snacks and sweet aka junk food. I plan to have just one small treat a day with dinner and then abstain from snacking after dinner. I am trying to virtually eliminate eating cheese. This time my goals are not only to shed pounds but to be healthy from the inside out for joint health, digestive health, lower blood pressure, disease prevention such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Currently I am on a 10 day Acid Reflux Diet where I am eating apples sauce, rice cakes and brown rice for 10 days in order to rid myself off all acid reflux problems before seeking any medication.

I am feeling great this month!

CLM

2 out 7 and Climbing!

Last night I was able to earn another star to put on my calender. I put a star on my calender for each day of the week that I stick with my Sacred Snacks.

What helped me earn my star last night was performing my "Cycle of Distractions." After I eat my 3 allotted Sacred Snacks, before I consume any thing else I must perform three task. I must read a chapter of something, watch a youtube video and draw a picture. Last night around 9:45 pm I felt myself wanting another round of snacks and I stopped myself and said, "It's time to read." I ended up reading one month's worth of a blog, " A journey to thin." Reading that blog certainty took time and kept me distracted  long enough to see that my urges to eat went away after twenty minutes. I would get second waves or urges to eat, but they also went away after another twenty minutes. I now know that it takes twenty minutes for an urge to eat to pass and that I can expect multiple waves of urges to eat that will also go away within twenty minutes.

My second distraction was watching some youtube videos. I looked up some videos on, "How to make Kale and found the following video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RfvhzLmfn4 . I will have some Kale chips tonight as a snack!

I then moved on to my third distraction of the evening and drew a picture. I love drawing cubes and flowers so I drew a cube with flowers on it. I played around with three colors, on for the petals, on for the outside of the cube and one from the central bud of the flower. Each side of the cube featured a different color flower, a different color back ground a a different color bud.

All of these exercises in distraction kept me from reaching for more snacks. I finally hit the deck around 11:30 pm and I was able to live with one round of snacks and earned my star.

The rest of this week features some busy days at work, including working nights and part of the weekend. I will try to maintain good eating habits and continue to practice using these new Sacred Snack techniques to stay on track.

CLM

Reality Check! Giving up sweets and snacks does not work for me!

I talked out my crazy 3 meal a day plan with my therapist and she was able to help me see the light that the plan is way to restrictive for me. I am back to my harm reduction model of my Sacred Snacks with some new tools.

I have expanded my Sacred Snack Choices ( jello, cereal bars, chocolate covered raisins, fruit leathers and skinny cow ice cream bars, special k chips, popcorn, pirates booty chips and pringles)

There are new parameters for eating the Sacred Snacks. Each night I get to choice three items that  I can have, and then after eating those I must complete three task; watch a youtube video, read a ch of a book and draw one picture and if I still want to eat after that I can have another round/ cycle of my Sacred Snacks until they run out. This plan gives me a little more structure and control.

For certain snacks I have an additional parameter, for instance the ice cream can only be purchased once a week on Fridays. I can eat it all in one day if I choose, but I have to wait a week to get more. The pringles and chocolate also are Friday only purchases.

These new parameters along with my expanded Sacred Snacks should help me to manage my compulsive eating better and help me maintain more control without me being so strict that I end up going off the rails.

CLM