Schmentils Eats to Live
10-17-2013, 10:35 PM
#1
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2
Schmentils Eats to Live
Hey there everyone! So, you can call me Schmentils. I think lentils are da bomb! So, here's my story. I'm a 48 year old mom of two, married to my most awesome DH for almost 12 years now. Married late. Had kids late. I've been a chronic dieter all my life, and well, if anything had worked, I wouldn't be here, right? So, I've pretty much done it all, and because of that, probably, my metabolism is shot to shyt. Here I am with the same 40 lbs. that I packed on with the two pregnancies and never seem to have rid myself of permanently.
I have some theories as to why I haven't been able to sustain the weight loss. Clearly, I have been doing things that aren't sustainable. My most recent stint was a 12 week liquid diet regimen, Optifast, that was connected with a hospital-based weight loss program. I lost the 40 lbs., looked great, felt great, but last December a series of major life stressors happened. Two people close to me died. Shortly after the first death, I had to study for a major professional exam that required me to spend long hours sitting and studying, while also still being a mom, wife, and going to work. I thought, well, OK, I'll just go back on Optifast and take it all back off again. NOT! After several failed attempts at restarting Optifast, I realize that I'm beating a dead horse. It didn't work because it wasn't sustainable. And here's why:
Weight management is about food management. And food management is about eating style. And if the diet you choose doesn't match your eating style, it's not going to be sustainable.
Over the years I've become a very fast eater. By necessity. Because who has time to really sit and eat, with kids, a home, a job? Am I right? But here's the thing. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to send the "hey, we're full" signal to the brain. My problem has always been eating too much of good things. But, I can scarf down a lovely sandwich in less than 3 minutes. And while I may have received adequate calories, my brain hasn't caught up yet. So, I am compelled to keep eating for another 17 minutes. A recipe for disaster!
That's where Eat to Live comes in. I'm not a particular proponent of a Vegan lifestyle. However, I think that because E2L recommends eating huge amounts of food in the form of raw veggies and fruits, it will allow me to test my theory that a fast eater needs to slow down, and one way of doing that is by eating fewer calories in greater bulk. And if those calories are coming in the form of high quality foods, then better still!
I think part of the whole "French Paradox" is that meals are usually long, drawn-out events. No one wolfs down a whole baguette and half a pound of Brie in her car on the way home from work.
I will check in pretty regularly to keep records of this experiment of n=1, to see if I'm actually on to something here. I think slowing down may very well be the ticket for me.
I have some theories as to why I haven't been able to sustain the weight loss. Clearly, I have been doing things that aren't sustainable. My most recent stint was a 12 week liquid diet regimen, Optifast, that was connected with a hospital-based weight loss program. I lost the 40 lbs., looked great, felt great, but last December a series of major life stressors happened. Two people close to me died. Shortly after the first death, I had to study for a major professional exam that required me to spend long hours sitting and studying, while also still being a mom, wife, and going to work. I thought, well, OK, I'll just go back on Optifast and take it all back off again. NOT! After several failed attempts at restarting Optifast, I realize that I'm beating a dead horse. It didn't work because it wasn't sustainable. And here's why:
Weight management is about food management. And food management is about eating style. And if the diet you choose doesn't match your eating style, it's not going to be sustainable.
Over the years I've become a very fast eater. By necessity. Because who has time to really sit and eat, with kids, a home, a job? Am I right? But here's the thing. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to send the "hey, we're full" signal to the brain. My problem has always been eating too much of good things. But, I can scarf down a lovely sandwich in less than 3 minutes. And while I may have received adequate calories, my brain hasn't caught up yet. So, I am compelled to keep eating for another 17 minutes. A recipe for disaster!
That's where Eat to Live comes in. I'm not a particular proponent of a Vegan lifestyle. However, I think that because E2L recommends eating huge amounts of food in the form of raw veggies and fruits, it will allow me to test my theory that a fast eater needs to slow down, and one way of doing that is by eating fewer calories in greater bulk. And if those calories are coming in the form of high quality foods, then better still!
I think part of the whole "French Paradox" is that meals are usually long, drawn-out events. No one wolfs down a whole baguette and half a pound of Brie in her car on the way home from work.
I will check in pretty regularly to keep records of this experiment of n=1, to see if I'm actually on to something here. I think slowing down may very well be the ticket for me.
10-18-2013, 02:16 AM
#2
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2
So, I woke up earlier than usual this morning. I was up at 4:30, and after lolling around in bed for a while, decided to get up and start my day. I soaked some gluten-free steel cut oats in water, made myself a cup of coffee (cold brew, black), and went back upstairs. That's when I decided to start this thread and wrote the first post.
After a bit, I went back down to start the process for getting the kids off to school, making lunches, what not. I cooked up my oats and really tried to be conscious of eating them slowly. It didn't take me 20 minutes to eat, but it wasn't that much. I had soaked 1/4 cup oats to 1 cup water.
Now it's nearly 10, and I'm having my first green smoothie of the day. I really like how it turned out. I used 3 oz of So Delicious Plain Coconut Yogurt, one head of romaine, a stalk of kale (will try to build up the ratio of kale to romaine slowly), a cup of frozen wild organic blueberries, 1 large frozen banana, 1 tsp. chia seeds soaked in water, and finally, a nice big cupful of ice cubes.
I put it into a quart-sized mason jar, and I'm working on it as I write this. I must say, it is quite delicious. This recipe is a keeper.
I bought some escarole this morning. Later on, I'll make an escarole and white bean soup. Just simple, basic, greens and beans type of thing. It'll be a good dinner because it's really quite chilly here today.
I weighed in this morning at 81.3 kg. Ideally, I should weigh 63 kg. I know a lot of folks say don't weigh yourself every day, but I think I need to do it. I know that not getting on the scale is, for me, a phenomenon concurrent with weight gain. Also, as it turns out, weighing oneself every day is one of the habits of people on the national weight management registry. So is eating breakfast. So is drinking lots of water. And so is daily exercise.
The problem with daily exercise is that I had surgery recently, and I'm still not allowed to exert myself very much at all. Will write about my surgery another time. But needless to say, not being able to work out has not helped my situation at all.
After a bit, I went back down to start the process for getting the kids off to school, making lunches, what not. I cooked up my oats and really tried to be conscious of eating them slowly. It didn't take me 20 minutes to eat, but it wasn't that much. I had soaked 1/4 cup oats to 1 cup water.
Now it's nearly 10, and I'm having my first green smoothie of the day. I really like how it turned out. I used 3 oz of So Delicious Plain Coconut Yogurt, one head of romaine, a stalk of kale (will try to build up the ratio of kale to romaine slowly), a cup of frozen wild organic blueberries, 1 large frozen banana, 1 tsp. chia seeds soaked in water, and finally, a nice big cupful of ice cubes.
I put it into a quart-sized mason jar, and I'm working on it as I write this. I must say, it is quite delicious. This recipe is a keeper.
I bought some escarole this morning. Later on, I'll make an escarole and white bean soup. Just simple, basic, greens and beans type of thing. It'll be a good dinner because it's really quite chilly here today.
I weighed in this morning at 81.3 kg. Ideally, I should weigh 63 kg. I know a lot of folks say don't weigh yourself every day, but I think I need to do it. I know that not getting on the scale is, for me, a phenomenon concurrent with weight gain. Also, as it turns out, weighing oneself every day is one of the habits of people on the national weight management registry. So is eating breakfast. So is drinking lots of water. And so is daily exercise.
The problem with daily exercise is that I had surgery recently, and I'm still not allowed to exert myself very much at all. Will write about my surgery another time. But needless to say, not being able to work out has not helped my situation at all.
