Weight-Loss Tech Support

It's been a while since my last post, and I do apologize for the lapse. I wanted to let you know that I didn't fall off the Fat Wagon. In fact, I've done a complete wagon overhaul, and that takes time. I wanted to share what I've been doing.

I'd been wondering why I was in a plateau for so long. I'd been eating right (for the most part), not having bread or pasta, and sticking to rice flours. I was eating more vegetables and adding more of them to my plate. Yet I wasn't losing weight, and I was tired all the time again. I refused to journal anything (I hate doing that), but I couldn't remember everything I was eating either. So I did the next best thing- I called in my Weight-Loss Tech Support Team- my family.

This was both a blessing and a curse, because I knew my husband and kids would take a no-holds-barred approach as they watched me eat. I wouldn't be spared from the absolute truth of my eating habits. 

I made the mistake of telling them to inform me any time I was eating past a normal portion size, or the wrong kinds of foods, like sugary, starchy or floured items. I asked them to do this for one week. Then I ate as usual since the weight loss started.

What I was told didn't surprise me, but how often I was told, did. Despite the fact I had been eating good, healthy food, I was eating too much of it- way too much. My portion control was out of proportion, and it showed on the scale big time. 

I would fill my twelve inch plate full, then have seconds, because I'd eaten a lot of veggies. I would eat fruit, but I'd have two pieces instead of one. Then it began to dawn on me...every time I had 'binged' and had bread, I had eaten a lot of food for that meal. When I had bread, I ate a lot of that too, on top of a double portion of whatever was on the plate. Pasta too. Not every single time, but close enough to make a difference. So now I had to test this theory in a different way.

I stopped using twelve inch plates. I now use a six inch plate. And I don't pile the food on either. I take a little meat, some veggies, and yes, some pasta, bread, or starchy veggies too. I put flour back on the menu, but I was eating about one-fourth of the amount I normally ate. The I would wait and see how long it was before I became hungry. That was the next surprise- I didn't get hungry again for at least four hours!

I thought I wasn't going to last that long. Before I had even started this test I thought I was going to starve and fall on the ground from hanger- and there would be no one strong enough to lift my big butt off of the floor. How can people live on such little food?

But I did, and I wasn't starving. I waited until I was just a little bit hungry, and then I ate a snack- a piece of fruit or crunched on some cold, raw veggies (I love them!). Then I ate another small meal for lunch, then a snack, and then dinner. All on a tiny plateful of food I didn't think gnats could live on. I was even going to the gym, and coming back feeling ready for a snack, not the all-out food fest I only think I needed!

I found out many things that week:

Everything really is okay in moderation- including bread and ice cream.
I was sometimes hungry, but never felt starved or deprived.
I felt thinner because I wasn't bloated by all that food.
Eating less made me savor what I had, because I knew I wasn't getting anymore.
I ate slower because I was savoring the food, and enjoying it!
Eating things because they're there is no longer a ruling temptation.
I don't feel like I have to eat the last bit of something if I'm feeling full.
When I stop enjoying the food, I stop eating. (recognizing this was hard!)

When I weighed myself before this test, I was 297. I'm now 294. But I'll feel a whole lot better once I get under that 290 mark!

I'll be posting again regularly to keep you updated. Sometimes you just have to take a break and look at your situation to make the right changes!

Keep those chins up, and have a great week!