It's been five months since a nurse told me I "had too much fat," which prompted me to take a hard look at my eating habits. I made some changes back then, namely that treats (homemade) were allowed on only one day a week (I chose Friday, our Sabbath). That was a great strategy to cut down on the amount of sweets I ingested/inhaled, and I haven't regretted it for a moment. I look forward to Friday each week and I'm always fantasizing about what I'm going to make for my once-a-week indulgence.
Even though the nurse's harsh words were what motivated me at first, eating fewer goodies was something I already knew I needed to do, and not even for weight management reasons. So when I didn't lose a lot of weight, it wasn't a big deal. I figured that the balance of fat and muscle in my body was finding a better equilibrium, and that was fine, since that - and not a specific number on the scale - was what the nurse had been trying to tell me anyway.
About a month ago, I made another change in my eating habits: I decided to only eat three meals a day. I know, I know, how radical, right? Well, for me, it was. You remember that I mentioned in my original post (linked to above) that it's hard for SAHMs to eat proper meals because we have the whole pantry at our disposal all day long and we have tiny people's culinary whims to cater to. That, combined with the (good at the time, but now) bad habit I picked up during my years of breastfeeding of grazing all day long, meant that I was eating all the time. Sometimes it was good food, but even good food isn't good when you're constantly eating it, with no regard for hunger. And I wasn't even getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I was doing it mindlessly, eating food because it was there, à la George Mallory.
So now I eat breakfast. Then I eat lunch. Then I eat dinner. No morning snacks. No "I'll eat this now because I'm too busy for lunch," followed by lunch, followed by "Did I eat lunch? I'll eat this now just in case." Nope.
I went in to the health center again today for another body fat analysis - the same test I had five months ago. I've lost three kilos (6.6 lbs) since then and two kilos of that was fat. One kilo was (inexplicably) muscle, apparently, which doesn't make sense since I've done more pilates in the last five months than I ever have in my life. (Just ask Jeremy, who likes to laugh at how ridiculous I look while I do them.)
In conclusion, deciding to have a year of no candy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Once my vision wasn't so clouded by eating candy all the time, I was able to see clearly how I was still eating treats all the time. Once I cut sweets down to once a week, I was able to see clearly how I was still eating plain old FOOD all the time. Now I'm down to three regular meals a day, and it's great.
Basically, having children and staying home to raise them threw me for a 6-year loop in my eating habits. But now I feel like I'm back to normal and three kilos lighter for my efforts. Woohoo!
Even though the nurse's harsh words were what motivated me at first, eating fewer goodies was something I already knew I needed to do, and not even for weight management reasons. So when I didn't lose a lot of weight, it wasn't a big deal. I figured that the balance of fat and muscle in my body was finding a better equilibrium, and that was fine, since that - and not a specific number on the scale - was what the nurse had been trying to tell me anyway.
About a month ago, I made another change in my eating habits: I decided to only eat three meals a day. I know, I know, how radical, right? Well, for me, it was. You remember that I mentioned in my original post (linked to above) that it's hard for SAHMs to eat proper meals because we have the whole pantry at our disposal all day long and we have tiny people's culinary whims to cater to. That, combined with the (good at the time, but now) bad habit I picked up during my years of breastfeeding of grazing all day long, meant that I was eating all the time. Sometimes it was good food, but even good food isn't good when you're constantly eating it, with no regard for hunger. And I wasn't even getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I was doing it mindlessly, eating food because it was there, à la George Mallory.
So now I eat breakfast. Then I eat lunch. Then I eat dinner. No morning snacks. No "I'll eat this now because I'm too busy for lunch," followed by lunch, followed by "Did I eat lunch? I'll eat this now just in case." Nope.
I went in to the health center again today for another body fat analysis - the same test I had five months ago. I've lost three kilos (6.6 lbs) since then and two kilos of that was fat. One kilo was (inexplicably) muscle, apparently, which doesn't make sense since I've done more pilates in the last five months than I ever have in my life. (Just ask Jeremy, who likes to laugh at how ridiculous I look while I do them.)
In conclusion, deciding to have a year of no candy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Once my vision wasn't so clouded by eating candy all the time, I was able to see clearly how I was still eating treats all the time. Once I cut sweets down to once a week, I was able to see clearly how I was still eating plain old FOOD all the time. Now I'm down to three regular meals a day, and it's great.
Basically, having children and staying home to raise them threw me for a 6-year loop in my eating habits. But now I feel like I'm back to normal and three kilos lighter for my efforts. Woohoo!