Well, it has been exactly 4 months (to the day) that I began my clean eating adjustment. An added surprise this morning was seeing the scale under 170lbs for the first time. I had been sitting at 170 for about 3 weeks. I was fully aware that plateaus happen and I didn't give myself a hard time about it, but I was also starting to think about if there was something I could do even better, what would it be?
About a week ago on a walk with my husband, we got on the topic of weight and he offered some food for thought. He said that I lost weight because I was eating like a woman who weighed 170lbs. Since I have reached that weight I have been maintaining it. But since I still have the desire to reach my first goal of 160lbs, I am going to have to assess some of my current errors and make further adjustments to my eating/exercise habits. I think that conversation struck a chord with me because it is clearly already working it's magic. Not that I didn't work for it! ;-)
To review, here are some things I did to go from about 205lbs to 170lbs:
What I plan to adjust to hopefully get to my next plateau:
So far, since I got done with the show earlier this month and had to keep myself as active as I was during that production, I feel good about my activity levels. I've been keeping close tabs on my step counts and trying to add extra things here and there. Like playing on the playground yesterday, or practicing pull ups on the bar in the kitchen doorway. I like to attend a yoga class at the gym, and I hope to get a new swimsuit soon so that I can do some laps. I don't think I will focus too much of my energy on adding more - just trying to keep things reasonable for my forever lifestyle. Small, intentional steps in the right direction have done wonders for my body, mind and overall health. I see pictures of myself and still can't believe that's what I look like now. I feel comfortable in my skin for the first time since I can't remember when. Probably 6th grade when kids started calling me fat and I started sucking in my gut - trying to hide the fat somehow. I still suck in my gut. I don't know how to let it go anymore. I wore a LOT of makeup everyday. I wore layers, even in the 80+ summer heat, sometimes even wearing shapewear underneath everything. That seems like so long ago, but it was just last summer and stretched back for at least a decade before. This summer felt so... freeing. I wore tiny shorts a couple of times, t-shirts or tank tops without undershirts, no shapewear whatsoever - even when wearing a dress, and stopped wearing makeup on a daily basis. Those may be small things for others, but for me they were huge adjustments. It's a very liberating experience to finally do things that I've wanted to do for a long time. It proves to me that I am stronger than I thought, and also that things aren't nearly as scary as I made them out to be in my head!
Because I love seeing myself and other's progress pictures, here's a hoodie comparison for funsies. Have a great week! <3
To review, here are some things I did to go from about 205lbs to 170lbs:
- No added sweetners to the food I eat for 1 month to cleanse myself of a sugar addiction. After a month I implemented sweets on a very case-by-case basis, making sure that when I did eat something with added sweetners, it would be in moderation and never a part of my daily intake. (Tip: I used the phrase "I'll have it tomorrow" to suggest to myself that the candy wasn't that important to me right now. Typically I could say that for a couple of days in a row until I no longer thought about eating the candy. Also, removing ALL food with added sugar from the house was paramount.)
- No boxed/pre-prepared foods in the house. Everything on the outer rim of the grocery store (veggies, fruits, dairy, meat) can be combined in more ways imaginable to make satisfying and healthy meals and snacks. It takes practice, but the menu will expand over time!
- Listened to my body. When something made me feel sick, like too much dairy, I cut dairy from everything except for my daily salad. That took care of it. I also cut the amount I ate because I had identified my issue with binge eating and started portioning out snack foods or meals so that if I did get carried away, I would still have the amount of food in front of me to be limited. That is not as much of an issue these days, as I do feel that with cutting sugar came a sort of clarity of body signals. I can understand when my body is no longer hungry, but not so stuffed it hurt. That was worth the adjustment alone.
- Find balance. Anything in moderation. Don't be such a health nut that I can't enjoy some cake at my birthday party, but don't eat cake every time it's someone else's birthday. That's a lot of cake, and there'll always be someone willing to eat 2 slices. Don't be so hard on myself (like in the past) to go to the gym and work my butt off 4-5 times a week. Just find an activity that you can do every day without getting upset about having to do. Taking my dogs for a walk every day helped a great deal. I usually take a walk with them and an additional walk by myself or with my husband because it just feels so good. I feel great when I've reached my goal of 10,000 steps in a day, so I just try to do that every day possible.
What I plan to adjust to hopefully get to my next plateau:
- Cut coffee. I have mentioned before that coffee has been a painful learning curve for me. I want to believe I can still have it in moderation because it's sooo tasty! But after yesterday... I'm kind of done. We stopped by the Mall to stock up on our favorite hot sauce and grabbed a cold press from Starbucks. Well, fast forward about an hour and I'm rushing to a gas station bathroom hoping I don't crap my pants. Then as I'm walking back to the car I feel my whole body is tingling and I have this sensation to run everywhere - but I don't because... gas station parking lot. As interesting as it was to experience a legit caffeine high, it wasn't very enjoyable overall. I felt a little TOO caffeinated. Shaky and jittery. Listening to my body signals is important to me, so since I didn't particularly enjoy the side effects of coffee, I am looking to replace any caffeine needs with tea, as I believe a small dose when I'm sleepy ought to do the trick just fine.
- I need to sleep more. I feel unrested and my fitbit has shown that the past 2-3 weeks I have not been sleeping as much as I usually do. It's tricky to keep a routine up when I don't have a consistent schedule. I have done it before, though, so I just need to step up my game and make sure I go to bed at a reasonable time and am able to get that sweet shut-eye.
- Eat less. I still fall into old habits sometimes, as I'm sure is fairly common, and I will find myself eating something just because I want to. I love the sensation of eating and while I think it's absolutely important to eat when I'm hungry, it's not cool to keep eating even after I've been sufficiently satiated. I think I can do better than that, so I'm going to spend a little more brain power on watching how much I hobby eat and find something else to do when I find myself in that position. Helps me to be more productive, as well. A trap I fall into is binge watching a show I've already seen on Netflix while passively browsing reddit and eating something. That's a comfort for me, apparently. So when I do that, I will have to make sure it doesn't go on for long enough to get me into the habit again. Anything in moderation. Sometimes I choose to spend a day off like that and that's okay with me. I still think I can do better, though. Still take a walk and maybe do something crafty to keep my hands busy and not reaching for more snacks.
So far, since I got done with the show earlier this month and had to keep myself as active as I was during that production, I feel good about my activity levels. I've been keeping close tabs on my step counts and trying to add extra things here and there. Like playing on the playground yesterday, or practicing pull ups on the bar in the kitchen doorway. I like to attend a yoga class at the gym, and I hope to get a new swimsuit soon so that I can do some laps. I don't think I will focus too much of my energy on adding more - just trying to keep things reasonable for my forever lifestyle. Small, intentional steps in the right direction have done wonders for my body, mind and overall health. I see pictures of myself and still can't believe that's what I look like now. I feel comfortable in my skin for the first time since I can't remember when. Probably 6th grade when kids started calling me fat and I started sucking in my gut - trying to hide the fat somehow. I still suck in my gut. I don't know how to let it go anymore. I wore a LOT of makeup everyday. I wore layers, even in the 80+ summer heat, sometimes even wearing shapewear underneath everything. That seems like so long ago, but it was just last summer and stretched back for at least a decade before. This summer felt so... freeing. I wore tiny shorts a couple of times, t-shirts or tank tops without undershirts, no shapewear whatsoever - even when wearing a dress, and stopped wearing makeup on a daily basis. Those may be small things for others, but for me they were huge adjustments. It's a very liberating experience to finally do things that I've wanted to do for a long time. It proves to me that I am stronger than I thought, and also that things aren't nearly as scary as I made them out to be in my head!
Because I love seeing myself and other's progress pictures, here's a hoodie comparison for funsies. Have a great week! <3