I've been successfully losing weight since last November. I am down 62.5 lbs so far and have noticed that not only do I look like a different person, I feel like a different person as well. My entire mindset around food has changed. I've also been actively working to education myself on nutrition and finding out what foods my body runs best on. I'd bounced between overweight and obese since high school. I'd never intentionally lost weight before, it always just kind of happened when I got extremely busy in high school or college and didn't have time to eat and snack constantly. For some reason I never connected the two until years later, though, so I fell victim to the common fatlogic trope of "I've always been big, so I'll always be big."
I realize now that so much of that had to do with my relationship with food. I am a comfort eater, and a boredom eater, and a foodie. When I lived in Boston I gained 20lbs in a year from a combination of the availability of any food (delivery at 2am during a panic-fueled essay writing session? Yes, please!) and the number of amazing new restaurants and foods to try (new restaurant every week because I want to try every cuisine ever invented? Yes, please!). I had no sense of portion control and would feel the need to eat everything so I wasn't wasting money. Even if I didn't love it, I didn't want to be wasteful.
Since starting my weight loss journey though, I've learned to completely reevaluate how I feel about food. These are just the things I've found that worked for me and have come about organically as I count calories and learn more about nutrition!
1.) Eating is not an all-day event anymore: I no longer eat from the time I wake up until I run out of chips just before bed, but have structured meal/snack times that keep me energized and ready for work/exercise.
2.) Quality over quantity: You can pry pizza out of my cold dead hands. But now, I opt for the small size goat cheese and shrimp pizza every couple of months and make it my one meal of the day (I split it with my husband, so I'm still not eating an entire pizza) with small snacks surrounding it (mostly fresh fruit/veggies) instead of the 2 medium pizzas for 5.99 each deal from dominos once a week.
3.) Leftovers are not necessary: I don't always have to take home my leftovers and eat them "the next day." Mainly because I never would eat them the next day. I would wait an hour or two after getting home, then polish them off the same night. If it was a truly fantastic meal that I know can fit into my calorie allowance the next day, then yeah I'll take what I didn't eat home. If I don't feel like I need them, though, I don't take them.
4.) Portions are crazy now: We took my mother-in-law to our favorite Hibachi place last night. My husband and I haven't been in months. We got our usual (combo special for two, which includes Hibachi lobster, scallops, filet mignon, and chicken over rice and veg). I used to be able to polish off my entire portion in one night, without a problem. Last night I could barely eat the rice, and while I finished most of the protein, it left me so full that I still have like 4 servings of rice left. I did deem these leftovers good enough to take home, but didn't realize how much rice they give you! I measured out 1/2 cup for my lunch today, and it was the smallest dent in the rice mountain. I have a feeling I will not be able to finish it all, and that's okay!
5.) Alcohol: I love wine. I drank too much wine on a weekly basis before really looking into how many calories were in my favorite bottle of Malbec. I know many people choose to cut out alcohol completely while losing weight, and that's great! I have decided to just limit my intake. I only really drink when I go out to eat as I love pairing a good wine with a good meal. I only really go out to eat once every couple of weeks. I also found that since I'm eating less to lose weight, I have to be careful about how much I drink! I have gotten tipsy off of one glass of wine recently. It's definitely nice to realize that I love relaxing with a good glass of tea as much as a good glass of wine at the end of the night!
Overall, it's been an exciting journey so far and I'm learning to love and enjoy food, without overdoing it!
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