17th
February 2013
Weight loss is like a
camera - focus on what's important, capture the successes, develop from the
negatives, and if things don’t turn out right - Just take another shot!
Why
have I’ve decided not to read about or consider following the 5-2 diet or any
other new diet to be honest!
Because
unlike animals who feed, we humans eat, food for us is cultural and
psychological rather than instinctual.
And for me personally eating is extremely pleasurable, and I decided
quite a few years ago to allow my food to nourish me rather than punish me as I
had in the past. I no longer see weight
loss as a war on my body and I don’t believe there is one solution or system
that will solve everyone’s weight problems.
I’m finding my own way, yep I’m using the Weight Watchers ProPoints
system as a tool of help and guide me but I’m not allowing it to tell me what
kinds of food to eat nor do I actually allow it to ‘make’ me stick to a daily
allowance, some days I choose to stick to that allocated allowance, some days I
don’t, for me it’s about being accountable to myself not anyone else, feeding
my body and mind not just the scales and getting results that make me feel good
in myself - energy and happiness are my goals not numbers on a scale. If the scale doesn’t agree with what I
expected, these days I just smile and say well I feel fabulous so here’s to next
week ;-)
I
like ProPoints because they’re my budget, I treat them in a similar way as I do
my money, I know how much I have to live on and I can choose to stay in credit
or go overdrawn, it’s always my choice.
I know how bad I can feel if I go overdrawn too often and how fabulous I
feel when I’m in credit and control, so I make the choices myself, and I’m
happy with those choices most of the time.
My bank account pretty much matches my ProPoints account these days too,
both are pretty stable! I wonder if that
because of the decisions I’ve made over the last few years, no more extremes –
it’s all about balance.
For example I don’t always eat three
meals a day, I’m not going to do that just because it’s recommended by some
people, I don’t always need breakfast at the weekends and it doesn’t make me
eat more at teatime (yes maybe it does some folks but not me), it’s really
important to listen to your own body, to appreciate its uniqueness and trust
yourself to make the right decisions. We are wiser than we give ourselves
credit for, but what's happened is we've lost our body/food confidence along
the way and we are scared to trust ourselves so we look to others to provide us
with the answers and solutions.
We look for the perfect diet, we ask ‘what
should I eat?’ but this question assumes that there is a perfect diet and there
isn’t! There can’t be if you think about
it, we have different nutritional needs at different stages of our lives. The only guarantee you have with your body is
that it will change – every second ten million red blood cells are born and
die. Your stomach lining completely regenerates
in a week, a healthy liver in six weeks (thank goodness!) and the skin surface
in a month! Scientists suggest that 98% of all atoms in the body are replaced
within a year! From the time we’re
conceived to becoming an adult the body grows from one cell to one quadrillion
cells (lots of zeros there!) and our total body weight may increase twentyfold
to sixtyfold from birth, while brain size, muscle mass, percentage of body fat,
and bone density increases (or decreases) at their own particular rate.
We are all beautifully unique so how
can there be one perfect diet; a changing body requires a changing diet. Food for thought there isn’t there?
Yes I trust my body to tell me what it
needs and my mind to tell me what it wants, if that’s a doughnut for breakfast,
we have the doughnut, I realise that’s a request coming from my mind, my memories and also
possibly a craving coming from my body for a sugar fix, for a quick burst of
energy. Sometimes I’ll just want the one
of whatever it is I’m fancying/craving whatever word you want to use but other times
it’s a food I want day in day out for days or weeks then I tire of it and move
on. I’m sure my body/mind has a plan and
knows why it does that and to be honest as my weight more or less stays stable
I’ll trust it.
Yes my body goes up in weight every
year but it also comes back down, again if you believe the scientists and
researches our metabolism slows down in winter, appetite naturally increases as
the body yearns for higher calorie intake to help keep its temperature within a
normal range. Not only does the body ask
for more food in winter it asks for more weight, particularly body fat! Researchers have discovered that body weight
is generally greatest when the mean January temperature is lowest, apparently
this extra body fat is an evolutionary adaptation to insulate us from the cold
and provide an emergency source of caloric energy and there was me thinking it
was because we’d all ate way too much over Christmas! Who knew!
I read lots and take away from my
research what I think is useful and/or true, the one thing I have realised is
there is no permanent / perfect / fast / easy solution to everyone’s weight
problems because besides the physicality of our bodies we also have the
complexity of our minds – we all think and behave so differently to each
other. I realised that when I shared
that ladies story with you yesterday, since then I’ve had a few of you get in
touch to say you could relate to her and also with your own stories, maybe
Saturday could become the guest blog spot where I share someone else’s view of either
their own story or their opinion on something diet related, mmm I likes that
idea, if you would like to be considered write it and send it to me info@happyowls.co.uk and I’ll have a
read.
That’s my Sunday Sermon done! I’m still in the zone spent the morning
cooking yesterday but nothing fancy just good old fashioned easy grub will
share with you tomorrow maybe. X
Enjoy your day, looks like it’s going to
be another bright, cold one.
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