It's a forever thing...

5^th February 2014

In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine. Robin Leach

Well I’ve lost my appetite and totally found someone else’s this week and that someone else likes to eat more than they need, they also seem to have a sweet tooth!  I don’t know what’s going on but I’m going with the flow, I know it’ll balance out again it always does, I don’t really do ‘sweet’ food on a regular basis but yesterday I had a piece of Weight Watcher fudge, it is good and luckily at 2pp doesn’t break the bank, the day before I had 4 pieces of dark chocolate leftover from my baking session, again not excessively high in ProPoints.  I’m indulging the cravings because I know if I don’t it’ll end in a big sweet feast of chocolate and cakes and I’ll end up feeling a bit sick, this way I get the sweet fix I’m craving and don’t blow the healthy eating attitude, everything in moderation is okay.  As I said to a member last night when she told me she ‘cheated’ because she’d had a Crunchie bar, that’s not cheating that’s eating and it’s okay, it’s all food, and it shouldn’t be classed as good or bad, it doesn’t have a personality, I was reading a book at the weekend and in it she opted to classify food as ‘real food and pleasure food’ mmm, again that implies to me that ‘real’ food isn’t pleasurable and I’d have to beg to differ massively there, nothing is more delicious and pleasurable than a plate of eggs for breakfast and they’re I’m guessing on her ‘real food’ list, to me all the food I eat is pleasurable otherwise I wouldn’t eat it.  I refuse to eat something just because it’ll help me lose weight, if it doesn’t taste great – forget it!  

In the same book she did talk about ‘want and need’ now if we could get that sussed we’d all be slim wouldn’t we!  However she does make a good point, when you are hungry, think about both, and consider first what you want to eat, what are you hungry for, then stop and before you eat it think about your body and what it needs.  Will what you’ve chosen be fuel for your body as well as enjoyable to eat?  Is there a way of tweaking what you’ve chosen to fulfil both needs.  For example my piece of fudge was accompanied by wholewheat spaghetti Carbonara from the F&H cookbook, not at the same time of course, the fudge came afterwards.

I’m hungry this week for food, I don’t know if that’s the time of year, the weather, the fact I can’t shake this lurking head cold, hormones – who knows, to be honest who cares, I’m hungry for whatever reason and I can try and ignore it or feed it, but as I said yesterday don’t ignore hunger, it’s the one fight you’ll never win, hunger will always get you to eat in the end! 

I’m not saying don’t question the hunger, is it real hunger or is there something else, something other than food that you’re after – maybe you’re tired or thirsty.    I know if the answer is you’re tired and it’s the middle of the day and you’re sat at your desk at work, you can’t really go take a lie down, but at the same time eating a doughnut won’t wake you up either, so acknowledge what’s going on rather than just ignoring it or even worse deciding you’re just rubbish at dieting!

Every year I struggle with my weight at this time of year, I definitely have a cycle, one that is continual and because I’ve acknowledged it, I’m in control of it.  I know there are times when I’ll lose weight, times when I’ll gain and times when I’ll weigh the same and that’s just fine.  I’ve just looked back over my weight chart and at the beginning of February since 2010 I have been this exact weight!  I then tend to lose half stone through the year and regain around Christmas, I think this is what I call my happy weight, I may not be a size ten but I smile a hell of a lot more now than I did then!

I weighed two of my regular members yesterday, one lost 1lb to get to her total of 125lb, an awesome amount you’ll agree, but why it’s particularly fabulous is because she’s changed her frame of mind, she’s learnt that food is not the enemy and it’s ok to love herself just as she is, not use food as a form of punishment by overeating or denying it, this is what’s made the difference learning to BeYOUtiful and EatGorgeous and enjoy the journey – no rush!  The other lady has lost 41lb and is now 9lb from her goal, proudly she tells me its taken 15 months but she’s in it for the long haul, no quick fixes, no giving up, just realism and enjoyment.  I remember asking her last summer what she’d like to achieve over the kids 6 weeks holidays and her reply was, “just to still be in the meeting by the end of it”, and she was, she maintained her weight over the summer and unlike previous years she’d continued to attend meetings rather than giving up.  Both ladies have “GOT IT”, they’ve made changes that they can keep in place for the rest of their lives, some weeks good, some bad but overall the scales are going down, I’m so proud of them, I’m proud of anyone who learns to love the skin they’re in and doesn’t judge themselves are their body. 

Right it’s still dark outside but it’s 6am and I have work to get ready for and paperwork to do, it’s a busy old life being a leader and I loves it.

Have a wonderful day, listen to your body but also your mind and BeYOUtiful. xx