Gluttony and Healthy Eating

Back in this post [here] I talked about how none of my clothes fit after having a baby.  That was one month after Tiago was born.  As I started to move around better I lost a few pounds.  But within a month of hitting my 6-weeks-post-partum-and-ready-to-exercise-for-real mark I went back to the States for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you'd like a visual of what that looked like, imagine cupcakes and pies and baklava and little chocolate treats that appear out of nowhere on the kitchen counter.  If it wasn't fudge, it was apple cider caramels.  Or chocolate covered pretzels.  Or delicious chocolate covered toffee that didn't last long even though we hid it on top of the fridge.  Out of sight out of mind, right?  Nope.  My dad and I still managed to sneak pieces here and there until it was gone.  And that's saying nothing of the cookies or cakes.

[None of that was made up or exaggerated.  My mom really made all of it, and more.]

And it was all delicious.

[I have no self-control.]

The good news is that while I was there (eating endlessly) I had live-in babysitters, aka Grandma and Grandpa.  I was able to get out and exercise regularly and build up come muscle and cardio endurance.  But I still gained back about 6 lbs.

Meanwhile I stole a bunch of clothes from my sister's closet, so having nothing to wear wasn't an issue anymore.

After my 6-week vacation, the silver lining of returning to Germany was I knew I'd be able to get my eating back on track and hopefully lose some weight.  If there is one blessing of having my husband deployed right now, it's that I have full control of what comes into my kitchen, and no excuses to buy anything I shouldn't be eating.  [There's no way Hyrum would buy into my current diet.]

Lot's of green!

When I say "diet" I don't mean I'm following a specific diet.  I'm just being way more careful about what I eat.  Here are my general rules I've been following for the last month:

• Eat way more vegetables.  Fresh or frozen.  I really like to eat, so being able to eat an extra cup of green beans (for only 30 calories) is nice for quantity's sake.  

• No bread/pasta/rice/crackers in the house.  Not because I think all carbs are evil, but it's my go-to food.  It's what I snack on.  So eliminating it also eliminates a lot of my unnecessary eating.  Plus, it forces me to eat more vegetables.  One exception would be quinoa... I do eat that sometimes.  But it's healthy, right??  

• Only eat when I'm hungry.  Sadly, this is kind of a new concept for me.  I've always been a breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack kind of person.  It's a habit enforced by culture, and normal mealtimes are somewhat necessary when you're feeding a family.  But again, since I'm the only one eating [real food] in my house right now, I have the luxury of eating whenever I want.  I don't consult the clock for meals, I just eat when I feel hungry.    

• Eat whenever I feel hungry.  No starving.  I hate walking around hungry.  I did it for 2 months during morning sickness and never want to do it again (voluntarily.)   

• Avoid sweets.  I haven't cut them out entirely, or the cravings might drive me mad.  But I don't buy them myself.  And if someone else offers me something, I only take one.  

• Pre-determined awards:  I told myself I could buy a big chocolate bar when I lost 5 lbs, and a delicious doner sandwich (bread!) when I lost 10 lbs.  And heck, when I lose 20 lbs I might just eat everything in the world.  

Surprisingly, this little plan is kind of working.  A few days ago I walked into town and bought myself that 10 lb reward sandwich, and it was as good as I'd imagined.  However, I'm going to guess the rest of the weight won't come off quite as easily.  And since I could probably write a post about how I break each rule occasionally...

Nonetheless, I'm happy with the progress and hope I can stay motivated to keep going . I'm also curious to see how my eating habits change once I hit my 'target weight' and how this will all chance once Hyrum gets home.  

A few parting thoughts:  Chocolate-flavored Slimfast is delicious and German poppy-seed yogurt is so good it's easy to feel like I'm eating dessert.  And now I feel hungry so I'm going to eat.