We all have those moments where we just feel fat. It could be the truth, it could be a bad case of the Mondays, or bloating, or bloating on a Monday, or simply the aftermath of a bit too much indulging. I will blame my personal reason on the latter. After enjoying a much anticipated weekend in Asheville, I woke up the morning after my return and decided I needed to lose a few pounds. I should mention that swimsuit season was in plain sight and also should be included on that list of reasons we may feel fat. Trying on a bathing suit under the harsh glow of fluorescent lighting in a Target fitting room will almost always shred any self confidence you had mustered for the day. Anyway, I digress. I had overindulged during my long weekend and was painfully aware of how close I was to that initial bikini body reveal for the season, so I wanted to get serious.
Now, let’s be totally up front here. I am not overweight and I am not the type of girl to “cry fat”. Losing weight is a struggle for so many adults and I don’t want to act like an expert of something or pretend I’ve ever been part of this unfair uphill challenge. That being said, I am a mother and I’m not a celebrity so my pre-baby body didn’t magically appear days after giving birth. I was “fortunate” to have gestational diabetes, so my pregnancy weight gain was quite manageable thanks to this completely random condition that stole my ability to eat carbs and sugar for the last three months of my term. Still, all that being said, I’m in my mid-thirties (hello slowing metabolism) and I’ve watched women in my family struggle with weight loss. I just want to stay ahead of the curve and get rid of those extra 5ish pounds of post-baby weight that seem to just love my lower tummy and thigh region.
My first step was reaching out to a girlfriend, who is a dietitian, for advice. I don’t do diets and I try to stay away from the dizzying pile of online suggestions. I wanted an expert’s opinion on how to lose this weight in a healthy (non-fad) way. She graciously offered to help, but was out of town for a family reunion and wouldn’t be able to compile some suggestions for a week or so. My impatient self decided to take matters into my own hands until I heard back. I went with a method that I’ve tried a few times over the years…. counting calories.
So it’s basic math….(haha…. or so you thought, but we’ll get to that later). The number of calories that go in need to be burned or weight gain occurs. This is somewhat simple in theory and yes, is the basic idea behind weight loss and management. To make it even more simple, there are about 14,000 apps you can download that will help you track your daily caloric intake and exercise. I will admit that the app I used was awesome. It had so many foods and restaurant options stored in it’s database, that you could almost always tally your meal with no hassle. You start by creating an account and telling this new BFF things you wouldn’t tell your actual BFF: weight, height, failed dreams, ideal weight, deepest secrets, type of lifestyle, etc. It then magically spits out how many calories you should consume each day to reach your goal in a realistic amount of time. From there, you enter each meal, snack, and any exercise that occurred and it keeps a running diary for each day.
This is where the simple stops. For seven days, I meticulously counted and measured everything that I ate. At one point, I literally counted out 8 cashews and put them in a baggie for a mid-morning snack. I remember chewing each one of those cashews for about five minutes to try to make them last longer. ½ cup of quinoa, 1 cup of green beans, ¼ cup of oatmeal, it made me feel like a neurotic cafeteria server making sure that no student received any bonus serving sizes by mistake. But, I kept going and making sure to stay under my allotment of 1500 calories each day. Each exercise was tallied in. Tracking calories burned during a workout was much trickier than tracking food, but I estimated the best that I could. I have to say exercising to simply enable myself to eat a few extra calories seems a bit counter-intuitive.
After seven days of hell, I had lost about 1.5 lbs. I also almost lost my shit. I was irritable, snippy, weak, and just plain unhappy. I was hungry all day every day. This probably seems dramatic to anyone who has followed any type of diet before. After all, being hungry is just part of losing weight, right? Well, I don’t just get hungry, I get “hangry”. I was a crappy mom with zero patience towards my two year old and a battle ax of a wife to my husband. Plus, my enjoyment of food was gone. Needless to say, I was thrilled when my friend the dietitian emailed me with her suggestions for me.
After reviewing the email I had sent her with my current eating methods, she advised me to “not do any additional dieting” as I “already have a healthy pattern in place for food”. Hallelujah! App deleted and a handful of cashews shoved in. She also confirmed my existing belief that diets and meal plans only work temporarily and mindful eating is the way to go. Learn more about my approach to food here. Ok, so I’m eating correctly and getting a little bit of exercise in, why am I not at my target weight?? Her advice: increase my cardio. That’s it. Burn a few more calories each week. You can learn about my current work-out plan here. She advised adding three 20 minute cardio sessions in each week in addition to my existing plan.
There you have it friends, the secret to happiness. You don’t have to diet, you don’t have to eat like a super model, you don’t have to make food the enemy. You just have to eat real foods, get off your ass each day, and listen to your body!
What I took away from this experience is that counting calories is not as simple of a process as I originally thought (and it’s also not for me). I don’t believe in depriving my body from good whole foods when I’m hungry just because I’m narrowing in on my daily total. Also, not all calories are built the same. Unfortunately the 200 calories in that everything bagel doesn’t do the same thing for your body as the 200 calories in that grilled chicken. I won’t get into the science of things as there are plenty of articles out there that can fill you in from way more knowledgeable sources.
Check back in soon for part two of this saga where I explain what I took away from this experience including some advice and tips.
Now go get healthy and kick those society forced, happiness-stripping diets to the curb!
