{If you haven’t seen women laughing alone with salad, please check it out!}
To my readers, it may seem that I have the appetite of a rabbit and only consume salads and healthy foods. Let me be clear: NO. You don’t have a significant amount of weight to lose because you eat healthfully. The truth is that I love food. For much of my life, food has been my comfort, my reward, my thing. I enjoy a good meal out, a glass of wine, a decadent dessert. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that changing those things has been the hardest part of losing weight. Weight loss really is 95% diet and 5% exercise and so I’ve accepted the fact that if I want to change my body, I’ve had to significantly change my diet.
Here’s what’s worked for me, as a lover of food, as I’ve changed my views on food:
Never say never. I get sad when I think about not eating pasta or fro-yo ever again. I’ve gotten rid of much of it, I feel much less frantic when I take things a meal at a time and think, “You won’t have pasta today” as opposed to “YOU WILL NEVER EAT PASTA AGAIN!” It helps.
Don’t label food good or bad. I think it’s easy to make food very black and white, or “good and bad.” If I label something bad and then choose to eat it, it’s very easy for me to go down the rabbit hole of “I’m a bad person” and get down on myself. Instead, I try to think of food as a choice. However, as I preach to my students, choices have consequences, and in this case, those consequences show up on the scale or in feeling icky when I exercise. Thinking of it that way makes me much more likely to make a healthier choice.
When you cheat, it only hurts one person: YOU. When I pretend that the pumpkin scone I’m eating is only 250 calories, or that eating a second helping isn’t a big deal, it doesn’t affect anyone but me. The fact is that when I eat well, I get results, and when I don’t, I won’t.
Don’t eat in secret. I think this is something that people rarely discuss, but I’ll be honest: before I embarked on this journey, I ate in secret. A lot. It’s easy to run through the drive thru and get a Frappucino, or to snack on candy when I’m alone in my classroom, or to indulge just a little too much when no one is watching. Secret calories still count. Again: cheating hurts no one but you.
Stop when you’re satisfied. I have always hated those liars people who say they could only eat one bit of dessert and be satisfied. But, I do think there’s something to this. When I eat something I’m craving now, I try to pay attention to when my craving has been satiated. It’s usually long before the end of a meal or snack, and then, I can satisfy it without going overboard.
Don’t beat yourself up. The best thing about your body is that you get out what you put in. If you have a bad day, you can start again. One of my favorite quotes about health comes from Bikram yoga, where a mantra I’ve heard repeated often is, “Never too late, never too old, never too bad, never too sick…to start from the scratch once again.” You can always start taking care of your body, and a great place to start is food.
If you’ve changed your eating habits, what tips would you give? Anything to add?
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New Blog Post: Changing your eating habits when you REALLY love food…:
{If you haven’t seen women laughing alon… http://t.co/cwS03kT
Great post, Amy! Lots of wisdom here. When I lost my weight, I made some big changes, but I still felt like I ate well and love what I ate. I think in bullet points, so here is a list of some things I learned:
1. I have trigger foods. There are foods that I just cannot make myself stop eating. Like a bag of cheetos. or doritos. Or chocolate chips. So I do not have these things in my house. The satisfaction I feel when eating is not worth the guilt afterwards!
2. Everything in moderation. I had to really learn about portion control – and I had to be aware of how much I was eating. When I first joined weight watchers, I measured EVERYTHING. From the cereal in my bowl to the milk I put in my cereal to the fruit I brought as a snack. Everything was measured.
Those were 2 of my big ‘learnings’ I guess you could say! Besides that I had to learn to differentiate between being hungry or being bored… I still struggle with this sometimes!!
Only one thing – Size Matters!
These are great tips Amy. I really have to work on going back to my roots of weight loss after my half-marathon in October. I’ve been indulging a bit too much, a bit too often this summer!
This is a really great post! I love to read about weight loss/healthy eating and always enjoy hearing about others’ journey. I would add that it’s very important to be honest about calories in/calories out. If you run 3 miles that doesn’t mean you can eat a whole pizza for dinner, not even close. Your body doesn’t need nearly as much fuel as you think it does. I also agree that portion control is HUGE! You can eat chocolate cake every day if you really want to, as long as that slice is a teeny-tiny one. This is something I think other cultures understand a lot better than Americans do.
I love Never Say Never. It goes well with my philosophy on food, money and life: You can have it all, you just can’t have it all at once.
For me, nothing is off limits. No foods are forbidden. If I want fries, I have them. If I want pizza, I have it. But in moderation. I.e. maybe once a month instead of once a week. I still eat my chocolate but not a whole big bar, but just a small one. I think moderation is not just the key to losing weight but also to forming healthy & normal eating habits. Eating salad all day is going to make you shed the pounds but is it normal? No. I still love my carbs and I eat plenty but try to stick to whole grains and complex carbs.
And the snacks that I cannot stop snacking on – I simply don’t buy them. If there is some type of chocolate I cannot stop eating till it’s all gone, I buy a small bar or don’t buy it at all. I instead stick to darker chocolate where I know I can stop after a 25g bar.
This is great, A!I tend to have to cut out all the “bad” stuff and call it that for about a month just so I can clear my focus and really see some results. Once I start dropping weight, it’s much easier to commit to eating more healthy. I have put weight back on this past year and am so tired of hating myself that I am starting back to the re-commitment of self-care TODAY. My vices are carbs, refined sugar and booze and eating those more than I eat protein, veggies and fruits. Time to switch up the imbalance! I’ve always struggled with knowing when I am full and it’s something I’m working on – the listening to my body.
My piece of advise would be: Be honest with yourself about your tastes and priorities. I went through a phase when I would get a shake at Sonic EVERY night. It was my little reward at the end of the day. When I decided to get healthier, I though it wouldn’t be a big deal to just stop getting those shakes every night, to completely turn around and eat only salads all day, every day. However, I quickly learned that I had some to rely on food indulgences to feel good at the end of the day.
I had a hard time being honest with myself about how important food was to me and exactly the types of food that I liked eating. I had to honestly examine why changing my habits was hard and let it be ok that I didn’t WANT to eat only salads. I had to not feel bad about myself for food being such a high priority in my life.
I need to print this out and tape it to every wall in my house. Great post!
That women laughing alone with salad site is genius! haha.
I agree with Lisa about trigger foods. If you were to place a giant plate of nachos and sour cream in front of me, I’d eat the entire thing. Right now, at this point, I can’t trust myself with certain foods so I keep them out of the house. That said, I do still love good food but now my husband and I will share a pizza and appetizer instead of each getting a whole pizza.
The main thing that has been helping me is, eat often, eat smaller portions, and eat lots of protein. I have eggs for breakfast, Greek yogurt for a morning snack, and almonds for afternoon snack everyday. Those three things alone have helped me to feel more full. Then I don’t get home at the end of the day and attack the pantry because I’m starving.
These are some really great tips Amy, thanks for sharing! I love tips from people who have tried and tested them & know what works. And I like that your ideas are atleast DOABLE instead of ‘just drop junk food entirely ‘or something like that.
BAH. I wish you weren’t right about all these things. I LOVE FOOD. But I am trying to love me more.
“When you cheat, it only hurts one person.” I need to post that on the candy drawer at work!
I just fell over because these tips feel like they’re speaking to me and what I did yesterday. I feel like I have to eat after what happened to me when I was 12 when I couldn’t eat but I think I should look at these tips and train my mind to think that way because the weight gain sucks.
These are great tips. The never say never is especially true for me. I can’t handle diets that eliminate one thing or another, because as soon as I “can’t” have it, that’s all I want!
I also love the “don’t beat yourself up” tip. This was one of the reasons weight watchers was so good for me. Have a terrible, horrible, off day? Don’t worry, points start again tomorrow.
I have to confess that I do eat in secret, but with good reason, I think. If there is something in the house I know I want to indulge in (cake for example) I will wait until my kids are sleeping to eat it. It’s not so they won’t want any, but so that I can actually ENJOY it. It doesn’t feel indulgent if I’m getting up every 2 seconds to pick up the baby’s spoon, or to get my 3 year old a napkin. And if it doesn’t feel indulgent, I’m likely to indulge more later.
I don’t know how to take things one meal at a time. I’m always thinking of what’s for dinner tomorrow while I’m eating lunch today. I have a really hard time saying no to carbs. I love pasta and bread and potatoes and rice (OMG POTATOES), and I’m also kind of poor and carbs are much cheaper than healthy foods. I’ve never been crazy about eating meat, either. Carbs are just so much faster and cheaper than anything else. It’s so sad.
I love all these tips and I *really* need to start following them! I think eating until your satisfied is so key. I always seem to eat food like I’m never going to eat that meal again EVER. Also, measuring out servings sizes. Very mundane and time-consuming but so important!
I really love this list. I’m adjusting my eating habits for health reasons and it can be so difficult. In my experience, the most worthwhile habits are to notice when your craving is satiated and never say never. When I start thinking about never having _____ again, I get so depressed and I become more likely to crave and eat it more often, telling myself “I’ll quit eating it tomorrow.”
I love all of these tips even though I already knew that. I just need to DO IT and follow through. I’m glad to hear that you’re doing great on this journey!
one. women laughing with salad is hilarious.
and two. i really needed to read these. seriously amy you’re like a guru of all things i need to hear and take to heart. so thank you for that.
ooohhhh eating in secret. that right there is why i can’t shake these last 10 pounds. i often think, “if people saw how much i ate they would be appalled.” and then i eat whatever it is even though i know i shouldn’t. sooooo my point is, if i reaaaalllly think about…”if i had an audience, would i eat this?”, my weight loss/wellness will liekly improve. so THANK YOU for helping me with my major struggle. as for suggestions…i keep temptation out of the house. or at least out of my eye line. if i don’t see it chances are i won’t eat it. xo
ps–hi!!!
ew. i missed spelled likely. on your blog of all places.
These are really great tips! For me, I just remember that I can have things that I used to think were “bad” for me, I just can’t have like 10 of them.
For me the best thing has been to keep healthy snacks at work. If I have a yogurt around 11 and an apple around 4, it helps tide me over, I can make healthier lunch choices, and I have more energy for my after-work workout.
This is a really great article on weight loss with some good LOGICAL tips: http://t.co/8aY3SQhL
Fantastic post Amy! Every day is a struggle to choose the right foods, but jut as you said unhealthy choices only hurt you, healthy choices only benefit you too. I feel so much better when I’m eating tonnes of vegetables and fueling my body with nutrients. Often when I indulge in sugary or oily foods, my body starts to feel unwell now because it’s used to me making good choices.
Really love how you take a realistic and achievable approach to food, exercise and overall health. Love your blog. xx
All great points, Amy! I think for me, I know I wouldn’t be happy if I came up pasta and cheese and other things that I love, so I’ve found ways to include things I love in moderation so I can still drop a few pounds, but still enjoy the things I’ve always loved.
Ha, I saw that picture and thought of “Women eating salad” before I even scrolled down to your caption!
I am glad that you highlighted secret eating. I had a whole rambling post here working through my feelings and issues with this, but I am going to keep that to myself and say that maybe the most important thing you’ve put in this article is that your poor eating choices/actions only affect you, BUT not to beat yourself up over it.
[...] Shit Talk Your Body, Don’t Shit Talk Other People’s Bodies, and Stand Up for Yourself.Changing Your Eating Habits when You REALLY love food: Again, more rules that should just apply to life (like Don’t beat yourself up and Never say [...]
oooh, i wish the secret eating thing didn’t stick so close to home. in fact,i did it today. and as far as the cheating only hurts myself… my husband loves to tell me that when i don’t eat right and exercise it hurts him too. i am really trying to take that in the spirit that (i hope) he means it, and realize that i need to care for myself so that i will be around longer. but sometimes… it is hard to not take those comments personally.