Love-Hate Relationship with food

I have always had a Love-Hate relationship with food. I LOVE food and I HATE how it piles on the pounds. Will power is not something that I have a lot of when it comes to avoiding my pantry. Sometimes you have to say to yourself: "just take the time and look at what and how much you are eating." Normally I don't have the patience to log calories, but since I've been logging Maddy's feedings, it's become a routine practice and was easy to start doing for myself. I started on Monday and I'm doing well so far. I've discovered a few things about my food consumption thus far:
  • I can eat waaaay too many pretzels. I could have easily eaten 400+ calories of pretzels in one sitting and not realize it.
  • 2 Tbsp of hummus is actually plenty to eat with a whole cucumber. Before, I would just take the carton with me and eat more than I really needed. When I measured out 3 Tbsp (since I thought I'd need that much), I actually had some left over.
  • A medium sized golden delicious apple has 80 calories which is more than I thought.
  • I'm saving money on groceries because I'm not eating through my food as fast.

Since I've started my new eating regiment, I'm reminded of a process I went through during my freshman year at college when I had an addiction to bagels (Thanks to Time for a Bagel in Morris Plains). If you think about it, you can also use this technique when your trying to get over an ex or a crush. Read on:
  • Step 1: Walk up to the bagel bin, open the lid and take half a bagel. Do this for only a few days a week instead of everyday.
  • Step 2: After 1 week of eating half a bagel, repeat Step1, but this time, walk up to the bin and open the lid, but DO NOT take a bagel.
  • Step 3: After a few days of opening the lid, walk up to the bin and just look at the bagels. Don't open the lid.
  • Step 4: After a day or two, don't even walk up to the bin. Take a look from a distance and just keep walking over to the fruit instead.
  • Eventually, you will not miss or even want a bagel anymore. Hopefully you will be able to treat yourself every now and then, but you many not even need to.
This worked really well for me and became like a mantra for any time that I needed to give something up. It did work with boys too!

Update: I still don't eat bagels, however I had a mad craving for them during my pregnancy and treated myself to a yummy egg white and bagel sandwich from Bagel Street in Plainsboro.

You won't find me tracking my weight online. I don't weigh myself and reserve that painful process for doctor's visits. Instead, I go by how my clothing fits. I'm currently 13 weeks postpartum and is has been 7 weeks since I got the OK to workout from my doctor (since I had a c-section). My upper body is always the first to slim down. My hips and that awful spare-tire are always the last to go away (and usually don't).

In addition to my calorie counting, I have been doing a variety of exercises. I found a routine called the 3-2-1 Baby Bulge Be Gone which Halle Berry and Jessica Alba both do. It's a circuit workout that can be done in about an hour or less. I tried it out last night and felt really good when I left the gym. I'll probably tweak with the strength portion, incorporating different moves that I've enjoyed in the past.

Wish me luck and I'll try to record my progress as I go.

2 comments:

Ann Harrison said...

Hello!
I found you through Mom Bloggers Club.
Oh, this 'food thing'. It can just get so frustrating. I've noticed the older I get the harder I have to work to get results with my workouts! Argh!
One thing I've been paying attention to lately, regarding packaged food, is actually eating the Serving Size that is listed on the product. That's helping me a lot.

Anonymous said...

You know,when i was a kid,I often I asked my mom this question-Why we eat food?Its good for nothing.

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