Wednesday, December 31, 2014

What I'm leaving behind, bringing with me, and creating as 2014 becomes 2015 in weight maintenance











Content credit- Life Advice on Twitter

 As we go into 2015, this tweet got me thinking what I'll leave, bring with me, and create for weight maintenance:

1. Leaving behind:  (Some of this is humor, so laugh a little.. remember, no Hummels were harmed in the creation of this blog post)

A. Intuitive Eating Books: There are some great books out there about intuitive eating... for other people!!! Not my cup of tea. Usually intuitive eating quotes make me want to smash a Hummel  figurine with a hammer (I won't ever do it, but it's the best description I could think of at the time) .  My eating is from a food template. My binge brain would love to change that and just know what to eat when, but I  have the final say, on my own plan.

Joking about smashing Hummels, but really, but I've given myself  the gift of time by not reading these books. And,think of the Hummels I've saved.   I feel better already ;)
I'll ring the bell and warn my Hummel Friends!!















B. Quotes about enjoying the journey: Now that I've given up reading books about intuitive eating all the things,  let's talk about "The Journey".

Point Dume State Park, Malibu, CA
No dang it, I didn't really enjoy losing 70 pounds when 60 pounds were for the second time, 30 pounds were for the third time, and a life time of losing weight and a closet of 10 sizes of clothing was left in the wake.

Forty FREAKING years is a long time to yo-yo in weight. When you are six years old and wanting to lose weight, you want off the high way to H*ll as soon as possible. Whew! Glad to not be yo-yo dieting any more. Better late than never.

Truth:  I did actually see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie this year in Malibu, leaving Nobu. Sadly, no Brad Pitt photos...but I did take this cool photo at Point Dume.


C:  Moderate eating strategies:  Moderate eating.... anything you want.. because you can count calories/points/fat grams/walk it off another day/week/month.  Because I have a sugar/chocolate/caramel/tootsie roll/and frosted cupcake from Sprinkles deficiency... Yeah, my binge brain looooooooves  that. Suuuuuuure, my body wants/needs/deserves some "______" insert binge foods into sentence. Nothing launched 1000 days of binge eating for me than a good moderate eating plan. Bye-Bye!! I can safely say that I'm happy to have left moderate eating of. all. the things about 1000 days ago.

Truth! Most days, I don't miss those foods. If I do, even for a moment.. I get myself back to the new normal pretty quick.

Joking: I give myself 30 whole seconds for my pity party. Barely time to play tiny violins...

D. Trying to be a normal eater. I've accepted that I'm not a normal eater, but I do have a new normal way of eating. Truth!

E. Trying to people please.  I don't really give a hoot about a lot of things any more. The people who matter don't mind, the people who mind don't matter.  Truth!

2. I'll bring along in 2015:

A. Paleo-ish food template, modified Auto-Immune Compliant, 98% of the time
B. Better sleep habits.
C. My support systems, both weight related and Food Addiction related
D. Daily weighing
E. Strength training at least 2x per week
F. Walking 5-6 miles a day.
G. Abstaining from grains, sugars, legumes, dairy, and nuts.

3. I'll create in 2015

A. Another year of weight maintenance (finish the 3rd full year, create a 4th year). Higher Power willing.
B. Some cool travel plans for 2016
C. Secret project that includes one of  hobbies
D. Some more blog posts, weight graphs, etc.
E. New PaleoFx 2015 friendships.
F. More teaching my daughter essential life skills.

That's it. Happy New Year. Safe Travels, please, please, if you drink, don't drive.
Katie, there are no cat photos in this post, hope you like baby cormorants.. (joking..)

Baby Cormorant to usher in 2015



19 comments:

  1. I've said this before, but I always like your reflective posts. I think people often don't realize how important it is to consistently evaluate and remind ourselves of what does and doesn't work...

    Happy 2015!

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    1. Thanks, Andera... and Rina... I find that my stinking thinking is alive and well and able to pop back into my head when I'm tired, angry, lonely, bored, frustrated... etc. When I blog about it, my mind goes right to the non-food fixes. Good cement.

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  2. Well, I gotta say, I love the 'enjoy the journey' stuff...because I do. I am. I am only maintaining because I'm enjoying the process of constantly improving, evolving...

    so we'll agree to disagree on that one. ;)

    Love all the rest! Happy New Year!

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    1. Gwen, yes, maintaining brings joy. That journey, but that "joy" in getting there... well screw it... LOL. Even in maintenance, sometimes I'm washing dishes after batch cooking and think , this is a real... b.... But I nip my stinking thinking in the bud and entertain myself with junk TV on the iPad or some podcasts or music. No victim mentality here...

      I guess I think of it more as a process...

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  3. (Anti) "Enjoy the journey" topic - I don't know if I would say I enjoyed it, but I did not fight the reality. I appreciated, hugely, when I figured out another piece of my puzzle. I just wanted to know. Whatever I had to do, that was okay with me, I just wanted to find answers. Most of what I figured out, was purely by accident. I gave up processed to avoid all the complications of calculations and my secondary conditions started to disappear. Pure chance.

    The words "intuitive eating" make my skin crawl.

    All the self help and how to books, in general, give me the heebie-jeebies.

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    1. Vickie, I think I didn't "enjoy" the last 70 pound loss because I really did get so, so close to a massive health even. Death? Only my HP knows. Trying so many times to lose weight really jaded me. It was like well, I want to get this 70 off so I can practice new skills... and be one of the 5% of maintainers. Kind of like a kid on Christmas. I knew how hard it was going to be and I was half dreading it, half BRING IT. Joy, not so much. Gratitude yes!

      And yes... some of it was pure chance. Pure having the brain fog of sugar and grains gone so I could really experiment- like nuts and migraines. That was awesome. Thanks again for the heads up.

      I can see how IE works so well for many. And so poorly for me. Thanks for being a frequent commenter on the blog.

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  4. Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thank you, Jan!!! Safe travels to you and Eddie in 2015.

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  5. Love the post Karen. I agree. It hasn't worked for me too the whole counting calories (points) eating moderately, portion control and I am realizing that even the Quest bars are not working well for me. I learn a lot from your reflections.

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    1. Yeah... Rina.. I thought in the first 1.5 years that Quest Bars would be a "keeper" along with Lara Bars and "real food" bars.... oh I tried them all. And kept going back for more. Some were a good transition tool from Medifast to Paleo... polar opposite food plans, so I'm grateful for their place in my transition. Here's to n=1 experiments.

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  6. Happy New Year, Karen! I am very glad I found your blog, and I'm so glad I got the courage to comment. I know I will continue to learn from you and am glad for your voice out here on the Internet!

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    1. I'm glad you are a regular reader, Ali. I knew there would be people out there who could relate. When I first started in 2011, 2012... very few Paleo, food addiction, abstaining resources out there... we need more tools for long term weight maintenance. My plan won't be every ones but more voices will help. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

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  7. This is a nice review, and a nice plan for the beginning year! I like how you say you have accepted you are not a normal eater. It made me wonder if I am one (I don' think so) and if anyone, in fact, is. :-) Happy New Year!

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    1. Thank you HSH- Sometimes I get teary thinking about all the time I spent trying to fit in with the WW "I moderate all things and if you can't, you are wrong, doing it wrong and a poor counter"... just gotta let that one go. A good sense of yourself and cutting ties to the moderate eaters was all I needed.... Yeah, what is "normal".. truth!

      Check out the Yale Rudd food scale. Like Dr. Tarman says not all that overeat are food addicts, not all people who drink are alcoholics. Truth!

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  8. SAVE the Hummels! Intuitive eating , in my opinion. is for people with no disordered eating behaviors and no history or active food addictions. This being said after working with an RD who worked with me on IE..I fired her after a few months. The best thing about it is being more in tune with feelings of hunger and fullness which are hard for me.

    That was a score with Brad and Angie. I was in New York a long time ago and waiting for a table at a restaurant standing a few people behind Madonna and Sean Penn. I love stupid data like this.

    Good post. I will journal about this for myself.

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    1. Thanks, PJ... I knew some of my regular readers would be able to relate. I'm super stoked to see that there are more dieticians, shrinks, and nutritionists that believe food addiction is real. I haven't blogged about it yet, but I carry two copies of the FTO addiction gene along with one copy of the "extra ghrelin" gene. Along with 20-40 known arrangements for obesity. 7-10 for type 2 diabetes. I'm a prime example of someone who can carry the geneotypes but not exhibit the phenotypes----- I might code for all that stuff but I don't have to live it. Here's to doing what we need to do for our own lives. I thought it would be easier, that everyone would have the same template.. but nope- all different. I know IE is good and great for some.... just not me. :) I've put the hammer away... LOL. You should have seen the looks on my RL friends when I asked if they had hummels for a photo shoot (no hammers)... I told them... oh your hummel is packed away.... okay... leave it there. ;) I think someone in my family stated once... We are not a Hall Mark family"... indeed.

      I look forward to your blog post. Oh, and I did get a photo of Patti Stanger from Millionaire Match Maker... I'll post that one of these days. I may have gotten in a shot that hasn't aired yet.... LOL! Thanks for stopping by and onward.

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  9. Thank you Jeanette and Isabel!! Happy New Years to you, too!!

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