How to Lose Weight Naturally - Part Two
I'm like most of us - as a teen, I could wolf down half a large pizza and two big Cokes and never see the effects on my hips. The scale showed two extra pounds? No problem. I just thought about losing weight and it was gone. But as an adult, no one ever accused me of being too thin. I bounced all over the scale, and my closet had clothes in it covering five different sizes! When I got pregnant, I literally thought this was it for me, goodbye any recognition of a waistline. Thanks to losing weight naturally with fresh, healthy food, that didn't happen.
I think one of the most important keys to losing weight is to not deny yourself to the point of feeling resentful. Denying any pleasure in eating is no way to go. Instead, it's a matter of shifting your eating pleasure to other foods. Here's my trick: Cookie in cupboard is calling my name. (I try not to have cookies in the cupboard to begin with, but occasionally they jump into my grocery cart when I'm not looking. Bad, bad cookie.) Cookie in cupboard must be eaten. Alrighty, but first I must eat something really healthy and nutrient-rich before moving on to said cookie. Often (but not always) I don't have a desire to eat the cookie after I've eaten a piece of my favorite fruit, like grapefruit or a banana or both! If I still want the cookie, I figure I've gotten some goodness in me anyway, and I won't be floating along on a nasty sugar buzz.
So now you're thinking, "The girl just ate two pieces of fruit and a cookie! You can't lose weight that way!" My rule: Never feel guilty about eating fruit and vegetables. Ever. Eat until you explode if you so choose, unless you're drenching your vegetables in cheese. Then we gotta talk. But if they're nice and fresh, eat all you want. Because if you eat all those fresh fruits and vegetables, you will lose weight. There's no way around it. You're filling up on things so full of nutrients that I guarantee that cookie will not feel nearly so enticing once you've worked up a veggie buzz. And yes, my friends, there IS a veggie buzz.
More on that later...
3 comments:
I like you trick. Eating something healthy before eating the sleeve of cookies sounds like it really could work to cut-down on my sweets addiction.
Pray for me when the Girl Scout cookies arrive. ;)
Okay, Diane- but how do I convince my body that I want to eat a grapefruit? I go through phases, but often when I am gaining weight/ not eating well, I look around at the produce and can't bring myself to eat it! I will give my son tons through out the day and feel as though that meant I ate it too! There was a point that I got nauseous at the smell of a banana! I know what to do, but don't do it, and often its an intense distaste for anything fresh and good for me. What's up with that?
I've been reading your posts about this and saw some mid-pregnancy pictures and even year-after pictures and noticed a major difference in my jawline, biceps, so on where the weight really was not what it is in my mirror today. I don't own a scale and haven't been on one in about 8 months, but somethin tells me I've got at least ten pounds to lose. Arg...
Well, Viv, the good news is, even if the grapefruit doesn't sound too tempting in the beginning, if you plunge in and eat as much fresh stuff as you can for a good two weeks, you'll notice you start to crave the good stuff. I know, it takes awhile. If I fall off the wagon and start up on processed foods for awhile (like during Christmas - all homemade, but lots of sugar, etc.) I lose my taste for the healthy stuff. But if I really focus on putting the good food in front of me first, after a week or two (just a few days now) I start wanting that instead of the cookies.
And I know what you mean about feeding your son! I get that way too - I think, "Oh, I had plenty of fruit today." And then I realize, it was my son who at the banana, the apple, and the pear - not me!
Gruppie, as for the Girl Scout cookies, you're in our prayers! I know, I have a weakness for those darned thin mints.
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