I know what food is good and what food is not so good for me. I know that a half a bag of pretzels before bed is not going to do anything positive for my waistline. Some people I know workout so that they can maintain a certain weight. A friend of mine, a runner, loves a bowl of ice cream every night. Part of the reason she runs is so she can have her sweet tooth craving satisfied.
There is a difference between maintaining weight and losing weight. There is also a difference in the way the body maintains as we age. I remember when I was 30 years old I could do the Slimfast diet shake for breakfast and lunch and have that ‘sensible’ dinner the commercials advised. Monday through Friday I would follow the plan and I could drop 5 pounds in 5 days. These days, I would be lucky to lose 2 pounds even if I did the same diet. My body’s metabolism has slowed down. I find I have to watch my food more closely and do more things at the gym to just to stay in the maintenance mode.
Food is 80 percent of success when you combine it with fitness. I can do all kinds of different types of classes and biking and if I do not watch my calories, forget it, the scale will not drop in numbers.
I know this very well but it can be so hard not to have a glass of wine, or a bad food carb. By no means am I a fanatic about not eating bread for example.I just try to make sure it is whole grain. For the most part I make smart choices. I definitely give myself a day to eat more freely or have a few cocktails but lately I have not been strict with myself. Some days I think ‘I am getting older, I should be able to enjoy more food and drink’. I also know that I am not happy when my stomach feels fat and bloated. I start out every week with good intensions but in the last year have found myself straying from getting in 5 or 6 clean days of eating. My mother used to have a yellow sweatshirt with a picture of a banana split on the front. Underneath the picture it said I will start my diet on Monday. I do not want this to become my motto. Often I have started clean eating on a Saturday or Sunday, just to prove to myself that I do have willpower.
Now that I'm (gasp!) almost 40, I find the same problem you mentioned. It used to be so easy to lose a few pounds at will, but it is so much harder now. Plus, even though I'm the same weight (roughly) that I was last year, my clothes do not fit the same--I'm shifting!
ReplyDeleteThis makes a lot of sense. When I was training for a half-marathon, people would say, "you must be able to eat whatever you want."
ReplyDeleteBut it just doesn't work that way. I could run 10 miles a day and my maybe I'd get away with the bowl of ice cream at night, but I couldn't stuff myself the rest of the time.
I agree 100% with you. Food is one of my biggest weaknesses. I'm bringing my body back into check after two months of binge eating. I find once I'm out of the habit of watching what I eat, its more difficult to get back on track with clean eating. Glad to know I'm not alone.
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