Posts tagged as:

healthy eating

When Words You Write Come Back To You

by Claire on May 1, 2011

Scan_Pic0033Mom’s moving to a retirement and assisted living home. As part of that move, my daughters and I are helping her sort through her stuff to see what goes in the trash, what gets donated or sold, what comes home with me, and what goes to her new, 800 sq. ft. apartment from her 1200 sq. ft. condo.

Through that process, we came across some letters that I had written to my mother when I was at boarding school in Plymouth, England. I knew that when I was a teenager, from about the time I was 15, I started being conscious of my weight – for some reason I thought I was fat. I wasn’t. I was a slim 130 (if that) 5’6” healthy teenager. I was active in competitive swimming, school sports including the occasional cross-country run, every other weekend “expeditions” consisting of 20 mile hikes across southern England carrying a backpack (stuffed with contraband) and a sleeping bag.

My memories of my teenage years are somewhat fragmented but I had always thought of myself as healthy, albeit depressed a lot, but that’s a different topic. What really opened my eyes was this paragraph I wrote to mom:

“I’m on a diet. Today I ate only five carrots and a biscuit.”

My heart is broken when I look back at the young girl who was so lost and thought that eating only five carrots and a biscuit was a healthy diet. No one noticed that it was the sign of an eating disorder. And yes, I now think I probably had a pretty active eating disorder. The picture above is me at my high school graduation. I had a 23 inch waist at the time. I was proud of that.

Things soon changed when I went to college because I switched over to eating hamburgers and milkshakes and quickly lost that 23” waist. It grew even further about six months later when I became pregnant at age 18. Then I switched from eating 5 carrots a day to eating bread and sugar sandwiches.

Good lord. No wonder by the time I hit Weight Watchers I was nearly 100 pounds overweight. I would go in cycles of binging and not eating. Nothing was normal or healthy. I didn’t know what healthy was. I was never taught, or never witnessed, healthy eating.

Now I know better. And I’m glad I wrote that letter. It resurfaced at just the right time. My life focus is now on being healthy – body, mind, and spirit – and going to whatever lengths I can to make that happen.

Tagged as: anorexia, Attitude, binge eating, eating disorder, emotional growth, healthy eating, weight gain, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers

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Keeping it Real and Keeping it Honest

by Claire on July 19, 2010

In the continuing saga of my weight loss journey, I feel compelled to ‘fess up.

I have been basking in the glow of compliments and skinny clothing for about a year now while hovering about 9 pounds from goal. I love the compliments – they really help with encouragement and staying on my path. I’ve also been steadily and consistently going to my Weight Watchers meetings every week unless I’ve been sick or out of town or the location was closed for the holiday. I have been doing a lot of things right.

But I’ve also been doing some things wrong.

I’ve been slipping.

BLTs they call them. Bites, licks, and tastes. And portion distortion. And plain just not counting what should be counted.

And now it’s biting me back in the ass. The sum of the last two weeks has resulted in a 5 pound gain. That is HUGE in the world of weight loss – or in this case, gain.

At my meeting tonight, I talked to my leader. We tried to figure out what caused the weight gain this week as I tracked (mostly) and I did a lot more activity. I know what happened the week prior – that was no tracking and eating bad-for-weight-loss food in San Antonio. I also talked with my fellow members and we tried chalking it up to hormones changing post-age 50, too much sodium in my diet, you name it, we tried to blame it.

The bottom line is it all adds up to what you put in your mouth and putting too much of it in. I immediately came home and weighed out the watermelon I’ve been eating (per serving). What was being not counted – at all – added up to 2 points. Do that a few times and I’ve eaten up 1/3 of my weekly bonus points. Add in the second helping of coleslaw and the ice cream cake that was justified as a meal – and then coming home and eating a late night leftover meal anyway. It all adds up.

So keeping it honest and keeping it real here means I’ll do a better job of staying on program this next week. And I’ll remember that each week when I weigh in, it’s feedback, not failure.

Tagged as: Health, healthy eating, tracking food, weight gain, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers

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Can it be done?

November 24, 2009

Is it actually possible to lose weight during Thanksgiving week? Why, yes, it is. It’s not easy, but it can be done. Last year was my first Thanksgiving on the Weight Watchers program and I worked really hard to follow the suggestions that my leader provided so that I would not gain weight during the [...]

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There’s more to losing weight than losing weight

August 26, 2009

“With our program you can lose 20 pounds in just 4 weeks!” “Lose 10 inches in just 5 days!” “I want to lose 20 pounds in time for my wedding next month.” “I have 50 pounds to lose – I hope I can do it in 10 weeks.” How often have you heard claims or [...]

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Crock Pot Southwest Chicken Chili

August 23, 2009

I posted the other day on Facebook that I was going to make this since the weather was feeling more like Fall than Summer. I’ve had a couple requests for the recipe, so here you go. I didn’t take pictures, but in the future, I will – or, you can make your version of the [...]

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