I’m sure you’ve gotten bored with your diet at one time or another. The same things day in and day out … it can get quite numbing, especially if your working out and losing weight. Is that really a bad thing though?
Lets seriously think about this for a second. If your like me you have a set of staple foods that makeup a large portion of your diet. For me, my staples are:
- Greek Yogurt like Fage with Honey or the Plain 2% version
- 2% Cottage Cheese
- Fruit like Bananas, Apples, or Figs
- Nuts like Walnuts or Almonds
- Veggies like Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes, Lettuce, or Peas
- Natural Peanut & Almond Butter
- Meal Replacement Shakes like Myoplex or Full Strength
- Pastas, usually whole or enriched
- Brown Rice and Beans (kidney, black, northern, etc)
- Lean 95% Beef
- Chicken
Now lets be honest, you can only make so many meals with those items, even with spices. I highly suggest a good cookbook like Eating for LIFE or Biggest Loser Family Cookbook for creative ways that “mostly” fall in a consistent food list.
One thing you’ll notice about my list is that the full gamut of the food spectrum is represented. This means that means I can balance almost every meal nutritionally. I can eat for weeks off this list without having to think, without having to make a decision.
That’s one of the biggest keys to success, making decisions. When your trying to lose weight like I am, sometimes not introducing decisions or indecision is your best option. The moment you try to add too much variety you have to introduce self control and deal with trigger foods or cravings. I don’t know about you but the moment I introduce those food decisions my resolve to eat healthy starts to weaken.
With my staple foods there isn’t any of that indecision. I have my standard recipes and even have a few waiting in the wings that I cook when I have a certain craving. I can still make it fun when necessary but my point is I’m not trying to be a world class connoisseur or eating little portions of trigger foods every day to give into cravings. Those foods got me fat for a reason, I’m unable to control my portions. There will be a day when I take a little more and that little more will turn into a lot more.
I know this controlled staple food idea isn’t for everyone. One thing I have noticed though is that most of the people I read online that are huge experimenters with food are already close to or at their goal weights. They’re at a point in time where they’re maturing their food to make it a life change that’s enjoyable instead of just a weight-loss program.
I think we all strive to get to the point where we can eat whatever we want (within reason). When your seriously working to lose weight and regain control of your health it’s in your best interest to limit your food options to a small, controlled, healthy list. That’s not to say it can’t be fun to eat but that certainly shouldn’t be the the primary motivation.
Food should only be your fuel for a while … fuel to change your body … fuel to change your mind … fuel to obtain your fitness and health goals.
What are your thoughts on this? I know it’s a fine line and it’s difficult to not give in but I’ve never been successful (for very long) when I introduce too much variety.
It seems like we’re always making lists of things. Things we want to do someday, things we need to get at the grocery store, warrior shout outs, our workouts, etc. It goes on and on … but what about things not to do? I’m talking about things you shouldn’t ever do when trying to workout or get healthy.
Lets give it a shot, in no particular order or course. Remember this is what NOT to do, try putting NEVER in front of all of these.
- Stop trying to get healthy — it’s worth it, your worth it
- Let someone tell you that you can’t do it — you can do anything you put your mind to.
- Put your health second — you can’t help anyone if your out of commission
- Ignore your body — it’s smarter than you are
- Wear a shirt to the gym two sizes to small — unless you have a 6 pack
- Forget the before photos — you’ll appreciate them later
- Try endless crash diets — there are no sustainable shortcuts in fitness
- Forget goal setting — how else will you achieve your dreams? make sure they’re realistic and challenging
- Stop showering to save water — ummm … the smell
- Wing it — planning will ensure your success
- Quit early — you have more in you than you think, push through the pain
- Forget how you got fat — lest you make the same mistake twice
- Wear white after Labor Day — I have no idea
- Stop to tie your shoe on the treadmill — face rash baby
- Drop weights — it’s loud
- Skip breakfast — start your day with a good foundation
- Signup for a gym without trying first — you never know until you try
- Keep your workout the same — confusing your body is the key to growth and loss
- Ignore form — you’ll get hurt and then be decommissioned
- Forget your pants — had to, sorry ryan
- Be afraid to sweat — it’s liquid motivation and feels great
- Go it alone — if you don’t have to … friends, family, or online support are important to success
- Ignore weight lifting — it’s an important tool in your weight-loss journey
- Expect it to be easy — if it were. everyone would be thin
- Forget why your getting healthy — motivation, motivation, motivation
I’m sure I missed some but it’s a good start. Do you have any good ones to add?
This past weekend I had some time to make a few more dents in Half-Assed by Jennette Fulda. Every time I read parts of this book I have flashbacks of growing up overweight. While our life paths were different, our feelings were certainly similar growing up fat.
One of my vivid flashes this weekend was of my favorite vest. It was about the color and pattern of that striped couch cushion and I used to wear it all the time. When I picked it up at the Big & Tall store I thought it was stylish and made me look thinner. It might have actually been those things if I didn’t wear it constantly. I wore it with dress shirts, t-shirts, and polos … I wore it out to class, around the house, out to movies, and grocery shopping. It was pretty much my fat security blanket for almost an entire semester at school. I don’t know why it made me feel skinnier wearing it … I think because it was largish on me so I could wear it buttoned or loose and it seemed kinda hip and cool.
I distinctly remember to the day when I stopped wearing it. It was around the holidays, before everyone went home. Around that time every year the freshman in our house traditionally put on a holiday skit. This year it seems they decided to include me in the skit … well maybe not me exactly, they chose my vest.
Their topic for the skit was to make fun of almost all of the other people in the house by highlighting they habits and/or personality quirks. My part came about half way through the skit when I saw one of the thin freshman come in wearing my vest. That itself wasn’t so bad except that they had to stuff like 5-6 couch pillows into it just to kinda fill it up. He then proceeded to come in, chat up some of the others, and then order a pizza. The whole rest of the skit they poked fun at my being fat and made my vest into different props involving pillows (to fill the vest) and pizza.
Needless to say I wasn’t very fond of the vest, or the freshman for that matter, after that skit. I knew I was fat but I certainly didn’t visualize it like they portrayed it with the couch cushions and ordering of pizza. To me the vest was a great accessory that allowed me mentally to feel fashionable and somewhat thin. To others it was a plot device to highlight how fat I had become and poke fun at my bad eating habits.
I went home that holiday with very low self-esteem and pretty much ate myself into a comfort fat coma.
In hindsight I wish I had used that evening as a wakeup call. To get my butt moving and use my time at school to not only mentally prepare myself for life but to physically prepare myself as well. Unfortunately that wakeup call didn’t occur for another five years.
Do you have an inspirational fat vest or other article of clothing?
I’m really enjoying the book so far, even with these flashbacks. They’re giving me pause to really appreciate the journey I’m on and they’re motivating me that much more to make this a permanent lifestyle change. Check it out if you have time, it’s definitely a worthwhile read.
Food Indiscretions
I’ll just come out and say it … I didn’t make the best decisions this weekend in terms of food. Part of it was me giving into temptations and part of it was me being very tired. I also blame the fact that we didn’t shop for groceries until Sunday which meant the entire meal schedule for Saturday was made on the fly which historically I’ve a bad track record with. Sorry, I’m full of excuses right?
Well to start I had a great lower body workout on Saturday and followed it up with a tasty new Full Strength chocolate shake blended with some natural peanut butter. After that I made the bad food choices that while not horrendous certainly weren’t ideal. It started with a chopped pasta salad from Corner Bakery for lunch (~900 calories) and was followed with a Hobo Skillet (3 cheeses, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage in a skillet @ ~1100 calories) for dinner. For some reason I was really craving breakfast for dinner so we all went to a local restaurant and that was what I gave into.
My total for the day was ~2800 calories which combined with the ~800 calories for my workout brought me to just a hair under my 2000 budget. While I was under budget I certainly failed my goal of eating solid all weekend and trying to make up my free meal calorie overage from Friday night.
Running Pain
On Sunday I got up early and knocked out my 2.5 mile goal for the Weekend Warrior Challenge. The running felt great but my feet were feeling a bit sore toward the end. I think part of it was running further than ever before and part of it was me still training my feet to run in these Vibram Five Fingers.
I followed the running with 10 minutes on the stationary bike and followed that up with some elliptical trainer. About 2 minutes into the elliptical I had to stop as my left foot was really seriously hurting. Turns out I has a nice size blister and a bruise on the bottom of my left foot … yikes!
I spent most of the rest of day limping around when I wasn’t wearing shoes. It actually felt better to wear shoes, believe it or not, because they were padded. After groceries, house cleaning, baby shopping, and cooking I finally called it a day.
While Sunday was much better than Saturday in terms of meals (we made some great healthy Spaghetti & Meatballs) I can’t help feeling like I failed my first challenge weekend. I did hit my running goal but it wasn’t without incident. This is two weekends in a row that my feet are hurting the day after running. I may just have to walk it for a while or maybe do intervals until I drop some more weight.
Anyhow, as for the scale goal I came in at 312.0 which is 0.6 pounds over my weight from last Wednesday. I don’t have my Saturday morning weight because it’s the morning after my free meal and it usually shoots up like 3-4 pounds all of which is usually gone by Monday. Friday morning my weight was around 312 as well. So in all my weight is about where I expected it though a bit high as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are usually the days I see the scale go down each week.
Summing up my first challenge
In short I won’t call the weekend a failure as I did hit my running goal and my weight wasn’t way out of line. I do have regrets but that’s the point of the challenge isn’t it? To keep us accountable and striving to do better each and every weekend. The weekend is always a difficult time filled with temptations and speed bumps that constantly test our resolve. Ideally we’d all hit our goals but part of goal setting is failing and learning from those failures to set better goals and push yourself to new heights in the future.
I hope you had a better inaugural Warriors Weekend than I did, see you next weekend! Mine looks to be quite interesting with my daughters second birthday followed by a Monday delivery of my second child, *gulp*.
I wanted to send a shout out to my fellow inaugural Weekend Warriors. Best of luck hitting your goals!
- Carla from The Right Fit
- Lynne from Losing Lynne
- Steve from 265 and Falling
- Kat from Kat’s Adventures in Dietland
- Frank from Male Weight Loss Now
- Mac from Get Fit Slowly
- Andrew from Andrew is Getting Fit
- Karyn from Fitness Road Trip
- Josie from 35 and Shrinking
- Marissa from Fatty Slims Down
- Jeremy from Stellar Path
- Mike from SUB6
- Andrew from 100 Pounds in a Year
- Erin from Erin Takes Control
- Alissa from Gluten Free Pumpkins
- Craig from My Life, Take Eight
- Ryan from No More Bacon
- Chad from Reconstructing 30
- beej from Journey to Satisfaction
I’ve also set my own goals for the weekend as a part of the challenge. So far I’m on track but yesterday I consumed more calories than intended at my free meal so I have my work cut out. Everyone in the first Weekend Warrior Challenge has set some great goals … I was surprised how many are running and how far they are shooting for as well. They make my goals seem simpleton at best.
