Stunning sugar cookies and photo by VelvetRavenCookieCo.
Happy Friday!
Pearl One
Where did we get the idea that losing “should be” easy or at least easier?
How was it implanted into our minds that we’re to blame for indulging or overeating?
Where did “I should be stronger and not such a glutton” come from?
My take: the media blasts, “Losing Weight Doesn’t Have to be a Struggle”; doctors implore us to lose (but don’t say how), and Oprah once dramatically wheeled out 67-pounds of fat in a red wagon.
But the saddest example of all? The Biggest Loser. I’ve only watched one episode, but give me a break. That show can be summed up in one word: awful.
Let’s be real. Unless we’re talking about an athletic teenage boy, losing as a woman after age 50 is like climbing the Matterhorn. Possible, but only with the right skills, the right tools, and the right planning.
Here’s my mantra for December and I hope you’ll join me in the chant:
appreciate the difficulty.
Give yourself the gift of understanding, of empathy, and of kindness. The self-talk goes like this:
- I’m developing new, seriously important habits.
- I rely on the drip, drip, drip method to stay satiated (eating tiny meals throughout the day).
- I’m developing a new relationship with food.
The takeaway? Write it on your hand. Graffiti it on your bathroom mirror. But write it.
I appreciate the difficulty.
I appreciate the difficulty.
I appreciate the difficulty.
The more honest we can be with ourselves, the better at playing the long game of losing because we’ll bring the right tools, the right planning and an attitude that works for us rather than against. ♥
Pearl Two
So, here we are with the beautiful holiday season upon us, and as always I’ve been urging us all to maintain — not lose — throughout December; that maintenance is far more critical to our process than the experts yet understand.
Maintenance is so vital to a lifelong-loss because it gives our body the luxury of time to get cozy with a new weight. If we lose too fast, our body panics and assumes we’re starving.
Let’s talk maintenance.
Throughout December here’s what I eat daily:
- Petite carrots and cucumber slices dipped into hummus.
- My oatmeal bowl (1/2 c. uncooked oats, a c. frozen blueberries, half a Honeycrisp, and ¼ c. vanilla yogurt).
- A cup of vegetarian chili (Trader Joe’s now sells a box of vegetarian chili. They call it soup, but it seems like chili to me. You’ll find it in the dry goods next to soups. It’s tasty).
I also maintain by doing the following:
I eat before I eat (have something small, but substantial thirty minutes to an hour before a meal).
I plan how I’m going to eat (I do not leave it to chance).
I stop eating at 6 p.m.
I go to sleep with a book so that come tomorrow I won’t exhaustion-eat.
I always travel with my companions: car-banana or my cold bag filled with healthy bites.
If a certain husband leaves out a buffet of gorgeous sugar-cookies (his favorite and mine), I ask him to please put them away. I explain that if he doesn’t I’m very likely to eat all of his cookies when he visits the little boys’ room (with that, they disappear).
I keep in mind that holidays amount to three days: the day before, the day of, and the day after. December was never meant to be one long gorge-fest. I plan to have something special (in moderate proportions) on each of the three days, but all the rest of the days? I stay loyal to my eating-plan.
Write to me! What is bothering you the most this month? Together we’ll figure it out.
And remember cut yourself slack re: maintenance. It’s a skill to be learned. We’ll go deeper into the layers of maintenance in 2022. ♥
Pearl Three
Do you reach for fuel-food or fun-food?
We all know the difference.
This is how I see the math. Ninety-five percent of the food I eat is fuel-food with the occasional fun-food tossed in.
After I lost 55 lbs., I didn’t go back to “normal eating” where it was a 40/60 split. Forty, fuel-food, 60, fun-food (this equation does not do a body good).
How did I extinguish the urge for fun-food? It took time but I’ve come to know that when I’m seriously craving fat, calories and sugar, it merely means that I’m hungry. Nothing more, nothing less.
Even today, I have to remind myself that when I’m dreaming of brownies, I’m really just hungry for a mini-meal or even a meal-meal.
I tell myself to go eat something smart. And I do.
Because when we get hungry, all bets are off. Make smart food easy to access (keep your kitchen and handbag stocked in healthy choices), and make junk food extremely difficult/annoying to score. I call my invention “The Lazy Woman’s Eating Plan.”
As you navigate the December-days ahead ask yourself often, is this fuel- or fun-food?
Because we all know the difference. ♥
Pearl Four
The Self-Sabotage Department. Cooking shows and cooking competitions are not our friends.
The boys and I used to be hooked on the Cupcake Wars. It was amazing to see what those creative bakers would come up with on the fly. Plus — when the boys were younger — I didn’t have to worry about nudity or more. Little did I know that we were in the presence of porn-food.
But finally my brain kicked in asking myself, how is this show possibly helping my smart eating lifestyle? Or is it hurting it? Head hung low I answered, hurting it (because who doesn’t want cupcakes afterwatching the Cupcake Wars??).
My point: setting ourselves up for success is in the details. Watching TV chefs create masterpieces is one of the details I’m talking about.
Sixteen years into maintenance, I don’t watch the Cupcake Wars, have never seen a chef-show, I even pointedly flip past pages of beautiful desserts featured in women’s magazines. (No, I don’t need the recipe for a salted-caramel-peanut butter-swirl-whatever. But thanks.)
Journal-write about your days and evenings. What is helpful? And what is actually causing trouble for your smart eating lifestyle? What smart habits are you working to embed? And how do you protect your precious habits?
These days I don’t consume media that I think is a slippery slope to annihilating my smart eating habits. My habits have had my back for years and these days I have theirs. ♥
Pearl Five
“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and twice as beautiful as you’ve ever imagined.” — Dr. Seuss ♥
I hope you have a peaceful weekend cuddling the fur-darlings, reading good books, and getting the right amount of sleep for you.
♥, Wendy
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I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥
18 Comments
Learning (from this blog) that losing weight after 50 IS, actually, difficult, has been extremely motivating to me. Since losing had not been easy or quick I assumed there was something wrong with me. Now that I have affirmation that it is hard and does take some effort and strategy, it’s somehow more manageable! I expect it to require effort and I plan for it.
Oh, Belynda, thank you for writing and sharing your thoughts. That’s one of main tenants that I want to share: weight loss and maintenance is a wild trek.
Wendy
Do you eat your oatmeal uncooked??
Good question, I should have been more clear. What’s funny is that I’m making my oatmeal right this second. I’m “eating before I eat.” It’s a restaurant dinner that I don’t want to go overboard on!! 🙂
My oatmeal bowl:
I cook 1/2 cup of oatmeal accd. to instructions.
When the timer bings, I add a full cup of frozen blueberries.
I cut up half of a Honeycrisp.
I pour the oatmeal/blueberry mixture over the cut-up apple.
I put 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt on top.
I hope that helps Michele!
Wendy
We do think so many things in life should be east. But most are not.
You said it Theresa! And the cousin to things in life should be easy is . . . things should take less time.
Thank you for writing!
Wendy
I’m so glad to have found your blog – your words of wisdom really hit home for me, and I look forward to reading more! Excellent tip about not watching the cooking shows — they just don’t help when you’re trying to lose weight, do they?!!!
Thanks for the sweet words JJ!! Your blog is beautiful.
Wendy
Wendy what great tips. I appreciate your insights and encouragement here. Blessings.
Visiting from Inspire Me Monday #1&2
Thank you Paula and thank you for the great party at Inspire Me Monday!
Wendy
I’m very interested in the ‘eat before you eat’ concept, I’m pregnant at the moment so weight management is already on my my for post-birth #MMBC
Congratulations!! Is this your first baby? What a beautiful chapter of life you’re in.
I had twins in the middle of losing my 55. Getting to the weight you want to be at after a baby is totally do-able.
Wendy
Thanks, love your pearls and for sharing your post on our Linky, May you have a blessed Christmas, and see you at our next Linkup on Jan 3, 2022. I have shared your post
Thank you Esme! And thank you for the link party at http://www.EsmeSalon.com. Very appreciated.
Wendy
OH I just had to laugh over the Cupcake Wars.. because we used to watch that too and it really did make me crave sweets! I also struggle when I read books where they’re baking or eating lots of sweet foods; I constantly have to remind myself that these are not real characters.
ha! We loved the Cupcake Wars, too, but I just try to do everything I can to deal w/ the food issue.
So I had to say goodbye to CC. 🙂
Wendy
Last year, I attended a neighborhood cookie exchange on the second Saturday of December. It triggered a “binge” that went on until after New Year’s Day. This year, I vow to be more reasonable with my holiday baking and eating. Thanks for lots of great ideas. Thank you for sharing this post in the Talent-Sharing Tuesdays Link-Up 43.
Carol
http://www.scribblingboomer.com
Re: your neighborhood cookie exchange. Our world is on high calorie consumption. Makes our work harder, but that’s why I say, “We can do hard things.”
Planning for the trigger is a big one.
Thank you for writing!
Wendy