Comfort Food Conversations

As an American, I believe I was raised to comfort myself with food. I've sadly done the same with my daughter's. Some examples are obvious, "You had a bad day? Let's get ice cream." More insidious, are the comfort food cravings that crop up as you are losing weight, and watching what you eat. The voice inside your head (usually this is the deceiver) saying "I've stayed on plan all week, a couple of cookies won't hurt." Half a box of cookies later... We've all been there.

What am I doing about this today? Well, for one thing I'm aware of the types of food I crave. I don't bring them into the house. In fact I've told my husband before that if he wants to buy X, he can keep it in the car and eat it while he is working. More and more he is wanting to stay on plan with me, so he isn't doing that.

Another thing, I try to find ways to feed my craving for comfort, but stay on plan. This morning, I didn't even realize I was in the mood for a comfort food, but as I started to think about my usual breakfast of veggies and egg whites, it just wasn't what I was in the mood for. I was in the mood for a "fried" egg sandwich. Something that a week ago, would have been tricky.

As part of this plan, I have gone gluten free. It wasn't deliberate at first. I was just avoiding carbs, particularly processed carbs, which limited my exposure to wheat. Then I had some pizza on an off day. The next day I was foggy, and tired all day. I realized the gluten was effecting me, and previously I had eaten so much of it that I had never noticed. You may be asking yourself why I went on this bunny trail, my answer is this week I bought myself a loaf of gluten free bread.

So, with my gluten free bread in mind, I decided I could swing a fried egg sandwich, with my usual morning coffee. I planned it all out on Sparkpeople first. It did come out as about 100 more calories than I would usually do for breakfast, but I can work that out throughout the day. Meanwhile it was great to satisfy the craving. What did I do differently than previously? I used to use oversized (standard now) slices of wheat bread, spread with a fair amount of mayo, tons of mustard (this to me is the key to a good fried egg sandwich), two eggs fried in butter or coconut oil. I just ran the numbers, and it would have been about 575 calories. Today's whole breakfast, including coffee came in at 305. Just about half.

I like to find ways to eat the things I want to eat, but stay within my goals. Most days my cravings are not so intense, and when I find something is really too high in calories I just avoid it. Otherwise, I try to plan a way to have it. Most things can adhere to a plan, and I think it is good to eat a variety of foods.  I also think knowledge is power. I think it is powerful to start to figure out how many calories are in the foods you normally eat. Then, you are truly making an informed choice when you eat them. This journey, is all about the small daily choices that add up, in other words it is just like when I gained the weight. I choose to no longer keep my head in the sand, but to be aware of all that I eat, eat a bounty of the good food the Lord has provided, and praise Him as he changes me from the inside out.

if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you Col. 3:8put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:10)be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you (Rom. 6:4; 7:6; 12:2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:10)put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:21-24

Weight Loss Ups & Downs

Today, I'm feeling discouraged. Okay, I know it isn't actually logical. I can look at my weight-loss progress, and see I'm ahead of schedule for my goal, my body is feeling better, and yesterday I fit into a dress a friend had gotten me, but had never fit. It isn't often I have a mood like I do today, and I can actually feel my mood yo-yoing. I'm battling my own self talk.

How am I going to choose to battle this today? I'm going to bring the Lord to the battle first, by getting into scripture, and spending time with Him. Then I'm going to remind myself of the success I've had so far, and keep my eye on the prize. I'm going to take control of these emotions that are making me feel discouraged, and frankly a bit depressed.

I'm not feeling like doing that, but I am not going to let my emotions drive this train. I am having a bit of a plateau, and I know that is normal. I weigh myself everyday, and I know our weight fluctuates, and most of the time I'm content to just wait and actually record my weight when it has gone down, but it has been a few days, and I guess I was hoping for it to continue to go down. On top of that, yesterday wasn't a great day.

I'm going to give myself credit though, my not great day is nothing like even a normal day used to be. On Sparkpeople my daily calorie intake goal is between 1200-1550. I like to stay between 1200-1300, but I don't always succeed. Yesterday I felt out of control of my eating. I went out of town with my hubby, and I didn't really plan. We bought some protein bars on the way out of town, and a bag of air popped popcorn. I do eat bars as part of my normal routine, but not usually two fuelings in a row. So, I think I felt deprived. I ended up binging half the bag of popcorn. In the end, my calorie intake was 1566. I felt out of control, but I guess it ended up working out okay.

The good news, I got a new swimsuit in the mail yesterday, and I'm very happy with it. It is comfortable, I look good in it, and it fits well. The best part? I bought a size smaller than before, and it fits fine. I probably could go even one more size down. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can actually just shop in normal stores, not just online for clothing.

I apologize if this reflects my up and down feelings, but I want to be real, and this is really where I'm at today. As Scarlett would say, "After-all, tomorrow is another day."