Previously:
I've been feeling sort of down on myself lately so I thought now would be a good time to continue reflecting on what I've accomplished this past summer.
What do I mean by down on myself? Well, I'm back at school now. Things are different! I'm completely in charge of feeding myself and I am once again outside of my comfort zone when it comes to exercising. I had finally gotten used to going to my local gym up in Cooperstown... now it's time to get used to a new one! New gyms are always intimidating. I don't know what's there, where things are, or how to use some of the machines. I could ask the staff for help of course, but I honestly don't even know what questions to ask! On top of all that, I accidentally left my workout cards in the gym at home, so I am waiting for my mom to mail those to me. Until then, I have to rely on the good ol' noodle in my head to remember everything I learned from my personal trainer this summer. Super. Also, the exercise schedule I had written out for myself for the summer came to an end, and I haven't gotten around to writing another one up yet. So instead of looking at my calendar and being able to see what exercise I am supposed to do each day, I am left thinking to myself, "Hmm... I could go to the gym. Or maybe go running? I wonder what time the pool is open..." Confusion! Disorder! Chaos!
Mostly, this whole down on myself thing came up because I didn't exercise yesterday and I feel guilty. Also, I have hit that slow-weight-loss slump. After a few months of pretty consistently losing two pounds a week, this change of pace is a bit hard to adjust to.
So, that's what down on myself means today. Now let's get back to my story!
After deciding it was finally time to lose some weight, I saw there were some changes I needed to make. I feel lucky to have had my mom helping me from the very beginning. She had been using Weight Watchers for over a year (and lost more than 50 pounds!), so she had all the resources, tools, and guides that I needed to get started. I learned about the WW system and started implementing it in my own diet. What a shock! Right away I realized how much I had been overeating before. It was time to turn things around and learn a different way of living.
Weight Watchers taught me some basic concepts that gave me a huge push in the right direction. I think the most obvious change at first was how I viewed fruit and vegetables. With just a few exceptions, fruit and veggies are 0 points - so you can pretty much eat as many of those as you want! I soon discovered that snacking on fresh fruit and veggies was much more satisfying than wasting my daily points on empty calories found in other foods. Weight Watchers also taught me to be very mindful of portion sizes and hunger cues - two extremely important factors to consider when trying to lose weight.
Little by litte, I began to catch on and things became easier. I was eating less, and the results started coming! Losing four pounds the first week was pretty unbelievable, but really it's quite normal to lose a lot of "water weight" the first week. After that though, I was constantly surprised at the lower number on the scale every week I stepped on. Is this real? The scale is kinda old, maybe it's not so accurate. I shouldn't get too excited, it probably won't last... these are the things I kept telling myself! I just couldn't believe I was actually losing weight, after failing so many times before. I don't think I could fully grasp the idea of my new weight until I was able to look in the mirror and see my results. Yes, it is real! Yes, I am losing weight! It's working!
After some weeks of simply using the WW guidelines, a deeper curiosity about food and nutrition struck me. I read books; I watched documentaries; and, yes, I googled things. A lot. There is a ton of information out there regarding what you should and shouldn't eat, and a lot of times it can get really confusing. On the one hand, you have a person saying it's completely unnatural for humans to drink cow's milk, so you should completely cut dairy out of your diet. On the other hand, you have people raving about how nutritionally rich dairy is. What on earth? How are you supposed to know what's true? It can be hard sometimes, but I have found that it works for me to look at it this way: balance. Moderation. Seeing the whole picture.
My viewpoint began to shift from simply losing weight to being truly healthy. Basically, I was inspired to begin eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet. I probably need to expand on that a little bit, right? Well, I'm not vegetarian, though most of my meals end up as such. Meat and dairy have moved from being the main attraction to more of a side or treat for me. I still thoroughly enjoy eating both of those things, I just eat a lot less of them now! I also try to stay away from heavily-processed foods and things like instant dinners. I have found that the more time and effort I put into preparing my food from scratch, the more I appreciate and enjoy it. It satisfies me more. And I'm not sure, but I think I can hear my stomach thanking me after a good meal.
This whole thing didn't happen overnight; it's something I've been working on all summer. I still go out to eat, I still have an occasional slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, I still fight against temptation to eat the way I used to. It's challenging. But seeing how far I've come? That's what encourages me to keep going.
There isn't some magical, instant cure for burning fat... no special pill or fad diet. It would be nice if there were a list of 10 golden, proven rules you need to follow to lose pounds, but there's not! I can tell you this though - you know what they always say about eating less and exercising? How those two things are all it takes to lose weight? Sorry, but as frustrating as it is to hear: they're right.
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