It’s Not What You Cook, It’s What You Eat

Several years back I posted how I decided that I didn’t do well on a restricted diet that required me to only eat a certain type of food and not to ever have a sweet or carb. It just didn’t work for my independent personality. I don’t like to be restricted as my free spirit will rebel and eventually will return to pre-restriction eating. I found that the smaller portions and distributing the amounts to more healthy choices but allow a small portion of the taboo foods works well. How well you may ask? I have lost a total of 48 pounds (and no, I am not giving you my former weight and current weight) LOL. Trust me, this is the true amount of weight loss. I will post some pictures, ugh of before and now. Am I through losing weight, am I perfect, and am I happy? Those will be the questions I will answer in this update. Do I say this way of eating is the only way? Not hardly, what I say is it is the right way for me. I will go over my thoughts on how it works for me as I have decided, it is a mental decision to enable me to keep on keeping on. I think all of us need to do a mental check on why we eat, why we feel we have to be imprisoned by a diet plan for it to work, and why can’t we control the amounts we put in our mouths?

My best observation is my daughter who has mastered the art of quantity and balance of eating to live not to live to eat. We kid her that she grazes and doesn’t really eat. She eats a variety of foods with the exception of no beef, poultry, or pork. She does eat seafood including fish. Beyond this exclusion, she does eat a variety of foods, but she could eat off a saucer and usually does eat off a salad plate. I watched her over the years with her maintaining a healthy weight and slender figure. She never concentrates on junk food and/or sweets. That said, she will taste something she likes but doesn’t indulge. There it is…the key to success…..No indulging or overeating. I watched and learned and then started to practice it myself. I didn’t stop eating meats, but I did stop eating a lot of meats. I didn’t stop eating carbs, but I did dramatically cut them to a very small amount. I would take out a tablespoon of mac and cheese so I could feel I had some. Believe it or not, this works for this rebellious gal. I would put more of the healthier foods but add a spoonful or two of the foods I loved and yes, still love.

Was I always a big gal? Not hardly, I have been at times in my life where my rib and hip bones stuck out. I starved myself during these times to look good but I was doing my metabolism life long damage. It was harder to lose weight as time went on even doing the restricted diets. I had wracked my normal food digestion and how my body processed foods. I had taught my body that I was in starvation mode and it stored fat and more fat, and on and on.

I post these pictures for one reason, looking fit if depriving the body of all foods in moderation is a false bravado. I have learned in my later years, eat smart and don’t deprive yourself any of the food groups. Eat lightly, eat proportionally, and your body will thank you. I hear people who never allow themselves bread, sweets, and carbs. Yes, these need to be consumed on a small scale and they should never take control of you, or you will lose control. One thought and I am not saying you should eat all you want of those food groups. Learn to control your body and most importantly, your mind. Here’s my thought and I speak from prior experience, have you ever been able to stick to a restricted diet for long periods or do you lose some pounds, start feeling good but deprived and find yourself cheating? Then, once the cheating begins, you give into those temptations more and more, and then the fall of the wagon happens and the pounds come back. I speak as an average person, with average likes and dislikes but this does work for me. I have no experience of food or nutritional education and only as a life long fighter of the fats.

In conclusion, I cook the same way I have always cooked, and some of my friends wonder how I have lost weight. It is in the quantities and my attitude. I give away sweets if I bake, I eat small portions of food, and we have learned to seal foods for future meals instead of trying to eat all of it. So, it is NOT WHAT I COOK, BUT WHAT I EAT.

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