Challenge Yourself!
Each day brings new issues for many people (myself included). One of these is the point where you feel you are doing everything right, but nothing is happening on the scale. Part of this discussion came to me as I was listening to an interview done by Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt of 'Diet Doctor' fame (www.dietdoctor.com) as he was going through the 5 commonest mistakes we make when trying to follow a low carb high fat eating program.
One of the mistakes I make daily is convincing myself that my little extra snack is healthy, and thus certainly won't make an impact on my weight. To state the obvious, it is a huge mistake because I'm eating when I'm not hungry! Thus, I'm simply adding more food into my system than it requires for energy. I don't care how healthy I perceive this food to be, if it's simply a snack when I'm not hungry, it's unnecessary. So, my first challenge to myself and you is, try to really understand your body and your mind. Recognize, if you can, what true hunger is. I can guarantee you that if it's evening time and you had supper around 6pm, there is no way your body needs more energy stores as you sit watching T.V. or working on the computer or reading a book. If your issue with food is evening snacking, try going at least twice per week not eating anything from supper to breakfast the next day.
We have, for the longest time, directed people to eat breakfast, then snack, then lunch then snack, then supper. The idea was that by eating consistently we wouldn't over eat at supper. Truth be told, we were created for famine. Our bodies weren't meant to eat this regularly. It simply leads to more calories going in than we can expend. Skip the snacks if you aren't really hungry. Eat less at the main meals, especially supper. Try to challenge yourself to discover what is 'satisfaction' and what is fullness. None of us should ever be eating to fullness.
Recently I've tried to grasp how much is going in. This includes fats and carbohydrates and protein. In my case, given my strong family history of diabetes and our family's universal tendency to gain in the visceral fat, I know that carbohydrates are my enemy since they raise insulin which simply stores that fat. Along those lines, I have a tendency to chew bubble gum on my long kayak or lake swims or bikes. Little did I know that each piece had 6 grams of sugars so I was flooding my body with unnecessary spikes of insulin and I was gaining weight when I thought I should have been losing. Challenge yourself to be aware of the totality of food going in your mouth; including the milk in your coffee or that 'small' handful of nuts, or the couple of Tim Bits you grabbed at work. At the time they seem like nothing, but they add up and stall out our ability to lose weight.
Look at many other aspects beyond food. Are you getting adequate sleep? This we can improve, and we know regular sleep enhances weight loss.
How much do you move during the day? Not just the 3 or 4 times you go to the gym each week, but how much we stand or walk on a daily basis. Could you add in a short walk at noon? Take the stairs? Stand while you talk on the phone? The worst time is evening when a lot of people simply sit and watch T.V. Take breaks....walk around the house. Sit and watch T.V. on a Swiss ball. Do anything that will engage our muscles a bit more.
We need to search very hard to find out where we can make changes. Stay aware. I know the process of losing weight is not easy. Keeping it off is even more difficult; you can do it. Don't get discouraged and keep on trying. Don't ever give up!
Dr. Doug