I'm mad about yesterday. It was one of those days wherein I was constantly tempted to just give up and go back to bed. It started with a world of smugness in which, despite sleeping through my first 2 alarms, I still managed to pack food for the day and make it to my optometrist appointment early. That's when I locked my keys in the car. It just stayed on that shitty track for the rest of the day, and I just wanted to smack myself in the face when I had to skip my workout because I was apparently too stupid to pack my gym shoes into my bag. I'm hoping today is an improvement. I'm moving my shoulders and abs to Saturday, and will do my back and biceps mayhem today. I packed my shoes. ...er... I'm pretty sure... YES! Yes. cool.
Has anyone else embarking on a new life of fitness found that their eating has changed? I don't just mean the guzzling of whey powder or getting into weighing their chicken. I mean, the internal aspects of eating. What you crave? How you feel hunger and when and satiety?
I've not started a serious diet yet (although I'm pondering it for August), but I'm trying at least thinking I should be eating more protein and have seriously cut down on my fruit intake. I find in the last couple of months I've developed a mad craving for bread. I used to rarely eat bread, and have only adopted it to some degree in the last few months because it's easy packaging for avocados and tomatoes. Now I want it all the time. I'm getting giddy just thinking about the bagels the boss bought us. Also the other day I was pondering that I should eat my sandwich soon because of when I was going to the gym, and then I thought, "I'm not really hungry, though, maybe I should just save it for tomorrow." Then 15 minutes later I was suddenly ravenous and crammed that sandwich into me like I was trying to win a bet. Bizarre. And hungry in the morning? When did that change over for just eating breakfast because it kept me from fading out midday?
Of course all this food-related craziness just makes me worry that I'm going to get fatter, which makes me worry even more about it. Do all people with allegedly healthy eating habits fret this way?
Yeah, I gotta tell you, that bread thing is going to thwart your efforts to lose bodyfat like whoa. You don't need that many carbs. This crap about needing carbs for energy? Way way way overrated. You need some. Barely as much as Americans typically eat. Especially as a woman, your carb intake is going to be a major determinant of your BFP. If you don't care about your BFP (and it seems that you do, so this is moot), eat bread/grain-based carbs at will. If you do, your'e going to have to make a choice here. I honestly only eat grain-based carbs once a day, and every once in a while right now twice a day if I feel like my weight is dropping too low. This is one of those times where you're just going to have to override what you want to do the self-discipline thing. Beating up on yourself about your body fat like you did in an entry or two back there is not going to be remotely productive in your efforts to get stronger. You need to be your own advocate and fight for goals you set for yourself--this means embracing self-discipline and taking pride in your ability to follow through with it. I don't want this to sound harsh whatsoever, but sometimes I feel like more female lifters/women trying to get in shape just need some re-education in regards to their mental approach to their eating.
ReplyDeleteWork in progress, eh?
DeleteI'm craving bread like mad, but I'm not eating it indiscriminately. Too much, certainly, but it's not a major part of my diet. I need to limit the bread more, and I'm aware of that, but I also know my attempts to fix my diet will completely crash and burn if I try to do it all at once (past experience). So it is getting phased out gradually, and that's the best I can do.
I almost never eat processed food, sweets are a rarity, I'm not particularly into pasta, and I've managed to cut the amount of fruit I eat drastically. Bread will get cut or likewise dramatically reduced, but rice and legumes are thus far hard to phase out as the years of a grad school budget has trained me to see those as the base of a diet instead of something to be avoided. Let's not even talk about dairy, because I will make an ass of myself if I haven't already.
I appreciate your harsh honesty. I prefer it to someone petting me on the head any day. The carb thing isn't new knowledge and I am working on it, whether it's apparent or not. Thank you, really, and feel free to smack me upside the head when I need it. Then share recipes.