Yesterday I managed 70 kgs (154 pounds) on bench press. Not bad for an old chick!
I also managed 100 kgs (220 pounds) on the hammer strength decline press machine. Another personal best.
I was really pleased with both.
I’m putting on a lot of muscle at the moment, and the fat is coming off. My stomach is almost flat, and I’m no longer embarrassed to be seen in light summer clothes.
I can thank Overeaters Anonymous for so much of this. They’ve given me support through everything, a sensible approach to food, and a plan to follow that got me away from the binge eating and overly large portions. OA is a part of my life now, because it works. Add in regular exercise and sensible eating, and I’m a completely different person to who I was a couple of years ago.
Success doesn’t come from fad diets, or from eating well for a short time until you reach your goal weight, then you’re “done”. Success comes from genuine change – reaching a point where you don’t want to go back to those old habits and old ways of being.
I don’t want to ever go back. I’m happy where I am now. Sticking to the plan is easy, because I’m happiest when I do.
Foods like rice, potatoes and quinoa are okay – although they’re quite addictive and I really have to be careful with my intake.
Processed carbs are completely different. Pastries, biscuits, bread, pasta – these kinds of foods are hugely addictive for me. I start eating them, and my body has no idea when to stop.
I could quite easily each a couple of loaves of bread and it would only be when my stomach actually hurt because it was so overloaded that I would realise I’d had enough.
Carbs are cheap, plentiful and useful, especially if you’re on a budget with a bunch of kids to feed, but if you’re overweight they can be a huge impediment to losing weight.
These days I see overweight people on the street, and I don’t think “that’s a greedy person”. I think “that’s a carbohydrate addict”.
I’m starting to doubt whether it’s even possible to become overweight without basing your diet on carbs.
I think this is why poor people are fatter in Western society – carbs are cheap, so the poor eat more carbs. Then they get fat. Then they get sicker, fatter and poorer. A vicious cycle.
So these days I avoid carbs and the fat is pouring off me. I’ve upped my protein intake, found cheap veggies I enjoy, and I’m feeling and looking so much healthier.
Pretty much everyone wants to lose weight to look better. But hardly anyone talks about the changes in your body that can make you feel better when you start to get fit and lose weight after years of, well, sitting on your arse.
So let me talk about a few of the changes I’ve experienced.
I sleep better. I used to suffer from the three a.m. nasties. You know – waking at three in the morning, and not finally falling asleep again until ten minutes before my alarm was due to go off. These days a proper night’s sleep is the default, not the exception.
I’m in a better mood. My family and friends are less likely to catch grumpy me, and far more likely to catch serene, content me. The difference is striking.
My skin and allergies are better. I’ve struggled with asthma, allergies and eczema all my life. These days you wouldn’t know it. Rashes are rare, I don’t need an inhaler (unless I come across a dog or a rabbit), and I barely touch antihistamines. My eyes are no longer puffy and red in the mornings either.
I don’t get earwax buildup any more. An odd change, but really noticeable.
I don’t get tartar build-up on my teeth any more. Another weird improvement. Go figure. I always thought tartar had something to do with water quality and getting old, but apparently it’s bodily wellness. Who knew?
I’m looking okay these days, for an old bird. I’ve more improvement to make, but I’m on my way to wellness.
Change comes from persistence. As does wellness. We don’t become healthier from one meal, or one “good day” but from real transformation repeated daily, over and over again every day of our lives.
We can get better. Those of us who are obese can become fit and well again. The slide into poor health and misery is not inevitable. It takes commitment and support from family, friends and groups such as Overeaters Anonymous, but we can do it. We just need to believe in ourselves, and believe we are worth the effort necessary to change.
Portion sizes and snacking. Weight loss is not difficult, once you figure out these keys to weight loss.
Without them, weight loss can be impossible.
Since the eighties (mainly), portion sizes have expanded like crazy, in step with women joining the workforce in millions and consequently eating out more often and not having time to cook properly.
Restaurants and eateries wanted to be seen providing “good value”, so they increased sizes more and more, and people were happy, getting more food for their dollars.
We mirrored the burgeoning portion sizes at home with bigger home-cooked portions, and the result was a massive increase in obesity.
Along with bigger portions came the snacking. Junk foods, sweets, cakes, biscuits – all grew more common due to more discretionary cash available to families, and after-school snacking became common for kids, because mum didn’t get home to make dinner until later. Convenience foods added to the mix.
There were other contributors – food being more processed, eating out becoming more affordable, the increase in screen time (and the junk food that went with it). But overall, the big culprits were portion sizes, and snacking.
I’d got to the point a year or so ago where I didn’t even know what a healthy portion looks like. I’d lost touch with my hunger signals, and I’d stuff myself daily to feel “full” instead of “comfortable”.
When I finally started tracking my food intake properly (thanks to MyFitnessPal), I was horrified to learn many days I was topping out over 2500 calories, sometimes as many as 3500 a day! It was a real wake up call.
Truth is, most of us don’t know what healthy portions looks like. For example, I bought a bag of potato chips the other day (yes, it was a mistake). Then when I checked the nutrition panel on the bag, I saw that a serve is 15 chips. Nobody eats just 15 chips!
Check out the nutrition panel on my stepdaughter’s Doritos:
A serve is 11 chips and 580 kj (139 calories). Nobody eats 11 chips. If you eat the whole bag, like most people do, its 3654 kj (873 calories). Which is half a day’s energy needs in a snack we don’t even notice.
Portions matter. Prior to wiseing up, I’d have eaten the entire bag. These days I try not to eat chips, but when I do I remind myself I’m eating half a day’s energy needs in just a “snack”!
This is how we’re all getting fat. Obesity is now more common in the world than starvation. Even previously third world countries such as India are grappling with an obesity epidemic. It’s everywhere, and it’s getting worse.
I grew up right at the height of the bad advice. I remember my mother banning butter and eggs from the house, and switching to “healthier” margarine. I remember learning in school that it was ideal to eat between 6-11 (!!!) serves of carbohydrates daily, and 6 “mini meals” was the ideal eating pattern.
Remember the old food pyramid? I do. Looking at all that bread, cereal, rice and pasta, there’s no surprise we all got fat.
Portions matter. We all ate to excess because none of us were taught how big a “serve” actually was. Was a serve of bread a thin slice of white bread, or a piece of stuffed crust pizza? Nobody knew. I sure didn’t.
So here’s how I’m easily losing weight: I’m practicing portion control and I’m eliminating snacks. My meals have got a bit bigger, but I’m not eating all the junk in between. Plus, what I’m eating at my meals is wholesome, real food.
I used to have different meals for lunch and dinner. Now, with meal prep, I have the same for both, just slightly smaller serves at lunchtime.
I was often having a bagel with vegemite, or subway, or a sandwich, then I found I was getting hungry mid-afternoon (like really hungry!).
I’ve realised the processed carbs (bread, bagels, subs etc) weren’t helping me. They’d fill me up for an hour or two, then I’d be hungry later.
So now I have the same thing for lunch and dinner, which is a protein plus salad or veggies. If I want I’ll grab an apple or have a miso soup as a snack if I need it, but not very often.
Because I’ve realised my serving sizes were nutso huge, I’ve now reduced them significantly, and find that my shopping bill hasn’t increased, despite eating two proper meals a day.
For example, one steak will do me lunch and dinner, because I divide it into two, and cut it into slices, so it is slower to eat and more filling.
This is working well, cuts back on preparation time, and it means I know what I’m eating in advance, so there’s less waste.
I’m also feeling happier eating this way. Eating by repetition prevents me overeating, and I tend to eat better overall. It also helps me avoid getting junk food in, which used to happen a fair bit when I had nothing planned.
I guess you could say I’m a bit of a food prep fan!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m meal prepping regularly now.
I divide the week in two (Sunday through Wednesday; Thursday through Saturday) then one half of the week I do veggies, while the other half is salad.
Then I just add a protein, which I also cook in batches. Common proteins I use are chicken, steak, pork chops, eggs and fish, and I’ll typically cook 2-3 days worth at a time.
I also prepare sides for the kids (I have three teenagers at home) in batches. Common sides for them are salad, roast veggies, couscous and rice. Common proteins for them include chicken, pork chops, eggs (omelettes), fish and mince meat (often in tacos).
The kids are having fried rice tonight and tomorrow. I’m having chicken breast and Greek salad.
I try to double up as often as possible, so most of the time we all eat the same pretty much, but when they have something a bit junkier as their protein (for example, fish with batter or home made hamburgers, I’ll have steak or seafood instead with my side.
Batch cooking (meal prep) is a gift for busy mums like me. I don’t typically get home until 6:30-ish, and I’m out three nights a week with activities, so having healthy meals organised in advance for everyone makes things much more manageable.
As for my husband, he’s doing the carnivore diet, and he just makes his own meals, often in the slow cooker (set and forget).
This all works well for us as a family, and we’ve reduced the junk food/eating out habit down to maybe once a month.
I’ve been busy this afternoon, prepping meals for myself and the kids for the next few days.
I made fried rice for the kids, which will do them tonight and tomorrow night.
For me, I’ve cooked two chicken breasts, and made a Greek salad.
Both are easy to do – the chicken is plain but I’ll probably add seasoning when I portion it out. The salad is dead easy – a cucumber, two tomatoes, orange pepper, about half a red pepper I had left, a quarter salad onion, 100g (4 Oz) of feta and about 10 olives. Chop it all up and mix together. So easy!
Chicken breast and Greek salad
The chicken and salad will last me 4-5 meals. It’ll be dinner tonight and lunch and dinner for tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday.
I’m learning that portion sizes are important. You’d think I’d know this, but apparently all these years I didn’t. I’d just eyeball it and figure”that looks about right” without ever weighing and measuring.
I’ve now learned from experience that not only were my portions waaay too huge, I was also eating waaay too much altogether.
For me, as a female in her early 50s, I need about 150 grams (3-4 ounces) of protein per meal to keep me satisfied while losing weight. I can pretty much have as much salad or veggies as I want to go with it, but I’m avoiding sauces and dressings (which get out of control really quickly!) and instead opting to shake some seasoning on instead when I need to.
I am using lighter, more intensely flavoured dressing on occasion (I love Japanese sesame dressing and a little goes a long way!) but I’m avoiding anything creamy or mayonnaise-ey.
The good thing about Greek salad is it needs no dressing. The olives and feta give it heaps of flavour for few extra calories and not much added fat, which is way better than having a green salad then dousing it in creamy dressing.
Meal prepping is working very well for me. I’ll talk about how I’m managing it in a coming post, but it’s meaning I’m spending much less time in the kitchen, and wasting much less food.
fit, fed and fasted 