Intuitive Eating Frustration and New Research

I want intuitive eating to work. I thought I was making progress, yet the past two weeks (and the ensuing creep in my weight) has got me pretty dismayed. I tried to abide by the  "rules", I tried to be mindful, but unfortunately when I'm not focusing on my eating and my weight every day, I lose control and I start to get the creeping. I really thought I'd made progress!

I read the paper every day. I'm sure this is a rarity for those in my age bracket, but the more I read it, the more thankful I am that I set aside an hour each morning to read the paper. I recently read an eye-opening article about weight loss. Now, it's pretty rare that I read anything "new" from the diet industry. In fact, with the exception of learning about ketogenic diets, I'm not sure if I've read anything new or eye opening in the last 10 years!

What was this revolutionary article? Well, basically it's the realization that those who lose weight quickly are no more likely to regain the weight than someone who loses slowly. In fact, there's some data that points to the fact that rapid weight loss might further encourage maintenance over the slow-and-steady approach. The complete article is available here.

Have you heard of the 5 Bite Diet? Well, it's been touted as everything from a "cure" to obesity to an eating disorder. Basically, the recommendation is to skip breakfast, eat 5 bites of any food you'd like for lunch, and 5 bites of any food you'd like for dinner. If you're really hungry, a bite before lunch and a bite between lunch and dinner are acceptable.

I read this and firmly through it in a pro-anorexia "diet". It was just a way for people with eating disorders to say they're "dieting" not starving themselves.

Having seen a few friends battle eating disorders, I'm pretty quick to dismiss anything that potentially affiliates with that. Those friends started out with good intentions of "losing a few pounds" and then it spiraled. I feel like with a diet that is SO restrictive, it'd be easy to over do it.

Only...how restrictive is it compared to keto? When people found out I was giving up carbs (not just bread, which apparently is normal, but basically all carbs) they lost it. People were so confused and convinced that it wasn't healthy and I was going to make myself sick. Clearly that's not the case.

My mother-in-law-to-be had gastric bypass 10 or 15 years ago. She's lost a ton of weight and has been great about sticking to the restricted servings that are recommended after surgery. She's maintained a huge loss of over 80 pounds and any time her weight fluctuates upward she gets back on the wagon and is extra diligent about serving size.

The more time I spend with her, the more I realize just how strict her servings are. After a 8 big bites, she daintily pushes her plate away proclaiming that she is full. The 5 Bite Diet sounds a lot like post gastric bypass rules. The only difference is that when she's done after just a few bites, she actually feels full, whereas 5 Bite Dieters just have incredible will power.

Does this mean I'm going to incorporate the 5 Bite Diet? Not right now. Not yet at least. I'm thinking instead, I'll try having 5 bites of each "item" that I want to eat. Tonight I'm making chicken parmigiana with a bite of green beans. Tonight I'm going to try to limit myself to five bites of chicken, five bites of spaghetti, five bites of green beans, and five bites of pie (yes, I'm having pie). After the five bites of each, I'm going to clean up dinner, put everything away, and if I'm hungry two hours later, I'll eat five bites more of whatever I desire. I'm hoping this will help me stop over eating. Hopefully I'll learn how much food I really need and start serving myself smaller amounts (and in turn losing more without restricting).

Now, I know I normally link to things, but the website that made the 5 Bite Diet is basically nothing but a giant add. Instead I'm linking to a wikiHow article that is not quite as extreme but follows the same basic premise.

No Measurement Monday

Well, Monday came and went and I totally forgot about it. I've just been feeling really tired and out of sorts. Between craft fairs, work, job hunting, home loaning, school and finals my brain is fuzzy and tired, I'm constantly exhausted and I feel fat. I've been doing my best to not stress eat, and maybe I've kept things under control to some degree, but I'm still feeling (and weighing and measuring) fat. Part of me just didn't want to know how bad it was.

The good news was when I stepped on the scale this morning (after 5 drinks last night) I was at 198.0!

Tracking Fail

I'm not doing well tracking my macros. It's not like it takes that much time to track, but it's one more thing to do, and when I'm already feeling overwhelmed, it's one thing I can choose to sacrifice. I've cut back on the carbs though, and I'm feeling much better, plus my skin is starting to improve.

On the other hand, my protein has been less than ideal. I have no idea why the FDA recommends 50g of protein and 300g of carbs. It's ridiculous. Only eating 50g of protein? Yeah, no wonder vegans think they're getting enough protein in. 50g from non-meat sources is pretty easy, it's the other 100g that are tricky!

I like this version better:

I'd throw grains in where fruit is and combine fruit, sweets (basically the same thing as fruit), and swap them with nuts on top. I love nuts, but I can understand how some people could over do it. They're high in fat and protein and could be over done. Plus, the whole nut/seed oil debate.

Stress Management? What's that?

I don't drink beer. I drink bitch beer.

I have always drank hard liquor. I never liked the taste of beer. The thing is, hard liquor doesn't encourage winding down or have the social camaraderie aspect. Recently I've really been enjoy Mike's Hard. While Peppermint Schnapps will always have a place in my heart, at this point it makes me want to take a nap.

I have to admit, I've been pretty stressed. I haven't heard back from any of the jobs I've applied for, my house is a disaster, I hate my job, and my coworkers are easily frustrated. Seriously, Mondays and Thursdays are shitty because they're made that either the week just started or because it's almost, but not quite yet Friday. Seriously, who cares if it's Friday?! You're going to work five days a week for the rest of your miserable lives - why stress out about what day it is?

On top of my house being a disaster, my hair is coming out in handfuls,  it's muggy and hot in my house, I'm still helping my friend move, our dog is still sick, I'm getting sick, and I just used the last clean spoon - and it was plastic. It's awful. I'm really going to try to stick it out another three weeks in the hopes of finding a job, but I'm tempted to put in my two weeks and sign back up with the temp agency. Other people are making $4-$5 per hour more than me doing the same work. My job probably wouldn't bother me so much if I were being paid what others in my field are.