Perpetual Healthy Eating and Fitness Rant & Rave thread

[caito]

You guys, Nancy Clark is AWESOME!  She is so nice and friendly and easy to talk to.  And supportive.   

The good news is that I'm on the right track and I make good food choices.  My regular diet includes enough protein.   To help me with my sometimes uncontrollable snacking urges and portion size control problems, she pointed out how and when to eat my meals.  By writing it all out, she has given me "permission" to eat more at breakfast and lunch, and then a second lunch around 3pm.   Front loading calories this way will help ruin the appetite for dinner so dinner becomes your smallest meal.

She doesn't want you to be hungry.  Hunger just makes you irrational and that's definitely when I lose control with portions and snacking.     What I've been doing for ages that has not worked is eating smaller bits spread out throughout the day.  I keep "saving" calories for the next snack.  All this does is leave me never quite fully satisfied and kind of hungry, and therefore all I do is think about food.   When I'm actually satisfied, I don't obsess about the next meal.

She doesn't want you to diet.  She wants you to eat the foods you love and be satisfied.   A 600 calorie lunch could be 2 pieces of pizza and a salad once in a while.  Or could include my beloved bagel and cream cheese.  I never would have given myself permission to do that. 

I'm going to experiment with when and how I eat my meals for the next 3 weeks, and then I get to go back and talk to her more about training and sports nutrition and body image, etc.

[merigayle]

awesome!!

[Bolloxd]

Caito that sounds like a fantastic appointment with some great info.  I can't wait to hear how the changes work for you.  And, GOOD JOB on having such a good diet to start with, that is a big plus in your favor.

Debba, so glad you're surviving the mold despite the PMS hassles. 

MM, not sure what is causing you issues but I hope you feel better soon.

Hally, how's things going for you lately?


Last night was a rough one... Rachel woke up twice from nightmares and a fever.  Spent an hour in our bed to calm her down and temp this morning was 103.1, really unhappy.  David is still complaining about 'belly hurt'.  I'm hoping they feel slightly better after today's nap.

DH's friend has gotten into running lately and is planning races locally, so he has convinced DH to start running (nevermind that I've been asking him to join me for months!).  So I went out for a run with DH around the house, 3.5 miles, and he did pretty good for starting fresh....but I was *very* pleased with myself at being fitter than him.   

[merigayle]

awww, it is so hard with the wee ones! DD has been going thru a lot of "mommy xxx hurts" at bedtime because she did have something hurt once and we turned the lights on, blah blah blah, so she tries it every night. My tummy hurts, i ate too much, ok, then go to sleep, it will feel better. My eyes hurt. Ok, they hurt because you are tired go to sleep

[Ice Cream]

   Front loading calories this way will help ruin the appetite for dinner so dinner becomes your smallest meal.

Caito, could you elaborate on this?  I find this interesting, since I make dinner my largest meal, but I have it a 5 pm.

[caito]

Caito, could you elaborate on this?  I find this interesting, since I make dinner my largest meal, but I have it a 5 pm.

Well we do most of our activity during the day, so it makes sense to fuel up earlier on.  Then at dinner, you eat less because you need less fuel for sleep.  Then you wake up hungry and ready to start again.

 The times when I am most hungry are  right before lunch, late afternoon, and when I get home from the gym at 6:30/7pm.   And then late in the evening, I'm prone to snacking.

She wants me to schedule full, satiating meals earlier on in the day to prevent me from getting bone gnawing hungry right before lunch and dinner.  If I keep myself satisfied and fully fueled throughout the day, I will be less hungry later on.    She made me realize by eating little bits (200 calories at at time, for example) and trying to "save" calories for later, I'm just keeping myself from being satisfied.  She didn't prescribe a drastic cut in calories for me, just rearranging when I eat them.  If I'm satisfied, I'm less likely to snack later on.   

If you're not hungry all day and then overeat later on, then I'm not sure what this means for you. 

[merigayle]

interesting. when i get back to two a days i may try that. i get very hungry late morning/early afternoon, but often by dinner i am not as hungry as i think i should be. i do wake up very hungry most mornings and that always led me to think i need to eat more at night.

[diablita]

that's so interesting, Caito.  Glad you enjoyed the appointment, what a great opportunity.
Bolloxd, sorry the littles are still sick.  It seems like they haven't both been 100% for a couple of weeks now.
And MM, feel better

I did 2 runs today: 3 miles on lunch break and then my DH found me in my office at 4:30 so stressed that I was going to explode.  So he picked up DD from school w/ the bike on the car and had me meet them in the forest.  Eddie & I ran alongside them on the bike in a downpour.  It was heaven.  I felt rescued. 

[Ice Cream]

caito, did she say something about the number of hours between meals or between eating?

[caito]

caito, did she say something about the number of hours between meals or between eating?

Yes, she said your body usually wants food every 4 hours.

For me, breakfast split between pre-run snack at 6:15am and post at 8:15.  Lunch 1 around 11.  Lunch 2 at 3pm.  Dinner at 7.

[debbatx]

That timing makes sense. I've noticed that since I added two moderate snacks to my day that I'm not nearly as hungry at dinner, so I've been content with a normal portion. I might want more, because it's good, but I don't *need* more.

Glad you had a good meeting with her, caito - sounds interesting!

[nadra24]

Today I wore a pair of pants that has been uncomfortably snug for at least 8 months.  This has nothing to do with healthy eating or fitness and everything to do with getting my tonsils out.  Still, I'll take it!

[triciaflower]

Well my bout with allergy sickies crud has helped me drop a few.

yay sickness.

[debbatx]

My allergies usually make me gain, tricia, because I feel so crappy that all I want to do is eat junk. It's all I can taste. Hope you're feeling better soon.

[triciaflower]

When I'm sick I usually crave junky comfort food too, but I have very little or no appetite.  Feeling better today.. just still hacking up a lung. I'm not running until at least Sunday or Monday, I think.

[debbatx]

Awwww, that sucks. I've been there, done that. Rest up and feel better soon.

[merigayle]

so i have been doing really well and was down another pound this week, i am sure running the 24 hour race helped with that but this weekend was DD's party. Not that there was any "bad" food, but not all low cal and just so yummy i cannot stop eating it. we have soooo much in the house. i am going to bring a friend some, but that is it, not sure who else to pawn it off to I am hoping i did not do too much damage!

[debbatx]

I doubt you did too much damage, meri, not after running a 24-hour race and with the kind of mileage you put in! I did okay this weekend - not great, not horrible. The period bloating seems to be going away, at least, so that's an improvement. Reid woke us up twice last night around 1 and 1:30 AM, so I didn't manage to crawl out of bed for a run this morning. 

Acupuncture this afternoon. I'm looking forward to laying there with my eyes closed and needles in my body somewhere.

[merigayle]

ugh, I passed out in DD's bed, went to my bed around midnight and around 5am she woke up crying about being itchy and her pjs and undies were off, put them back on her, calmed her down and dozed on and off in her bed until 6:45am. I am tried too. They are tough these little kids.

[debbatx]

Awwww. Reid woke up yelling that he'd spilled his cereal. Which, to be fair, he had. I warned him that would happen. At least it was just dry cheerios. And then half an hour later it was that his water cup was in the wrong place.