After losing 3 pounds this week I’m officially at my lowest weight in more than 25 years. Woohoo! 170s here I come!
I’m down 3.1 lbs. this week, weighing in at 181.4. That’s the lowest number I’ve seen on the scale for more than 25 years! I finally feel back on track and have my sights set on saying hello to the 170s very soon.
So what worked this week? How about putting a stop on nibbling on cheese, seeds or nuts between meals. Anytime I walked into the kitchen I asked myself, “Am I hungry?” Presto! No more snacking. Don’t get me wrong, it took practice to get me into the habit of asking myself that question.
Instead I kept my focus on drinking water. The last couple of weeks I made a big effort in drinking my daily 90 ounces. Since I only use 24-ounce Tervis Tumblers, it’s pretty easy to track. As long as I fill those tumblers up 4 times a day I’m all set. This week I was hitting the mark. Sweet!
Plus I’m finding I’m not that hungry. One of my consistent problems is not recognizing my hunger and satiety signals. I know that decades of bad eating really does mess with those hormones. But ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and leptin (the satiety hormone) do correct themselves over time with eating healthy, real foods. My hunger signal is working just fine. But it feels like my satiety signal is finally kicking in.
I’m noticing two things that might signal my leptin levels are normal again:
- Downsizing the portions
- Leaving food on the plate
Downsizing Portions
My dad always use to tell me “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” True. I always load my plates up with food. And I still did that when I switched over to eating low carb high fat foods. Now it starting to feel like my eyes are more in sync with my body.
When I talk about downsizing my portions, I’m noticing that something in my brain is telling me, “Wow, 9 ounces of steak is way too much…cut it in half.”
Visually lot of food on my plate isn’t very appetizing to me anymore. This isn’t me making a decision to cut back on food to lose weight. That doesn’t work. It is a very unconscious thing that’s happening.
Leaving Food On the Plate
I’ve sure we’ve all been told by our parents at one time or another that there are “starving children” somewhere in the world. So we dutifully cleaned our plates. Well the idea of eating what’s on my plate stayed with me since. To do otherwise is wasting food and that’s bad, right? But lately I’m all about leaving food on the plate.
For weeks I’ve noticed I’m feeling full before my plate is empty. Yet I still have this internal battle going on in my head. I’ll try justifying eating what’s left even if I’m full.
“I didn’t eat much today,” I’ll tell myself. “Maybe I need to wait a few minutes and then I can finish my plate.”
Then the more rational side kicks in: “If your full, your full. Put the fork down.”
Thankfully the rational side is winning the day.
For yesterday’s first meal I ate 6 ounces of full fat Greek yogurt with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 ounce of chopped macadamia nuts and 3 diced strawberries. That kept me full until a late dinner — 3 plain chicken wings, a ground beef patty with fried egg, lettuce, tomato slice with steamed broccoli.
I felt full after eating 2/3 of the dish and put the fork down.