Lately, I've been really excited about health. For me, that usually means I don't eat sweets for a day. But this has been different. Last week, I downloaded this app that my husband has been using - MyFitnessPal. It tracks your calories, your macronutrient intake and your exercise to help you reach your fitness goals.
Now I know that in reality, I'm not overweight. I don't have any health issues from eating poorly or anything of that sort. What I do have right now is a very fast metabolism and a reward system in my brain that triggers cravings for sweets constantly. Being a psych major, I've learned all about how the brain reacts to food and triggers neurotransmitters that interact in the brain to teach us what feels good and what doesn't. Eating sugar feels good. Going hungry does not.
But this good feeling of eating sugar and fattening foods, it doesn't last long. It makes us want that feeling again, almost like a heroin addict needs a fix. I'd even go so far as to say this is an addiction to sugar, to food in general. And I have seen it in my life.
There is a dessert where I work called "The Big Cup of Chocolate". And it's exactly that - a huge mug filled with warm chocolate lava cake topped with chocolate chips and an enormous scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. It is every bit as tasty as it sounds. I'm salivating shamelessly right now. A month ago, I could eat the entire thing by myself, and I did. Often. But I would get home and feel awful. My body was talking to me, telling me something wasn't right. I would sleep poorly, not being able to wake up in the morning. I thought that was just my poor attitude about getting up every day.
I'd look in the mirror and really not like myself. I'd beat myself up for making such a poor eating decision and not being strong enough to make a better choice for myself or say no to dessert cravings. Like I said though, that's similar to an addict trying to resist heroin that's sitting right in front of him or her.
I would eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted until I was so full I might puke. I thought my body would just filter it out and I'd stay fit forever regardless. I preferred to not think about it. I think this is what we all do at some point in life, whether we've been taught what's healthy or not. Last week I decided to be done with all of that. I wanted to start living in a way that made me feel good.
I found a place called GoYoga and I've been going there for a few weeks now, trying different classes and learning. I go about 3 times a week and I am loving it. This combined with MyFitnessPal is teaching me a lot about my body.
But it is NOT easy. I've felt weird. I still am hungry all the time, I'm just responding to it differently. I feel a little hazy, forgetful. That worries me a little. But our bodies respond when we change something. My body was used to be fed WAY more than what I'm giving it now and it needs time to adjust. I'll just have a few more meltdowns before that sinks in I suppose...
Along with my sugar addiction, here is what else I have learned about my body in one short week:
1. I don't need all of the food I'm putting in my body
2. Just because I think I'm hungry doesn't mean I actually am. Sometimes I'm just bored.
3. It's important to plan well for eating well (I make my lunch at night for work the next day so I don't have laziness in the morning as an excuse anymore)
4. I should be eating to live, not living to eat.
5. My body will thank me if I give it what it needs
6. I have more energy and a better attitude when I feed my body well to support these things
7. I don't need coffee anymore, just green tea if I'm really tired
8. I don't have to give up eating sweet things I love, I just need to learn to control my portions
I know that if I keep doing this, keeping track of calories (I don't like the idea of calling it "counting calories" because there's such a negative connotation for that in the world) I will rid my body of unnecessary toxins and become slimmer. In other words, I'll lose weight.
When I started, I weighed 130.5 pounds. That is not that bad. I don't look fat. I'm tiny. Someone is probably jealous of how much I weigh, blah blah blah. That's not the point here. The point is that I don't want to be okay with just living sort of healthy with mood swings and a snappy attitude that puts other people on edge. And I want to look in the mirror and be excited about my body and how I look, honoring God and what He's given me.
Nick always says this is how we were intended to eat food. Straight from the ground and unprocessed.
I am going to weigh myself every Thursday. Today is Thursday and I weigh 130 pounds. 1/2 a pound in a week! I can't wait to see how this continues. And I hope this gives you confidence to try something like this. Give yourself some boundaries, a little control over this in a healthy way.
Thanks for letting me share.
Now I know that in reality, I'm not overweight. I don't have any health issues from eating poorly or anything of that sort. What I do have right now is a very fast metabolism and a reward system in my brain that triggers cravings for sweets constantly. Being a psych major, I've learned all about how the brain reacts to food and triggers neurotransmitters that interact in the brain to teach us what feels good and what doesn't. Eating sugar feels good. Going hungry does not.
But this good feeling of eating sugar and fattening foods, it doesn't last long. It makes us want that feeling again, almost like a heroin addict needs a fix. I'd even go so far as to say this is an addiction to sugar, to food in general. And I have seen it in my life.
There is a dessert where I work called "The Big Cup of Chocolate". And it's exactly that - a huge mug filled with warm chocolate lava cake topped with chocolate chips and an enormous scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. It is every bit as tasty as it sounds. I'm salivating shamelessly right now. A month ago, I could eat the entire thing by myself, and I did. Often. But I would get home and feel awful. My body was talking to me, telling me something wasn't right. I would sleep poorly, not being able to wake up in the morning. I thought that was just my poor attitude about getting up every day.
I'd look in the mirror and really not like myself. I'd beat myself up for making such a poor eating decision and not being strong enough to make a better choice for myself or say no to dessert cravings. Like I said though, that's similar to an addict trying to resist heroin that's sitting right in front of him or her.
I would eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted until I was so full I might puke. I thought my body would just filter it out and I'd stay fit forever regardless. I preferred to not think about it. I think this is what we all do at some point in life, whether we've been taught what's healthy or not. Last week I decided to be done with all of that. I wanted to start living in a way that made me feel good.
I found a place called GoYoga and I've been going there for a few weeks now, trying different classes and learning. I go about 3 times a week and I am loving it. This combined with MyFitnessPal is teaching me a lot about my body.
But it is NOT easy. I've felt weird. I still am hungry all the time, I'm just responding to it differently. I feel a little hazy, forgetful. That worries me a little. But our bodies respond when we change something. My body was used to be fed WAY more than what I'm giving it now and it needs time to adjust. I'll just have a few more meltdowns before that sinks in I suppose...
Along with my sugar addiction, here is what else I have learned about my body in one short week:
1. I don't need all of the food I'm putting in my body
2. Just because I think I'm hungry doesn't mean I actually am. Sometimes I'm just bored.
3. It's important to plan well for eating well (I make my lunch at night for work the next day so I don't have laziness in the morning as an excuse anymore)
4. I should be eating to live, not living to eat.
5. My body will thank me if I give it what it needs
6. I have more energy and a better attitude when I feed my body well to support these things
7. I don't need coffee anymore, just green tea if I'm really tired
8. I don't have to give up eating sweet things I love, I just need to learn to control my portions
I know that if I keep doing this, keeping track of calories (I don't like the idea of calling it "counting calories" because there's such a negative connotation for that in the world) I will rid my body of unnecessary toxins and become slimmer. In other words, I'll lose weight.
When I started, I weighed 130.5 pounds. That is not that bad. I don't look fat. I'm tiny. Someone is probably jealous of how much I weigh, blah blah blah. That's not the point here. The point is that I don't want to be okay with just living sort of healthy with mood swings and a snappy attitude that puts other people on edge. And I want to look in the mirror and be excited about my body and how I look, honoring God and what He's given me.
Nick always says this is how we were intended to eat food. Straight from the ground and unprocessed.
I am going to weigh myself every Thursday. Today is Thursday and I weigh 130 pounds. 1/2 a pound in a week! I can't wait to see how this continues. And I hope this gives you confidence to try something like this. Give yourself some boundaries, a little control over this in a healthy way.
Thanks for letting me share.